As you will all no doubt be aware by now, Kate Oates has quit her role as Coronation Street producer and will be replaced by Emmerdale boss Iain McLeod. Judging by the reaction on social media, this isn’t an entirely popular decision.
While Kate’s tenure has been divisive, she has raised some very important issues such as grooming, homophobia triggered by religion, male rape and mental health. I for one will be sorry to see her go.
My advice to Iain McLeod would be listen to the viewers, because they are the lifeblood of the show and in this age of social media they can air their views instantly, even while they are watching.
In some ways it’s similar to Manchester’s other great love - football. Twice a year players are bought and sold, managers come and go, as sometimes do people in the boardroom. However there is one thing that is always there, that a club simply cannot exist without - the fans.
As with soap characters, producers and crew will come and go, but the viewers will always be there as generations have been since the show began in 1960.
Obviously the final decisions are his, but he shouldn’t for a minute underestimate the power of the viewers
By Matt Johnson who is on Twitter @unitedkanamixer
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10 comments:
Very good letter! I am in agreement!
Fantastic news! I just returned from England after 3 weeks (got a lot of cringing catch-up to view) and when we are there, we have interesting conversations about to Corrie. This time, however, I was surprised as to how many people have stopped watching it and the conversation was about how bad it has become.
That is not true, the ratings are up, just the long term viewers who complained but the show attracted many many more new viewers.
The figures are up mainly due to Connor McIntyre's performance in the Phelan storyline. But one storyline doesn't make a soap. It remains to be seen what happens when that storyline is put to bed.
What about Bethany's grooming? Or have you simply forgotten about that?
From The Simpsons episode Itchy, Scratchy and Poochie
What? They've given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? I mean, if anything, you owe them!
Well stated! Fans from Canada agree and I'm one of them. Continue to provide quality Corrie humour, drama, romance and mystery all embedded in real life occurrences.
It’s the long term loyal viewers that keep this show going. Otherwise it would have been canceled long ago. Ignoring the history of this show and flooding it with new characters with boring, ridiculous storylines is why Oates has thankfully been shown the door.
I don't think the history has been ignored. There are more references to past storylines than ever these days. They even remembered that Michelle had a son! Old characters have returned or been talked about. Some of the storylines have seemed insane though. The Eva/Toyah pregnancy plot is awful. Anything involving Robert or Michelle is pretty much unwatchable, but they've been around for ages. I think the Phelan storyline has been great and I had doubts about the David storyline, but I thin kit has been done really well so far. In the past we would have seen evil David plotting some extravagant revenge on Josh, but seeing him powerless and his struggle with the lack of power has been intriguing.
Fans always moan. I'm a fan of Formula 1 and everyone talks about how much better it was 10 years ago, but 10 years ago everyone was saying F1 was better in the 90's! The same is true of music and anything else with a fanbase. We all want it to change, but complain when it does. Positive comments on any aspect of Corrie are very rare on this site, but they always have been and they always will be.
None of it for "free", you pay for it by watching the endless ads from sponsors and then without being aware picking those advertised brands at the supermarket over cheaper, better value no-name ones. Lets not pretend the producers do this out of kindness, as some type of charity for the viewers. I am also in Canada and this so called quality is shown prime time at the expense of quality Canadian shows.
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