can Eastenders ever get it right in the critics eyes?

[Johnny Allen]

Ok Eastenders has had some down points in recent months, but with some excellent additions (Max, Tanya, Denise, Kevin, Owen) and some good storylines the soap has improved in recent months. Take last weeks episodes with Denise and Owen, some fantastic episodes, wonderfully acted by all, and well written, yet still the critic in the News of the world dismisses Eastenders and tears into it. The same few weeks ago, someone in the news of the world did the same with Honeys wedding (which I personally felt was hilarious). So basically EE gets it wrong when it does humour, and gets it wrong when it does drama as well.

My point is this, why do they watch these shows only to mock them? why dont they lay into other soaps as well? (Corries been going downhill for a couple of months now). I'm just wondering as to why they cant heap some praise onto EE when it gets it right. Thoughts?

[Siobhan]

I think EE is one of those soap the critics love to hate.. they will always find something wrong with it no matter how good it gets.. It has improved so much in the recent weeks as they are getting quality actors and not those that just look good

[alan45]

My point is this, why do they watch these shows only to mock them? why dont they lay into other soaps as well? (Corries been going downhill for a couple of months now). I'm just wondering as to why they cant heap some praise onto EE when it gets it right. Thoughts?

It's their job to watch them and write an entertaining article about them. Personally I enjoy, Jim Shelley, Gary Bushell, Kevin O'Sullivan et al. These critics criticise EE because like me they are old enough:crying: to remember EE as it was way back then. EE nowadays is catering for a different/younger audience and old dinosaurs like me just cannot put up with the ill researched and badly acted improbable storylines. I hate the way characters recieve a different personality depending on who appears to be writing the script.

I have to disagree with you about Corrie going downhill over the last few months. In my opinion it has been improving but then again opinions are subjective. You think EE has been great others disagree, you think Corrie is going downhill, again others disagree with you. Most people on here are divided into either EE or Corrie camps while EMMERDALE which has in most people's opinion has of late been the best of the three yet doesnt get the recognition it deserves.

[EE Rocks]

No!! They can't and it does my head in- there soooo up Corrie and Emmie's **** it's unbelieveable. EE was great last week, but no EE can't do no right, even when it's good. Anyhow, I bet Kate Harwood isn't losing any sleep over them anyway. Just get used to it- I mean i heard the were praising corrie last year (in it's bad patch???)

[Bryan]

it's there job to riducle soaps, and they use Eastenders as an easy target because of it's bad patch in 2004/2005. Granted there are still some weak episodes...but it is unfair how it's only ever Eastenders they lay into, and they probably will forever more. At the end of the day critics are 40 something fat divorcees who have nothing better to do than to slate actors/writers hard work.

[EE Rocks]

it's there job to riducle soaps, and they use Eastenders as an easy target because of it's bad patch in 2004/2005. Granted there are still some weak episodes...but it is unfair how it's only ever Eastenders they lay into, and they probably will forever more. At the end of the day critics are 40 something fat divorcees who have nothing better to do than to slate actors/writers hard work.

I agree, and yep it is their job to riducle soaps...but why just EE?? I mean, I'd rather they weren't biased if their critics.

[alan45]

. EE was great last week, but no EE can't do no right, even when it's good.

Thats your opinion. Personally I thought it was poor. Do check Kevin O'Sullivan he slated Emmerdale too so obviously he is not up their @@@@ either. Recently he criticised Corrie when it deserved it:rolleyes:

[Chris_2k11]

:eek: alan how can you say last week's EastEnders was poor :eek: I am in shock.

[alan45]

:eek: alan how can you say last week's EastEnders was poor :eek: I am in shock. To me it was a pale imitation of Trevor and Mo. Then again as I said earlier thats my opinion. I can agree to differ with you. After all you loved Noreen Bell

[Chris_2k11]

After all you loved Noreen BellHow could you bring a poor old dead lady into this? :crying: :( That was just lower than low alan. :rotfl: :D

[Katy]

To me it was a pale imitation of Trevor and Mo. Then again as I said earlier thats my opinion.
Thats exactly what my dad said, it was really simular.

As for the critics, it would be boring to read if they said everything was perfect all the time as its not. Theres always going to be a dadgy performance or a bad bit of writing, nothings Perfect remember.

[Babe14]

Actors/Actresses have to be prepared for critcism and most recognise the fact that they will get pulled to pieces, espec if they are "popular" If an actor is receiving critism then IMO they are doing there job correctly, in a lot of incidents, if they don't receive critism then they are not. All TV programmes and not just soaps receive critism from critcs etc, it is a critcs profession to pull a programme to bits. Like in anything you have nice critics and you have mean ones. A lot of the time I do think the critcs critism is unfair and uncalled for, at the end of the day they are no better than the tabloids.

Like Alan45 I too can be classed as one of those old dinosaurs who have seen Eastenders at it's best and seen it's decline over the years. The main reason being duff scripts, under use of good actors/actresses, destroying characters personalities and over use of others. They don't get the balance right as other soaps, such as Emmerdale seem to.
No it is not an easy job being a writer you have to keep your ideas fresh all the time which the Australian and ITV ones seem to manage. However the writers at Eastenders seem to fail in this. Also not everyone likes the same type of storylines, this is why it is very important to have the right mix.
I agree this week there has been some good drama and "other" scenes in the soap, but it still isn't up to scratch, they drag things out to long and things become boring.
Corrie does receive a lot of critism too, a few of the actors are being given a hard time at the moment.

Unfortunately recognisiton and praise isn't dished out so freely when a soap/Tv Programme is doing well and producing good quality material etc.
The world of Entertainment is a very rough/tough one.
Anyway those are a few of my thoughts on the topic:)

[Richie_lecturer]

Well I'm not enjoying EE either. I haven't watched regularly since the long nights, and what I have seen bits of in recent months hasn't impressed me, e.g. last week's.

That's not to say the competition is much better either (which HAS actually been criticised by these reviewers in recent weeks). Corrie was good last week but has been rather inconsistent since Mike's storyline, and last night was a good example of this. Emmerdale has been the best of the three of late, with Alice's death storyline, and the fallout of the explosion.

Until EE stop changing character's personalities more times than I make a cup of coffee every day, get some consistency in their writing, and employ a decent set of storyliners, I will continue to boycott the show.

Incidentally there was some praise from those Red Top critics for EE last week. It wasn't all bad news for them.

[Pinkbanana]

Oh I think Enders has improved no end over the last few months! I have to say I didn't watch it much 2004/2005, but coming back to it this year, with a fresh pair of eyes (so to speak!) I think its got a lot better both in terms of the writing and characters (the acting now it superb).

Enders has got its self in to a situation, I seems to me, where it can't win. People love to slag it off, and fair enough if thats what they enjoy spending their time doing. :confused:

Though people who have watched it, with an open rather than critical mind, in recent times must see compared to the last couple of years (when it was rather dire) its made a marked improvement, and continues to do so (for me) with each passing week.

Yeah, Enders is different from how it use to be, so isnt every other soap? They have to change with the times and evolve......look at how Emmerdale has completely changed over the last 10 years +.

Moreover, I don't think because its changed it necessarily means that its dumbed down. It is a soap after all, and after a hard day's work, it fulfils my requirement of watchable tv, but that doesnt mean I'm not intelligent (like some people would argue, that all Enders viewers are youngsters who dont know their own minds etc..., which I find rather insulting) just because I enjoy the soap.

Enders it seems to me, has become the whipping boy of the critics.....some criticism of it is fair, and expected like with every soap, but I think it gets far more that it deserves. The critics need to be a little more non partisan...

[Richie_lecturer]

I don't think it's necessarily because of that. I've watched it since day 1, and of course all things have to evolve and develop, but EE in recent years has been totally dumbed down (at times), partly because the Beeb told EE to start focusing on a younger audience. Nobody on here believes that whoever likes EE these days is a 10 year old, and that was never implied. It is just some of the gritty things it did for the first 17 years of its existence have (until I stopped watching) disappeared, which isn't very good if it wants to hang onto its adult audience in the long term.

Emmerdale had to change because it would have got the axe otherwise, a threat not yet witnessed by either EE or Corrie.

The critics have certainly praised EE over the last 3-4 years on a number of occasions, although more often than not they are critical of it. Don't forget Corrie had the same situation with the press in the late 90s/early 00s as EE has at the moment, and that was deserved as well.

[diamond1]

I think Eastenders is'nt that bad after all if like me most of the time and you come home from a hard nights work at about 1 in the morning and you put on your tv replay service to watch eastenders you dont tend to notice any faults,bad acting,character changes because your too tired-its not to bad.However when I am fully aware I only notice the really really bad like rebecca and bens acting (but I am not moaning at them at all I mean they're only kids) and stuff like that.

I am grateful that I dont have to endure that horrible ferreira family anymore or witness that hideous fun fair disaster again....
If you witnessed all that you will know that EE has come leaps and bounds and actually thinking back look at the stars in it back then leslie grantham,nigel harman,jessie wallace,shane richie,lettia dean and christopher parker(:lol: )
they where at the time prety much the main stars and everyone was intrested in them -yet we all moaned at it (and still are) so now we got better scripts people are moaning because they dont who is who and little things like that.

However when they introduced a lesbian affair involving sonia I think they crossed the line BIG time I mean that was just to try and shock us and it actually insulted lesbians and insulted my stomach

[x Amby x]

i thought that EastEnders was great last week, the critics always feel the need to pick on EastEnders probably because theysee it as an easy target! which i feel is stupid, they focus all their bad points around EastEnders! The other soaps have bad points too!

[EE Rocks]

Well Said I-lov-Joe-Swash!! I don't mind them dissing EE, because i know it's far from perfect, but like you said they just focus on ee's bad points and not the others which also have them.

[crazygirl]

i have watched eastenders from the very start and in my opinion eastenders has got worse its not like it used to be! but i still watch it :lol:

[alan45]

i have watched eastenders from the very start and in my opinion eastenders has got worse its not like it used to be! but i still watch it :lol:Well said. I think thats the yardstick it should be measured against not just on the basis of one or two good episodes every so often. It lacks the consistency of the past.

[alan45]

I don't mind them dissing EE, because i know it's far from perfect, I totally agree with you on that

[x Amby x]

i thinks its all the new character they keep adding, there have been some good ones (i.e Tanya, max etc...) But all the ones that left last year were the popular ones which is why its probably gone downhill a bit!

[EE Rocks]

I totally agree with you on that

You misquoted what I meant. I meant I don't mind them dissing EE sometimes, but i do mind every other week. Sooo far up Emmerdale's **** they are. Now EE isn't perfect but neither is Emmerdale or Corrie!!!

[alan45]

You misquoted what I meant. I meant I don't mind them dissing EE sometimes, but i do mind every other week. Sooo far up Emmerdale's **** they are. Now EE isn't perfect but neither is Emmerdale or Corrie!!! I did not misquote what you posted. I quoted exactly what you posted and agreed with it.

[crazygirl]

i think they ruin it when they keep bringing new people in all the time

[alan45]

i think they ruin it when they keep bringing new people in all the time Yes and constantly changing the characters personalities and bring people back from the dead or Rio

[EE Rocks]

.......But alas i am grateful it's not a diaster happening every week.:angel: :)

[alan45]

Im not suprised we all remember what happened with the Cardboard Funfair disaster.

Nowadays they appear to confine their disasters to scriptwriting:rotfl:

[Richie_lecturer]

You misquoted what I meant. I meant I don't mind them dissing EE sometimes, but i do mind every other week. Sooo far up Emmerdale's **** they are.
So why were they (unfairly imo) slaggging Emmerdale off last week in the papers? Stop believing what you want to hear, and do some research.

[callummc]

sad to say but for once i think the critics have got it right,its downright boring and if it carrys on the critics will bore of watching it to,at least the critics are writing aout it,when they stop they'll be no-one "talking about it".

[littlemo]

I love Eastenders at the moment, and the future storylines sound brilliant! I don't think i'm in the minority.

Great characters, mostly the new ones are doing the best job. The Brannings, superb! The Foxes, pretty good. Stacey Slater of course her usual talented self!

[callummc]

to each his own,personally i think its down to the writing,no new ideas and most of the new charectors remind me of old ones probably cos their getting scripts that seem to be copied from old episodes

[crazygirl]

I love Eastenders at the moment, and the future storylines sound brilliant! I don't think i'm in the minority.

Great characters, mostly the new ones are doing the best job. The Brannings, superb! The Foxes, pretty good. Stacey Slater of course her usual talented self! i dont like the foxes especially that chelsea

[Babe14]

i dont like the foxes especially that chelsea

Chelsea is terrible and not a good actress at all, she hasn't improved.
Denise I like, Squiggle has grown on me, but they are being pushed in our faces far too much through being used week in week out. They ruin characters this way and the storylines, things become very boring.
Mean the coming week we have The Foxes and Sonia/Martin AGAIN!!!

[Babe14]

to each his own,personally i think its down to the writing,no new ideas and most of the new charectors remind me of old ones probably cos their getting scripts that seem to be copied from old episodes

Exactly and once again we agree.:) They need to do some serious overhaul in the writing department and maybe again in the production department also. Too much repetition and digging up of old scripts for which they are using the wrong characters and thus failing.

[DaVeyWaVey]

I love Eastenders at the moment and it definetly has improved with its characters and storylines but critics are there to criticise so no matter how good the show gets, they will always try their best to pick out something that is wrong with it. To be honest, critics don't bother me, i don't care what they think, they will never stop me from watching a certain tv programme.

[alan45]

Exactly and once again we agree.:) Too much repetition and digging up of old scripts for which they are using the wrong characters and thus failing. Last week was a good example of this. A rehashing of the Lil Mo/Trevor storyline only it was poorly acted and scripted.

[EE Rocks]

Actually it was brilliantly acted and scripted. I don't think it was a re-hash of little Mo and Trevor and it annoys me when people constantly say that. Little Mo and Denise are well different, Denise stuck up for herself whereas Mo didn't. Trevor was quite a pantomine characer, whereas i thought owen was more believeable. I learnt no matter what ee do, they can't win. Even if it was a re-hash at least EE have the guts to do this kind of thing unlike the rest that shy away things like this.....

[alan45]

Trevor was quite a pantomine characer, whereas i thought owen was more believeable. I learnt no matter what ee do, they can't win. Even if it was a re-hash at least EE have the guts to do this kind of thing unlike the rest that shy away things like this.....

Oh dearie me ho sad to call Trevor a cartoon character :rolleyes: Lisa Trevor played by the wonderful Alex Fearns was brilliant. Superb acting by a brilliant actor unlike the piss pauvre performance we had to witness this week. It dosent take guts to locate an old script and rehash it. It takes guts to take an old script and make it better something EE is patently incapable of. To say that Trevor and Mo are cartoons compared with last weeks dross show a complete inability to understand drama. The two twats who tried to serve up the rehashed Trevor and Mo story were not fit to lace Alex Fearns shoes

[callummc]

i have to agree with you allen trevor was great as was little mo,its a shame the writers ruined little mo with one rape to many,this new domestic violence storyline for me is one to many and had more holes than a tetley teabag,i want to know how denise knew he was in the flat and why if she was so frightened she wanted to take him on alone,she seems like a good actress and was ok in the bill but in ee she's getting to annoy me,maybe she's not made such a good career change,for me shes just eva out of the bill reading little mos old scripts,ee is just so predictable most of us knew the script that was coming probably before the actors were given them,i'm gutted really cos i really wanted ee to prove the critics wrong and turn the corner not do a u turn

[alan45]

,i'm gutted really cos i really wanted ee to prove the critics wrong and turn the corner not do a u turn We all do but producer after producer has promised us great things and failed to deliver. EE was great once and should be able to become great again but the writers and the producers continuously shoot themselves in the foot by going for the quick fix. Take the return of the magnificent Mitchells :rolleyes: for instance. To bring them back they had to frorget about Phils crimes , no problem ther just bribe the Metropolitan Police, the CPS, the Forensic service, intimidate all the witnesses and hire a super lawyer Sorted:rolleyes: Oh what about Gwant having to flee to Rio. Lets just pretend that never really happened. Bring him back with a personality transplant Then we had the small manner of Super Gangster Johnny Allen. What do we do about him. Lets make him have a road to Damascus conversion and give up his life of crime and confess to all his past misdemaenours, Give up his country mansion to spend 27 years in a 6' x 4' cell, So realistic. All this on the influence of a teenage daughter.

And then they wonder why the critics pan them:rolleyes:

[Babe14]

We all do but producer after producer has promised us great things and failed to deliver. EE was great once and should be able to become great again but the writers and the producers continuously shoot themselves in the foot by going for the quick fix. Take the return of the magnificent Mitchells :rolleyes: for instance. To bring them back they had to frorget about Phils crimes , no problem ther just bribe the Metropolitan Police, the CPS, the Forensic service, intimidate all the witnesses and hire a super lawyer Sorted:rolleyes: Oh what about Gwant having to flee to Rio. Lets just pretend that never really happened. Bring him back with a personality transplant Then we had the small manner of Super Gangster Johnny Allen. What do we do about him. Lets make him have a road to Damascus conversion and give up his life of crime and confess to all his past misdemaenours, Give up his country mansion to spend 27 years in a 6' x 4' cell, So realistic. All this on the influence of a teenage daughter.
And then they wonder why the critics pan them:rolleyes:

In reality an Eastend Gangster of Johnny's original quality, before they destroyed the character, would never hand themselves over to the cops even if thier daughter or other family member begged them to do so. They would either "Sort It" or go into the "Under Ground"

With regards to this weeks domestic violence storyline, to me it was a mix of Trevor/Lil Mo, Matthew/Carmel, so a slightly different scenareo to Lil Mo/Trevor for me. I liked it because it showed the abuser also beaten an emotional wreck and not walking away from the situation without any consequences for him. However, I can't say I enjoyed the storyline as the scenes dragged on to long and became boring. Also the characters invovled are being over used as they are in our faces week in week out.
So I agree with most of your comments but slightly disagree at the same time:)

[Chris_2k11]

We all do but producer after producer has promised us great things and failed to deliver. EE was great once and should be able to become great again but the writers and the producers continuously shoot themselves in the foot by going for the quick fix. Take the return of the magnificent Mitchells :rolleyes: for instance. To bring them back they had to frorget about Phils crimes , no problem ther just bribe the Metropolitan Police, the CPS, the Forensic service, intimidate all the witnesses and hire a super lawyer Sorted:rolleyes: Oh what about Gwant having to flee to Rio. Lets just pretend that never really happened. Bring him back with a personality transplant Then we had the small manner of Super Gangster Johnny Allen. What do we do about him. Lets make him have a road to Damascus conversion and give up his life of crime and confess to all his past misdemaenours, Give up his country mansion to spend 27 years in a 6' x 4' cell, So realistic. All this on the influence of a teenage daughter.

And then they wonder why the critics pan them:rolleyes:

well when you put it like that..... :eek: :hmm:

[Mr Humphries]

I do think that Max & Tanya and Denise and Owen, plus Kevin Wicks have been a good thing to the soap, the only thing is will Eastenders allow them to stay and keep the storylines good. We know that Eastenders can make and break people overnight.

Eastenders have an awful long way to go, now Emmerdale and Corrie are on top of the heap and have no sign of falling from it either

[Johnny Allen]

I do not watch Emmerdale so I cant comment and I dont want to start a whole Corrie vs Eastenders debate, but I fail to see why Corrie gets so much praise, it was fantastic a year or so ago but now everything is one drag, and they too are losing alot of the cast.