Last week, we asked you about Dennis Tanner's return - was itworthwhile? The result was a resounding Yay, however many commented that his acting skills have been wasted so far.
This week, we're straying away from a character based Yay Or Nay, and
we are going to vote on a hot topic in the press - Is There Too Much Drama On Corrie?
we are going to vote on a hot topic in the press - Is There Too Much Drama On Corrie?
I think so. Johnny Briggs is the latest actor to slam the Street, and I have to agree with him. It's all getting too much for me, and probably for you, too. In the past few months we have had The Tram Crash, Becky/Kylie, Sophie's Roof Fall and Kevin's Garage Accident, just to name a few. Enough is enough.
While tired characters like Becky are being brought to the forefront, underrated characters like Mary are criminally underused. While we have witnessed many of Becky's rampages, we have yet to see Mary get a plot of her own (such as the wonderful Norris hostage situation last year.)
Do you think Corrie has gone down in standard due to this drama? I think you can probably guess but I am saying Yay for this. Corrie isn't what it used to be, but what do you think?
22 comments:
Yes agree, too much sensationalism but I think this subject has all been talked out now.
It needs more comedy but not the amateur slapstick effort we see now, all that's missing is a squirty flower size 18's and a custard pie! It's about as funny as a burning orphanage!
I don't think you can have too much drama on a drama series. And let's be honest, there's sensationalist and there's sensationalist: never forget that Brookside featured a plague, incest, and a helicopter falling onto the Close during a siege...
And look what happend to that sileage larrr!
No, it's not what it used to be, but then that's not necessarily a bad thing, either. I think we've been conditioned and if Corrie was the same as it used to be, nobody would be watching anymore. It has to keep up with the times. There's a lot more competition on the airwaves and that translates into lost viewers and money. As Merseytart said, it's a *drama*, there has to be drama.
And I don't think it's overly sensationalized. You're listening to the media, *that* is who is over sensationalizing it. Every little storyline or situation that is even remotely containing a bit of drama, even if it's just one scene, is touted in the media as "gripping" etc.
Nay from me. Not too much drama in my book.
Yay from me. The saying truth is stranger than fiction highlights that drama can cross a line and become no longer credible. Corrie certainly did that with Jim's bank robbery, the Max story, Graeme and Xin etc etc.
Corrie used to be the best sitcom on TV. He's long forgotten, but Fred Gee was a scream. His resolute belief that he was God's Gift to women despite all the evidence to the contrary was hilarious. And I remember lots of discusions amongst the women about the shortcomings of "fellas" that wer both funny and insightful. I do not see why this is no longer relevant. Aren't women still moaning about men?
Needs more comedy aspect - although we do have glimpses of it in Norris, Sylvia, Julie, the Platts, Eileen, Deirdre and her pots. But have not laughed out loud on Corrie for a while - not since the cake in Deirdre's face scene!
I agree with the comment's made: 'While tired characters like Becky are being brought to the forefront, underrated characters like Mary are criminally underused. While we have witnessed many of Becky's rampages, we have yet to see Mary get a plot of her own (such as the wonderful Norris hostage situation last year'). However, i am pleased that someone thinks alike, and the sooner Becky goes, the better as we are missing out seeing more of our original characters that were in it well before her, and she ALWAYS seems to be the highlight of the soap, and I certainly don't know why.
Corrie never claimed to be a sitcom, and God forbid it ever becomes one. Plus if they ever bring back Fred Gee that will be the day I stop watching, as he was about as funny as a toothache.
The comedy is still there, but you have to listen to the dialogue to get it. I much prefer the funny one liners to the slap stick provided by characters such as Reg Holdsworth and Fred Gee. It is more true to life, as we run into people every day who come out with hilarious things in the course of conversation, some of which is totally unintentional on their part. We have that in Corrie too with Kirk and Julie.
It's the drama that brings the ratings, the Stape storyline has kept people coming back, but they have to be careful not to overdo and re-use, as in Becky's drunken rants, they have become predictable and tedious.
The media have blown all this way out of proportion. Corrie has its highs and lows, that is normal, but on its way out? Never!
I was going to write something long but I found TVOR had written it for me.
Bringing back fred gee would also be problematic - the character died in 1999 just before Frederick Feast died himself a few months later
Agreed! And we haven't even got to the tram crash down here yet. *YAWN* So there's more drama to come...ah well...yet I watch it loyally anyway.
Missing the humour we used to get in the old days.
The thing, to me, that I most miss from the Corrie of Olde is CONTINUITY. I mean, where is it? Very little character or story development - it all seems very slap dash, wham-bam-thank-you-m'am. It's as if Corrie has become a toss off soap - one they don't expect to continue for one more year, or even five, let alone 50. It's one hepped up drama after another, characters in and out like a revolving door. No substance, continuity and very little British humour. Have the writers and producers ever watched the old Corrie story lines and see what brought the soap so far? If the House of Windsor can get its act together via a new generation, cannot then Coronation Street? Louise
I may be alone in this but I can't stand Mary. I find her character completely annoying and ffwd through all her bits...even the whole carry-on with the 'kidnapped' Norris who acted like a nun about to be raped the whole time - it was sickening. He needs to throw a fcuk into that thing or stick something other than a chocolate bar into her mouth to get her to shut up.
Love Ken and Deidre just as they are (pottery is hilarious).
More humour to offset the drama might be in order but I really did have a good chuckle with Audrey and Marc on a date with him in full drag...awesome!!!
Oh...I forgot..I LOVE CORRIE...no matter what!!
Too much drama? I like drama! So it's Nay from me. I started watching around 10 or 11 years ago, and caught some older episodes when Jim & Liz were together and the twins were teens. Some pretty heavy stuff went down then too. I've also watched the first few episodes - that era was in a class of its own. Some of it was pretty boring. But it was groundbreaking TV for the time. Not much ground to break any more.
As for Becky - well, I still think there's time for her to do something interesting, funny & touching even, before she leaves. Who knows what went on behind the scenes for her current state to go on as it is? There's still lots to like about Corrie nonetheless.
I'm amazed at how easily people are jumping on this current I-Hate-Corrie moment, started up last week by a homophobic gay art critic (yep), with The Guardian jumping in with a dumb article asking if Corrie is losing its way. I fail to see the point of those two, other than to sell papers & get mouse-clicks. Just like the red-tops do when they print overblown spoilers. If I were Phil C., I'd do damage control too, cause this isn't constructive criticism. It's manufactured nonsense.
Mary cannot - as things stand - sustain a major storyline. She's a joke character, to be used sparingly on the periphery of major plotlines. She falls into the category of Greek Chorus, observing and commenting on the action (often hilariously). However, that's not to say she couldn't be developed into a fully-functioning character in her own right, but it would require the writers to start rounding her out with more dimensions. And that would take at least 6 months sustained effort.
It would depend on what is meant by "drama". The term drama would suggest something big i.e tram crash, or a crisis i.e. being innocently locked and worrying about your baby (Fiz and Hope). You could go through each episode and find some "drama" in it, would depend on how "dramatic" each scene was.
Getting over the semantics, Corrie and all soaps in one breath claim to reflect modern day life and then in another say they are just being entertaining, I would suggest you can be both but it depends on writers and actors which has been discussed in other posts. There are many clips on youtube of Alf Roberts, Hilda Ogden, Bet Lynch (I know Im harking back to the 80's again!) reflecting real life i.e. going to work, moaning bout men, moaning about work which by itself was entertaining, whilst having drama interspersed within everyday hum drum life, such as council elections (Alf Roberts) Life isn't generally full or drama, the biggest storyline Hilda ever had was when Stan passed away which was perfectly normal yet entertaining.
Its this balance that I feel corrie needs to back.
My comment that Corrie used to be the best sitcom was meant to be a compliment. Of course, Corrie is a drama, but there was often more humour in the episodes than in many a sitcom.
Different people find different things funny, but French and Saunders used to dress up as fat, bald men who thought they were irrestible to women a la Fred Gee, so at least some people find that funny.
In fact a lot of Corrie's humour came from harmless little delusions: Annie Walker making Fred Gee her chauffeur, Vera claiming to be related to the Royal Family, Hilda believing she was a good singer, etc etc. The only example that I can think of nowadays is Mary thinking Norris is some kind of cross between David Beckham and Nelson Mandela and that's a shame.
The actors just seem to be speaking their lines these days while the camera does a 180 degree swirl around them. No-one seems to be allowed to do any acting, like dear Ena did in episode 1 seen last night on BBC4! Stephanie Cole is criminally wasted with her ridiculous scripted words, she could and should be the new Ena !!!
With regards to Mary, What we want to see is for someone to bring a horse into the street (how many times do we see a horse on Corrie?), and while nobody is around, Mary asks if she can have a ride on it in return for some free sweets from the Kabin (Norris won't be happy about this when he finds out, as he is paying for those sweets later on), Once Mary sits on the horse, crafty Norris creeps up without her noticing, and either hits the horse from behind, or makes a loud deliberate clutter to frighten the horse, making Mary go with a gallop Ha Ha!!!
I agree that Mary is greatly underused in Coronation Street, she is one of my favourite characters along with Norris. I would love to see more storylines involving them. The ones that I would not miss are Sean, Sophie, Steve, Becky and Fiz.
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