EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[Sylph]

Oh, that should be fun.

Sometimes. Sometimes not.

[Sylph]

LOL at some comments on DS!

People are talking about how he'll make EE "teeny", add "pointless cheesy montages" as episode openings, "Gemma Bissix must be wetting herself with excitement", "Hollyoaks has become a joke again since he left", "I think those expecting him to turn EastEnders into Hollyoaks 2.0 or something are being a bit dense", "Going from Hollyoaks to Eastenders you have to wonder who he slept with..." (one answer: "Dominic Treadwell-Collins ")...

And more:

[YRBB]

All I have to say is that I hope he can make the show a bit better than it is right now.

[Sylph]

What is missing now, in your opinion?

Edited November 2, 2009 by Sylph

[DRW50]

A lot of people don't seem to realize that Hollyoaks had those montages before he arrived. The show is a half-hour, edgy show. That was a way to get viewers hooked early and want to see what happened next.

Obviously that won't work on Eastenders.

Frankly the teens on EE are in need of help. When they get major stories the limitations show. Most of them are wooden and dull, and Jay, who does have some personality, is written like a dirty old man. Abi does seem to be getting better, and Lucy has her moments.

Edited November 2, 2009 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Wow, Kirkwood at EastEnders? Seems like a damn strange fit to me. I'm interested in seeing where this goes. I did enjoy most of his tenure at Hollyoaks.

[Sylph]

Santer was both brilliant at times and brilliant awful.

It will be interesting to see Kirkwood write for the older, non-teen characters and generally see how he does at a "mature soap". I expect him to sack Dominic Treadwell-Collins, but then again - who knows...

I like this pic of Santer:

Edited November 2, 2009 by Sylph

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Santer is talented, but I don't think that he was exactly suitable for overseeing a serial and serialized storytelling on a day by day basis. His strengths seem to be be outside of the serialized format.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Sylph]

As someone said that was, partly, because he was too preoccupied with creating media buzz all the time instead on focusing on all the beats of the story.

[jfung79]

My interpretation was that he was just explaining what he meant by "ensemble show," not trying to prove anything. The implication is that EastEnders once supposedly featured the same main characters every episode, with no rotation. I don't remember it being that way though.

[jfung79]

Not sure what you mean? Louise Berridge took over from John Yorke when the show was doing great - no flack, no bad press. Hutchison was after her.

If one disagrees with the blog post that she was too focused on character history and on pleasing Internet fans, then the other reason the blog post gives for the show's dip in LB's time were down to external factors outside her control - Dalip Tahil (Dan Ferreira) being denied a work visa and Kacey Ainsworth being pregnant resulting in rewrites. I feel bad for her and wish she had stayed. I thought the Ferreiras and, especially, the Moons were super-interesting, so I'll always be grateful to her for them.

Not sure what to think of this new producer, not having ever seen Hollyoaks.

Edited November 2, 2009 by jfung79

[Sylph]

Edited November 2, 2009 by Sylph

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I wonder if Kirkwood will give EastEnders an immediate overhaul when he gets there, kind of like what he did at Hollyoaks. By the sounds of it, EastEnders could sure use some type of overhauling.

I recall UK LAW's post regarding Kirkwood in the Hollyoaks thread:

Edited November 2, 2009 by Y&RWorldTurner

[anita30]

Well this certainly be interesting. If he makes it anymore interesting than now it will be good to see. Currently the only storyline I am enjoying is Christian and Syed but the intmacy is missing and needs to be shown but I cant wait to see what he does and who becomes his favorite storyline.

[DRW50]

I don't think he will have as much power at EE as he did at Hollyoaks. As Sylph has said, they need to get rid of this Collins person. Enough of these "shocking" stories. Hollyoaks also had a few too many of those, but generally they worked a little better.

I wonder if Syed/Christian will still be going on by the time he gets there.