EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[Graham]

EE is officially out of ideas then.

[LondonScribe]

Tonight (5/12/13) will obviously be remembered for more significant world events but in EE, it was the last credited episode of Lorraine Newman as Executive Producer.

The next episode, Monday 9th December will be the first credited episode of Dominic Treadwell-Collins as EP.

Also, announced tonight was the return of Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater. In relation to this, the highest profile EE fan site, Walford Web has closed down suddenly. The speculation is that the media embargo on the above mentioned news was (effectively) broken by someone on that site leading to the owner shutting it down.

Apparently, it will force many of their users onto DS, a site they have slagged off for years. This should be fun...

[DRW50]

DS' new look is an eyesore, and the site itself feels empty, overly cliquey, repetitive, and a strange combination of too bitter and too glib. A lot of the posts tend to read like PR shills.

I haven't been to Walford Web in a few years, around the time I gave up on EE, but I'm shocked it's gone. I remember first going there in the late 90s and reading updates PBS was a few years behind so I was shocked to realize just about every character was gone, including most of my favorites.

I thought Stacey was overrated and DTC/Santer destroyed everything about the character. I'm surprised Lacey didn't get more work. I guess it was typecasting.

I hope they put her with Max, as they had great chemistry.

[LondonScribe]

On Monday 9th December, the second coming of the Soap Messiah occurred. All the ills of the last 3 and a bit years in Eastenders magically came to an end as the closing credits concluded with Executive Producer DOMINIC TREADWELL-COLLINS.

All hail DTC... At least that's if you believe the 'faithful breathren' on Digital Spy. Even one poster was honest enough to say that they were probably just seeing what they wanted to see, just because they knew a new producer was in charge.

My opinion? It was a good, well-paced episode that appeared to possibly turn the ship towards Christmas, which is quite something considering it started more or less where Friday's episode ended. But it was one episode.

I'm going to adopted a wait and see attitude and judge the show a few months down the line (even though Christmas was apparently re-written by the new team) and won't get carried away by the tweets of the journalists who have already seen the Christmas and New Year episodes.

[KMan101]

I wanted to get back into watching, but haven't yet. Is there a good starting off point due to the transition? Maybe I'll just jump in with December. I was thinking of starting in September (I can get through them fast if they're interesting enough) because I notice that's when things began to change, in terms of casting, etc.

[dannigold]

I personally would just watch the Hallowean episodes and then start from Dom's first week in charge.

Dom's first interview as the new exec

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/scoop/a537973/eastenders-new-producer-shares-gossip-and-teasers-full-text.html

Xmas trailer

Edited December 13, 2013 by dannigold

[rcade]

Tina to Shirley, talking about holiday cooking plans): "I'll peel spuds, but I ain't sticking my hand up no bird."

Lola: "It wouldn't be the first time!"

I began watching EastEnders in October. As an American I can't believe how much money they get to spend making this thing. That giant city set is epic, and they even use characters in the background sometimes. My jaw dropped when they used a real plane for Alfie chasing after Cat after kicking Roxy to the curb.

This is a great soap. Reminds me of Ryan's Hope at its peak, and only in part because of that fantastic pub.

[DRW50]

Welcome to the board. I'm always so surprised to see a new poster here. I haven't watched Eastenders in quite a while, and this part of the board is barely going. I'm glad you'll be able to keep this side up.

[rcade]

I will do that. It ain't easy scaring up EastEnders talk in the Colonies.

When I began watching the show I marveled at how many of the leading men were middle-aged and normal looking. Max and Phil were all over the first week of episodes, and I had never seen more scalp on a soap since Carlo Hesser and Mortimer Bern on OLTL. But he was supposed to be an oily villain, while Max and Phil were played like romantic leads.

It gave this male middle-aged normal looking viewer hope. My dream of being a soap heartthrob is not dead!

[ER Tosh]

I have always wondered what some of the middle-age Eastenders characters would look like if they were on USA soaps. I guess Phil would look like Sonny, Sharon would look like Sharon on Y&R and Ian would look like.... Peter Bergman from around ten years ago?

Btw I have only been watching Eastenders for about two years and when I first started watching the show I had similar thoughts..

[DRW50]

Seeing people claim that EE was brilliant again the first day DTC arrived, only to watch them desperately scurry around to defend the big ratings collapse for his first Christmas episode, made me laugh and laugh.

I'm sure the ratings will go back up, because his brand of stale camp sells, but I'll enjoy the squirming while I can.

It's embarrassing seeing UK soap fans essentially become starfuckers, which is the exact mentality that killed American soaps.

[Ben]

Carl, people seem to think the ratings will just increase overnight simply b/c EE has had a change of producer, forgetting that the majority of (offline) fans won't be aware of this change (and not really care) and will form an opinion based on the episodes that air. I think the quality has increased, but not a great deal. The day-to-day episodes can still be a little boring. I know it will take time for things to improve, and for stories to get going. People just want things instantly, and get bent out of shape when the ratings don't reflect the quality they (blindly) believe the show to have.

As for Danny Dyer, well, I don't think he's going to be a massive draw, considering his acting is mediocre and he seems a bit nervous - he's yet to relax into the role. Their first episodes were OK. There was the odd plot hole, like Mick (who has just left one pub to by another) apparently having zero contacts within the industry, so had to beg for favours from Kat & Alfie to get them some beer. All contrived just so K&A could come off looking like decent folk.

[ER Tosh]

Say what you want about the Christmas ratings but I loved the episode. David and Janine work so well together. (and David Witts’s return to the show has really worked for me and I think with Janine gone he may be my new my favorite character). I love the way that David started off just blackmailing Janine for pure greedy reasons and then when he found out about Carol's issue he was trying to convince himself that he was doing this for Carol. But eventually (Before Carol called the cops anyway) Janine convinced David to give her time to leave the country with her baby before calling the police. (keep in mind that this is a few hours after Janine tried to run down David with her car)..

Current Eastenders is by no means perfect at all (and to be frank most of the year kind of sucked). But you don’t find the kind of dialogue that David and Janine had on a Cartilini show.

Edited December 29, 2013 by ER Tosh

[ER Tosh]

It seems Jannie may be on again before she leaves the show permanently . I kind of hope she has a breakdown in jail where she admits to some of her wrong doings over the past 12 years and seeks psychiatric help (even if it is in jail). And maybe in a few years she can come back to the show and try to be a better person.

[Ben]

That wasn't Janine's exit. She has her trial to come.

The Janine/David dynamic was the highlight of the Christmas episode. This is one of the reasons why I love Janine, she's so rich in history, so fallible, so dysfunctional, so layered as a character; she will be a loss to the show, that's for sure.