Lite Emmerdale-godis från Colin

(edit 2014-11-10: Nu har jag lagt till en kommentar till spoilervarningen eftersom Colin tycker att man kan läsa större delen av inlägget utan att bli "spoilad")
 
Detta inlägg innehåller en mindre spoiler, inget om vad som kommer att hända men att någon kommer att vara kvar i serien så vill du inte veta detta får du inte läsa de sista styckena efter Zaks 20-års jubileum eller sluta läsa här.
 
Having seen the reactions on here I thought I'd offer a few more thoughts. I’ve written more than I thought I would. I hope it’s of interest! :)
 
Firstly I must apologise for the weird formatting of the last post – especially the bits that had to be highlighted to be readable. That was after copying a link and Swedish phrase from Wikipedia – though I’m sure I’ve done it without that happening before! The Lesley Dunlop interview being in two shades probably had something to do with leaving out a picture that was in the middle of the article! Hopefully this one won’t look so messy!
 
 
 
Julia talked about the target age of the programme - how she felt it used to be aimed at the elderly but is now being targeted towards younger people. It's true that there is still a perception among some people that it is 'a boring soap about farmers for old people', but Emmerdale have been trying to shake off this image since they dropped 'Farm' from the title in 1989! For example see this picture from a 1992 promotional campaign with the actors who played Michael Feldmann and Rachel Hughes https://www.dropbox.com/s/uv6mokr5a4b93ji/sexy%20photo-shoot.jpg?dl=0  When the efforts to attract a younger audience weren't working, they dropped a plane on the village!... These days plenty of young people watch the show, and I don’t think (though I can’t say for certain) that attracting a young audience per se is a concern nowadays. Having said that, as a show for ITV it needs to attract advertisers, and, speaking in general terms, it’s the young that commercials are aimed at. I think that the changes that have occurred in the show in more recent years aren’t so much about attracting the young, but more keeping up with modern trends in television. I said that Emmerdale having a serial killer was inevitable. One could say ‘why does Emmerdale need one just because the others have?’ I think the answer is that the reason there have been so many stories of this kind (all of them since the 21st century) is because that’s what people seem to want. In which case, eventually, Emmerdale were going to give it to them.
 
 
 
Lena mentioned Coronation Street. (I hadn’t realised you were showing it until then). I don’t know if you know but you’re watching October 2011 at the moment. You started with July 28th, on which date in Emmerdale Aaron was found Not Guilty, Debbie became increasingly concerned about Sarah’s mystery bruises, and Scarlett left the village. At the moment you’ve got Fiz in prison, believed to have been involved in her husbands’ murders (imagine John Stape as looking like Louise’s detective boyfriend Martin (and father of Victoria’s former friend Kayleigh), except five years older!) But Gail and Carla have also both been married to double (or more) murderers (in fact it was really Gail’s husband who started this trend for serial killers in soap back in 2002). You may feel “Corrie” is more fun to watch at the moment, but I can pretty much guarantee you’ll find something to your dislike in time! Speaking of imagining what people look like, imagine baby Jack’s mother as looking like an older version of Ollie Reynolds! And if Eva seems familiar, she was Abi, the prison guard Ryan had an affair with!
 
 
 
Andrea: Recasts often meet a lot of disapproval even when the character has been absent for several years. I think recasting a current actor would be even more unpopular! As for the producer wanting to ruin the show, I think you’re getting confused with remarks made about the previous producer Stuart Blackburn (who now produces Coronation Street). Though not everyone likes Kate Oates’ ideas, most who’ve read interviews with her agree she is passionate about the show. She’s still producing the show at the moment and I certainly don’t think she is out to ruin it! She used to produce the BBC’s radio soap The Archers from 2003 to 2010, which even today isn’t that far removed from how it was when it started in 1951. Even more so than Emmerdale in its “Farm” days, farming and agricultural issues have always been a very important part of what The Archers is. I suppose the point I’m trying to make is she is experienced and believes in her work. Most people would say that Kate is a better producer than Stuart was. She inherited the Cameron story of course. Whether she would have initiated a serial killer story herself I can’t know, but few would disagree that she brought it to a thrilling conclusion.
 
 
 
As much as I was prepared for a negative reaction to Gennie’s death, I’m a little disappointed that there’s been hardly any praise for the episode. Yes there were complaints in the UK – just as on here, many felt Emmerdale had become too dark (there was particular criticism that it wasn’t suitable for the timeslot with children potentially being around (though the death episode was screened at 8:30pm, with warnings beforehand)), there was criticism that the story had been going on too long, and some complained that it was too unbelievable (e.g. Gennie not going to the Woolpack, or the fact she survived the crash). But on the other hand there were many people reacting positively to the great acting and the great stunt, with many suggesting the episode should win awards. There’s little point giving sample critical quotes as most of it has been covered. Here though is a sample of positive reactions:
 
 
 
"I was practically shaking by the end of the episodes it was so well filmed and the full dramatic suspense was immense. Well done to the Emmerdale team. I really felt the drama from Sian during the car chase and was so hyped up by the end. Totally deserves best exit at British Soap Awards next year."
 
 
 
"What a brilliant exit. The crash was done brilliantly and the murder was chilling. I can't wait for the next episodes."
 
 
 
"Absolutely incredible stunt. I was watching open mouthed. It was brutal. Made all the more real by the view of inside the car as poor Gennie was thrown and battered around. Incredible work Emmerdale."
 
 
 
I have to agree with that last one especially. Though upsetting, those shots of Gennie from inside the car were incredibly done - you saw her distress much better than it was done for the Barton crash. I think Sian probably would have won “Best Exit” at the British Soap Awards (they’re like the Oscars of the soap world!) – except that the category was mysteriously dropped this year! There are other ways to have a great exit than to die of course, but of the 15 winners of the category, 9 of them died which I think demonstrates that they do make for very memorable and dramatic departures. Of the other six winners, four would definitely be classed as villains, and the other two were by no means angelic. In fact well over 90% of all nominees in this category had either died or were in some way villainous (this is something I’d never even realised myself until today). Here’s a full list of Emmerdale’s nominated characters:
 
’99 Kim Tate (won – villain)
 
’00 Butch Dingle (won –dead)
 
’02 Batley the Dog (won –dead)
 
’03 Angie Reynolds (dead)
 
’04 Tricia Dingle (won – dead)
 
’05 Charity Tate (villain)
 
’06 Zoe Tate (won –villain (ish))
 
’07 Cain Dingle and Steph Stokes (both villains)
 
’08 Len Reynolds (dead)
 
’09 Matthew King (dead (and villain))
 
’10 Mark Wylde (dead (and villain-ish))
 
’11 Shadrach Dingle (dead)
 
’12 John Barton (dead)
 
’13 Carl King (dead (and villain))  
 
 
 
Now, one thing you can’t accuse Gennie of is being a villain! So when Sian asked for a great exit (remember this is why she gave them almost a years’ notice) what exactly should they have done? I think you’d probably struggle to find more than one other ‘great exit’ per year that wasn’t killed off in recent years. This is a subjective list, but I’m thinking the most recent ones would perhaps be Aaron, Leyla and Eli (if you’re memory is good!) Two of them had notable bad sides! If you’re an actor looking for a great and memorable exit, you don’t really want to leave the way the Barton girls, Scarlett and Hazel left, for example. When Scarlett returned, weren’t people asking for reminders of how she left (little over a year earlier)? But if you’ve been watching long enough I bet you remember how all those award nominees left!
 
 
 
I suppose I just wish some of you could be a little more appreciative of the effort they put in to making the story exciting. Soaps have always had misery. Pat Sugden’s death in 1986 was a great example of this, and way back in 1976 Matt Skilbeck’s two-year-old twins died (off-screen). The difference then was that there were only two episodes a week. Inevitably with three times the number of episodes in a week nowadays, there will be a lot more grieving. Though while the periods following those two “Farm” deaths would have been dominated by grief, with the much larger casts they have now, there is opportunity to look away and see what else is going on in the village. So yes there will be more grief long term, but it won’t be non-stop. I suppose if your view of Emmerdale is escapism, a break from real-world problems, then seeing misery is difficult, but it’s always had that element. Most drama does – look at the sad things that have happened in Downton Abbey for example. Also look at popular movies like Titanic. Shakespeare was famous for his Tragedies! Romeo and Juliet is regarded as one of the greatest stories ever told. Yet the ending is incredibly sad. Crying at TV is certainly nothing to feel ashamed or embarrassed about. If anything it shows the movie or TV show producers have done their job properly! You can’t change the way you feel though, and I do understand that upsetting television isn’t to everybody’s taste - especially if you weren’t prepared for it. Perhaps it could have helped if I (or someone else who knew about it) had warned people ‘be prepared for upsetting scenes’. But then of course others would rightfully have been annoyed that we’d spoiled it.
 
 
 
There’s been talk of ‘too many deaths’. I’ve had a look at the exits since Emmerdale went to six episodes a week at the beginning of 2004. Again it’s subjective. I’ve counted Kelly and Thomas twice for example, but Anya and Scarlett only once. I’ve included Jerry Walsh, but not Justin Gallagher.  All-in-all, I counted up about 120 exits from 2004 to 2013, of whom around 32 died. Again it’s hard to know who to count. Should I count Mia Macey? (I did) What about Brian Addyman (Katie’s father) who met the same fate, but two years after his last appearance, and three years since he’d been a regular? I decided not to include him. What about Colin McFarlane? Who? Precisely! He’s not been included either (Chas had a one-night stand with him. She woke up and he was dead). I’ve included every death from 2009 to 2013. There were no more than 16 (I'm being deliberately vague) In the previous five year period there were in excess of 18. So is it really true that there are more deaths than before? Typically about a third of character exits are as a result of death. 2009 was unusually low with only Jack Sugden dying, while 2006 had in excess of 6 characters die. Even with a psychopath on the loose and Alan’s death to come, the death rate in 2013 won’t reach that high. The percentage in 2013 will be higher than usual (a record % since 2004 (based on who I’ve counted)) – but that’s because not many characters actually left the show. In saying all this, I am aware of the expression known in Swedish as “Lögn, förbannad lögn och statistik”! The figures work as a good estimate however. By the way, in response to R, I shouldn’t be too sure that Zak isn’t one of the 2013 departures. It’s true that Zak made his first appearance in October 1994, but not necessarily true that he made it to his 20thanniversary.
 
 
 
I do agree with Taketh that Victoria was quite funny. People searching for a new favourite to replace Gennie should definitely keep an eye out for her as she develops into one of today’s most popular characters.
 
 
 
Jonas – I think it was *because* of the ‘släktskapet’ that Cameron suggested he go down, saying it would be to upsetting for Debbie.
 
 
 
Lastly, Ylva – yes Jimmy’s reaction surprised me, too. Remember when they got drunk and ended up in bed together? She wasn’t very good at making a discreet exit then either! I do miss Gennie and her funny ways! :(
P.S. Look out for Molly looking especially sweet and innocent tomorrow! :)
 
 
 
edit 4/11:
PPS. Note that Marie has now edited the post slightly for me, as I realised that I'd accidentally made it a bit easier than I had intended for people to work out exactly how many characters will die in 2013.
PPPS. While I'm here, I forgot Natasha from the list of recent great non-death exits! Although, like Jasmine nearly two years earlier, I think the actual exits, which followed a prison visit or two, were actually a bit of an anti-climax. I think it's probably better to give them their sentence, lock them away and leave it there!

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Postat av: Linn

Thank you, Colin! Very interesting Points and information.

2014-11-04 @ 16:39:01

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