Originally Posted by Hit Em Up Style:
“Even if Eastenders does have a good week at Christmas (which will probably be a short term boost only) that won't hide the fact the ratings for the show are in a very bad place. Look how close Emmerdale is to it. We are in December and EE is below 8 million on overnights with Edale a few hundred thousand behind it. No one is saying the show will be axed but things in EEs garden are most certainly not rosey and yes James is right. If EE doesn't have a good Xmas then questions probably will be asked about what is going wrong..”
I absolutely agree with this. I think EastEnders is in a bad place right now - quality and ratings but when it's good, I'll say it's good. Regardless of figures. I've praised it to high heavens and equally criticisied it when I felt it warrented it. Right now, I think the show is poor, very poor and I say that as someone who has been watching for 20 or so years (but admittingly haven't for the past month). I do however dip in now and again but no longer at the stage where I tune into every episode.
ITA on the ratings. We're almost into mid-december now, two weeks before Christmas, and to be getting 7 million a half million for the show is a poor draw, it really is. You expect those figures over Summer but not cold wintery nights like this. Is it in danger of being axed, no. Even if it were to get just 5 million per episode, the BBC would still endorse the show as that would by no measure be seen as a ratings flop, even if it may give cause for concern.
Still, there is no denying, that the ratings are down and it's not even understandable because like you say, Corrie is over a million up, on the odd occasion even two million these days. The gap is also closing in between EastEnders and Emmerdale. You only have to see look at the ratings from the last two years to see the decline. Unless Lorraine Newman and co buck up thier ideas EE is at risk of becoming the third rate soap. I'm also not so confident EastEnders will win the battle of the soap ratings this Christmas. In a way, I don't want it to, just like how in previous years, I haven't wanted EE to win big at the soap awards, purely because it will give tptb the kick up the backside they all need right now.
EE is not watchable right now and it's high time they realised that before churning out crappy who's the shagger stories and Branning overload.
Last year Christmas wasn't the best but at least the audience knew it was the climax to a long runing storyline - a story we saw play out before our own eyes. There was also ready some sort of emotional involvment with the Yusef plot. There was that interest to see it how it would all turn out, especially since it got so dark in the last couple of months. Kat on the other hand, is shagging a shadow - therefore we don't give a fig about it because it's difficult to care for plot where characters motivations are concealed for the sake of a reveal. Likewise, a huge Branning secret is about to be exposed. Again,
another secret. Notice the theme here? I don't think it's wise of the show to not let the audience "in" on what's going on. Granted, sometimes it works, but in the lead up to Christmas, I feel the viewers have totally been alienated. We now have two plots, with a. little developement c. little depth and c. fueled with secrecy. No anticipation and little build up because that would actualy involve involving us. :sleep: The audience have been shunned for the sake of two reveals. Question is, do we really care at this point?
I've seen many EE Christmas episodes over the years which I felt could have been better but there has always been a degree of excitment about it for each and every one of them. Now, I feel nothing. It's no surprise to see ratings on the decline. I'd be the first to defend EastEnders is the quality was great, in spite of numbers but I really do think it's a case of ratings reflecting quality in this circumstance.
