I am not trying to drag anyone down believe me.
I am just trying to understand where those enjoying it are coming from thats all. It was not a horrendous episode by any means, i did smile a couple of times. Only a couple though

There have been far worse episodes over the past few weeks. Though last nights probably had the weirdest duff duff yet, well weirdest since Ian's ''i'll put the kettle on'' duff duff.

People enjoy different things, I guess. I don't have the same emotional attachment to different era of EastEnders or different characters so I feel I generally watch a bit less 'critically' than others on here. And I don't think there's anything wrong with being critical, so long as it's constructive, but at the same time I think it's important to respect differing opinions. Like I said, I found last night's episode funny and poignant and I don't think I need to justify those feelings particularly. I think it's fairly self explanatory from watching the episode that they were going for that sort of tone; whether it succeeded or not is down to personal opinion but for me it did. I've really enjoyed this panto storyline generally and I loved the melodrama of everything going wrong last night. Having done a bit of community theatre when I was a teenager it brought back a lot of fond memories.

To the people who aren't enjoying the show at present: we get it. You don't have to keep repeating "it's never been this boring" over and over. It adds nothing to the discussion and isn't constructive. At least the people who are enjoying it, like myself, are offering reasons why they like it and have outlined specific areas we think have improved.

These constant "I'm not watching any more" and "SOC is rubbish" threads, without any constructive discussion, are so tedious. It really is dragging the forum down.

I found the episode where Ollie walked rather lovely. I know it wasn't popular on here but to me that was a nice episode.

I have never been a fan of the Mitchell's but I have found the past few episodes rather sad. Phil going off to see the Hammer's new ground was almost like him saying goodbye. The fact he went to Billy to organise his funeral was also touching. We can see the way Phil is thinking now.

For me I like this stuff, if I want to see mass murders and crimes I will go and watch a good drama. After all Taggart is on non-stop on one of the random Sky channels.

Sorry Vaslav but

The ratings haven't dropped though

I actually like that the storylines gel better together and have more of an orderly flow to it now, rather than crash bang, storylines happen out of nowhere, characters have personality transplants to fit the storylines, or having a storyline that is poorly sequenced and disjointed and farcial like we had under DTC.

I agree with the OP in some way though, that some of the dialogues are boring and pointless. But I willl have to wait until Chrismas to draw a full conclusion because that is when we should be seeing better written storylines and full intense climax drama.

DID we really need yet another thread on this? Some of us are actually liking it atm tho not everyone hates it

Do we know that Belinda was actually axed though? Maybe the actress only signed a short term contract.

christmas ep will be the real turning point, if it doesnt deliever then i know for sure SOC is rubbish. He better have something good lined up!!!

As long as people are being respectfull then you don't need to think about why others are enjoying the show. Different strokes for different folks.

Many people here have explained in detail why they are enjoying the show already.

I thought that was sweet but contrived at the same time. Every baby I know has taken it's first steps holding on to the furniture. I don't know any baby who has just waked overnight

Oh my gosh, the roll eyes smiley is back! This has made my Christmas

It's a revival of the Newman "Love and Warmth" era except even more sickening. I think the forum has been taken over by body snatchers because Newman was slaughtered for delivering this sort of tripe but now it's being praised!

I know it's the best present ever

As I said in another thread, I think the difference between this era and Newman's was that Newman's was full of either utterly obnoxious characters (the Branning scum) or tedious ones (the Hartmans). At least SOC has gone out of his way to make the characters likeable again, even some of the worst ones have had a complete turrnaround - Jane and Ian for example. I'm enjoying the greater emphasis on character, but I appreciate it isn't for everyone. The current tone couldn't be more different to that of DTC.

I can't stand Jane and Ian. They were much better when Bobby was around to keep them in line

I find Carsmell, her dolt of a son, Poxy Roxy and all the Carters bar Shirley absolutely abbhorent. I've gone off Ben too with his moody bullshit and I wish Philth would just drop dead already. I don't mind the Fowlers, Patrick, Dot, Kathy and Derek and a few of the Mitchells but I'm struggling to engage with the show right now.

How come you don't like Linda? Don't you like Phil?

Oooooh!

I can't believe it's back! Yay!

Oh this is great! I really missed the roll eyes smiley!



Wow. This has distracted me so much to the point where I have forgotten what I was originally going to post.

I'm watching this week for the first time in weeks, in the hope something might happen.

I thought tonight was excellent. I loved how Phil represents Ebenezer Scrooge

The ghost of Christmas past is on it's way.

To be fair Les I sympathise, I have watched EE since its very first episode. Kirkwood, whatever her name was and SOC are the only producers to make me "able" to miss episodes.

Kirkwood because of his utterly horrific story writing but my reasons for SOC episodes are very different, its not because they've been bad they just haven't been very interesting. However I think the rot from Kirkwood was so bad it's still in recovery from his work, even DTC could not free it from it fully. DTC obsession with over sensationalism didn't help the show either, where SOC I believe is trying to get the show back to basics.

The solid everyday life scenes are back YEY! We just need some juicy hard hitting drama slotting into these episode and we might just have our old EE back.

So although currently I may miss the odd episode, I actually have faith that for the first time in a long time EE might be near the end of actually recovering from the shit that has been instilled on it over the past years.

I am little concerned about him potentially killing off two major characters.

I stopped watching ages ago but dip into it now and then, never more than once or twice a week and it's been utterly boring when I have seen it. It's been far too Mitchell heavy. I wish they'd kill off Phil and send Sharon to America with Michelle during Christmas. Can't stand either of them or Michelle come to that.

Nobody " makes" you do anything.

You decided to stop watching.
Your choice
Your opinion.

We don't need a thread on it.