EastEnders

[asv]

Been thinking about starting a thread for this soap, sorry "continuing drama" for a while.  I cant think there arent fans of it on here but unlike Neighbours (which has a thread) there isnt the ktsch/ironies angle (I presume).  So I will bite the bullet and start it (especially as it is a "big week" with the Beale/Mitchell drama to come).

I love EastEnders, always have even through university.  I cant not watch it, taping it when I am out and/or away from home.  I have remember defending my viewing it once with a former (female) colleague, arguing it is the "manly" soap it is acceptable to watch (over Coronation Street in her case), I realise I was probably on a sticky wicket with that when it comes to sopas.  I didnt just mean the shooters 'n' gangsters plots either, it just strikes me as a harder programme than the ITV rivals, with a better balance of humour than "Norris falls down".  

Often accused of being depressing I think it has a rich black humour (after Jake Moon killed his brother Danny Echo & The Bunnymens' Killing Moon was played in the background, for example).

There are of course major problems with it (it is always seemingly in "crisis") and certainly four times a week is too much (God, not a fifth please) but I think it is great.

So, an EastEnders thread then...

[Neville Chamberlain]

Good god, is that crap still going?!?

Bring back Brookie!

[Uncle TechTip]

Do you really find it that amusing though? Because whenever I watch it I see no jokes, just unhappy people shouting at the top of their voices. I don't think that songs playing in the background qualifies as wit, at least Coro is able to write jokes to put in its characters' mouths. If they want to be funny, just do it, there doesn't need to be several layers of irony involved. Of course they were pulling the jukebox 'gag' years ago when Spandau Ballet was in it.

[asv]

Well, it isnt a comedy so it doesnt have to be ful on "amusing" does it, I was just saying neither is it full on depressing.  

Like all soaps the action has to be condensed into one place and area of time (cf, court cases being heard in weeks) which happens in all soaps.  I watch some Corrie when with my girlfriend so I dont make a blind preference (and I am not from the south so there is no regional thing going on).  I find EastEnders at least is better at somewhat (and only somewhat) allowing the "real world" to intrude (just on Monday there was a discussion about West Ham staying up for example, a nice moment).

[buttgammon]

Bloody hell, I was just about to start this thread myself!

I actually quite like Eastenders as a guilty pleasure, altthough I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed about watching a soap opera and make a running joke with myself that I'm watching it for 'research' to see what the standard of telelvision is like now.

At times it can be a little depressing and I can't help but think they milk things a bit too much (how the fucking hell hasn't Tanya found out it's Stacey that Max has been having an affair with since records began?) but I honestly really love watching it. I can stand missing an episode and I'd agree with the point that it's on far too much, but it has it's certain little wuirks that I love. It's sometimes dangerously close to descending into pantomime (especially with Ian Beale and Phil Mitchell's inevitable arguments which usually end up with Beale somehow being humiliated, more often than not by having his head stuck down the toilet or in a washing up bowl) but it's sometimes nice to watch something a little trashy.

I sometimes find myself thinking "Why the hell am I watching this rubbish?" but it's simply a matter of me enjoying it even though I acknowledge soap operas are essentially just a way of making cheap TV without having to come up with new ideas.

[Rubbish Monkey]

Dreamteam is where it's at.

:¬)

I haven't watched Eastenders for quite a long time. Although I have tuned in on the odd occasion, and each of those occasions it just seems to be getting worse and worse.

[buttgammon]

Is Dream Team still on? I used to watch it but haven't bothered for ages.

[Rubbish Monkey]

Yes it is. This series is a bit rubbish and it is the last ever so we may not get annually team bus explosion/plane crash/team getting wiped out end of season finale like usual. Boo.

[buttgammon]

I just got a bit bored of it, anyway. It sounds boring.

[buttgammon]

dp

[Uncle TechTip]

Actually, I did tune in last week as Max revealed the reason why he & JimBranning don't get on, and I have to say I was captivated. He's an excellent performer, that Jake Wood. I wanted to go and do something useful but I couldn't turn away.

[buttgammon]

I must admit I was actually quite moved by that piece. It was horrifying, even though I know it's just fictional characters, to hear somebody explain that.

[Artemis]

Another positive vote for Max's "big reveal" of Jim - the best performance on EE for many a moon,.

I first started watching EE when Phil slept with Sharon and Grant took the tape into the Vic and played it. It was a good point to get into it because that was the only thing happening at the time. For years, my parents had refused to allow me to watch it, mainly because they had a bee in their bonnet about the way the cast didn't speak English properly and how it was all so cold and bleak. I watched it for several years until I went travelling and never got back into it again, but a few months ago I started watching and am quite enjoying the 'May' character who's deliciously unstable, and the whole Max/Tanya/Stacey storyline is quite engrossing, too. A Phil & Ian dispute will always bring a little smile to my face, as well.

It doesn't have the sense of captivation it used to and went very downhill for quite a while as I understand it, but they're doing a good job right now. Incidentally, I like to watch the full omnibus on Sunday rather then the daily episodes - I find it a more enjoyable experience.

[glitch]

I don't watch EastEnders much, but can anyone reveal what Jim's secret was? He was always one of my "favourite" characters whenever I caught an episode.

[Lady Beaner]

Sht, what did Max say?! I missed it all last week.
I love the 'Enders and I don't care how 'sad' that makes me look. I am loving the Tanya/Stacey/Max storyline, but am failing to see the point of characters like Patrick and Yolande (aside from the let's-fill'the-''yeh-mon' quota.)

[asv]

There has always since Max joined been intimation that Jim abused him as a kid.  Last week he (Max) revealed that when he was 13 he had a black friend and Jim and his mates took umbrage (Jim was explicitly racist when he joined, especially with Carol going out with Alan).  When Max wouldnt give up his mate Jim and friends beat up the friend and also, put Max into a coffin, sealed it and made out that he was being buried alive (they actually left him in the coffin overnight in the undertakers, bad enough!).

[Captain Crunch]

I find Eastenders a bit like scampi fries - very moreish but you feel really sick if you have too much.  God knows what was going on yesterday, Dot Cotton having some sort of intervention for Ian & Phil?  Are they closet lovers now or something?  I don't see enough of it to know what's really going on, the little Ben character always makes me switch off, he's just so repugnant like most children on TV.

Anyway, the actress who plays Stacey has just had her tits done so expect a lot more cleavage flashing from her in the next few weeks.

[buttgammon]

I've never thought much of her myself, but I'll have a look in the upcoming weeks.

At the risk of sounding a bit weird, Kara Tointon (Dawn) is more my thing. No, she's not a slapper!

And maybe Chelsea (the eldest of the two black girls) too, even if she did go out with Stacey's lunatic brother and is still very smitten with him.

Fuck, it feels so wrong to be typing this! What the hell am I doing? Going on about Eastenders.

[SOTS]

Ha! The first time there's a thread about Eastenders on here is after the first time I haven't seen it in weeks. I just can't be arsed with it, or even Coronation Street which I prefer.

At the moment, the only soap i'm watching is Neighbours.

[Captain Crunch]

And maybe Chelsea (the eldest of the two black girls)

The only thing more annoying than her voice is her sister's voice.  I really can't sit through scenes with either of them in it, innit.

And I hate the way Sean (Shaun?  Stacey's brother) is meant to be sexy.  It's the same in every soap, some girl-faced 'cheeky-chappie' sort with tiny hips and soft hands.  All the housewives are supposed to tune in and slowly cream themselves over him, patronising nobs.

[buttgammon]

And maybe Chelsea (the eldest of the two black girls)

The only thing more annoying than her voice is her sister's voice.  I really can't sit through scenes with either of them in it, innit.

That's one of the things I can't bear about it - the two sisters' voices, but especially the older one's voice (and she's the one I have a thing for). She sounds like a taxi driver without any vocal chords who is impersonating a particularly annoying woman.

But if we're talking about all soaps here, then there's no voice more annoying than Deirdre from Coronation Street. It's like nails on a blackboard!

[SOTS]

Deirdre's voice was particularly unbearable a few weeks ago.

"But Traaaaaacey, ah'm yur muuther!"

[buttgammon]

Are there any nice voices in British soaps? I'm struggling to think of any.

[lipsink]

I actually think the guy who plays Max in Eastenders has a completely different acting style to everyone else in the soap. He talks more like people talk in real life and seems a lot more naturalistic. When he was first in the soap I remember he had an argument with his ex-wife and the way he talked to her seemed completely realistic despite the dialogue being the usual cliche ridden melodrama. You'd expect to see his style in some cinema-verite thing like Nil By Mouth.

But no, I can't think of any nice voices in British soap either.

[buttgammon]

Wasn't that crash ridiculous? It's a shame crappy 'special effects' and a chaotic ending had to round off what was actually a good, funny episode. The stuff about Ian Beale the boy scout was funny and his characteristic twattery throughout was entertaining enough, but I just couldn't believe the ending. The car just somehow drove over a tree which had been uprooted and was sprawled across the road and then rolled over about 45 times, eventually landing upright (I think). And just because Ian and Phil were arguing about the tent fire!

[The Duck Man]

Oooh, my Mum hates that Max. She thinks he's such a bastard.

Because my Mum watches it, and a general idea from the front of the cheap TV mags, I tend to know what's going on in Eastenders. I wouldn't watch it regularly, but I certainly don't dislike it. I'll happily watch an episode when I'm bored. I quite like Phil these days, they've realised that there's so many thug stories they can do, and so have turned him into this lumbering-troll-father, who's in constant pain because he can't understand his defect-ridden son. Heartwarming stuff.

[explodingvinyl]

Wasn't that crash ridiculous? It's a shame crappy 'special effects' and a chaotic ending had to round off what was actually a good, funny episode. The stuff about Ian Beale the boy scout was funny and his characteristic twattery throughout was entertaining enough, but I just couldn't believe the ending. The car just somehow drove over a tree which had been uprooted and was sprawled across the road and then rolled over about 45 times, eventually landing upright (I think). And just because Ian and Phil were arguing about the tent fire!

Never mind the air pocket which was present in the car, despite the window being open.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Lucy's sudden pyschic moment at the end. My hope is that it's a beginning of a crossover with Heroes.

[jonno]

Never mind the air pocket which was present in the car, despite the window being open.

The bit where Bill swims in through the window and surfaces *between* the kids was bizarre - you see his legs going in through the window, then his head pops up between them, as if he'd gone through some space-bending portal or something.

[thepuffpastryhangman]

Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

Didn't know where else to put it. And I was rush upstairs sure I wanted to reply.

Tonight's Eastenders was brilliant. It was very fast panto. The pace was fantastic. Best non-factual half hour of TV I've seen all year. Nathan Cockerill wrote it. Only written two according to that. Great start.