Waste of Space

There is intelligent life at Walford Web kindergarten, and they are not happy with the way Ian has been sidelined, in order that we all might be asked to worship at the altar of St Branning and the Yoof Brigade.

Started by the pride of the Antipodes, Professor Plum:-

The only story I am really interested in right now, is not being told.  And that is Ians. 

I cannot believe they have sidelined him for this utter garbage!

Joey and Lauren have hardly said Boo to each other, other than catching up on family stuff.  Suddenly they are suppose to be loves young dream?

Or is that just a reflection on Lucys prowess in bed? 

Yeah, come to think of it, we just had Ian being ushered to the surgery by Zainab to arrange "counselling". Then all he seemed to do was babysit Sharon's son off-screen.

Automatic for the People seems to have regained his senses from the bi-racial fiasco discussion:-

 The fact that they've just dropped Ian's mental health problems so quickly is actually quite horrifying. Yeah, cause that's how it works.  What a lot of potential for an ongoing, always relevant storyline that could have been sensitively handled by one of the best actors on the show.

Well, you know, EastEnders doesn't like higher education for people (it sends them batshit), and it doesn't like counselling. I mean, Whitney didn't need counselling, did she ... wait ... maybe a fair number of yoof ought to be checked out for chlamydia.

Jay Lee, who's watched the programme as long as I have, nails it brilliantly.

 In a year when we've had airtime filled with rubbish storylines - Derek's philandering, Kat's mystery affair and 80% meaningless filler episodes with comedy Kim and the youth of Albert Square - they had a chance of building quite a ground-breaking, moving story with their longest serving character going through mental health issues. They did all the build-up... then nothing. What an appalling waste. It does beg the question, who is running this thing and how did they get it so wrong? 

Well, in a nutshell, Ian's story wasn't elaborated because Ian is neither (a) young, (b) buff or (c) pretty. I mean, how many of us felt our hearts in our throats as we watched Whitney weep by Tyler's bedside begging him to wake up? (No, I didn't either, but still, that's what TPTB want us to believe).

For some reason I've never fathomed, we're supposed to be on the sidelines rooting Kat on with her affair and cheating on Alfie. Why, I've no idea. Soap operas are modern-day morality plays. We might have felt some modicum of sympathy for Kat had Alfie been sleeping around on her or beating her or being continuously drunk, but he's been a loving and caring husband. Do they honestly want us to sit around sniggering and guessing an asswipe who's low enough to sleep with the whore-y looking wife of the local publican whilst looking him in the eye on a daily basis? It almost seemed as if TPTB wanted to push this story as a good-natured game.

If Max Branning were boning some female character on the Square, and the suspects were Zainab, Roxy, Denise and Kim, do you think people would be excited for Max? They'd be condemning him for the amoralist that he is. This is one aspect I hate about EastEnders at the moment - the attitude that women are justified in any sort of inappropriate behaviour they choose to effect, and men are just weak creatures to be scorned.

Ian Beale is the wrong age (43), the wrong sex (male) and simply not pretty enough for TPTB to merit a long storyline which would have to be researched (another bad word), written and acted sensitively. Woodyatt could deliver the goods, but the writers couldn't.

Who's responsible for this now? Well, sweet Lorraine is ...

This is her baby now. A woman who's worked for EastEnders since she was n-n-n-n-nineteen and who, for the past 12 years, has served no less than six Executive Producers as their Series Producer. If that sounds like a company yes-man to you, you've got it right. She's going to push the company message, which is that the corporation is in crisis, on a budget and they have to cut costs. Hence, the use of inexperienced and very young actors, many hired for looks rather than talent. An Adam Woodyatt, a Steve McFadden, even a Letitia Dean would be too expensive to use exclusively.

Why do you think there have been so many "breaks" amongst senior cast and various people being allowed panto breaks?

As for whether she's getting it right or wrong, she's aping her betters through the years. From Berridge onward, EPs sought to pander and please whatever demographic was giving them positive feedback. Unfortunately, that hasn't been coming from the intelligent, long-term viewer, but from the current lowest common denominator of teen fan, fanboi and girl cheerleader shippers and assorted trolls. They know who they are.

And Janus Nebraska sums it up succinctly:-

They don't have time to build on Ian's breakdown cause they're too busy concentrating on Derek and MyAlice having the same argument over and over, Joey being like his old man, Poppy and Fatboy hooking up, stringing along Kat's affair storyline, dedicate time to the obnoxious young adults.

I'm glad Derek's leaving, maybe screen time will be used better then, but MyAlice and Joey should not be left behind. 

The show has become a carnival of ever-decreasing circles. Even Jamie Foreman, now that he's left the production, tells the same tale. His character was promised so much to the viewer, but from the getgo, he was vilified. That's not the actor's fault, that's the way the writers sought to project him. When they finally realised from viewer feedback that Derek simply wasn't working, they sought another cack-handed route and couldn't extricate him from Abi's dead hampster's wheel trap. 

Kirkwood, to his credit, wanted to end the Shaggerman storyline in October, with the reveal and with Jessie Wallace sloping away from Walford in the rain. Kat was toast. Now, Newman's extended the storyline and let her viewing public who pay her handsome salary with their licence fee know that she intends to keep Kat on and redeem her, thank you very much. After all, according to Newman, Kat and Alfie still have a long way to go. (Do they, Lorraine? Do tell).

Nebraska's right. Derek leaving is one thing, but why are his children remaining - especially since one is played by an experienced actress contending with crap scripts and the other is played by an underwear model whose diction and syntax are unintelligible and who has no acting experience?

Add to that the problems that are Jack (irrelevant), Kat (bitch),  Lauren (totally unlikeable), Bianca (same old same old), Lola (pejorative character),  Tyler and Whitney (bore), Fatboy (poor man's Ali G and old), Big Mo and Jean ...  when are these on-going mistakes going to be rectified, or is Ms Newman too timid to confront this?

This about sums up the show at the moment.