LondonScribe

18 minutes ago, Vee said:

Existing, as in recently active today? I have no idea. Ask me later when I don't have a bad cold, lol.

Gotcha. Hope you feel better.

Most of my work colleagues, my sister and my wife have various colds and flu.

24 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think many of the worst of the UK soap creatives still have more juice than much of the current crop. But I've said that before. Mal Young was a worthwhile idea that did not translate in execution; he was a disaster. But you can't say he didn't have drive. There's no drive at the show now. I'd be willing to experiment, the problem is no one at CBS/Sony is. Y&R only exists now to mark time, it is a zombie soap. GH is not far behind despite a lot of talented people and potential. Its good ideas are regularly anesthetized or strangled in the crib, whereas IMO Y&R doesn't even feint towards trying.

That’s a very good point, and a perspective I hadn’t considered.

Entertaining a bit of hypothesis, if you had your pick of ANY existing (or recently active) writer/producer/showrunner, regardless of where they reside or built up their resume, who would it be? And what attribute(s) do you think they could bring to Y&R?

On 12/25/2022 at 2:15 PM, dragonflies said:

No keep pissy away from YR, she's horrible

Besides, aren’t they both retired?

I was going to jokingly suggest sourcing someone from outside the U.S, as maybe other sensibilities might rejuvenate the storytelling and production…

Then I realised that even as a joke, Mal Young has killed that argument

Bryan Kirkwood (Hollyoaks producer, 2006-2009, Eastenders EP, 2010-2012, Hollyoaks EP, 2012-2021, Eastenders writer, 2021-present) isn’t as busy. But just no. Even though he’s a self confessed American soap devotee, as evident in the type of soap he produced, I wouldn’t wish him on any American soap. 

Jason Herbison is back at the helm at the returning Neighbours, and I doubt the slightly cosy sensibilities of that show would translate to Y&R. 

The exceptional Bevan Lee, formerly of Home and Away (usually brought in as a caretaker to steady the show after a shaky period under a previous producer) and creator of A Place To Call Home, seems like he’s close to retirement.

Daniel Bennett (formerly of Home and Away and Neighbours, for numerous stints, mostly lauded) is a very good writer and storyteller, but doesn’t seem to stay in post for too long. I don’t know why and I’d never speculate. He briefly joined the Hollyoaks story team, but was gone almost as quickly.

But as shown with Mal Young, a lack of ‘brand knowledge’ to accompany any stylistic and storytelling experiments won’t get you very far.

Each of the above have their plus points, but it’s likely those strengths are very much of their shows, and wouldn’t translate to Y&R, a show that badly needs to be Y&R again.

4 hours ago, Vee said:

This also reminds me: Shane Richie has recently confirmed he was offered the role of the Doctor in the Doctor Who revival in the mid-2000s.

Boy, the show would have been VERY different had he accepted (provided it’s true he was offered).

As for the episode, I found the pieces there. But rushed. Also, the way tonight’s episode is being pointed towards suggests there is more of Mick’s exit to come, and not just other people’s.

Substantive point, though. I’m still estranged from Y&R, but from what I hear about the show, they probably needed a clean sweep. 

But the issue remains, with retirements of some writers and producers linked to the show, and others well and truly attached to other shows, who is experienced out there that could be parachuted in? Or promoted from within?

It was pretty funny. I chuckled. And I’m British with a checkered relationship with humour

Flamin’ Nora! Just watched Dot’s funeral episode. For someone like me, who grew up with Eastenders (I’m older than the show, but too young to fully recall the first couple of years) it was almost tone perfect, complete with an unannounced cameo that made it complete. I won’t put names for anyone still to watch it.

As for Natalie Cassidy, cancel next year’s soap awards and give her everything!

14 hours ago, kalbir said:

@TEdgeofNight Agree. Y&R has felt hollow and empty for a long time now. 

I remember that Y&R was in a lull during the first half of 1997 and things picked up during the second half of that year to lead into an excellent 25th anniversary year 1998 (the last year I consider Y&R to have been truly excellent). I'm losing hope that something like that is going to happen for the 50th anniversary.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but 1997-8 had Bill Bell (though I’ve seen people here speculate that he had started to fall ill, hence stepping back ) and Kay Alden, and a roster of long time writers and directors.

Y&R, for its 50th has… Tony Morina and Josh Griffith, with writers and director(s) with any discernible history with the show you can count one hand.

I’ve long stopped watching day-to-day (and it hurts), hence hardly posting in Y&R threads, but I miss the characters I largely grew up with, and am praying for something to pull the show out of its funk, not just for me, but for other watchers here that I loved discussing and (lightly) debating with. Based on the observations of those who still watch and post here, I may end up sleepwalking past important events during this period

Sony and CBS seem to have thrown their lot in with Morina and Griffith and are prepared to die on that proverbial hill, so let’s all just hope a spark can be  found

I watched River City for the first couple of years. And I’ll admit, I’m impressed it’s lasted 20 years. It was not well received in the beginning. 
 

When the 2 episodes a week were condensed to a single, 1 hour weekly episode, I thought they were moving it out of the way and letting it evaporate over time.

I’ll watch the anniversary episode and might see if I can pick the show back up.

On 9/30/2022 at 1:50 PM, Liberty City said:

I don't know if anyone or even I have asked this, but is there a YouTube playlist of full episodes to watch? I'm real interested in watching EastEnders, but everything I've found is not of great quality and is usually that standard blurry close up and off-sync type of videos we usually see.

They can usually be found within a day of broadcast on YouTube’s most prominent ‘competitor’ if you just type ‘Eastenders’ and the date (I think in the U.K. date format)

7 hours ago, Errol said:

Yes, I saw that. I checked both my DVR copy and Paramount+ but no writer/director credits at the beginning of the episode. There were cast credits at the close, however.

I’m looking into it. Hopefully will have the info soon.

I’ve made this joke before, but who’d want to take credit for the dreck I understand the show churns out?

Every time I drop in on the show and see Rocky on screen, the first thing that comes to mind is “It’s a puppet!”

I’ve started saying it out loud, and my Queen gives me side eye. She didn’t watch the Brian Conley Show, whereas I did.

12 hours ago, j swift said:

While I will admit that I read a spoiler on Twitter that the Port Charles Hooker would strike again (I hope that's the title they go with for this story), there was a ton of rather heavy handed foreshadowing before the event.

Every loved one just happened to be in the same room and expressed what a good guy he was.  His mother and his mentor basically eulogized him for no reason whatsoever.  There's a sudden thunderstorm, but nobody decided to cancel their plans and stay at home.  And, a red herring of a victim whose death would actually be shocking.

All that was missing was him saying the most cursed phrase in all of soaps, "I'll be by your side forever..."

Also, I'm no physics expert, but it seems harder to kill someone with a fish hook than a knife, or a gun.  Like you'd really have to dig in deep and drag it, which would create a lot of noise and mess.

“It’s a soap, innit”

Jon Sen returned to medical drama, Casualty, the show he was in prior to Eastenders. This time as Executive Producer. So he’s driving the day-to-day operations. And you can definitely tell he’s in charge.

Having previously driven the increased  use of (mostly dark, moody) incidental music and CGI in his previous capacity as senior director, he’s now also driving story, and the show is so grim.

And outgoing Series Producer, Loretta Preece wasn’t all sweetness and light herself, producing the very first Covid-19 death on British TV.

But I wonder if his sensibilities were even too dark for her.

Eastenders-wise, I’ve not watched much of it since Chris Clenshaw’s name appeared on a regular basis.

What are people’s early impressions?

On 5/9/2022 at 10:22 PM, AbcNbc247 said:

Chet and Terry was the best part of today. They have the potential to be a money couple like ChaLynn and Sprina. Hopefully, someone sees this and makes them appear more than once or twice a month.

I love the bro chemistry between Cameron and Spencer. They play off of each other so well.

And despite my support of Sprina, I was loving Rory and Trina’s flirting today as well. If you ask me, Sprina vs. Rorina has the potential to be a pretty big stan war

The chemistry between Trina and Rory is there, but I’m pretty sure the writers have a personality change or villainous act up their sleeve where Rory is concerned, just so we ‘know’ who we’re ‘meant’ to root for

I take back EVERYTHING I said about Tabyana Ali’s interpretation of Trina. It was way too early for me to have made that initial assessment. She IS Trina now. Her talent and growing chemistry with her co-stars shines through. 

In relation to Trina, I wonder if what will happen with the character is like what happened when Victoria in the Young and the Restless was ‘re-imagined’ when Amelia Heinle took the role? 
 

I previously said that Tabyana Ali’s ‘softer’ take on Trina might allow the writers to make her more of a victim for Esme. Her being physically smaller solidified that in my mind.

One for those on here who still watch Eastenders.

Ive completely fallen out of the loop with the show and understand that Jon Sen’s name is off the credits and that the last couple of weeks have seen an almost overnight improvement in quality.

Is this true? And if so, has the new producer taken over? And do we think it bodes well for the future?

From what I understand, the show has been pretty rotten the last couple of years under Sen.

Still maintain that this Spencer/Esme/Jos/Cameron/Trina business is leading to Esme implicating Trina- especially since the character has stayed on, and especially since the new actress’ initial take is softer, and potentially making Trina more vulnerable to Esme.

1 hour ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

U must be joking, right? People should  be thankful that Channel 5 invested in that show and kept it alive until this year. I mean even their home network pushed it away and gave up on it and shoved it over to their peach network . They don’t even get ratings over there

if it wasn’t for Channel 5 Neighbours would’ve ended like 5-10 years ago

No joke here.

Yes, it kept the show on the air, but will now feed into the narrative that said international broadcaster is to blame for the show’s demise, ignoring Freemantle and Network Ten’s role in this, turning their back on the show in the 1st place.

The whole notion of relying on an international broadcaster to foot the bill of a show’s existence is folly. That is of course my opinion. 
 

It’s almost absurd to think that the future of a soap opera has hinged on the funding of an international broadcast partner for over a decade. I wish that wasn’t the case, but history won’t mention that too much.

The narrative will be “37 years and Channel 5 killed Neighbours”

4 hours ago, janea4old said:

Tanisha Harper's IMDB says she's 40 (born Sept 1981).
Wikipedia says she's 36 (born Sept 1985).

Ah thanks for this. I didn’t click into IMDB, but did Wikipedia.

3 hours ago, janea4old said:

The new Jordan, Tanisha Harper, in scenes starting at 1:40 of this clip.

 

Tanisha Harper is 36 and Tahj Bellow is 27. Unless they plan to downplay TJ and Jordan’s relationship going forward, this should be fun

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/17820472/neighbours-axed-production-company-channel-5/

On 2/22/2022 at 8:33 PM, janea4old said:

Ravi Shapur played by Abhi Sinha.  I really liked him.

If I remember correctly, he was introduced by SSM and Kat Alden, and was one of the 1st characters dispensed with when Mal Young’s manoeuvres got himself installed as Head Writer.