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Why do so many young people on CS have such boring lives?


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Old 12-07-2016, 00:46
adam_ski
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Sophie
Maria
Kirk
Chesney
Eva
Craig
Luke
Sinead
Gemma
Alya
Zeedan

All of the above people have such boring, monotonous lives and no ambition of any kind whatsoever. Totally unrealistic.
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Old 12-07-2016, 00:53
trevon1
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Young people are very boring in real life. Old people too. The problem is that soaps should be heightened reality, not a direct reflection of it.
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Old 12-07-2016, 01:50
cooler
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I thought Alya is a fashion designer. How is that boring?
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Old 12-07-2016, 01:50
Stupid_Head
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Sinead nearly had a heart attack over a stolen kebab in tonights ep. Says it all really.
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Old 12-07-2016, 03:58
dd68
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They all seem happy enough
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Old 12-07-2016, 06:50
davads
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Sinead nearly had a heart attack over a stolen kebab in tonights ep. Says it all really.
I read that at speed as "Sinbad"! Who did of course run the kebab shop back in the day
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Old 12-07-2016, 07:35
DreamRJ
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Life is what people make of it. If they are happy with the life they have, then how can we judge them?

What does it matter to you?

Are you so fed up with your bored life yourself, you have to then say posts like that about others?

Soap or not, it is the same in real life too. Just wanted to say this point.

And i do not watch Coronation Street, I used to when i was a kid/teenager, but stopped in late teens. I been an eastenders fan since kid though, and still watch Eastenders. It is the best soap on UK tv. It is the soap that usually wins the most awards too, so that also says something.
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Old 12-07-2016, 08:20
OLD Mitch
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Life is what people make of it. If they are happy with the life they have, then how can we judge them?

What does it matter to you?

Are you so fed up with your bored life yourself, you have to then say posts like that about others?

Soap or not, it is the same in real life too. Just wanted to say this point.

And i do not watch Coronation Street, I used to when i was a kid/teenager, but stopped in late teens. I been an eastenders fan since kid though, and still watch Eastenders. It is the best soap on UK tv. It is the soap that usually wins the most awards too, so that also says something.
Awards are political (the soap and broadcasting world wise) and the public vote is a popularity contest.

I dont agree with your last sentence. I like Eastenders and Emmerdale the best with Hollyoaks jumping in between them many times a year.
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Old 12-07-2016, 08:36
DreamRJ
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Awards are political (the soap and broadcasting world wise) and the public vote is a popularity contest.

I dont agree with your last sentence. I like Eastenders and Emmerdale the best with Hollyoaks jumping in between them many times a year.
That is fine it was just my personal opinion anyway isnt that what its about when we post?

Posting our own personal opinions, not everyone will agree with everything people say.
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Old 12-07-2016, 08:44
davejc64
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It's not just the young in CS whose lives are dull it's everyone, they all live, work, eat, drink and socialise within the street, it's like they are stuck in some sort of bubble that only covers the area of the street.
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Old 12-07-2016, 08:45
davads
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That is fine it was just my personal opinion anyway
As it was equally the OP's own personal opinion, to be fair...
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Old 12-07-2016, 08:55
TrishaS
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Young people are very boring in real life. [/b]Old people too. [/b]The problem is that soaps should be heightened reality, not a direct reflection of it.


I'm an old person and my life is far from boring!
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Old 12-07-2016, 12:21
OLD Mitch
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As it was equally the OP's own personal opinion, to be fair...
Thank you.

I was just saying what I think.

Hope I havent offended the user.
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Old 12-07-2016, 12:42
KornerKabin
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Some of the replies to this thread are a bit extreme

Anyway, I agree with adam_ski. Corrie currently has its worst crop of younger characters, something that I've discussed at length with other FMs in the past (I'm looking at you notdebbiedingle ) They all lead dull, inward-looking lives that rarely sees them leave the confines of the street in which they've spent most of their lives.

As davads says, this is actually reflective of Corrie more widely. It's stuck in a rut where all aspects of characters' lives take place within the confines of the Coronation Street set. Every character lives, works and socialises within a tiny radius. They rarely leave their immediate vicinity. The show feels claustrophobic and this is becoming increasingly reflected in its characters. Because there is no variety of locations, there is no variety in character. Every single character must use the same tired locations, so every character becomes just as tired.

Manchester is supposedly one of the most vibrant and diverse cities in the UK, full of contemporary and cutting-edge things going on every day. It's a place that people from other parts of the UK and the world flock to, yet do the residents of Coronation Street even realise that there's a world beyond the Rovers corner? No. They never leave and are quite content with drinking instant coffee in Roy's Rolls, getting their hair cut at Audrey's and scoffing hotpot in the Rovers like they are some kind of 'olde worlde northerne stereotyppe'.

I commented last week on how unbelievable it was to have Bethany going into Roy's rolls for a cuppa and a pain-aux-raisins. Would a 16 year old really go into a cafe like Roy's in the real world? I doubt it, she'd much rather go to a juice bar or a more trendy coffee shop for some frappucino-style concoction. As an extension of that, we had the 'gang' of bullies acting like 8 year olds by chanting 'psycho! psycho! psycho!' in the street while wearing costumes that make them look like 60 year old women or characters from series one of Grange Hill.

Nobody on the Corrie production team seems to have a clue how to write for young characters in 2016. They just fall back on old cliches and stereotypes time and time again and it's bloody boring.
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Old 12-07-2016, 12:58
attitude99
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Some of the replies to this thread are a bit extreme

Anyway, I agree with adam_ski. Corrie currently has its worst crop of younger characters, something that I've discussed at length with other FMs in the past (I'm looking at you notdebbiedingle ) They all lead dull, inward-looking lives that rarely sees them leave the confines of the street in which they've spent most of their lives.

As davads says, this is actually reflective of Corrie more widely. It's stuck in a rut where all aspects of characters' lives take place within the confines of the Coronation Street set. Every character lives, works and socialises within a tiny radius. They rarely leave their immediate vicinity. The show feels claustrophobic and this is becoming increasingly reflected in its characters. Because there is no variety of locations, there is no variety in character. Every single character must use the same tired locations, so every character becomes just as tired.

Manchester is supposedly one of the most vibrant and diverse cities in the UK, full of contemporary and cutting-edge things going on every day. It's a place that people from other parts of the UK and the world flock to, yet do the residents of Coronation Street even realise that there's a world beyond the Rovers corner? No. They never leave and are quite content with drinking instant coffee in Roy's Rolls, getting their hair cut at Audrey's and scoffing hotpot in the Rovers like they are some kind of 'olde worlde northerne stereotyppe'.

I commented last week on how unbelievable it was to have Bethany going into Roy's rolls for a cuppa and a pain-aux-raisins. Would a 16 year old really go into a cafe like Roy's in the real world? I doubt it, she'd much rather go to a juice bar or a more trendy coffee shop for some frappucino-style concoction. As an extension of that, we had the 'gang' of bullies acting like 8 year olds by chanting 'psycho! psycho! psycho!' in the street while wearing costumes that make them look like 60 year old women or characters from series one of Grange Hill.

Nobody on the Corrie production team seems to have a clue how to write for young characters in 2016. They just fall back on old cliches and stereotypes time and time again and it's bloody boring.
Great post as always KK!

I just want to add that the early 2000's teenagers were much more believeable. Even the characters themselves were much more realistic, i.e. Sarah, Todd, Candice, Aiden etc they actually went into town and did stuff outside of the street, like go shopping, to the cinema etc. They even had proper storylines, in particular Sarah with getting pregnant with Bethany, then being kidnapped by that internet pervert, her and Candice fighting over Aiden and being in a car crash etc. Todd for example having the gay storyline with Karl and overall they seemed much better characters than now. The storylines were believeable and you could invest in them, all we've had from the younger characters currently is Bethany's 'bullying' and possibly eating disorder storyline, Craig and Caitlin, Faye's pregnancy and Simon being a little sh*te and they are not good storylines at all, not worth investing in as you know they will be forgotten about soon enough.
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Old 12-07-2016, 13:27
KornerKabin
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Great post as always KK!

I just want to add that the early 2000's teenagers were much more believeable. Even the characters themselves were much more realistic, i.e. Sarah, Todd, Candice, Aiden etc they actually went into town and did stuff outside of the street, like go shopping, to the cinema etc. They even had proper storylines, in particular Sarah with getting pregnant with Bethany, then being kidnapped by that internet pervert, her and Candice fighting over Aiden and being in a car crash etc. Todd for example having the gay storyline with Karl and overall they seemed much better characters than now. The storylines were believeable and you could invest in them, all we've had from the younger characters currently is Bethany's 'bullying' and possibly eating disorder storyline, Craig and Caitlin, Faye's pregnancy and Simon being a little sh*te and they are not good storylines at all, not worth investing in as you know they will be forgotten about soon enough.
Thanks attitude

I'm glad that you brought up the early 2000s period. That was, hands down, Corrie's strongest time for young characters in the show's entire history. Taking a snapshot from around 2003, there was such a good representation of young characters from all ages. We had pre-teens in the shape of Chesney and Sophie while mid-teens were represented by David, Rosie and Craig Harris. At the other end there was a strong group of characters in their late teens (Sarah, Candice, Todd, Aidan, Katy Harris) and a huge swathe of characters in their early twenties (Toyah, Maria, Jason, Kirk, Tyrone, Fiz).

What defined this period more than anything was that characters were given stories appropriate to their age. The youngest characters like Chesney and Sophie were, on a whole, allowed to be kids and were often given stories showing their cheeky and mischievous sides. Of course, Chesney's storyline developed into Rita hitting him, which was fantastic at the time and perfectly pitched. The mid-teens had a slightly more serious focus, though all of their stories were borne out of real situations and woes of young people of that age such as dating and relationships, the search for an identity as well as school, exams and parental pressures (Sally wanting Rosie to go to stage school and then Oakhill). Craig and Rosie becoming goths was inspired and really touched on the current mood at that time while touching on that teenage desire to craft your own identity. Again, this was a completely age-appropriate story.

For the older characters there were many stories, such as the ones you've mentioned. What I think is important to remember here is that a lot of them focused on what the characters did away from the street. Todd's relationship with Karl took place almost exclusively away from Coronation Street, either at the hospital or on in pubs and clubs in real Manchester locations such as Canal Street. We would see the twenty somethings going for nights out, going to football games (Candice and Warren Baldwin) or even having trysts with older women (Jason and 'Mrs Fanshaw').

The stories you mention from recent times are completely different in that they are really just 'adult' stories being dumped on younger characters. Personally, I think that the Bethany bullying story is misjudged because of the ages of the characters. I'm not saying that 16 year olds don't get bullied, but it's been written as if it was for some pre-teen or mid-teen characters, not for a group of girls who are essentially adults. Bullying by a group of 16 year old girls would be much more threatening, harrowing and manipulative than the rubbish we've seen with this storyline. Similarly, Simon's 'domestic abuse' of Leanne was really just an 'adult' story being lumped onto a much younger character. Again, I'm not denying that this kind of thing happens in real life, but the actual content of the story was completely misjudged. We had 12-year-old Simon reacting to Leanne like a 30 year old man, inflicting significant injuries on her while moaning about not being allowed to go to football camp. Do these individual elements really match up? Craig's relationship with Caitlin had its nice moments, but ultimately it fell flat because, yet again, the characters were being pushed to act beyond their actual age, either too young or too old.
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Old 12-07-2016, 13:39
AntoniaA
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Sophie
Maria
Kirk
Chesney
Eva
Craig
Luke
Sinead
Gemma
Alya
Zeedan

All of the above people have such boring, monotonous lives and no ambition of any kind whatsoever. Totally unrealistic.
Bethany too, her only interesting bits are unpleasant atm. However life is like that, unfortunately. They will have their moments.

(Can't wait for Bethany to have a boyfriend, someone really 'fit' who will intimidate the bullies.)
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Old 12-07-2016, 13:56
attitude99
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Thanks attitude

I'm glad that you brought up the early 2000s period. That was, hands down, Corrie's strongest time for young characters in the show's entire history. Taking a snapshot from around 2003, there was such a good representation of young characters from all ages. We had pre-teens in the shape of Chesney and Sophie while mid-teens were represented by David, Rosie and Craig Harris. At the other end there was a strong group of characters in their late teens (Sarah, Candice, Todd, Aidan, Katy Harris) and a huge swathe of characters in their early twenties (Toyah, Maria, Jason, Kirk, Tyrone, Fiz).

What defined this period more than anything was that characters were given stories appropriate to their age. The youngest characters like Chesney and Sophie were, on a whole, allowed to be kids and were often given stories showing their cheeky and mischievous sides. Of course, Chesney's storyline developed into Rita hitting him, which was fantastic at the time and perfectly pitched. The mid-teens had a slightly more serious focus, though all of their stories were borne out of real situations and woes of young people of that age such as dating and relationships, the search for an identity as well as school, exams and parental pressures (Sally wanting Rosie to go to stage school and then Oakhill). Craig and Rosie becoming goths was inspired and really touched on the current mood at that time while touching on that teenage desire to craft your own identity. Again, this was a completely age-appropriate story.

For the older characters there were many stories, such as the ones you've mentioned. What I think is important to remember here is that a lot of them focused on what the characters did away from the street. Todd's relationship with Karl took place almost exclusively away from Coronation Street, either at the hospital or on in pubs and clubs in real Manchester locations such as Canal Street. We would see the twenty somethings going for nights out, going to football games (Candice and Warren Baldwin) or even having trysts with older women (Jason and 'Mrs Fanshaw').

The stories you mention from recent times are completely different in that they are really just 'adult' stories being dumped on younger characters. Personally, I think that the Bethany bullying story is misjudged because of the ages of the characters. I'm not saying that 16 year olds don't get bullied, but it's been written as if it was for some pre-teen or mid-teen characters, not for a group of girls who are essentially adults. Bullying by a group of 16 year old girls would be much more threatening, harrowing and manipulative than the rubbish we've seen with this storyline. Similarly, Simon's 'domestic abuse' of Leanne was really just an 'adult' story being lumped onto a much younger character. Again, I'm not denying that this kind of thing happens in real life, but the actual content of the story was completely misjudged. We had 12-year-old Simon reacting to Leanne like a 30 year old man, inflicting significant injuries on her while moaning about not being allowed to go to football camp. Do these individual elements really match up? Craig's relationship with Caitlin had its nice moments, but ultimately it fell flat because, yet again, the characters were being pushed to act beyond their actual age, either too young or too old.
You're welcome

Exactly, Corrie at this time had an excellent group of younger characters alongside the older ones, meaning different storylines could be played out and the show appealed to all different ages. It's very true the characters were given stories appropriate to their ages. I've been watching the Websters clips on YouTube and there's a scene were Sophie wants a push up bra and I kept thinking how relevant that is to young girls of that age. Similarly with Craig and Rosie and them thinking about having sex, it's relevant to that age.

That's what I loved about the Todd/Karl storyline the most mostly took place away from the Street. It was really nice watching scenes filmed at Canal Street and even Katy and Sarah went along too which showed that you don't have to be LGBT to go for a night out there. Like you mentioned before Corrie is set in Manchester so make use of the surroundings and attractions! It's nice to see the younger characters going on a night out, like a few months ago when Sophie, Kate and a few others did even though we didn't see it.

As for Bethany's bullying, yes it would be much more manipulative. When they were chanting 'Psycho!' to her I just rolled my eyes, there's no way bullying would be this watered down. IRL, there would most likely be obscenities and much more horrible things said, I know Corrie can't be too explicit but FGS make it a bit more realistic! Chuck in a 'bitch' somewhere and avoid stereotyping and it's instantly much better! I'm sure anyone who suffered from bullying at school will know that the bullying is terrifying and is much different to how Corrie are portraying it.

The boffins in charge (I know you love that term ) need to rewatch some episodes from 10-15 years ago and look at how stories written for younger characters are relevant to their age and character. They could even see how Waterloo Road used to write their storylines as they did it very well IMO and they could learn from that how young people actually behave as opposed to being a 1980's stereotype.
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Old 12-07-2016, 15:01
Stupid_Head
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The last good group of teens on the show were the Todd/Sarah years imo before that they had Leanne/Toyah years who were even better. It's a shame the "kids" are so dull these days.
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Old 12-07-2016, 15:28
spunger
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Millions of people of all ages live what can be seen as boring humdrum lives. Others would say that's just very normal life and there's nothing wrong with that.
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Old 13-07-2016, 19:46
SS_Summer
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How exciting is your normal life that it makes anyone on soap look boring? You must live quite the glamorous existance! Frankly to me, even their 'boring' lives on screen are usually full of a lot more drama than most peoples real lives, and when they arent its perfectly reasonable (even necessary) to have characters doing normal realistic stuff like watching TV or going for a takeaway in between relationship dramas etc.
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Old 13-07-2016, 19:51
MR_Pitkin
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Life in a northern town
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Old 13-07-2016, 20:07
Reserved
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Totally unrealistic? Really? It's actually quite a true reflection of life, I find. However, it's not something everyone necessarily wants to watch.
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