Coronation Street

I may have dozed off - but did Carla explain why she didn't call the police immediately on thinking there was an intruder in her flat? No one in their right mind would've tackled someone (maybe she's not in her right mind!) But yet again this was written as a stupid "cliff-hanger" cliche into the 8.30....

Yawn yawn yawn.

Oh - lets have more of Tyrone and Kev (& maybe some hunky new guy) with their laddish humour etc in the garage - the scenes last night were a refreshing change from the factory girls.

Perhaps because she'd have to wait atleast 2 weeks for the old bill to show up. Afterall soaps have to reflect real life to a degree. Sometimes it must quicker and more efficient to deal with such issues yourself. Personally if i thought i had an intruder in my home, i'd call some heavy mates to deal with it and worry about the consequences later.

Id have done the same as Carla, but this relationship with her and Tony is so boring - he is no replacement for Paul.

I agree more scenes from Kevin and Tyrone -dont need some token hunk though - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Coronation Street seems to be deteriorating. Not sure if its the change in scheduling thats had an affect too. It just seems so bland, episodes filled out with the 'factory girls', shaun and ofcourse 'Ryunnnnn' and Michelle.

Plus, because of Harry Hill, I can't stop looking at his bulging left eye. I laugh every time he comes on screen. He'll never have a serious part again!

But the burning question is...

Is it real? Or is it like the line from Two pints of Lager last Sunday when came down to talking about a false eye?

"He puts a pickled onion in for special occasions"

So is it an eye or a pickled onion??

Me too - I cant look at him anymore. I also never particularly liked the character before but he is irritating now. The actor I dont mind, I liked him in Peak Practice.

And I agree that Corrie has suffered since the recent schedule changes.

The signs have been there for months though, long before the scheduling change - though I'm in no doubt the double doubles haven't helped.

He's been about for quite a while Gray O'Brien, I remember him in Casualty.

You're all crazy.

He's Billy from River City.

Yeah but we dont get that here in Wales.

Agreed. The scheduling changes just seem to have exposed how bad a state it really was in. At the moment we have the Carla/Tony/Maria/Liam snorefest, the Michelle/Alex/Ryaaaaaaan snorefest (Connoration Street, surely?), and oh look, Jack's lost his betting slip! Gripping stuff.

They haven't got the material to sustain two doubles a week, and as a result we have dreadful storylines being made even more dreadful by being dragged out for an extra half hour. Last night's "cliffhanger" was pitiful. "Who is in Carla's flat?" asks the bimbo announcer. Er, Tony? We saw him enter about ten minutes ago you stupid bint.

ITV are partly to blame for creating this mad schedule, and it doesn't seem to be paying off. In recent weeks both second episodes have been dropping quite a significant amount of viewers from the first episode. Are viewers now bored? And the second episodes are no longer providing the boost that ITV clearly wanted, seeing both The Palace and Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach embarrassingly flop.

But a lot of the blame lies with Corrie themselves. Even without these doubles, they don't see to be able to find a balance any longer, allowing one or two stories to dominate pushing other characters to the sidelines for weeks and even months on end. The cast is far too large with superfluous characters. The storylines are dull. The writing unimaginative. The execution uninventive. There's no longer that creative spark. It just seems to be a machine churning out the same old tosh.