Yes, I know that it's early days and I'll inevitably receive an avalanche of "it's too soon to judge" posts, but I'm interested to get people's thoughts on this one. We've now had ten episodes worth of Kate Oates' work and from I can see so far, people have had a tepid reaction to the past two weeks' worth of instalments, to say the least. When it was announced last September (yes, it has been a whooping eleven months since we received the much-welcomed news that Blackburn was on his way out) that Oates was taking a helm, I was incredibly excited. She was responsible for some excellent storylines on Emmerdale and is well regarded in the business.

I (along with others) saw some definite changes in the episodes surrounding Kylie's shock death and the couple of impressive weeks that we had afterwards. There were more references to the past, the set was being used in more interesting ways (the chase scene between Clayton and David standing out, in particular) and the writing appeared tighter with some characters being restored to former glories (Gail's role as a strong and protective matriarch being apparent once more). Then, we finally had Oates' name on the credits and the show suddenly felt more pedestrian once again. I have been fairly critical of the show over the past few weeks, but have considered the last two weeks in greater depth and tried to form a more holistic judgement.

Positives

Rotation of stories and air time for characters
This might be a contentious one, but let's consider what plots we've seen play out over the last fortnight. The big hitter has obviously been Steve and Leanne's baby secret, that has now stepped up a gear, with Nick pretending to be the father. We're now seeing other characters like Liz, Michelle, Simon, Eva, the Platts and, even Tracy, become involved in varying degrees. Reactions to this story have been mixed, but it felt like it moved on a pace with Nick and Leanne's lie. Coupled with this, we've also seen Aidan and Maria struggle to come to terms with the guilt over their one-night-stand and Maria end her relationship with Luke. Infidelity seems to be in the air, as we have now learned that Sharif has been a love cheat over the past seven years (in quite a contrived and plot-driven storyline, it must be said). We're continuing to see the Platts deal with Kylie's death with Michael bonding with Max. Tonight we saw Bethany's bullying re-emerge as we've seen her turn to dieting pills and now the start of her falling for Gary. Other minor storylines have also played out, with Izzy and Gary's relationship troubles, Gemma making her bid for Weatherfield's Good Samaritan Award, and Phelan continuing to manipulate Eileen for Jason's money- a plot that comes to the fore again next week. Speaking of next week, we see Jenny playing dirty at the factory for Johnny's benefit, Caz worming her way back in at Maria's, Bethany's bullying really coming to light, more development in Billy and Todd's relationship as well as Beth dropping a massive family secret upon Craig. Whilst there are some of these storylines I couldn't give two hoots about, there's no arguing that a decent cross-section of characters are receiving air-time and there's a real sense of balance and pace with the storylines that are unfolding.

Castings
Ian Kelsey has been a great addition to the cobbles as dastardly Vinny. His scheming with Phelan is set to intensify and looks set to have an impact on quite a few of the residents as they plot to scam money left, right and centre. During the week, we received news of Paul Loughran's casting as Craig's dad, Darryl, and it has received a warm response from forum members on here, as it appears an ideal casting decision. I am really looking forward to this character entering the fold and shedding some light on Beth's past. If this is an indication of the kinds of casting decisions, then I am really looking forward to seeing who else Oates manages to attract.

Upcoming Stunt
I won't lie, I love the spectacle of a stunt and seeing a lot of the cast thrown together. The tram crash remains one of my favourite weeks of soap, but it's more than fair to say that the last few stunts on the show have not been up to scratch. The bus crash was utterly pointless and was a wasted opportunity to get rid of some deadwood, whilst BGT fire week bordered on farcical at points- how long was Leanne on that bloody ladder? As you all know, we are to see a massive stunt this Autumn that will see a major death. Given that Oates has overseen some excellent stunts like the siege and the helicopter crash on Emmerdale, I'm anticipating something really special.

I have been unsure on whether what we are seeing is Kate's work

If it is, i hate this Leanne Baby story with a passion. But yet can't wait to see how it plays out.

Agree with much of what you say here Boogie!!
I am now finding myself looking forward to each episode again at the moment, somethingI could rarely say under the last producer!!
I love the fact all the cast are being given a fair crack of the whip including those characters who have been left on the sidelines in recent years & I think the actors are looking more 'up for it' though that could be my imagination!!
I don't like her seeming obsession with infidelity & I hate the Sharif storyline but no one said we were going to love everything she produces!!

I still think threre's just a better 'feel' to the whole thing personally!!

0n a personal level as a Maria fan obviously I'm delighted she's got a great storyline coming up but it's not just that, she's actually been given her personality & character back & a bit of fire in her belly again!! She had become a nonentity under Blackburn, even I will admit that!!

Urgh, I was half-way through writing about the negatives that I've noted when my I-Pad decided to play up and I lost what I had written I will post these at a later stage.

didn't the leanne story start before Kates episodes aired? long term existing stories will be carried on with

I agree I am liking Maria being used more.

I really enjoyed tonights episodes

edit, can't vote in the poll ask me in a few months

This thread is intended to be an on-going discussion as more of Oates' work airs.

Too soon to say for sure, but so far I'm not at all impressed. It picked up when Kylie died and for a week or so after but then it went back to its rubbish self and has stayed there. That episode with Michelle running around like a fool telling everyone in earshot she was trying to get knocked up was bloody diabolical, and if KO thinks putting non entities like the Nazzzzii's and permanent hives of inactivity such as the Connors, Maria, Whizzy and Garry at the front of the show is going to send the rating soaring, she is very badly mistaken! The A team are for actual airtime scenes, the B team are called that for a reason - their meant to be in the background - and in the case of most of them, they should sodding well stay there. If I'm watching a show I want to see the organ grinders not the bloody monkeys, if I wanted to see those I'd go to a zoo!

I can't say I'm impressed so far. It's hard to tell what's hers and what isn't: The latest Nick/Leanne reunion is excruciating and demonstrates a massive dearth of imagination, but that's probably not her fault since it seems to have been set in motion before she joined. Similarly, Maria seemed to be coming to the forefront long before Ms Oates appeared on the credits, with the beginning of her involvement with Kate and Caz, and I've seen no discernible change in the character. I'm not convinced we're seeing a cross-section of characters either, it seems to be the same old favourites being pushed while the likes of Kevin, Anna, Chesney, Sinead, Kirk, Beth, Dev, Erica, Steph and Andy continue to get nothing. (Beth's storyline with Craig even seems to have disappeared since Oates took over!)

The suddenly fractious Nazir marriage seems to be pure Oates and is rather unwelcome. I'm sure everyone would agree that the Nazirs have been rather pointless all year: Breaking up Alya and Gary left them with no connection to anyone in the street, leaving us with the barely-registering Zeedan/Rana relationship and Yasmeen's funny arguments with Sally to occupy them. But a retcon of massive character assassination proportions really wasn't the answer and leaves me fearful that she'll make as big a mess of this show as she did of Emmerdale. I think/hope that Corrie has too strong a moral code for it to get that bad but I'm still worried.

Kate Oates, Kate Oates, Kate Oates..... Have people got pictures of her on their bedroom wall?

As I said before you would think we were talking about Spielberg. Most people out there wouldn't have a clue who she is.

Episodes have been dreadful for quite a while and if anything they are still getting worse. It appears she has created a mass of unbelievable/stupid contrived storylines.

I really hope there no move afoot to artificially give The Street a more youthful appeal.

why does it have a poll then? people opinions will change over time but they can only vote once.

Just intrigued to see what the current consensus out there is.

She murdered Emmerdale.
She revamped old storylines very badly and unbelievably.
She trashed long term characters history.
She flooded the place with babies.
She brought in lots of new young (unknown and cheap) actors and overused them.
She almost ignored the stalwarts and when she did use them they were unrecognisable, or she got rid.
She loves OTT stunts.
She's death to soaps. She might be OK in Hollyoaks or Postman Pat.
Perhaps when viewing figures plummet those in charge will take action.

I was an avid Emmerdale fan. I still have it on but I've hardly watched for months.

The Kylie death was a Stuart Blackburn story.

Like Lea I will wait for a while before voting in the poll but I would at the moment come somewhere between loving it & so-so!!

I would hardly describe Anna as 'getting nothing' under Blackburn, she must have been one of his most utilised characters surely!!
Disagree about Maria, it's only the last couple of months since Carla's departure that she's had anything at all beyond the dire return storyline which lasted all of a week!!
The Nazir s/l as I already stated I'm absolutely with you on, it's horrendous!!

Maybe Anna was well-utilised at one point, but since she dropped out of the Phelan storyline she's been little more than an extra stood behind the counter in the café. I agree that Maria's started getting more to do recently, I'm just not sure if we should give all the credit to Oates. She's only been in charge for a couple of weeks and, as you say, it started to build up months ago.

It's way too soon to make any judgement in my opinion really. It's worth baring in mind that not all of what's on screen at the moment will be her work, and it will still take another few months for the episodes to be truly produced by her.

Corrie 'a not amazing but it's not terrible either. I'm finding it much better than EastEnders at the moment rand it's been very rare I've said that at any point in the last few years. Not only that, but at least we actually have some sort of idea of the new Corrie producer's vision for the show. (Again, we could do with another new soap producer revealing theirs).

There's certainly a lot to look forward to.

I do agree that there is a lot to look forward to. I'm looking forward to seeing the twists and turns in Phelan's arc, as he and Vinny continue their scheming. We're also seeing more characters getting drawn into this web with his attempts next week to use Alex in manipulating Sally's views on the proposed development, which then leads to her and Tim clashing. Todd is hot on his heels and is bound to uncover the truth about him at some point. Over the past number of months we've seen Bruno Langley used a lot more efficiently and it's been glorious to see him back at the forefront of the show after being underused for so long. His involvement in the discovery of Callum's body, his surprising relationship with Billy and his suspicions of Pat have all been highlights, as well as the exploration of his close bond with Sarah. Kate Oates, please continue to give use a lot more Todd in the future!

I'm also looking forward to the returns of Peter Barlow, Adam Barlow and Daniel Osborne. The Barlow family unit has long been the mainstay of the Street for many years, but is in need of rebuilding with the absence of the much-missed Deirdre and Blanche. Peter's brief return for Deirdre's funeral last year was excellent, and another timely reminder of how brilliant the Barlows can be, when the writing is right- I'm continuing to whitewash the awful Nessa from all memories.

I did say earlier that I was going to mention my negatives and- in a nutshell- here they are:
Contrived Storytelling- this really typified a lot of Blackburn's work and sadly we!re still seeing some of it with Oates. One recent example was Maria buying the pregnancy test for Michelle and who happens to walk in after her and get the wrong end of the stick, only the man she had an ill-advised bunk-up with the previous week! Really? Also, I'm not buying Sharif as a love cheat. Given that we have always seen him as a loyal, dedicated and faithful husband to Yasmeen, the recent reveal that he's actually been cheating on her for the past seven years is just totally implausible and out-of-character. We've never seen any hint of their marriage being fraught at any point, so what exactly led him down this path? I just don't buy it. Molvin and Peterina were disastrous for numerous reasons, but mainly because they were so plot-driven they were nonsensical. There were no reasons for Kevin and Peter to fall into the arms of other women and it just became tedious viewing. I fear the same could actually happen with Sharif and Sonia.

Way too early to tell.

Maria's Single White Female storyline is starting to kick off I see. It's just a shame that Rhea Bailey is such a poor actress, although I find the character more tolerable that she's not with Kate- a much better character without Caz.

I'm actually interested in storylines again, although I don't like the Steve/Leanne plot. The Maria/Aidan stuff needs to step up a notch if it's going to be something other than another cheating storyline.

It's amazing what some decent screen time and a storyline can do for characters - I like the Nazirs now. I think Kate has proven (although I know there is a long way to go) that you don't have to kill characters off, you just need to give them what they need.

As I always said with Blackburn, the problems at Corrie run far deeper than one person. Kate Oates might be able to make some changes and she certainly seems the type of individual to get what she wants in a professional and measured way but there are other people who are more senior to her who, in my opinion, are keeping the show stuck in its current rut.

Terrible.

Nazirs (at an extend apart from the stupid affair) and Platts are fine. Rest is awful, evidenced from the nonsense with the film night at the factory.

Tis is true. But doubt anyone will notice, the same thing will be repeated over and over. In three years people will be looking to her successor as the saviour.