Coronation Street: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I sent you a PM.

[KMan101]

Big thanks to both Carl and AMS! Thanks for the links and direction. Much appreciated!

Also randomly watched December 26th, 1979 ... yeah, I already really like the show. I knew that I would. I've seen clips and bits here and there over time. Such interesting characters. I'm already familiar with most of them through previous cast/character research. Also this is a shockingly good source of information I just found: http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Coronation_Street_Wiki

Edited January 17, 2013 by KMan101

[DRW50]

That's a great site, so much info and detail.

Sophiya Haque has passed away.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21062175

She was on Corrie in a short term role as Poppy, a barmaid Liz McDonald met at a "keep fit" class. She was strong and sexy and could have been a great character. The show barely used her, and her run ended when Becky fired her and dragged her out of the pub by her hair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=949A5bscrGQ

[JWDrama1980]

FLASHBACK---October 1992

From my blog: http://thesoapoperasaga.blogspot.com/

[DRW50]

1974 episode.

Jerry Annie Maggie

Mollie Sugden having a fun time chewing the scenery.

Warning: Deirdre has a sense of humor and personality in this episode. If you have heart problems, you may want to avoid the shock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xgpdE0emLk

[DRW50]

I miss this Corrie so much. Everything about it. The second part in particular.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXggLfcw8XM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OE39fQihIw

[All My Shadows]

I'll have to give those episodes a watch, Carl!

While poking around Hulu looking for AMC/OLTL information, I gave a look to the Corrie page there, and I have to just laugh at some of the comments there. "After watching seven episodes on Hulu, I'm done with American soaps. Coronation Street puts them all to shame." People are such hipsters. Corrie is just the same as the American soaps now, just shinier and prettier settings and "normal"-looking (said as pretentiously as possible) actors. I'd venture to say Corrie is worse off than DAYS at the moment.

[DRW50]

They also have a few 1961 episodes on that channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXJIf2rKfLE

Ena was at her nastiest in this era. Great to watch but not nice. The second episode they put up from 1961 is Len's first.

[DRW50]

Bill Roache seems to be losing it.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/19/coronation-street-actor-bill-roache-sex-attack-victims-bring-it-on-themselves-through-past-sins-3548446/

[Ben]

Can you really label someone who has been brainwashed by a cult as "losing it"?

It's not just those "alleged" offensive comments, but he's also been made a healer, who he said that he cured a woman with cancer through the power of love!

Corrie needs to do this story.

[soapgirluk]

I think Corrie's starting to get better, I'm liking the Platt family atm the pregnacy & all the bickering.

I think i'm the only person around not liking the Tyrone/Kirsty plot though, As I don't think the actress playing Kirsty is any good.

I enjoyed the Fire episodes even with the error of Tommy walking round corner & being shocked, yet he'd been doing full monty when everyone got told in the Bistro.

[jfung79]

You really underestimate the impact of this show ... One episode on hulu and I'm already hooked. I think Ryan. Katy, and Chesney's story is compelling, and it's not even a frontburner story as far as I can tell. The overworked, underappreciated teen mom trying to do the right thing but tempted by a more carefree life. Also I like this domestic abuse storyline that I've read about but haven't seen yet. I also took an immediate interest to Jason Grimshaw, and I know MIchelle Collins (Stella) from EastEnders. I also like Sunita a lot already and I'm sad that I am watching just as she is leaving soon.

Something as natural and normal as a disapproving mom of girlfriend needling a builder about not having an interest in Lego, or Jason whacking the side mirror off a car, is more than American soaps can manage in terms of naturalism. The standing outdoor sets help, just as it did with EastEnders. But I don't look down on American soaps either. They just have a different style.

The sets actually look worse than American soaps, with the videotape and natural light giving the whole thing a "Peapack" look, but that's fine, I'm used to it from EastEnders. It is also "hipster" to say that things used to be better and you watched something when it was cool before it sold out.

All I ever knew about Coronation Street was picked up from references in other things British that I read or watch (mostly amounting to "Rovers," which I now can see is the neighborhood pub much like the Queen Vic, a family called Barlow, and various actors over the years like Adam Rickitt, and Bruno Langley who I knew played a gay character Todd who I see now is the brother of aforementioned Jason). I'm excited to finally be watching it.

Also DAYS is doing well right now too!

Edited March 24, 2013 by jfung79

[All My Shadows]

It's not that I think Corrie sold out or that I watched it when it was "cool." It's just that I like the 70s stuff better, and I wish the current episodes were more like the show's first 30 years. It's nice that you like the current storylines, though. I watched an ep a few months ago and enjoyed it, but I've been too busy to keep up with it.

I do suggest watching some of the older episodes that we're so lucky to have easy access to, though. There are tons on YouTube.

Edited March 24, 2013 by All My Shadows

[DRW50]

It has nothing to do with "hipster." This is a show that, for many decades, did not revolve around:

- vile, unpleasant characters

- no genuine sense of community or friendship

- endless affairs for the sake of shock value

- tedious, never-ending baby stories

- women who have no role in life other than to find men or get into fights

- a complete ignorance of history that severely damages longtime characters

- many stories that literally have no purpose and no story fallout (like Leanne's insta-mother and insta-sister)

- ridiculous unrealism, such as a woman who was caught and punished for methodically planning a murder being released at random a few years later

- dangerous "message" stories that are done for a producer to pat themselves on the back, and have led to many viewers cheering as a woman beats her husband black and blue, cheering a serial rapist, teaching viewers that if a woman is almost raped, it's because she was wearing a short skirt, teaching viewers that if a woman takes her rapist to trial, she will pay for it, teaching viewers that all a woman needs to get over a rape, in a month or less, is to find a new guy who will make love to her the right way.

- endless, pointless fires, crashes, roof-falls, and hospital stays

This is [!@#$%^&*] writing and producing, and overall, a poor quality of acting. That's not hipster to call it out as [!@#$%^&*].

Edited March 24, 2013 by CarlD2

[jfung79]

I was responding to All My Shadows saying someone sharing their opinion on Hulu of liking the show more than American soaps after 7 episodes was "hipster," otherwise I wouldn't have used the term. It was meant a lot more fiippantly than you're taking it, LOL.

Obviously I don't have the history with this show to comment on the veracity of your criticisms, but it's clear to me already that Katy's affair with Ryan is certainly very grounded in a real sense of entrapment from being a poor working teenage mother, and extremely relatable rather than for "shock value."

Thanks All My Shadows for suggesting that I can find older episodes on YouTube.

All I can say is this show has definitely passed the test of whether it is watchable on its own terms for me already, without knowing the fifty years of backstory. The characters are relatable and vibrant, the dialogue naturalistic, the emotions genuine, with a mix of generations and body types. The acting is strong. You can't see this from new eyes like mine, and I can't see this from experienced eyes like yours.

Edited March 24, 2013 by jfung79