Coronation Street: Discussion Thread

[All My Shadows]

I'm with YRBB. I've always liked Michelle and the character of Tina, but as always, the heart of the character was always lost in bad storylines and failed pairings. I will never ever understand the logic behind putting her with that piece of horsesh!t Graeme.

[DRW50]

Keegan was a classic example of the worst of modern Corrie - abrasive and nasty instead of likeable or interesting, and somehow the show mistook this as "strong" or "feisty."

[YRBB]

I absolutely enjoyed Debbie Rash's work this past week. She's one of the few that gives me goosebumps every time she cries/is emotional.

[jfung79]

Up through episodes that aired in the UK April 8th now, so can't respond to your post yet, YRBB.

I've liked Tina fine in what I've seen of her, but don't mind the casting news. I'm more sad about other departures that were already known that I read about recently. Tina did come off a bit mean to Julie and Eileen a few days ago, but less so than Fiz, who is the epitome of self-righteous indignation to me right now. I like that Tina wasn't that scared after the break-in at her place. I think I like her with Tommy, and I like what I've seen with the surrogate storyline too. I like that UK soaps plan so far ahead so she will be given a proper exit story next year instead of rushed out.

Really loving the complexity and layers of Eileen's reaction to Paul going back to work as a fireman. She knows she's being selfish and it's her problem, but she's scared for him. She has nightmares about him being burnt up -- that's her reality. He is mad at her interfering but understands too and they want to try to work through it.

I'm surprised there are fans who hate Eileen. Is it because she didn't believe Tyrone, Carl? Phil Collinson's name has been replaced with Stuart Blackburn's in the credits as of a few days ago. So I didn't see much of Collinson's work at Coronation Street, but as a Doctor Who fan, I am biased and I would like to credit Collinson's work as helping to hook me on Coronation Street .

I recently read an interview with Blackburn from January where he said Coronation Street needs to have "wit, warmth, and optimism," so Carl, this people being nasty thing you seem to feel the show has done in "modern Corrie" is not something I think they intend, at least not going forward. Personally I've found the characters to be a nice mix so far.

I love loved Jason trying to get through to Stella and then he's all, "You know what, you're not even worth it, neither of you" when Karl wants to fight him. Again, demonstrating a more thoughtful side to his machismo. Stella's all "I'll always be your friend, Jason" and he's all, "I don't *need* any more friends ... When he breaks your heart again, you just remember this -- remember what you threw away"! That whole breakup scene was well written and acted. "JASON: I thought you were different. I thought you knew what you wanted. Turns out you're just as clueless as all the others." "STELLA: Just because I'm older doesn't mean I have all the answers, you know." "JASON: Hey, this is nothing abut age -- this is about *you* being a mug. I mean Karl, he ripped you off, slept with your best mate, and then he tried to stalk you -- you seriously think he's a better bet than me?"

Also liked Jason and Eilleen's funny exchange about his getting his lack of communication skills from her earlier in the episode, and Jason wanting Eileen to work on it with Paul. Grimshaws for the win.

I don't understand why Jason keeps being dumped, he seems like a good person. And Ryan Thomas is a really good actor. I hope Jason and Stella are not over for good. They have great chemistry. I like older woman, younger man relationships on soaps, and I think Jason seems very patient with her family. Much more so than her family deserves, possibly, with the way Gloria is. Karl blowing up at Gloria will hopefully make Gloria doubt him more. I feel like Sophie may be on to Karl too.

Funny stuff with Ken forgetting about his anniversary with Deirdre. Why does Peter hate Rob so much?

Great scenes with Dev and Steve, Dev and Stella, Dev and Sophie, and Dev and the kids. Cannot believe Anna banged on Dev's door in the middle of the night because she was upset with his renting a flat to Tim. It's not like Tim couldn't find somewhere else to live nearby that would still pose the same problem of his being involved in his biological daughter and her adopted daughter Faye's life.

Cool of Tyrone to organize Beth and Izzy apologizing and urging Fiz back to her old job at the factory. Fiz is still so self-righteous seeming.

Chuckled at Tyrone saying to Fiz his religion and maybe even his football (soocer) team were negotiable but he would take "brown sauce" over "red sauce" (never heard ketchup called that before) "to his grave"... Haha! Also food-related, never heard of "fish pie" or "ocean pie" (and don't know the difference -- unless there isn't one and Ken was just saying there was to Rob to needle him) before Ken and Deirdre's anniversary thing either. Love the little windows into another country's culture.

Edited April 22, 2013 by jfung79

[DRW50]

I thought Collinson was fine on Doctor Who but he made me tune out of Corrie - I put a lot of the nastiness and bile onto him. Blackburn did this at Emmerdale too, so I'm not sure if it will change, but I will hope.

If you saw the story you might feel differently, so this is just me giving a summary, and I couldn't watch most of the story so I'm just going to say based on how other people reacted - again, you may not feel this way if you watch the story.

When Eileen and Paul got together, he had a wife who was suffering from Alzheimer's. He and this woman moved into Eileen's home, because Eileen wanted to be with him. Eileen was sort of her carer, but would also kiss or be affectionate with Paul in front of her (this wasn't done maliciously - the show apparently just thought this was normal behavior). Eileen regularly talked to everyone about what a burden this woman was to her, as everyone on the show told her how hard done by she was. Finally, the woman, who had become increasingly unstable and violent (because soaps just love to tell stories about people with Alzheimer's being unstable and violent), accidentally killed herself. Eileen went to her funeral, even though the woman's family didn't want her there. There was a huge scene between the woman's bitchy sister, Paul, and Eileen.

This story left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of viewers, and, along with taking away most of the humor Eileen used to have, it seemed to take a toll on the character's popularity.

[YRBB]

Looking forward to hearing what you think!

I missed all this (I come back and forth to Corrie) but that DOES sound nasty. Although I can't say for sure unless I see it.

Edited April 23, 2013 by YRBB

[jfung79]

Thanks for the info, Carl.

Just saw another episode so up to April 10th now ...

Karl was having one of his guilty moments and told Asha that Sunita was a good person when she was crying because of things Simon said.

Wow, is the kid playing Simon a good actor or what? Delivering witty lines that would be hard to pull off even for grownups! Simon doesn't believe in heaven because how can everyone who's dead be there, and how do they find each other, do they use satnav? LOL! This kid is probably even younger than Jonathan Jackson was as Lucky in the mid-90s, the only other young actor I've ever seen be *this* good.

I also love how the show had Simon deny that he'd done anything, and of course Leanne believed him. Real window into how kids, or people in general, can be. And it didn't come across exaggerated at all. Instead, layered, complex. He wasn't pure brat either. He did try to be nice a bit about how his own mom had also died.

Edited April 23, 2013 by jfung79

[DRW50]

William Roache is up on rape charges from 1967.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22374518

[jfung79]

Shocking and sickening, Carl ... Hope it is not true ... What is it with all these pedophile sex scandals from UK TV personalities?

[YRBB]

LOVELY moment on the April 29th episode, when Steve and Peter were talking at the bookies. Steve didn't know Tracy was in the office and I kept expecting him to find out and do something. His reaction was priceless when he saw her.

[jfung79]

Finally saw that week ...I thought she was okay but she doesn't do much for me. I didn't really feel much for Anna, even when Faye had lied about Anna hitting Faye.

Enjoying Mary being unexpectedly good with Dev's kids. Love love all the humor of Eileen wanting to forget about Paul relaxing in Egypt, Jason throwing in his comments, and Julie wanting to plan excursions to the pyramids. Loving the layers of the surrogacy story and Izzy feeling left out despite Gary and Tina not intending that.

Chesney's paranoia has killed his relationship with Katy for good, it seems, and he deserved it. They were almost going to be happy again, so sad! I liked that Sinead girl, Beth's niece, that was on for an episode.

(I'm up to first ep of April 22nd now on Hulu.)

Edited May 6, 2013 by jfung79

[Soaplovers]

So I recently discovered CS on hulu.. and have watched the first 8 episodes from December so I'm very behind the rest of you. However, I quickly was able to discern who most of the people were within those first 8 episodes partly by watching the show and also by looking up the show/character guide on wikipedia. So I think the Times interview on the new AMC/OLTL about not knowing who anyone is is baseless since I was able to jump into CS and that show was on 52 + years.

[Ben]

I think Anna/Owen/Faye/Tim are stuck in a rut. Faye does nothing for family, and never has. Anna is a decent character, so it's a little annoying that she's stuck in such a dead-end story... or at least it's quite dead at the moment. It needs to be pacier.

Surprising, Mary has come into her own as Mary Poppins looking after the Alahan kids. I've never really liked Mary, but she just clicks with Dev - not romantically. I also like the development with Dev and Sophie's friendship.

I'm glad Katy is done with Chesney. He ruined their relationship himself, and I think Katy and Ryan have potential.

I'm liking Peter & Carla finally moving forward. It's so good seeing them just being a couple. These days so many couples never get to just be a couple, they just lurch from one drama to another with little time to invest. So this is good. They feel more cemented, and I like that Carla is excepted into the Barlow family. Meanwhile, Leanne continues to grow as a hypocrite; she's fallen so far from who she once was.

[All My Shadows]

You didn't rely solely on the show, then. Anybody who watches the new AMC/OLTL can just as well go to wikipedia or SoapCentral or any of the other dozens of sites devoted to those sites to get character information.

[Chris B]

I'm trying my hardest to get into Corrie, but it's not happening so far. I've watched the first two weeks and I find most people annoying so far. This has always been the hardest British soap for me to get into, but since it's available on Hulu I want to make this relationship work LOL. Out of all the UK soaps I can't believe they decided to pick this one up. Hollyoaks would've paired much better with their US soaps. Emmerdale would go well with AMC as well.