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| Week 5 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 20 Jan 2015, 17:56 (5,159 Views) | |
| See You Slater | 25 Jan 2015, 18:11 Post #41 |
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It's not as if Mick and Linda were the main stars in every episode they appeared in last year though, is it? They were also shown behind the bar sometimes without doing much else. |
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| Leon | 25 Jan 2015, 18:18 Post #42 |
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Not every episode they appeared in, no, but they've had a heavy role in the majority of episodes they've appeared in. Since first appearing they've tackled: coming out, domestic abuse, rape, assisted suicide and Mick being Shirley's son, all within thirteen months. So they've had three major storylines in a year whereas most other characters have had one, and their storylines never have as much focus as the Carters. There are periods where the Beales dominate, where Denise/Patrick dominates, but those periods never last hardly as long as the Carters'. Edited by Leon, 25 Jan 2015, 18:39.
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| Jade | 25 Jan 2015, 18:20 Post #43 |
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See I don't feel that way at all. Like I said I watched an episode recently where Alfie was on the episode and he didn't even speak was just pulling a pint. I wouldn't mind Mick and Linda in every episode going if it a great many of them they were background no dialogue pulling a pint. And characters like Kat don't get over agoraphobia in a day or Denise has something big is then ignored for months. This wouldn't happen to Linda would it? I am saying treated the others fairly and stop pushing these same characters on us with secret after secret, plot after plot and every soap cliché you can think of thrown at them. Makes it very tired and boring. I am starting to tune out when these same characters are on. Maybe DTC should give them a spin off like the E20 or something. Anything just start remembering the entire cast and stop making a joke of other characters. They deserve a fair shake. If half the effort was put into any other character that Mick, Shirley or Linda did they would be a success too fact is there isn't. |
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Your approval is neither desired nor required. Julia Smith "We decided to go for a realistic, fairly outspoken type of drama which could encompass stories about homosexuality, rape, unemployment, racial prejudice, etc., in a believable context. Above all, we wanted realism". | |
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| See You Slater | 25 Jan 2015, 18:22 Post #44 |
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The thing is the Mick being Shirley's son storyline was hardly a huge storyline that ran for months, we found out about it in Summer and then it wasn't mentioned again until Christmas. Same with the domestic abuse plot, it only really spanned a few episodes. The assisted suicide one has literally only just started, and it may not even go ahead in the way everyone's expected. The only long running plot the Carters have had is Linda's rape. |
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| Mrs Peel | 25 Jan 2015, 18:32 Post #45 |
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BIB I thought one of the storylines DTC touted was that Cindy would be finding it difficult coping with a baby, and Ian would step up to the plate and help her, but all we've got is Cindy tossing her hair and moaning that she'd just put Beth down, when off-camera, the baby begins to cry. |
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| Leon | 25 Jan 2015, 18:35 Post #46 |
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But they've still had three major storylines in 13 months no matter how you look at it. That's all well and good if you can find a balance, but TPTB don't seem to be able to find that balance. Other characters have storylines, such as Denise and Patrick, but they only really seem to have one each, compared to three for the Carters. It's not as if the other stories feature heavily, Denise sometimes doesn't appear for weeks or months, bar the odd scene, and then we get a week or so dedicated to her story, and then it's back to the Carters. Rinse and repeat. I think they have bitten off more than they can chew, and they'll regret it later down the line when the Carters become exhausted way before their time. Don't get me wrong, I love the Carters, they are a breath of fresh air, but they can still be just as good whilst not taking as much screentime. I've loved DTC's tenure so far, I would much rather watched month after month of Carter-heavy storylines than the 'love and warmth' era we had to endure, I think this problem is DTC's only pitfall, in my opinion. All in all, the show is in top form at the moment, but this is an issue that really needs to be addressed. |
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| Dan | 25 Jan 2015, 18:50 Post #47 |
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I think the criticism of DTC over egging is a valid one. He does have good points, he has clearly thought about these characters and given them proper characterisation which is good but he does have a tendency, when he gets on to a good thing to milk it beyond belief which will then turn it into a negative. The Carters have had too many secrets and have been massively issue led. The secrets have involved Mick and Linda not being married, Linda's rape, Stan dying, Shirley being Mick's mother amongst others and we have had domestic violence, rape, references to extreme physical childhood abuse, an elderly dying relative, Alzheimer's disease, teenage pregnancy etc all in the space of three months if you consider that Dean raped Linda in October which really kicked things off. It's too much and they've all cancelled each other out. I'm dreading "Who's the daddy" already, pregnancy was a complete unnecessary add-on. |
![]() Walford is about to change, lives are about to be destroyed, alliances will begin and the residents will never be the same again. Welcome to "Dungeon". New fan fic, coming soon... Thanks Nick M for the brilliant sig! | |
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| Mrs Peel | 25 Jan 2015, 19:07 Post #48 |
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But these are, as someone else pointed out, all re-mixes, and re-mixes of storylines so famous or so recent, viewers easily recognise them. Look, I know that there are only so many storylines which are stock and which are brought regularly to soap audiences, but such storylines should be spread throughout the cast, itself. Mick and Linda not being married in this day and age is no big deal. When Alan and Carol Jackson rocked up with their brood of kids, three of whom weren't Alan's children, it was revealed that they weren't married, but common-law. Then we've had the Millers as well. Linda's rape comes on the heels of Little Mo's rape and pregnancy as a result. Kathy's been raped. Kathy, Little Mo and Linda were raped in a pub, and Little Mo and Linda got pregnant. Shirley and Mick, we all know is a redux of Kat and Zoe. Billy, Phil and Ronnie Mitchell all had at least one physically abusive parent. Tiffany Raymond Mitchell was thrown down the stairs by her father when she became pregnant as a teenager. Elderly dying relative? Lou Beale. Alzheimer's? EastEnders was the first soap, the first, to tackle this subject with Mo Butcher. Teenaged pregnancy? Take your pick. Past teenaged pregnancy? Well, Carol Jackson got pregnant at fourteen, and Sharon Mitchell's birth mother had her at, yes, fourteen. All of the previous was spread over years and over various characters, yet in the space of one year, it's consumed one family - and that's without mentioning "who's the daddy." |
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| Mormon Girl | 25 Jan 2015, 19:22 Post #49 |
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The Carters screentime is no different to the Dingles screentime in Emmerdale IMO |
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| Mr Carter | 26 Jan 2015, 15:06 Post #50 |
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Even though the Carters played a massive part in re-building EE back into shape and are a very successful family with the audience (See NTA awards), I do agree they need to be slightly reigned in before they get exhausted. They are well-rounded and complex characters and make EE feel grounded and real again so it would be a shame to tire them out so soon so quickly. |
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3:31 PM Jul 11