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Criminally underused characters in Corrie


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Old 25-11-2005, 19:57
MattPond
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I'm growing angry at the amount of characters that are being underused in Coronation Street at the expense of other, weaker, characters. Characters that are underused include Rita, Eileen and Violet, the latter of whom shined on Wednesday's second episode. Such a shame then that in any other episode she is given barely a minute's airtime, while characters like Cilla make the show look more like a Comic Relief spoof than a drama.

Why are farcical characters such as Les, Cilla, Molly, etc, and terrible characters such as Dev, being favoured over those that viewers clearly prefer? WHY? :sleep: Because the bosses don't have a clue, that's why.

Wednesday's 10pm episode was great - and it's not often I say that about Coronation Street at the moment. It was slick and professional. Good direction, good writing, and good acting. Jenny Platt was fabulous, as was Helen Worth as Gail, Sue Cleaver as Eileen, and to a lesser but still valid extent, Tina O'Brian as Sarah and Ryan Thomas as Jason. It was a million miles away from what we normally see. Despite being slightly let down by a couple of scenes, it was definitely - IMO - in the running for one of Corrie's episodes of the year.

Such a shame then, that such a great episode was on at 10 o'clock in the evening.

This isn't the first time ITV have put good episodes out at 10 o'clock. This time last year, Mad Maya's final episode, featuring explosions and car crashes, was shunted to 10pm, meaning it recieved a fraction of the audience it deserved. Utterly pathetic. :sleep: IMO, the blame lies primarily with Granada. They are putting dull and farcial characters first with simply great characters in the background...

I suggest Steve Frost, when he joins, to phase out the overused characters - either by axing them or giving them a smaller part - and to give the underused characters a chance to shine - AT A DECENT TIME (not 10pm ). Of course, the latter is the fault of ITV, but we'll not get into that. :sleep:
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Old 25-11-2005, 20:01
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Leanne has had some stories but the whole Jamie/Danny thing is boring - give her new meat! A new character in a new story.
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Old 25-11-2005, 20:35
missglitter
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I'd like to see;

More of: Violet, Eileen, Janice, Leanne, Mike....

Less of: Shelly, The Baldwins, Roy, Les & Cilla & co.
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Old 25-11-2005, 20:36
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Originally Posted by missglitter
I'd like to see;

More of: Violet, Eileen, Janice, Leanne, Mike....

Less of: Shelly, The Baldwins, Roy, Les & Cilla & co.
I like the Baldwins but Danny is boring - he's a idiot.
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Old 25-11-2005, 20:47
iiHEARTy0u
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I think Shelly is overused and Sarah Platt!

-Brodie
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Old 25-11-2005, 20:59
JPS Corrie King
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Before the last couple of weeks I would say that David was very underused

Other great characters that are underused are
Jack
Vera
Tyrone
Rita
Fred
Kelly
Croppers

Those overused include
Baldwins
Shelley
Tracey
Les and Cilla (although I do like them but not in large quantity)
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Old 25-11-2005, 21:28
SULLA
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The cast is so big it is difficult to feature everyone the same.

But we do need more ' Claire in the Community'
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Old 25-11-2005, 21:32
Myangel
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Overused: Danny, Frankie, Jamie, Leanne, Tracey, Steve, Cilla, Les, Fiz, Sunita, Deeeevvvv, Sarah
Underused: Liz, Ashley, Fred, Shelly, Chesney, Kirk, Maria, Audrey, Betty, David
& I expect there are several others I could mention, however everyone had a different opinion on this.
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Old 25-11-2005, 22:32
JPS Corrie King
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Originally Posted by Myangel
Overused: Danny, Frankie, Jamie, Leanne, Tracey, Steve, Cilla, Les, Fiz, Sunita, Deeeevvvv, Sarah
Underused: Liz, Ashley, Fred, Shelly, Chesney, Kirk, Maria, Audrey, Betty, David
& I expect there are several others I could mention, however everyone had a different opinion on this.
How can you say Shelleys underused ? She has been in the main story this year with her relationship with Charlie not to mention the whole Peter Barlow thing a couple of years ago
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Old 25-11-2005, 22:43
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We need to get rid of some deadwood to reduce the cast size. I know that Sunita, Janice, Jessie & Shelley will be leaving next year but it's still too big to give underused characters some airtime.

They need to get rid of:

Dev
Diggory
Molly
Joanne

I know that's not many but it's a start

I do, however, like the idea that characters are not in every single episode for ages and in fear of overkill and gives time for others to get there storyline aired and reverting back to them to remind us that they are still there and continue along.
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Old 25-11-2005, 23:06
Cstar2229
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Originally Posted by iiHEARTy0u
I think Shelly is overused and Sarah Platt!

-Brodie
By most of the men in the street
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Old 25-11-2005, 23:13
Thriller
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There's a lot of dead wood in Corrie if you ask me, and they're getting too much screentime.

Joanne and Jessie - Who the hell cares? You wouldn't notice if they never came back.

Kelly - Was tipped to be the next Karen McDonald? Not in a million years.

Ashley and Claire - I know they have a storyline coming up with the return of Matt Ramsden but they're boring.

Kirk, Fizz and Molly - Couldn't care less for any of them, the characters are much too forced to be true.

Dev - How has he lasted six years in the soap? Should've been killed off years back.

Craig and Keith - The death of Tommy and Katy should've spelled the end for the Harris family, but no they decided to get another relative in and make him into a complete annoyance!
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Old 25-11-2005, 23:16
CharmedLassie
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I think we should see more:
Eileen, Violet, Frankie, Bev, Shelley, Sean, Jason, Lloyd and I also like Steve at the moment. Plus the oldies should get storylines, Rita and Emily especially. One that doesn't revolve around Norris.
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Old 25-11-2005, 23:22
Cstar2229
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Originally Posted by Thriller
There's a lot of dead wood in Corrie if you ask me, and they're getting too much screentime.

Joanne and Jessie - Who the hell cares? You wouldn't notice if they never came back.

Kelly - Was tipped to be the next Karen McDonald? Not in a million years.

Ashley and Claire - I know they have a storyline coming up with the return of Matt Ramsden but they're boring.

Kirk, Fizz and Molly - Couldn't care less for any of them, the characters are much too forced to be true.

Dev - How has he lasted six years in the soap? Should've been killed off years back.

Craig and Keith - The death of Tommy and Katy should've spelled the end for the Harris family, but no they decided to get another relative in and make him into a complete annoyance!

Kelly is like the woman Ray had the affair with before he left for the first time and just as charismatic - not!

The unconvincing twins :yawn:

Yes the Harris's are :yawn:

How do they make Claire look so old?? She must be only about 23

I like Fizz - she is so funny

Kirk is dim but nice, Molly is becoming another Cilla

Dev has been a bad boy in real life too - is he leaving??
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Old 26-11-2005, 09:39
LlamaKing
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I like Cilla's airtime! She's a fabulous addition to the cast. She makes me laugh with all her reemarks.
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Old 26-11-2005, 12:06
ReturntoXroads
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I do like Cilla and its nice to have the odd comic moment but they overuse far too many characters I want lots more Rita!

her last moment of glory was her imprisonment for hitting chesney- I think that was played so brilliantly we need something else to happen to her not neccesserily bad just something we need more kabin scenes her and norris work beautifully!
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Old 26-11-2005, 12:16
Lippincote
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I agree that Wednesday's 10pm episode was great. Shame it went out so late, but Corrie don't have any control over that. (I hated Mad Maya week so I wasn't bothered about some of the eps going out late.)

I think they are starting to use Violet really well. The problem they have though is that whereas in the past their 'classic characters' tended to stay for donkeys years (even if like Elsie they came and went from time to time), nowadays some of the really good younger actors decide to clear off (e.g. Toyah, Karen, Todd). That may mean the producers are reluctant to make any particular characters too 'important' because it then leaves a huge gap when they go (as with Karen).

However I agree Eileen is very underused. She is a wonderful character and ought to feature more strongly.

I agree the twins and Molly, Les, Diggory and Kirk are completely dispensable. I used to like Fizz but her storylines are now so focussed around the Battersbys and Kirk that she is also dispensable.

I like Kelly though, they have built her up slowly and she is growing on me.
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Old 26-11-2005, 13:56
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We need more of Ken, Deirdre, Emily, Rita, Betty, Blanche, Liz, Eileen, Violet, Sean (I would like him to have a serious story for a change, perhaps bring in his mother).....less of The Baldwins (bar Carol and maybe Frankie), Cilla, Les, Tracy, Steve, Shelley, The Websters (except Sophie).

Kelly will hopefully get better when
Spoiler
but I like her already. As for The Twins, why axe them? They don't bother me.

P.S The reason Mad Maya went out at 10pm was because some of the scenes weren't suitable for a 7.30 slot.
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Old 26-11-2005, 15:23
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I think the following are overused: Les and cilla (i like them but theyre in it too often) shelley, dev, the baldwins and molly. and these are underused: eileen, ken, craig and rosie (they need more scenes together instead of with their familys), violet, sean. probably some more but i just cant think of them at the moment.
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Old 26-11-2005, 16:46
Lippincote
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Originally Posted by corrie_addict
I think the following are overused: Les and cilla (i like them but theyre in it too often) shelley, dev, the baldwins and molly. and these are underused: eileen, ken, craig and rosie (they need more scenes together instead of with their familys), violet, sean. probably some more but i just cant think of them at the moment.
I know Dev currently has a major storyline, but apart from that he has barely been in it for many months.

I think our views of whether characters are overused depend on how much we like them - I don't think for example the Baldwins are over-used.
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Old 26-11-2005, 17:05
MattPond
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Originally Posted by Chubbler
P.S The reason Mad Maya went out at 10pm was because some of the scenes weren't suitable for a 7.30 slot.
I'm afraid that is not true.

You could blatantly tell by how the episodes had been aired that they had been intended to air over a specific number of days (like a week). In the end, they aired over 2 nights, rather than (I think) 5.

It was soo obvious because Friday's episodes had no relevance and had started a new week in the soap... they were suppose to air on the Sunday and Monday afterwards, but were moved forwards cos of all the extra episodes. :yawn:
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Old 26-11-2005, 17:27
femmebiotch
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Originally Posted by Lippincote
I know Dev currently has a major storyline, but apart from that he has barely been in it for many months.

I think our views of whether characters are overused depend on how much we like them - I don't think for example the Baldwins are over-used.

ICAM! I am really looking forward to the stuff coming up with the Baldwins. I think the show is reasonably well-balanced, give or take a few charactors - I could definatelly live without Molly, Diggory and the twins but on the whole, I'm not that unhappy with the split of time for the characters.

I think most of the characters have their storylines and then sit on the backburner for a while - that's the nature of sops with a reasonable sized cast.
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Old 26-11-2005, 18:06
JPS Corrie King
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Originally Posted by MattPond
I'm afraid that is not true.

You could blatantly tell by how the episodes had been aired that they had been intended to air over a specific number of days (like a week). In the end, they aired over 2 nights, rather than (I think) 5.

It was soo obvious because Friday's episodes had no relevance and had started a new week in the soap... they were suppose to air on the Sunday and Monday afterwards, but were moved forwards cos of all the extra episodes. :yawn:
I don't think thats right because they normally have a cliff hanger ending at the end of Mondays 1st episode which they write in intentionally
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Old 26-11-2005, 18:11
MattPond
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Originally Posted by JPS Corrie King
I don't think thats right because they normally have a cliff hanger ending at the end of Mondays 1st episode which they write in intentionally
Yes, they usually do but on Maya's Mad Monday, the first episode was obviously supposed to be on Sunday. :yawn: They basically plastered on an American-esque trailer saying, "A night to remember", just to make sure viewers knew that 8.30pm and 10pm's episodes were actually going to feature Maya. Look, okay I know I'm right here, there's just no denying it. :yawn:

The first ep should have been Sunday's, and Monday's 8.30pm and 10pm episodes should have been going otu at 7.30pm and 8.30pm. Then on Wednesday, the 7.30pm episode should have been where it was, but the 10pm episode should have been Friday's 7.30pm episode.

The 10pm episode, which featured the main climax, was meant to go out on a Friday night at 7.30pm for maximum ratings, but instead it went out at 10 o'clock and got the opposite results. ITV moved it all for ratings. That is FACT.
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