Originally Posted by Mark_Washingto1:
“Well I'm a newer viewer (3 years) but I've watched a lot of old Corrie on clips and Don't really see a difference with anything Blackburn has done. The only things I think he really messed up on where The Nazirs and Lloyd/Andrea. The only character transplant I see is Todd, which was Bruno Langley's idea not Blackburn's.”
Blackburn is an awful producer and maybe if you'd watched the programme for a longer time period you'd have a different perspective on things.
Of course, you're as entitled as anyone to hold an opinion, but those of us who are longer term viewers (I'm talking 30 years+ here) have more to compare the current state of the show with than someone who has watched for a relatively short period of time.
I know a lot of people who have watched for as long as myself (or in some cases longer) and there's a universal agreement that the show is in an absolutely awful mess at the moment and that Blackburn's storylines leave a lot to be desired. None of the people I refer to are DS posters so please don't make the mistake that this is some anti-Corrie DS club I'm referring to.
Originally Posted by
sorcha_healy27:
“I've watched for nye on 20 years now 
and believe me I want to cry when I compare it the Richard hillman years. ”
It has been in decline for quite some time now but the current period ready does take the biscuit.
Originally Posted by craig_25:
“As Sorcha has said, Corrie is a shadow of its former self. Great characters like Gail have been totally destroyed. This simpering and pathetic excuse for a character we see today was once a strong, and feisty young matriarch, flawed yes, but ultimately a good person who made some poor choices. The ruination of Sarah Lou, is an ongoing bugbear. This girl has been gone for 8 years and returned as a caricature with no development or explanation as to why she is now a terrible mother, and morally corrupt, backstabbing bitch. The DIRE racism storyline with tiny fireman.The introduction of Michael. The Gandy fraud storyline which lasted for 5000 years. The Nazirs. The God Awful Peter and Tina partnership......I could go on. There is so much I hate about the reign of SB and I genuinely feel he has taken my favourite soap and ripped it to shreds to fit his own agenda.
Thank God Emmerdale stepped up and filled the breach. I genuinely believe it is the best soap at the moment. Though I don't expect everyone else to feel the same.”
Totally agree with all of this.
Corrie was my favourite soap for a lot of years and I would regularly sing it's praises to anyone that would listen. But it has been steadily declining for a number of years now and has got progressively worse under Blackburn.
Totally agree about Gail. The woman who worked with Alma, stood up to Ivy, coped with Richard Hillman etc has been reduced to a caricature of her former self and is now almost painful to watch.
Todd has been turned into a totally nasty piece of work with no real explanation why.
The Nazirs have been an awful additional to the Street and have, in my opinion, by a real failure.
Bethany (Lucy Fallon) - acting almost as awful as Kate Ford, Jimmy Harkishnan and Ms. Cotton.
Then we come to the plot threads:
* The awful "Play The White Man" racism storyline. Totally cringe inducing.
* Peter and Tina's 'affair' which sprang out of nowhere and was vomit inducing.
* Steve's dreary depression storyline.
* Callum - the most unthreatening "gangsta" drug dealer ever.
* Having an original character (Dennis) back in the show for the first time since 1969 and making no attempt to explain how he ended up on the streets, what happened to the woman he married (Jenny Sutton), whether they'd had any kids etc. A criminally wasted opportunity.
It gives me no pleasure to say so but I can't think of a single plot thread since Blackburn has taken over that has engaged my interest as a viewer. I don't want to say that, because Corrie was my favourite soap for so long. I say it because it's the way that I feel at the moment.
The only reasons I'm still watching are:
+ A dwindling hope that things will turn a corner and it will improve
+ A stubbornness that Blackburn won't be the one to make me stop watching after more than 35 years of continual viewing.
+ The fact that I am actually interested in some of the characters (Eileen, Sally, Leanne, Carla, Roy, Norris, Audrey, Rita etc and hope (vainly) that they might actually get an interesting storyline to get their teeth into.
In contrast, I never really watched Emmerdale that much growing up. Matt, Dolly, Annie Sudgen, Grandad and Amos saying "nay, nay Mr. Wilks" almost every episode bored me to tears and was, at that time, no completion for my beloved Corrie.
Fast forward to 15 years ago and Boyfriend convinced me to give Emmerdale another whirl.
I'm pleased that I did because it had changed an awful lot since I watched it growing up and, for me, it is now the best soap on TV (out of Corrie, EE, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks).
It's not quite firing on all cylinders at the moment and it has been better at various points in the past but I find it much more engaging, well writing and varied than the current direness that Corrie finds itself in at the moment.
One day I hope that Corrie retains its former glory and gets back to being funny, engaging and full of storylines and characters that make me want to watch. Unfortunately, looking at recent evidence, I can't see that happening whilst Blackburn remains at the helm of the show and seems intent on foisting any old rubbish onto us in the name of 'drama'.
