Anything to like about Coronation Street at the moment? Not much from where I'm sitting. And don't anyone dare tell me to "just stop watching then". I've been watching Corrie for years and I'm not about to stop now, just because it's hitting a slump.
And it is. I haven't written a blog post for ages because I've simply felt uninspired by the programme.
My favourite family is the Windasses (the Barlows were my favourites, till the awful Tracy came back). But I don't like the adoption storyline (nauseating) and Gary's PTSD seems to have all but disappeared. Get something from the magic Weatherfield doctor, did he? Like David Platt did for his "epilepsy"? I'm sick to the back teeth of half-baked plotlines. Goodness only knows what Eddie's exit storyline will be. I really dread to think.
As others have pointed out recently, great characters such as Graeme and Eddie are going to be a huge loss to the Street. And prolonging the contracts of terrible characters such as Tracy and Kylie is just piling on the agony.
The trail of destruction didn't end with the tram crash and the current production team seem to be revelling in the opportunity to wantonly pull down every treasured Coronation Street symbol, shaking things up just for the sake of it. What next - are they going to tarmac over the cobbles? Ken's too old to go through the stress of another campaign again.
It would be okay up to a point if they were making a decent job of it. But they aren't. The latest example is Audrey's salon. Yes, Audrey's seventy, and realistically it might be time for her to hang up her scissors. But do David and the dreadful Kylie really have to get their mitts on it? And the love triangle with Claud, Aud, and the incipient cross-dresser is an undignified disaster just waiting to happen. As for Mrs Hargreaves popping her clogs under the dryer - yes, up to a point it was a good black comedy moment, but also a bit of a cheap laugh, and a clumsy segue into well-loved character Audrey talking about her own will.
And what about the Xin/Graeme storyline - for pity's sake. But enough's been said about that already.
On the plus side, Ken and Deirdre soldier on with the Jonathan Harvey-penned specials -but is that merely a way of keeping them out of the main programme without ditching them altogether because they're too flaming old? The War of the Websters continues to be good value. And Chris Gascoyne is always great to watch.
But that's about it, as far as I'm concerned. Anyone else got any views on how Corrie is at the moment?
27 comments:
I stated my views a couple of posts down.
Agree with you seapenguin.
I'm feeling really jaded about my beloved Coronation Street at the moment.
Agree wholeheartedly. Corrie on the cobbles has definitely got the collywobbles and the cobbled together plots are turning it into cobblers. We don't need nastiness or ludicrously contrived storylines that do no-one any favours. We need believable plots with strong Northern character actors who can bring humour back to the Street. Needs an urgent rethink before the regulars switch off.
I like it, this time last year I was thinking the same of the show as you are thinking now, until around August last year we were treated to just three real storylines
Carla, Nick, Tony and the factory
John Stape stealing an identity
and Joe falling in the lake
Now nearly every character seems to get screentime, even Kirk is being seen more often, I do think some of the storylines are shoved to the side a little like you say though.
Gloom and doom abound on Corrie. The Websters battle, Dev hating Becky and Steve, Becky hating herself, Becky hating Kylie, Kylie showing up on the street again to be paired with that awful David, insipid dumb Xin storyline at Graeme's expense, depressed Maria, enraged Lloyd, psycho Owen.....not a merry person among them. I don't think I have ever seen so many poorly written stories at one time. The biggest blunder is the Bookies.....who is running that while Leanne and Peter are on honeymoon? Peter couldn't sack Nick (before the church chaos) because there was no one else and he depended on it for income. Hopefully Roy Cropper's Mom will inject some new humour.
I agree, There are so many gaping holes in the contrived plotlines, its just not fun to watch anymore. Im wondering if the writers are either exhausted after the tramtastic episodes or whether they are resting on their laurels. Either way - I cant remember being so bored or irritated by Corrie before and 2 unbelievable nasty characters (Tracy and Kylie) seem to be 2 too many. When you compare it to the days of the Ken/Deidre/Mike Baldwin love triangle and the Alan Bradley days....its just dire :-(
Agree. It's becoming nearly as dreary as Eastenders. Where's the humour and good writing? Thank goodness for the fast forward button.
Do you think every producer has a "slump" once they've come in and made their mark on Corrie? I think they do... and this could be Phil's slump too.
Perhaps Eddie will fly off into the Spanish sunset with Liz McDonald!!! lol. At least it'd raise a few brows, which is more than I can say for current plotlines!
I don't want to itemize each plotline here in this comment. The bottom line IMHO is that the characters are just uninteresting. I want to either love or hate characters on Corrie. Sure, there are few I could be on the fence of. What I don't want is to be BORED of them. The worst characters are boring characters with no, well, character!
Where is the banter? The idicyncracies? The REAL storylines? Something needs to happen in the writing department ASAP. Or Corrie will surely lose it's shine.
I agree with the entirety of seapenguin's blog!! Well said on all points! Enuf already with the dreadful storylines.
~JB in Canada
After the excitement of 50th week there was bound to be a bit of a slump sometime afterwards. Hopefully it won't last long, we have Liz & Jim coming back, if only briefly, the London special over easter, Dennis Tanner, Roy's mam and the continuing battling Websters so there's plenty for me to look forward to.
I agree whole heartedly! Done with the dreary story lines and the departures of some great characters. Need the humour and silly banter back!
In Coronation Street's glory days I used to marvel at the writers' ability to make funny/interesting stories out of nothing. (Hilda's "muriel" for example).
Now I marvel at the gaping holes in the stories and the inconsistencies from one episode to the other. The Xin storyline has been rightly mocked to death here, but last Friday Carla was telling Maria she would never need to see Frank again and on Monday she was asking her to be more friendly to him. You can't become involved and absorbed in a programme so glaringly lacking in continuity of characters or plots.
There are plot holes and inconsistencies, definitely - a bit too much emphasis on poorly-thought-out bang-crash plotlines and not enough character-led storylining. There's a lot to enjoy, as well, despite the ups and downs and peaks and troughs. I dunno - I do feel engaged by the show at the moment in a way I haven't in years, enough to get drawn into the internet fandom for the first time! But at the same time, I know what you mean - the bang crash doesn't lend itself to true emotional engagement or attachment and the lack of follow through on too many stories is grating.
to Karen Lee who asked above about the Bookies, Peter said before he went on holiday that he was going to have to close it down while they were away (that was before he knew about the affair and thought Nick was running off the Italy and leaving him in the lurch, but the principle still applies) - he was moaning about how much it was going to cost him. So the point has been addressed. But still - not many businesses can afford to close down for several weeks at a time!
Jumped the shark...they really need to get their acts together if they're going to save this show. IMO it's hit the skids Big time.
Hit the skids big time? It's gained 1m viewers since the tram crash and kept them, so that's a bit over dramatic.
This part of the year is always quite 'meh' in soapland, its the second half of the year that things ramp up
Xin marrying Graeme?Whoever pushed that storyline through should be fired.Totally unbelievable and the acting is terrible.Ideas tossed in a can, jumbled about and pulled out and no matter how ludicrous, it's game on!!
Yes i think Corrie does have a slump every now and then, i hadn't really connected it to a new producer but after the big December we had, it was bound to take a bit of a down turn. It always comes back though, that's why we, or I anyway, continue to watch. Plot holes do really annoy me and there are a couple of storylines that really clunk, but overall it's still good
It's all the curse of being on so much in one week really if ITV dropped an episode the episodes would be higher quality
We're well behind in Canada but I'm already sick of Tracy and I've only seen her in three episodes. Gak.
Also am confused about Sean's child. I have watched every episode, never hearing a mention of a child -- then suddenly it's being discussed in The Rover's as common knowledge. Huh?
Somebody mentioned in another blog that the older more solid characters have been reduced to one liners and 'props' while the nastier, newer, younger, lightweights are the main focus giving the show no depth that we are used to.
There seems to be more 'sensationalism' and youngsters running around, I feel, in the hope to win awards.
Corrie has always been about good heavy characters that we've cared about, light humour and storylines that grow over time. Not crash, bang wallop, smash, every other week.
Totally agree that they just leave stories hanging. Gary's PTSD and David's epilepsy. It's as bad as when the script writers treat us like idiots - Roy's mum is supposed to be dead, so how can she miraculously just turn up?
Theres only so many times you can have the same storylines over and over.
Very well put seapenguine, I think you voiced it for all of us true Corrie fans of many years. Very similar comments on other web boards and many people I know have just stopped watching as they are so fed up with it now. This is down mainly I feel to the reign of Phil Collinson who came in with such high hopes and ended up trouncing the treasured programme and making it cheap somehow. Get rid of the smug self satisfied git, he may have been great at Dr Who but he is rapidly ruining this long running much loved Institution.
It's easy to just blame Phil, but it's not just him who makes the decisions, there's also Keiran Roberts, all the writers and the storyliners, he doesnt have total contol over the show, in fact, Kerian Roberts has more control as the Exec Producer. Phil Collinson/Kim Crowther/Steve Frost ect. just seem to be figureheads everyone blames for when the show has it's problems, when really, it's probably the writers who should be blamed.
Seapenguin, I agree completely! Not every episode has to leave its audience needing a cup of hot sweet tea and a lie down in a dark room after a rollercoaster ride of emotion. The quiet times have often been the best times, full of humour and observation, and aren't a void that needs filling with half-rate, Xin-type sagas. Like you I have been watchig Corrie since I was knee-high to a barm cake so 'not watching' - well, it's not an option! But the Corrinaesia things like epilepsy, Eccles, Monica, PTSD, Ted etc really annoy me and I won't vote for Corrie in any awards now because I am fed up the lack of professionalism/research/credibility in the writing team, who really let down a (mostly)fantastic cast. And I feel that my following for Corrie is being expolited because, as far as the production team think, clearly it doesn't matter what fans think.
Do the production team ever read the blogs? If they do they certainly don't take any notice!
Do you think they are pulling down bits of the Street because they have already started moving it to the new set at Media City?
It makes sense that they are going to have to operate two sets for awhile. For instance, the Kabin might already be at Media City and meanwhile we have the new Norris's News at Granada.
One day next year we will turn on our tellys and all the old buildings will have reappeared as if by magic - and the new ones will have vanished. And no-one ask where they've gone, just like David's epilepsy...
I reckon Gary's PTSD will be brought up again at some point, they don't need to bring it up every time he's on screen.
David's epilepsy is a let down though, they could at least just show him taking his pills at some point in a episode, since he needs to keep on top of it, I did email ITv asking about it, they said they havent forgot about the storyline, but gave no hint of upcoming references
I'm glad everyone seems to be in agreement with this post. I am too. I particularly agree with Beth. Monday night's episodes were very youth-orientated. Yes, I know we had Norris/Mary and Claud/Aud but those bits seemed to be taking a back seat. I always used to be baffled by suggestions that Corrie was trying to be like Eastenders but now I can see it! There are far too many unsavoury characters at present: Tracy, Kylie, Owen, Chris. Why can't we have Corrie like it was in the old days? Alas, I fear that will never happen. Those Ken and Deirdre spin-offs would have been in episodes before! In fact even Eastenders still likes having scenes with two characters just talking to each other for a long time.
The misery has been piled on since the tram crash. That was good drama, but I'm not keen on Peter Barlow, he's just depressing.
People moaned about the silly 'pantomime' stories like the oldies and the hash cakes, but I miss stuff like that. I'm not sure the writers would let those ideas through nowadays.
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