Flavour of the Month

There's news over the weekend that Kym Marsh has signed on to Corrie for another year. No big deal, you would think, but the unnamed anonymous "inside" source spoke to the media saying that Michelle, Kym's character, is the very center of Coronation Street and everyone is pleased she's staying on. Um. I would beg to differ there but the thing is, sources like that are usually an agent or publicity spin doctor paid by the actor, at least, that's what I think. For nearly the entire time that Ms. Marsh has been on Coronation Street, we've seen her face plastered in the newspapers, photo shoots, on every red carpet and carpets of all colours. She's very good at getting her name and face out there.

Then you remember that Michelle has been the focus of a great many storylines in the past. For a year or two there, it really did feel like Michelle was the center of the show but it wasn't in a good way. It was overkill and Corrie seems to be doing a lot of that lately. They really over-use a character to the point where most of the fans are truly sick of them and it turns them off the character.

I never had a problem with Michelle at first, she wasn't an actor that would win major acting awards but she wasn't that bad either. But then it started. She was everywhere though not shoved into everyone else's storyline as well, like they did with Stella Price, at least. It culminated in the very ill-conceived (and yes, pun very much intended) storyline about her biological son being switched in the hospital with another. The Ryan/Alex storyline was awful and although it's been completely swept under the rug by the writers, fans remember and wonder why Michelle never contacts her biological son on his birthday and why a stroppy Ryan never screamed "You're not my real mother" back when he and she were feuding.

After that, Michelle took a back seat for awhile and it was All Becky All the Time. Again, overusing the character but for me, in this case, I liked Becky and Katherine Kelly a lot more so it didn't bother me. It was a bone of contention for a lot of fans, however, and Ms. Kelly's face wasn't plastered over the media nearly as much as Ms. Marsh's. This isn't a new phenomenon though.

If you think back to the 1990s, you may recall an actress called Tracy Shaw who played Maxine Heavy Peacock. She was the first media darling that I remember and she was all over the tabloids. There were rumours that she herself was the "anonymous" source for some of the stuff that got into the papers.

Another point that seems to crop up with these women is that, as an actor, their skills are not that strong. Some were/are better than others but most of them, when they decide to leave the show to persue other projects, don't really get very far. It's a testement to their ability, not their popularity, that they make a successful career outside Coronation Street, like Katherine Kelly, Sarah Lancashire (Raquel) and another former favourite of mine, Suranne Jones. The rest spend some time working the media then fade quietly away.

At the moment, Helen Flanagan, who played Rosie Webster, seems to be her own publicity machine and making sure her name, face and body are a staple of the salivating tabloids and social media. She wanted to be famous. She is, but it's for her face and figure, not for all those acting jobs that haven't really appeared yet. She, too, will eventually fade as the flavour of the month turns to a new face.

Some of the women realize their limits and stay with Coronation Street as long as they can. The security is good, whether or not they like to keep their name in the spotlights. Most of them, in fact, keep their private lives private though disappointingly, even the ones that seem the most sincere still end up selling their stories or their wedding/baby pics to one of the glossier magazines. It's that last bit that kind of makes me feel let down. Sometimes, they do have a message to tell, like when Sally Dynevor went through her cancer treatements. Seeing her story in Hello magazine got her message of hope and survival out to a lot of people and that is a good thing. Selling your wedding photos offsets the cost of your big day and that just feels cheap.

I guess I've got off track a bit I hate pandering to the media and the ones that do it the most deserve it the least. I certainly think a lot less of the actors that do it and when the Powers that Be shove a character down our throats in storyline after storyline, especially silly storylines that make no sense, only serve to make us sick of them, not love them more and it's moreso when it's an actor that isn't up to the workload nine times out of ten.

The New Rosie Webster

Has Rosie Webster changed or are they writing her character a bit differently these days? Rosie was one of the most annoying characters on Corrie, for me. I didn't think much of the acting ability of Helen Flanagan and Rosie herself was shallow, vain and pretty much pointless.

Now? Well, it's not as if she's gained a lot of depth but she's a heck of a lot funnier than she used to be. She's still shallow and self absorbed but lately she's making me literally laugh out loud, not something I often do watching Corrie even if I find something amusing.

This week alone, she had me chuckling when she had Jason hold her mobile for her while her nails dried and then on Friday, for her modeling job, she took advantage of having a baby brother and took little Jack to the photo shoot only to bring home the wrong baby. Last week she came out with a brilliant line, "If I start making food for him, where will it end?" to which Tina sardonically replied "Chaos?" "Exactly!!" declared our erstwhile feminist (that's a joke, before you all start flaming me!)

It seems like Rosie's character has been turned slightly to the left and is heading in the direction of a comedic character, more than before. I think she was meant to be this way for some time but perhaps the writing just wasn't quite nailed down for the character and actor but they seem to be jelling quite well these days.

There have also been some nice scenes between Sophie and Rosie lately, since Sophie came out. Rosie has always loved her family but it hasn't come out a lot over the years. You might see rare moments between she and Sophie or with her parents but for the most part it was all about her. It still is but she's showing a little bit of compassion a little bit more often.

It's too bad they've stripped her of her former intelligence. She *did* have a good education even if she threw it away by not continuing. She *did* hold down a PA job at the factory for over a year and she couldn't have been that incompetent or they wouldn't have kept her on.  She was quite bright but you wouldn't know it to hear her these days.

Oh well, the Personality Transplant Fairy has to have a job to do now and then, I suppose.

Between her eclectic wardrobe choices, the improved writing and Helen's spot on delivery, these days I'm actually enjoying Rosie and that's something I never thought I'd say!

Just an addition to the above, something I just thought of... Wouldn't I just love to see Rosie unexpectedly fall in love with baby Jack? I mean totally enthralled with the wee baby, much to Sally's consternation! You might expect it of Sophie but you wouldn't of Rosie and i think it would really work. 

The State of the Street - June

I really fail to see what Molly sees in Kevin! I've been dreading this thing between Kevin and Molly, I really have. If they had to do it, couldn't they just have Kevin with a one-sided crush and Molly firmly kicking him into touch? A crush, I can understand that happening. It can happen to anyone. Molly is loyal and she loves Tyrone and even him having trouble accepting Jack's friendship with Connie shouldn't be enough to push her into his best friend's coveralls, not even on a soap! But the more I think of it, you know... Molly does have form being the "other woman". She chased Kirk trying to take him off Fiz and she chased Tyrone as well, when he was still keen on Maria so maybe it's not so out of character after all! And Tyrone... Well I understand that he thinks the world of Jack and he misses Vera terribly but he has to understand that life moves on and he should be glad Jack is happy.

David set up Gary over the burglary and the Windasses try to band together with fake alibis, as per usual, until there's more serious charges then Len cuts and runs. You know, Gary as a character is settling in a bit and i do like Anna but the other two, Eddie and Len, can go pound sand and I don't think the family has gelled at all. Maybe that's why Len has already been chucked out of the house by his brother. I don't foresee them lasting the year out. Ted of course is ever the Voice of Reason, willing to forgive anyone (easy for him to say knowing it was David that set it all up and he wasn't about to turn David in, was he?)

A new romance gives Sue Cleaver some good storylines and this has been a good year for her. Nice to see Eileen having a bit of a romance for a change. It's probably not going to be a long term thing, Eileen is one of Corrie's love losers but wouldn't it be nice if this turned into the love of her life? It's also nice to see Jack finding some companionship as well. It's been a good year for all the senior cast members, really. Ken and Deirdre, Rita, Norris, Jack, Bill, and even Emily though she's mostly been the Greek chorus to everyone else's storyline but at least we've seen more of her. The only one that hasn't had a lot of storyline of that generation is Audrey who's been peripheral to things since she and Bill broke up, for the most part.

Pity we have to balance it out with a ludicrously contrived storyline about Stape giving Rosie the procedes from the sale of his granny's house just as Luke came up with an investment scheme for the staff! And by the way, Helen Flanagan's habit of delivering her lines in what she thinks is "uppity" and "snippy" is just speed-speaking and you can't understand half of what she's saying. You can still portray snotty and speak a little bit slower. In fact, it would make the condescension stand out more.

I think Fiz really has hit bottom, proposing to John. What have they done to this once-sparky redhead? I know i've said it before but it bears repeating. What are they doing to this character!!!

Further to the question about why Hayley hasn't had a storyline,Why did it take Hayley months to rip Pam an new one over selling sandwiches to the whole neighbourhood? Even Roy hadn't made any mention of it though the only reaction Hayley's had was a bit of a sneer once up until the last of June. Well leave it to Hayley to compromise instead of bringing the wrath of Health and Safety on Pam's head.

I'm continuing to enjoy Peter's struggle with alchohol. Um, let me put that another way. I'm enjoying the storylines and the performances. At the same time that Peter is struggling with recovery, Joe is sinking into the depths of prescription pain killer addiction. Another good performance here too. Doesn't Joe have a nasty mouth on him sometimes, though? But neither of them has been seen struggling later in June. I expect Joe's story will be ramping up now that Peter is coming to terms with his problem.

A refeshing change. Michelle had two fellas after her and didn't pick either one. Sensibly, she knew Peter still had a thing for Leanne and she wasn't over Steve. (But you know the best way to get over a fella is to get under one or two new ones! I guess that didn't work so well for her!) She's gone for awhile (while the actress gets new knockers and I guess we'll not see too much of Ryan either. But as I blogged over here, I'm guessing she'll be back early, pregnant and won't know who the father is.

It's so awesome watching Tony, the control freak, losing his marbles little by little though he's been pretty stable lately. We know that exposing his misdeeds are going to be at the end of it all. Is he really falling for Maria, or is it another move in his master plan to win her away from her suspicions? Natasha was just a diversion. I maintain that Tony didn't feel guilty about killing Liam but he felt horribly guilty when he realized Maria was pregnant and that might be his one glimmer of redemption. HE'll still have to pay for his misdeeds at some point. Murderers cannot be seen to get away with their crime. Once Carla comes back, she'll make sure Tony pays.

Poppy all of a sudden can't get along with Betty who takes advantage who probably has been doing that for the last 15 years, I suppose, but firing Betty?!!! She can't get away with that. Betty comes with the pub, everyone knows that! When it comes down to an ultimatum, and without Liz there to back up her mate, Betty rules the roost because heaven knows Steve hasn't got the gumption to smack Betty down and he knows that though the younger punters might not appreciate her, all the regulars certainly do and you don't drive your regulars away, do you? What gets me is that Poppy was a perfectly reasonable person until the last few weeks. The Personality Transplant Fairies whacked her on the head because they have to have a reason for her to never darken the Rovers' door again.