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Bad eras of soaps |
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#1 |
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Bad eras of soaps
With the ongoing badness of Enders I was thinking about bad eras across all the soaps, especially Corrie and what creates this.
The major factor I noticed is the exodus of established characters or changeing other established characters. For example Corrie went into a decline following the departure of Bet Gilroy and the consequent mess the writers got into establishing the Rovers. The Duckworths behind the bar was terrrible, not only for the pub but ruined their characters too. The only decent character was Liz as a contender but she soon quit as well. Obviously weak storylines is the bigger thing but weakness normally comes as the show attempts to restablish itself. Following Brian Parks the soap slipped into a mess. But Corrie was quick to recognize this. Cant recall her name but she killed off Alma, unforgivable. I think Corrie recovers quicker because there is a large backbone of old timers who are utilised. Again with Eastenders, it lost a large group of the cast over quite a short period of time and virtually ignored the backbone. I was a big fan of Neighbours but due to the mass exodus of the cast its like a new show. Hardly any history where as I still tune into Home and Away for the old timers and then pick up on the newbies. Basically I think too much change kills a soap. |
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#2 |
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Corrie recovers quickly because it always has its comedy to fall back on, it will never become as desperate as EastEnders or Brookside.
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#3 |
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The only reason Corrie has that is because of those characters it can fall back on easily. Eastenders suffered in my opinion from looseing so many cast members, hence the decision to get rid of Mark Fowler was ridiculous.
If you go back just 2 years in Eastenders you had Steve Owen, Mel, Phil, Peggy, Mark, Terry, Janine, Lisa, Beppe, Laura, Barry, & Roy. Most of these characters made up the biggest dynamic on the show and over a very short period of time they were gone. |
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#4 |
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When you think about Corrie's "low" a few years ago in light of Enders' decline, it doesn't seem bad at all. We still had good storylines then.
jay |
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#5 |
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MMm I disagree, there was an era of Corrie which I recall went on for ages and the critics panned it. I recall Bet Lynch was still in it and there was a gnome storyline that went on for decades.
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#6 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay-H
When you think about Corrie's "low" a few years ago in light of Enders' decline, it doesn't seem bad at all. We still had good storylines then.
jay |
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#7 |
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Last edited by Jay-H : 21-11-2004 at 13:20. Reason: Duplicate |
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#8 |
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I remember the slump Corrie went through around 1995/1996. Brian Park coming in as Producer was good for the show, he got rid of most of the boring annoying characters like Don and Derek, and gave us the battersby's and Chris Collins (anyone remember him, he was really good looking), it was a shame Thelma Barlow who played Mavis quit though.
DIdnt Corrie have another slump in the early 1970s, but things improved greatly when Bill Podmore took over as producer in 1976 and Elsie came back after a 3 year absence. The late 70s/1980s are the best episodes of corrie ever. |
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#9 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Polly_Perkins
MMm I disagree, there was an era of Corrie which I recall went on for ages and the critics panned it. I recall Bet Lynch was still in it and there was a gnome storyline that went on for decades.
If I recall, it went like this: Corrie in bad way Brian Park fixes Corrie Jane McNaught ruins Corrie Carolyn Reynolds & Kieran Roberts fix Corrie: back to top of ratings. Tony Wood takes over, it continues to excel. jay |
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#10 |
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Last edited by Jay-H : 21-11-2004 at 13:23. Reason: Duplicate |
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#11 |
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Toyah's rape was really well acted and deserved praise but I just think the whole scene where she attacked in the alley at night made it seem scarier and not like Corrie really and it shocked a lot of people.
I have totally forgotten who actually raped her. Who was it again? I think Brookside went through a bad spell with a couple of storylines. The second explosion for example. The first one coming from the gas in the flats was good but the second one was too much. And then when Lindsay started buying guns and mixing with gangsters and then becoming a lesbian out of nowhere and then her girlfriend fancying her mother etc. it all got out of hand. |
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#12 |
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Too much change can be attributed to this, the same happened with Crossroads and Brookside. Fans like a level of continuity and not too much change. I really dont believe in revamping soaps.
I recall Corrie did go through a bad patch in the 80's too, maybe it was around the time Enders hit the scene. |
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#13 |
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She was raped by someone in her block, Phil was it? The scene in the alley was quite disturbing, but if it was shown now would people be so outraged? Corrie has evolved a lot since then. Corrie went into decline for a while when EastEnders started picking up speed. Brookie's first explosion was superb, with the cooker, Sinbad contemplating losing his leg to save Kylie, everyone trapped. I remember the silent credits. Excellent. Then the bomb in the Millennium Club. It was good, but no where near as good, it was just 'another explosion'.
jay |
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#14 |
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Jane McNaught really was a danger for Corrie, I believe she had penned the end of Gail Platt too. Despite what fans think of Gail (I love her) you just dont go around killing people for the sake of it.
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#15 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Polly_Perkins
I recall Bet Lynch was still in it and there was a gnome storyline that went on for decades.
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#16 |
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I was being sarcastic. It felt like it was going on forever.
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#17 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alan45
A decade is TEN years I dont recall any gnome story lasting at least twenty years
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#18 |
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Corrie's bad spell would be EastEnders in brilliant mode nowadays!
I remember their "sensationalism" time - Toyah's rape, Alma's death, Linda's disappearance, Sarah's pregnancy, Alison's death etc. they were criticised a lot then for trying to match EastEnders' heavy storylines. Luckily things soon calmed down and Corrie never really suffered like EastEnders is now! Like someone earlier said, in 2001 EastEnders had such a strong character base! Compared to now, the whole cast could pretty much do with being wiped out. |
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#19 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Polly_Perkins
MMm I disagree, there was an era of Corrie which I recall went on for ages and the critics panned it. I recall Bet Lynch was still in it and there was a gnome storyline that went on for decades.
Yeh I remember that era of Corrie, it was like watching paint dry back then, not so different from Enders current bad patch at the moment. I dont' remember the humour even being as good back then. Then Brian Park came in and axed a lot of them and turned it around. But it took a while to get from there back to the form it is on now. |
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#20 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thriller
Corrie's bad spell would be EastEnders in brilliant mode nowadays!
I remember their "sensationalism" time - Toyah's rape, Alma's death, Linda's disappearance, Sarah's pregnancy, Alison's death etc. they were criticised a lot then for trying to match EastEnders' heavy storylines. Luckily things soon calmed down and Corrie never really suffered like EastEnders is now! Like someone earlier said, in 2001 EastEnders had such a strong character base! Compared to now, the whole cast could pretty much do with being wiped out. |
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#21 |
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EE had a slightly bad patch I remember around 1991-2, but it was never anywhere near as bad as it is now.
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#22 |
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Jane McNaught was an awful producer for corrie infact i would say while she was in charge corrie was as bad as what ee was earlier this year
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#23 |
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No way. Jane McNaught went all sensational and the critics didn't like it because it was unlike Corrie. At least the storylines were quite good.
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#24 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay-H
No way. Jane McNaught went all sensational and the critics didn't like it because it was unlike Corrie. At least the storylines were quite good.
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#25 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Safra
Exactly. Corrie and infact most soaps i can think off in their bad patches have never been as bad as EE has been currently!
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