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Post by I Hate Lana Lang on May 22, 2007 7:56:04 GMT
I'm not going to put this in with the How Can EastEnders Stop Being Shit thread because the show has passed the point where it can reverse the shittiness.
I chose Emmerdale over the rival EastEnders storyline which had loads of BBC cash pumped into it and was supposed to beat Emmerdale in the ratings but I did see it on Sunday just before Points Of View and it's not even funny how shit it's become.
What is the point in shoving some of the most unlikeable characters in soap to the forefront of a ratings bonanza? Phil Mitchell? A vicious boiled egg of a man who struggled to catch a moving car when it trundled down the road with two hateful brats in it. Ian Beale? Nobody likes him, nobody cares. Billy Mitchell? I am so sick of his craggy misery guts face I can't even write it here. Then there was the 'twin moment' which had me pissing myself with laughter.
This is worse that Brookside when it was cancelled. Ironically, for a soap that has no respect from anyone, Hollyoaks is much better than EastEnders and it's (shock) being written well. And nobody cares. Which is sad. I feel the BBC should cancel EastEnders and I honestly think nobody would care. It's been downhill since Den Wotts was brought back to life - after the finger sucking fiasco and his subsequent sacking the production team lost credibility. The stories have never quite recovered. Or maybe I'm wrong and it was shit before that too.
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Post by pauliepoos on May 22, 2007 8:02:54 GMT
Learning to let go of something you've ceased to love is a very necessary thing in life.
Otherwise the love you once had will turn to hate and you'll become riddled with bitterness and the bile of your hate will seep through every pore until it bleeds out into a stench of decay.
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booers
Su Pollard
Troppo in love
Posts: 262
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Post by booers on May 22, 2007 11:38:36 GMT
I agree about cancelling it. It's been shit since Dot was mugged on her doorstep and then lost her faith, and that storyline was in about spring 2003, so that's 4 years of shite stories, and somehow i seem to have stuck with it. It's well and truly had its day now though I think.
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Post by Steven on May 22, 2007 11:45:31 GMT
Ironically, for a soap that has no respect from anyone, Hollyoaks is much better than EastEnders and it's (shock) being written well. And nobody cares. I'm not saying you don't have a point, but much has been made over the past couple of days of the fact that Hollyoaks is nominated in 10 categories at this year's British Soap Awards. EastEnders is up for a lowly four. That said, this is just the judges' categories rather than the public vote, so I'm sure the asylum will do its usual trick of letting everyone out for long enough to vote for EastEnders to inexplicably win Best Soap again.
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Post by I Hate Lana Lang on May 22, 2007 13:10:07 GMT
I agree about cancelling it. It's been shit since Dot was mugged on her doorstep and then lost her faith, and that storyline was in about spring 2003, so that's 4 years of shite stories, and somehow i seem to have stuck with it. It's well and truly had its day now though I think. I sort of forgot about that. What a bloody stupid storyline. Didn't someone complain on Points Of View about how crap it was? Then they gave Dot cancer. Or did that happen before it? It's really bad.
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Post by Rad on May 22, 2007 13:39:11 GMT
It jumped the shark a lot longer than four years ago. Killing big-name characters off-screen (Pete, Cindy, Angie, Kathy, Mark etc) was a sign, as were the gangsters-the pivotal point at which everyone gave up. But the Oirish episodes were probably the first indication of its decline.
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Post by El Capitan on May 22, 2007 14:38:35 GMT
I may be biased because I've despised this show since I was old enough to sling my 'ook, but Eastenders seemed to slip in dog shit about three or four years ago and has just been rolling around in it since. Its become a bit of a joke and I rarely meet anyone who even watches it, far less who like it. I think its time it bowed out before it becomes any more embarrassingly obsolete.
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Post by Nicholas on May 22, 2007 14:57:33 GMT
Oh - much longer. I stopped watching it when Cathy left - 8 years ago? Longer? And to begin with I used to keep up by reading Soap and Flannel in the Radio Times, but these days I can hardly express how little I care.
I happened to be scanning through the channels on Sunday and came upon it when the car was in the water. I kept on scanning.
I've always been baffled by Eastenders' ability to win awards.
Bring back Eldorado, that's what I say.
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Post by Rad on May 22, 2007 16:12:13 GMT
It is troubling when the 'light' soaps like Neighbours and Hollyoaks are more serious, better acted, funnier and more believable.
I am watching EE every week for a month for my research project and its shocking just how bad it is.
I kind of heart Jane, Dr May and the Branning daughters though.
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Post by coxy1979 on May 22, 2007 16:46:17 GMT
Wasn't the last great storyline "You ain't my MUVVAAAAHHHHH"?
Chrissie was a legend but the Dirty Den thing was still shite.
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Post by SweatShop on May 22, 2007 17:12:15 GMT
Wasn't the last great storyline "You ain't my MUVVAAAAHHHHH"? AGREED! They should axe it, used the money spent on it to keep Neighbours and used the rest of the money to hire a wrecking ball to destroy the set ceremoniously. (and to make supermegatriple sure that it never returns) Hoorah.
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Post by xenomaniac on May 22, 2007 18:18:15 GMT
Quite a few million people seem to like it still, doesn't their opinion count? Just don't watch.
Edit: Although as an ex-fan I really couldn't care less if they did.
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Post by MoondialSlater on May 22, 2007 19:15:45 GMT
What annoyed me with the whole lake crash storyline was that there was absolutely no payoff. We had the whole thing about "what will happen", "who will survive" with various stories about Peter dying or being injured in some way and the final moments on Friday being Phil trying to get him to breathe.....
.... and then on Monday in the space of five minutes i) he does, ii) the ambulance comes, iii) Peter is back in the house and fine.
Not that I cared whether Peter lived or died but this ranks up there with the Zoe/Kelly "lesbian kiss" for them going "look what we're doing" with no idea what they're actually going with it afterwards and really having very little idea of how they're going to get there either.
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Post by orphanandy on May 22, 2007 19:30:51 GMT
WHAT??? Peter didnt die?? That is so fucking stupid! I caught the end of that episode when the car went in the water and thought it was really well done and genuinely felt terrible to see that kid drown.
And now I find out he lived?? No wonder its so unpopular.
The last time I watched EE every time it was on was 2001- the height of Trevor and Mo and Cat and Zoe (I think). I remember that I just adored it. I stopped watching when I went away travelling in 2002 and could never get back into it. It was the whole Alfie/Kat thing I couldnt bear.
Cancel it!! Give us a new soap not bogged down by all these posh/northern actors doing Dick Van Dyke cockerny accents.
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Post by Tracy-Ann Oberman on May 23, 2007 8:46:00 GMT
Having watched it since the first episode (yes, I'm that old!) I would be happy if they put the wretched thing out of its misery. It's hard to believe that this is the same show that gave us Den, Angie, Tiffany, Bianca, Joe Wicks, Cindy Beale, Janine Butcher and dear old Ethel. I've only been watching it intermittently for the last year and couldn't care less if I miss a few weeks. What are they thinking with plans for it to go five nights a week? If anything they should cut it back to two.
The current advertising campaign is mindboggling too - why draw attention to two of the crappest storylines they've ever had ie the gut wrenching Stacey/Max shagathon and the strung out to breaking point Dawn/Rob/May yawnfest.
I haven't cared since Dame Tracy-Ann Oberman left and would back the campaign to bring back Eldorado!
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Post by QuincyMD on May 23, 2007 9:34:27 GMT
....look they managed to turn Shane Ritchie from gormless, career dead end former Butlins redcoat into one of the most loved TV personalities in the UK in the space of 28 minutes so why the hell can't they do it again with new people?
....and they need to go to the top TV writers in the UK, the RTDS and hell even the people who write Midsomer Murders and find out how to do black comedy at a reasonable timeslot.
...and then they need to kill Peggy, Phil and Ian.
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Post by MoondialSlater on May 23, 2007 13:34:21 GMT
The current advertising campaign is mindboggling too - why draw attention to two of the crappest storylines they've ever had ie the gut wrenching Stacey/Max shagathon and the strung out to breaking point Dawn/Rob/May yawnfest. Because the only other plot they have adverts for is the Dot looking after the baby and they seem to have abandoned drawing attention to that since everyone thought it was a stupid idea and could've told them so before they started filming it.
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Post by junky on May 23, 2007 14:25:21 GMT
i think June Brown did tell them it was laughably bad (people like Dot.. people like babies.. hey i know!!) and apparently she was threatening to leave over the storyline.
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Post by orphanandy on May 23, 2007 18:51:09 GMT
....look they managed to turn Shane Ritchie from gormless, career dead end former Butlins redcoat into one of the most loved TV personalities in the UK in the space of 28 minutes so why the hell can't they do it again with new people? ....and they need to go to the top TV writers in the UK, the RTDS and hell even the people who write Midsomer Murders and find out how to do black comedy at a reasonable timeslot. ...and then they need to kill Peggy, Phil and Ian. Keep your "How to stop EE being shit" were it belongs!! Cancel it!! It cannot be saved.
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Post by I Hate Lana Lang on May 25, 2007 22:51:17 GMT
I don't think it can be saved. Genuinely. It's just full of horrible characters whose motivations are over the place. It's dying slowly and if rumours for a fifth episode are true then the mind boggles. I would rather see a brand new soap!
I think Casualty winning that award this week should perhaps be a wake up call.
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Mike
Su Pollard
"I want a chandelier. A motorised one."
Posts: 382
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Post by Mike on May 28, 2007 10:16:37 GMT
I think Casualty winning that award this week should perhaps be a wake up call. Since Casualty has been more of a sitcom than a drama for at least five years now, I think that kind of says it all. I'd been bored with EastEnders for some time already, but the Max-Stacey affair (which probably began when I was at nursery school, or at least it feels like that long) turned me off for good.
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Post by gravedigger on May 28, 2007 20:13:28 GMT
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Post by El Capitan on May 29, 2007 22:28:48 GMT
Just out of interest, does anyone else think Max Branning looks like the villain from the original Hills Have Eyes?
Watched the omnibus for perspective reasons. It was wank beyond words. A holiday booked and packed for in FOUR minutes? Arse gravy.
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Post by I Hate Lana Lang on May 29, 2007 23:32:56 GMT
Just out of interest, does anyone else think Max Branning looks like the villain from the original Hills Have Eyes? Now that you say it....
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Post by SweatShop on May 30, 2007 3:33:44 GMT
Yeah... they were biased, BBC. Or perhaps it's because your soap is a big PILE O' SHIT.
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