DS Forums

 
 

Was Lorraine Newman As Bad As Is Made Out?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 09-07-2014, 11:37
Tiernan_Mccarth
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 214

A lot of people in here despise Lorraine Newman and state how she ruined the show. I don't think completely she ruined the show, I believe she just helped it to recover very slowly.

She did some good stuff, Clearing a lot of dead wood such as Anthony Moon, Tyler Moon, Syed Masood and Derek Branning. She also brought back some good characters like Peggy Mitchell, Ronnie Mitchell, Peter Beale, Cindy Williams, Carly Wicks and David Wicks. And although it was a poor attempt she still brought in a new family.

I will agree however that she brought in some dreadful idiots such as Carl, Dexter and Sam. The main problems with the show was the writers I think, a lot of her characthers and stories had potential but it was wasted
Tiernan_Mccarth is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 09-07-2014, 11:40
lionkingonstage
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,947
A lot of people in here despise Lorraine Newman and state how she ruined the show. I don't think completely she ruined the show, I believe she just helped it to recover very slowly.

She did some good stuff, Clearing a lot of dead wood such as Anthony Moon, Tyler Moon, Syed Masood and Derek Branning. She also brought back some good characters like Peggy Mitchell, Ronnie Mitchell, Peter Beale, Cindy Williams, Carly Wicks and David Wicks. And although it was a poor attempt she still brought in a new family.

I will agree however that she brought in some dreadful idiots such as Carl, Dexter and Sam. The main problems with the show was the writers I think, a lot of her characthers and stories had potential but it was wasted
Bryan Kirkwood made the bed and she had to lie in it if i'm honest. She tried her best to improve the show but failed. Bryan left it in such a mess. Its a shame really because she had worked her way up to this job and she was totally crap at it.
lionkingonstage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 11:53
bean_of_sb
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: London
Posts: 4,618
Bryan Kirkwood ripped the show to pieces, and I still believe DTC was his replacement, but due to previous commitments he wasn't available immediately, so LN was drafted in temporarily to take he helm.

I think she did a good job in wiping the slate clean for DTC. In the long term, she allowed DTC to take over as quickly as possible and begin his stories straight away. In the short term, we had little character development and lots of short term, bland storylines to keep the show going until the real producer took over.
bean_of_sb is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 11:53
Marcus_Smith
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 3,461
It also didn't helped she joined shortly after they filmed Pats exit :/. I do wonder if they'd never have killed pat off would LN Got her back sooner probably would have helped the show big time Helped LN and you never know Barbara Windsor herself might have come back for more episode and even come back as a regular or it would been easier for dtc when he took over also to have got Barbara to come back. But then would we have been given the carters. If Kirkwood never have killed off Pat and the events that followed that is the questions.
Marcus_Smith is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 12:17
dazza89
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 13,401
It also didn't helped she joined shortly after they filmed Pats exit :/. I do wonder if they'd never have killed pat off would LN Got her back sooner probably would have helped the show big time Helped LN and you never know Barbara Windsor herself might have come back for more episode and even come back as a regular or it would been easier for dtc when he took over also to have got Barbara to come back. But then would we have been given the carters. If Kirkwood never have killed off Pat and the events that followed that is the questions.
We cannot just blame Kirkwood for killing Pat, remember the likes of John Yorke was overseeing Bryan and if he wasn't happy with a decision he wouldn't of let it happen!!
dazza89 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 12:17
Tom_Willis
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 3,326
EE was already in a very bad way and they expected her to turn it around but she couldn't. She probably did make some good decisions along with some bad ones but EE needed someone who is passionate about the show. DTC has turned it around.
Tom_Willis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 13:18
Jayma
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,948
EE's problems began before LN took over the reins. DTC and Santer started wrecking the show back in 2010, as they clearly had no plans after the live episode because they knew they were leaving and put all their efforts into that, enabling them to leave on a high. Quality nosedived after that episode, then BK came in. I thought his handling of Heather's murder was excellent, but his subsequent 'block storytelling' where characters disappeared for weeks and months was an epic fail. Best thing he did for me was bring in Michael Moon. LN squandered MM by keeping him offscreen during Charlie Brook's 6m leave.

As one poster said at the time, "LN has dealt with the the block storylines problem by having no storylines!". She just seemed to be out of her depth and treading water, rather than pushing the show forward. To be honest, MM and David Wicks held my interest, and since both those have gone, I can take or leave the show despite an upturn in its quality since DTC took the reins again. Good to see positivity about the show again, and clearly more people are switching back on, but strangely I've all but switched off and not sure when I'll take more than a passing interest in the show again. Used to feel passionate about it but 2010-2013 kind of killed my passion for it. I do still dip in, and am enjoying the Carters, but don't have a great deal of interest in any of the other characters.
Jayma is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 13:27
Broken_Arrow
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Suck it
Posts: 7,777
Her era was like watching paint dry. I recognise she had to deal with problems inflicted on the show by previous executive producers but there is no excuse for the lack of storylines and the amount of filler she inflicted on us. The only decent thing she did was bring David Wicks back. Her one woman crusade to redeem Kat was so ineffective it fell apart at the seams in an instant.
Broken_Arrow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 13:32
broadshoulder
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,357
God, the woman was terrible
broadshoulder is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 15:42
KieranDS
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London
Posts: 15,938
We cannot just blame Kirkwood for killing Pat, remember the likes of John Yorke was overseeing Bryan and if he wasn't happy with a decision he wouldn't of let it happen!!
Lorraine Newman was series producer at the time and would have signed it off.
KieranDS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 15:47
Marcus_Smith
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 3,461
Lorraine Newman was series producer at the time and would have signed it off.
And if you watch some Birkwood interviews from when he was on this morning he admits it all lies with him.
Marcus_Smith is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 16:05
Kim_x
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,444
No. Her triumphs were limited but at least she didn't cause too much damage. The only damage I can think of from her was Sharon, and that's a lot easier to fix than Kat and the loss of Pat, Ronnie etc. No doubt if Berkwood hadn't set the stage for Alfie and Roxy, she wouldn't have gone there either.

I don't think Yorke had that much say in anything either. He created Kat so wouldn't have allowed her to be butchered like that.
Kim_x is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 16:05
starry_rune
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 5,663
It would have been interesting to hear LN's longterm vison for the show, if she had one (?) The show needed a quiet period after all the dark, melodramatic, storylines of BK's era and it needed a stable cast after all of BK's axing (both his own and DTC's characters like Libby, Chealsea, Gelinda, Julie, Minty, Conner etc etc)

She provided the show with exactly that, a quiet period, a stable cast, got rid of unpopular characters, tried to get Cora back in the limelight, had some warmth, repaired a lot of characters like Whitney and Kat.

The trouble was she didn't develop any storylines, she just had a warm community.

BK provided sensationalism and darkness, LN provided warmth, community, stable cast.

The trouble is, you need a balance of both. Ultimately, a soap without a balance of both is unwatchable. Perhaps if LN and BK had been working together during 2010 - 2013 then the show would have been very very strong.
starry_rune is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 16:07
Belligerence
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ghosts Forge
Posts: 39,016
She was a stop-gap measure. To her credit she offered stability and put the Beales back on the map.
Belligerence is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2014, 16:10
StrictlyEastend
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 19,359
Lorraine Newman wasn't good at beining but she was around summer 2013.
StrictlyEastend is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 13:26.