That's not meant to sound as sordid as it may first appear. It is a genuine question though. We Corrie fans are quite full on about our favourite soap, so passionate about when it gets it right (or wrong) that I wondered if we have room for any other television soap operas, or continuing dramas, if we're giving them their Sunday name.Although obviously Coronation Street is the very best option in this category, and the programme on which all the others are based, I'm interested to hear from Corrie viewers and blog contributors on what else, if anything, regularly appears on their goggle box.
Personally, I've never been able to tolerate EastEnders, even in short bursts. There are worrying moments when Corrie competes and nearly wins out in the complete, abject misery stakes, but for me, there is nothing more awful than the London based soap. I've never been tempted by Emmerdale either. I always imagine it being all cows bottoms and men with mutton chops, but apparently these days it's all bed hopping and raciness. The transformation doesn't quite work for me. Then there is Hollyoaks. Enough said. I loved Brookside back in the day (before it went a bit bonkers with crashing helicopters and mystery viruses). Looking back, I see Brookie as the main rival to Corrie's crown at the time. It's a pity it all went wrong and disappeared. If only Sue Johnston could channel a bit more Sheila Grant and a bit less old crone in her current role as Gloria.
There are also the imported Australian soaps. I never know whether to include these with our own as they just aren't as dark, as gritty or as controversial as the British soap operas. I do have a soft spot for Neighbours (Susan Kennedy is a bit of a legend, and in my view, the only character in Ramsay Street ever to indulge in a bit of the other). Maybe it's just the sunshine and outdoor lifestyle that grabs me, I don't know. It generally isn't the acting talent on display...
I don't know much about the American soap operas, so I'd love to hear from readers in that part of the world on how Corrie compares.
Anyway, it will always be Corrie first and foremost for me. What about you though? Do you limit yourself solely to Coronation Street, or do other soaps often take your fancy? Are they all pale imitations or do any seriously rival the Street?
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Emmerdale is actually pretty good although a lot of the storylines mirror each other consistently. They even have a killer in their midst that murdered out of necessity, has eyes darting from side to side and still has not been found out, and has a partner that wears rose tinted specs.
ReplyDeleteNope. Corrie is The Queen of Soaps. All others are but pale imitations or pantomimes (Emmerdale and Eastenders respectively).
ReplyDeleteTotally agree!
DeleteI watched Corrie between 1977 and 1995. Ray Langton leaving Deirdrie for Amsterdam was the big story when I first saw the programme, and only stopped watching due to work commitments.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of the tram crash brought me back in 2010 and have only missed one episode - as LIVE or on catch-up since! It was the one where Tyrone punched Kevin at the graveside, though I have since seen this scene.
Eastenders - saw the very first ep and the LIVE one the other year, but not many since 1985.
Emmerdale - was a big fan in the 90s, around the time of the plane crash. Never missed it back then. Again, lost touch when I was usually travelling home from work around transmission time. Ironically, I was working on the very first catch-up system at the time!
Brookside - was good. Loved Heather!
Home and Away - had a brief period in the late 80s when I saw every ep. Didn't last long.
Neighbours - The Aussie in it [joke] lives near me, but apart from Kylie and Jason, I couldn't tell you much about it.
You can catch some REALLY bad soaps on some of the ethnic TV channels - bad acting and poor production!
But Corrie is here to stay, even though I am REALLY cross the inside of the new Rovers looks nothing like the outside - check the windows!
I watch both Corrie and Neighbours regularly. I do find similarities in both of them, mainly that unique mix of humour and drama. I often see Susan Kennedy as the Rita of Ramsay Street - the mother figure who's always stylish.
ReplyDeleteI also watch the new Dallas on Channel 5. As for other soaps, I don't regularly watch them but with Digital Spy, you know what's going on anyway. And I have fond childhood memories of settling down with my gran during the school holidays when I was allowed to stay up late, and watch Brookside at 10 o'clock. It aired later here in Wales than the rest of the UK.
I also used to watch Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) regularly years ago and I still watch youth Welsh soap Rownd a Rownd (Round and Round) regularly.
Apart from Corrie, I watch (or to use a better word, catch up) this American soap opera called General Hospital on YouTube. It's not as good or as well-written as Corrie obviously but some of the plots are so insane, it somehow manages to keep me hooked nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI've only watched a couple of episodes of EastEnders and Emmerdale. Both aren't as good as Corrie. I do keep up with them via the TV guide and Emmerdale does seem to have some good plots at the moment so it's tempting.
As for the Australian soaps, I wanted to watch Neighbours but my god that theme song is off-putting. Where did they get that singer? Although I've heard they want a new theme song? Don't blame them.
Oh and I used to watch the new Dallas but like the majority of the population I watched the season 2 premiere and then got distracted by something shiny after that.
I watch Shortland Street from NZ. It is my favourite soap, outrank Corrie by far, but still watch it, and Neighbours. Stopped watching Home and Away, it got ridiculous and it is like Eastenders whilst Corrie and Neighbours are similar.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, American soaps don't compare to Coronation Street. What drew me to Corrie was that it's real, working people with real problems (and just happen to live on a street that has a high proportion of murderers and accidents.) In the American soaps, they all either work at a magazine or fashion house, never wear the same outfit twice, and people come back from the dead as their long lost evil twin. And kids tend to age a decade over the period of a weekend, even though their parents stay the same age. In American soaps you can stop watching for 6 months and when you start again you feel like you didn't miss a thing. When I start watching Corrie after a long period of time, I'm lost.
ReplyDeleteI used to watch Emmerdale when it came on right after Corrie here in Canada years ago, but it didn't have the same appeal for me. I also watched Home and Away when it came on at 3am when I was in university, but they took it off the air. Every once in a while I consider checking out Eastenders on youtube but I don't know if I have the time or patience to keep up with two soaps.
ReplyDeleteWell..EE is a trainwreck an should be scrapped IMO. Actors jumping ship all over the place or take 6 month breaks only to come back and re=hash the same old tired storylines over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI turn Corrie on but also do other things at the same time. I know I won't miss out on anything because they'll just remix the story again in about 6 months with another couple. I do wish whomever is in charge of make-up would stop making Rita look like she drew two round holes for her eyes with a black magic marker..its awful stuff.
The American soaps..I refuse to watch. The acting is dismal and it's always the same thing. Young and Restless..Vicor and Nickki have been married and divorced (to each other) a dozen times at least. Their toddler son goes away on a vacation or some such and comes back one year later and he's 20 years old or so..absolute tosh.
Long story short...Corrie is THE best by far..top notch IMO.
THanks!
Only watch one. Corrie! Never miss it. Always programmed into my Sky box.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to watch Emmerdale different times we could get it here in Canada but it never grabbed me. I have watched EE in short bursts but when the particular storyline I was watching ended, it all wore on my last nerve again and I haven't bothered keeping up since. I don't find it nearly as good as Corrie and most of the characters seem very one dimensional.
ReplyDeleteI've been a soap watcher all my life, American soaps as that was all we had back in the day before I discovered Corrie. I still watch Young and Restless and have been a regular watcher of several others over the years though have dropped them all one by one or they've ended. My all time fave was Another World and watched that faithfully until it finished in the late 90s.
But none of the American soaps really have any basis in reality, what with people returning from the dead and children growing up overnight. It's pure fantasy and isn't a patch on Corrie.
Emmerdale is currently my favorite soap. The country scenery is beautiful, many of the characters draw you in, and not a mutton chop or cow's rear end in sight.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually similar in many ways to Corrie. They have their local, and their equivalent of Roy's Rolls and Dev's grocery. They package chocolates instead of sewing underwear.
They do have a murderer loose, but unlike Corrie's situation with glaring police incompetence, the police on Dale aren't deaf, dumb, and blind. The murderer is just very crafty and so far very lucky.
Not all the characters are endearing, of course, because it is a soap. They have their marmite characters, too. But everyone gets fair play. There are no characters who must be front and center at all times, like St Ella.
The Beige Lady/Boria duo has put me off Corrie, as well as the fire farce with no one remembering or reporting that Sunita left the Bistro BEFORE Stella, and therefore had no intentions of killing her in a fire. Plus the sudden appearance of keys from nowhere which seemed to be enough evidence to implicate Sunita is very irritating. Really, really shoddy writing. We have to suspend disbelief with these shows up to a point, but I cannot overlook such lazy and careless writing.
I come here to see what's going on with Corrie. If an ep looks okay (meaning it's fairly Boria- and Beigy- free) I might watch. But I can't say I'm looking forward to watching it most days, and most days I don't.
However, when it's 3 PM my time, that means that ITV will have that day's Dale ready to play, and it's must-see TV for me.
There are other soaps?
ReplyDeleteI love corrie it's my fave soap I always hate to miss an episode. I love the storylines at the moment that being played out like Karl getting caught out, Ryan and Katy's romance, Roy heading for a break down and Rob and Tracy's hair brained schemes.
ReplyDeleteI also watch EastEnders but it's compelling me to watch it as the storylines aren't very good and most of the characters aren't up to scratch. Ii am looking forward to Ronnie coming back but if her comeback is not going to be good i won't watch it.
I watched Days of Our Lives, a long running American soap, on and off for about 30 years. It took only 2 or 3 episodes of Corrie on the CBC to break that habit. DOOL is has been an hour every day for years, so much of it is told in flashback. You could miss a month and miss nothing, because it all gets repeated. It started as a story of families centered around a hospital, but has evolved into super rich baddies with access to Star Trek level technology where (almost) nobody really dies, everyone is impossibly beautiful and wears designer clothes, and all the cops are superheroes. Yeah, Les Battersby was a refreshing change.
ReplyDeleteTvor, have never met another AW fan. It really was a better program. Still love seeing that members of that cast in new shows.
Great question Graeme!
ReplyDeleteI last watched 'Emmerdale' when it still had 'Farm' in the title. As a regular viewer I quit in the mid 1980s.
I gave up on 'EastEnders' around the time when Tiffany Mitchell died so that would be around 1998. Have caught one or two since but it's too dour.
I loved 'Brookside' because at the time, it felt like what Corrie should have been. However. 'Brookie' went bonkers and I switched off!
I watched 'Neighbours' until it moved to Channel 5 and then I lost the will. Watched all 692 episodes of 'Prisoner: Cell Block H' which took some doing.
My only other soapy indulgence is "The Archers" on Radio 4!
The only other one I've watched is Jo Soy Betty, la Fea, a telenovela (Spanish for soap opera) filmed in Bogota, Colombia 1999-2001. The whole series is available with subtitles on youtube. It's not quite Coronation Street, but it's good fun: a strong character-driven story, along with class-inflected hijinx, inter-personal office dynamics, and glimpses of broader Colombian culture. 4 stars :)
ReplyDelete--duly noted
I used to watch Another World here in Oz for a few years way back in the 70s. There was a fabulous actress called Beverlee McKinsey who played a nasty character called Iris Carrington. She was brilliant:) Sadly Beverlee died a few years ago...
ReplyDeleteI regularly cheat with EastEnders and I have no shame. In fact, they are so far behind here in Canada that some of their more scandalous storylines are just hitting the screens now. I can't say I've ever though, "No way! I can't believe it!" or "That's just a diabolical storyline" about Corrie but I've definitely said that watching EastEnders.
ReplyDeleteNever watched a soap before learning of Corrie from a work colleage in 1989. She went on and on about it, so I finally got up early one Sunday morning to watch the omnibus. In three weeks I was hooked. In 1997 CBC started a Canadian Soap, Riverdale, developed with CBC and Corrie producers. CBC aired it following Corrie weekdays and I got into it as well. Never got into Dallas or Peyton Place or other US soaps.
ReplyDeleteI also was an avid 'Another World ' watcher - good story-lines and actors - Charles Keating, Ann Heche, Douglass Watson....still miss it! Corrie is the only soap I watch now but try to see anything from the UK - unique quality that others can't match.
ReplyDeleteHave watched Corrie from the beginning and always will. Have absolutely no interest in any other soap (tried Eastenders for about 9 months when it first started but found it very depressing, so gave up on it and have never watched it since).
ReplyDeleteHave never watched any American or Australian soaps, why would I?
I hate EastEnders with a passion - whenever I read about it, they seem to be doing another "somebody taped accidentally and the 'victim' is about to find and watch/listen to the tape" storyline again.
ReplyDeleteI've watched Corrie since around 1995 and never stopped. We started getting EE here (again) in Canada a couple of years ago, and I'm relieved to hear I'm not the only one who finds it dismal, dire and horrible, with one-dimensional characters. Strangely, the same channel started airing Emmerdale at the same time, but dropped it fairly soon. I had got hooked, so still watch it via other ways. Sort of glad I began after the "Farm" part was dropped, or I might not have enjoyed it. Still like Corrie better.
ReplyDeleteHaven't felt the urge to check out other soaps and ever got into American soaps.
I've watched Eastenders off and on over the years, but more off than on. I loved the first 5 years & then recently when Diederick Santer was producer it was just so much better than corrie (sorry) was doing at the time. It just got better & better. When he left it all went downhill and is now a train wreck. I switched it off when they recast 4 of the younger cast. I've never watched a single episode of Emmerdale. I've seen the odd 5 mins but it looks too much like a pantomime. They seem to bring in a family for a massive storyline that runs all year and then they leave. I loved Prisoner Cell Block H. It was the best Aussie soap with so many good storylines. I've recently got into Wentworth, a reimagining of Prisoner, but its not unmissable like Corrie. I used to watch an aussie soap called All Saints but that ended a few years ago. A few months ago here in Australia UKTV added Hollyoaks & Doctors to their schedule but bumped corrie to 1 hour later meaning Hollyoaks was is now in it's timeslot. I watched 2 eps of hollyoaks and gave up. Theres too many young single/couple characters who look the same and so it was confusing to work out who was related to anyone. I watched 2 eps of Doctors and that is like a really cheap dated daytime soap like Emmerdale Farm used to be in 1975. So yes I have been tempted over the years but never fully strayed from corrie and it's still unmissable as far as i'm concerned.
ReplyDelete