Hollyoaks: Discussion Thread

[Bright Eyes]

Honestly, if after the six months that Alex Carter is supposed to be on the show is up, I'll make my decision on if I'll keep watching. But my God, if they even HINT at pairing Lee and Cheryl, I WILL EXPLODE!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I can't and won't understand the fascination this show has with Cheryl/Bronaugh Waugh. They really need to stop trying to make her happen as one of their core stars, she's ugly, not funny, and doesn't have the least bit charisma or chemistry with her co-stars.

I know Marquess is a big fan of her's too, so we can expect seeing tons more of her under his reign.

[DRW50]

Apparently there is something worse than Cheryl braying about her newfound lesbianism, her not getting her butt kissed when she offered to leave the Valentine home (why was she living there???), and life in general. Duncan making ugly pig faces when she brayed about being a lesbian. Can't anyone show him a mirror for the faces he makes?

I don't know who this is supposed to appeal to. I doubt teenage girls would like seeing this and most teenage boys wouldn't want to see this as their representative would they?

Even when Josh is the one who has been mistreated, he's so yelly, bratty, and annoying. I'm glad he's going soon. Emma Rigby said that the actors who played her family were upset about being fired, and I can understand how they feel, but the show has just trashed these characters so badly.

I guess Myra being lied to means she will drop out of the Theresa story again. That's a shame.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Doesn't Cheryl have enough money to get her own place since she just won the lottery? Why the hell is she moving in with Steph?

Oh God, just don't tell me Frankie will start thinking of Cheryl as a daughter when Steph leaves...

Edited July 14, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Bright Eyes]

My heart just sank reading that. My Frankie would NEVER!

[DRW50]

Just when I can't take any more of Cheryl or Duncan, along comes Spencer to remind me just how repulsive he is. The worst character ever in a soap?? Or one of the worst.

The scenes with the Ashworths were so sad, partially because the family was so decimated by poor writing, partially because the last moments were genuinely moving. The Dirty Diegos photo book. I miss Fletch and now we will definitely never see or hear about him again. And the scenes where Rhys confessed -- Andrew Moss was brilliant. The family forgiving him but Rhys choosing to stay behind helps the character a lot. I think Andrew is a great actor, I hope the show will give him good stories! Seeing Rhys and Gilly standing there all alone kind of broke my heart.

The Ashworths really were a fantastic family in 2007 and 2008 (aside from Josh...).

I wish that Duncan leaving with the Ashworths meant he was actually gone for good. I hope he is and I will cling to that until he actually comes back. He was awful as he usually is, such a one-note character.

Edited July 14, 2010 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

A few more comments, complaints mostly:

- Was anyone else annoyed that they didn't have at least Amy show up to say goodbye? They were living together and friendly only a few months ago. I know Michaela and Josh haven't been close in a long time but I just feel like they half-assed some of the details, and I didn't even like Josh.

- I don't think it was in character for Neville or Suzanne to disown Josh for a fresh start. The characters were so cheapened by the end.

- I don't think it was intentional, but it's fitting that the last scene was Rhys and Gilly looking on. The first scene the Ashworths had on the show, or one of the very first, was when Rhys and Gilly jumped out of their sports car to look around. Rhys jumped out smoothly, while poor Gilly stumbled and fell. Gilly's changed so much over the years, slowly -- various producers and Anthony Quinlan have done a good job with him.

[DRW50]

Another online spinoff is starting in August:

http://www.e4.com/blog/hollyoaks/post/sf1et3sgkbdebajbluzri1/view.e4

[Bright Eyes]

If the show was smart, they would beef up Cindy's role in India's life. It would be a great and particularly easy way to make me care about her.

Did anyone notice that nasty ass yellow/diseased tooth father Valentine had? Other than me completely ignoring anything hypocritical Sasha has to say, it really took me out of the scene.

I'll really miss Kyle. Potential WASTED. But damn, Anita victimized again? Can this girl just kill herself already? I'd say turn her into a stone cold bitch, but the actress would never be able to pull that off.

What the hell was that ish with Jack and Cheryl? More importantly, WHY is Cheryl NOT paying rent and, more importantly, NOT doing her own goddamn laundry? STUPID.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The new students who will start off in the online spin-off:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s13/hollyoaks/scoop/a244534/meet-the-new-hollyoaks-students.html

Lee Hunter will also be making his comeback on the online spin-off apparently.

[Bright Eyes]

I read that today. Now I might actually have to watch this crap? ... If I can.

[DRW50]

I'm still hoping they might keep Kyle around. We should both do that "power of visualization" thing and assume that Kyle might stay and Dave might stay (he's in the new 5 minute spinoff at least) and Duncan won't come back. Surely we have enough power over space and time for this to work, right?

The stuff with Kyle and Anita didn't quite work for me but his scene with Theresa was great, very tense and genuinely frightening. As for Anita, this was actually pretty low-key by her standards.

Thanks for the warning about Leo's tooth, but even then I was a bit startled. So let me guess, Lauren will have to go somewhere to get treatment for her head injury and Leo and Sasha will go with her? Spencer too I guess? I'm just glad they're almost gone. I can't take anymore of Sasha's judgmental attitude -- the man she worships, Warren, did some horrible things.

I think the scenes with Cheryl and Jack were supposed to be comedy. Unfortunately, like the scenes where Cheryl thought she was a lesbian, she took everything so seriously she came across looking like an ass, and the scenes went on and on. The arrogance of this woman to believe that Jack was fixated on her when she doesn't do her own washing and she can't lock a door while she's changing? And she won big money but she won't pay rent. Ridiculous. She's just unbearable.

At least Jack had a scene with Tony, which is very rare.

Did you see the scenes where Dominic first showed up, back in September 2005 or so? He was much more confident and Tony felt threatened by him. I think that making him an even more awkward version of Tony was a mistake. It's interesting how they had Cindy try to be polite but then she couldn't take any more. Pregnancy does make some women look different doesn't it? She still looks good but her face is different. The hair is very Robert Palmer video. I laughed when she told Theresa how fat she looked, as Theresa is covering up a pregnancy. Nice in-joke there.

The ratings for the show have been over 1 million every day this week, I think about 1.1-1.2 million or more. That's pretty decent considering the show was getting down to about 700K only a few weeks ago. I know the show hasn't drastically improved in quality but I hope the viewers will stay, and continue to come back to the show. I don't want to see it canceled.

I'm surprised they're bringing Lee back in that, since a lot of fans won't see the spinoff. I just wish that Dave being included meant he was staying around...

[Bright Eyes]

Considering Jack has been on the show for the almost all of the show's run like Tony, do (did) they have a close relationship of any kind?

I will do my best, QUICK, go pick up "The Secret" at bargain bins across North America. We can do this!

No, I never saw that stuff with Dominic as I only started watching after Y&RWorldTurner jumped on me enthusiastically about Clare Devine.

Your mention of Hollyoaks cancellation got me thinking. I know it's a dead end in the US, but is there any hope of a new soap being created in the UK, ever again?

Edited July 15, 2010 by Amello

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Who knows, as Hollyoaks was the last multi-day soap created back in 1995...

But the UK soaps have a better chance of staying a live for years over the daytime soaps in the US. Corrie and EastEnders can still pull in 7-9 million viewers a night and over 10 million viewers with heavy climaxes or big events.

I think C4 won't replace Hollyoaks for the immediate future because they might not have anything to replace it with, and the show seems to be pass the million mark again in viewers...

[DRW50]

The problem is that the soaps which have come in recent years weren't successful (Crossroads, Out of the Blue, that really dumb show Echo Beach), and like in the US, a lot of the networks in the UK seem to think that reality shows are preferable. You have the knockoffs of The Hills like "The Lakes." I hope that they still have a chance in the UK because soaps are such a unique and special artform.

Jack and Tony have never been superclose, Tony usually spent most of his time after his original friends left with OB, Max, and Max's father, but they have known each other for 15 years and are friends.

There's some Hollyoaks stuff on Youtube from 2005 and early 2006 -- it's worth watching, even though the stories aren't exactly thrilling. The show is very different (aside from the silly "comedy" stories -- although those weren't as aggressively sexual as they are now), but it's very interesting to watch. Tony is much more neurotic and more of a comedy character. They brought in Dom to be the anti-Tony, in some ways. They also seemed to want a triangle between Tony, Dom, and Tony's wife, Mandy. I guess after Mandy left the show they decided there was no reason for the two brothers to be opposites and Dom became much nerdier in order to start the story with Tina McQueen. This worked for a while but in the long run I think it's one of the reasons Dom hasn't had anything to do in a long time.