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All Soaps: Casting News - Who's In & Who's Out?


Ben

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I read DS occasionally too and I am sorry but diverse characters [with the exception of Diane, Zaniab, Masood, Patrick, Lloyd, Nikhil, Priya, and nowadays Jai] have gotten heat on these shows. People loathed Denise's other family members--Chelsea [who I LOVED], Kim, and Libby. They loathed the Sharpes on HO. Gemma and her dad was hated to epic proportions on ED. And people celebrated when Sunita was killed on Corrie. And they hate Dev. Diverse characters really don't get a chance or catch a break.

Now onto Zsa Zsa, she [besides Dean] is the other Carter that does not bother me. I actually liked her. I just think that they tried too much to mirror her after EE classic character, Mary Smith. And Leon was fine too, but the ball was dropped on him as well.

A lot of the younger characters that have passed through the Square in the past five years really don't bother me as they did other viewers. It just frustrated me because they were underdeveloped and shoved down our throats.

For instance, the Moon brothers. Tyler and Anthony could've been good characters had they put more thought into their characters. Like they did Michael. For one, they were the same stereotypical chaps that have been plaguing the Square for over a decade. Tyler [like Leon] was the meat headed, heartthrob, and Anthony was the klutzy, timidly shy, unlucky brother. And that was it. They were flat. Not complex. And it didn't help that their father, Eddie, left the Square too soon for us to get to dig deep into their past. They were just planted into the Square and the writers just hoped they'd stick. They didn't.

Tyler could've been more endearing had he remained a lovable cad. He didn't need to be tamed by Whitney [of all people]. He should've been used as a 'boy toy' for the longest before we even got to that point. And what really pissed me off with Tyler was it was clear the writers shoved Fatboy to the side in hopes of making a super couple out of Whit & Tyler.

And Anthony could've been way more endearing too if they didn't pair him with drips like Poppy or Alice. He needed a firecracker like Lola or Lucy. And there was some tension between Anthony/Eddie & Tyler. Why wasn't this played up more? Explored? Why didn't they use this to push Anthony into Michael's, the other black sheep son, orbit?

It's the same thing, different script. The writers implant these characters onto the show and just expect for us to care for them. They hop from plot point to plot point with no real development. That's the primary issue.

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Zsa Zsa had her haters, too - they just weren't as vocal on DS.

There has been a heavy focus on Fatboy and Dexter hate on DS, blaming them for the current state of the show, etc, but if you recall, there was the same level of hate directed at Joey Branning, Tyler Moon and to a slightly lesser extent, Derek. They used to get singled out all the time. I really don't believe there is some undercurrent of racism behind those posts (who knows, maybe a small minority of some posters are racist), and that is simply that these characters for the most part are just plain awful.

Fatboy is a relatively pointless character who has zero development and no real direction. Dexter is just an awful character, now. I think Tamwar's great, but I totally get why people think he's boring and dull, b/c that's what he's become.

What do you think those characters in brackets have in common? They're either interesting, divisive, warm or hot characters (or all of the above). While the others that have received a lot of hate are either boring, bland, dull, have no interesting storylines at all, or are badly acted. The Sharpes on HO were terrible, especially Gabby with the horrible acting (and I've seen the actress on Footballer's Wives, and she was chewing scenery on that show, too). Chelsea and Libby did get hate, but nowadays you see posts calling for Chelsea to return so Denise can have family around her; Kim gets hate, but she also has her fans, too. People celebrated Sunita's demise b/c she had become a hateful character, who was acting out of character at the time, not b/c she was Asian; people hate Dev b/c of his perceived wooden acting, but loved both the characters during the Mad Maya story (and Maya was a very popular character).

Fans did hate Gemma and Dom in ED, but again, I feel that was b/c they had nothing to do, and weren't interesting characters. You should have noted that the Spencers get/have gotten more hate than Gemma/Dom ever received. None of the producers knew what to do with Dom/Gemma.

The majority of these characters could be great if they were given decent writing. I don't think they're given bad writing b/c they're not white, as there are plenty of white characters who have suffered the same fate, like the Moons and Joey, or Corrie's Sean, Fiz, Chesney, and not many seem to like the Armstrong-Windasses, either.

I hated the Moons (Tyler/Anthony/Eddie), and couldn't wait for them all to depart. But, I liked Joey and Alice, and thought they had potential away from Derek, but much like the Moon brothers, they were just planted in the show and expected to work without any real effort to develop them as characters.

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She may have annoyed me at times, but it just seems so sad that she's leaving just when it looked like Andy and Katie might finally get their happy ending. I'll miss her, but this can only mean good drama for the Sugden boys. Andy and Katie's wedding is the big focus of Christmas, and with that article saying Winward is leaving around the holidays, it is sure to be can't miss. Of course, with Kate Oates, I never doubted that for a second anyway. At least this way, Andy will truly be able to move on seriously with someone new, something he hasn't truly done since Jo.

Superficially, I always thought Sammy Winward was the most beautiful girl in soaps. How she never won Sexiest Female is a crime.

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Robert's great return has really helped with that. The actor has been a fantastic recast and the character is filling the void of the lovable bastard that's been missing since Carl was unfortunately killed off. Plus, Sarah and Jack will be at the center of the show once the time comes. Hopefully history repeats itself and Debbie dies once her children's time to shine comes along.

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I wish her all the best. I might be one the few that actually didn't mind Katie (tongue.png). I just think that the show spent the last few years trying to make her the 'lady of Home Farm,' which does not suit Katie. I do hope though that Andy does not end up in limbo [once again] over Katie leaving the village. With Robert being back, I hope that the Sugdens reclaim their positions as the central family of the show. Not the damn Dingles. :rolleyes:

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Neighbours

Epic returns for the 30th anniversary continue for March...

Paul Keane (Des Clark)

Scott Major (Lucas Fitzgerald)

Alin Sumarwata (Vanessa Vilante)

Guy Files (Tom Ramsay)

Andrew Williams (Guy Carpenter)

Ann Scott-Pendlebury (Hilary Robinson)

Nell Feeny (Janelle Timmins)

Stephanie MacIntosh (Sky Mangle)

Melissa Bell (Lucy Robinson)

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s14/neighbours/news/a613056/neighbours-nine-more-stars-returning-for-30th-anniversary.html#~oWUHtVYL7FQtdx

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I'm a bit too young to remember Des Clark, Guy Carpenter and Hilary Robinson, but from some of the early episodes I've seen on YT, Hilary seemed like a very interesting character.

I loved Lucas & Vanessa, so I'm excited to see them return, but I think I'm most excited for Janelle and Sky. Janelle was an awesome character, and while the Timmins family weren't loved by everyone, Janelle was a bright spot during the OTT years. She was a bit of a comedy character, but she had lots of depth. Nell Feeney has said many times that she would never return without her on-screen family, so the fact she's agreed to this is pretty cool. And Sky formed one of the best teen groups since the days of Billy/Anne/Amy/Lance/Toadie.

Melissa Bell said months ago that she was returning to filming. I hope they don't forget about her offer for Chris to father a child with her, as it hasn't been mentioned for ages.

It'll be interesting to see what all their return stories will be, as people like Des, Hilary and Nina Tucker have no links to Ramsay Street any more. Well, I guess Nina's return will coincide with Harold and Madge's...

I'm just very pumped about the whole anniversary.

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