EastEnders

BBC America runs an omnibus once a week of this popular British soap opera. If you don't get BBC America, call your cable company and ask about digital cable- it's generally only about 10 bucks more a month than regular cable, and you get more channels. That said, I was hooked from the first time I watched "EastEnders" a little over a year ago. It took a few episodes and a book ("EastEnders Who's Who", available from amazon.com)for me to catch on, but it was worth it. These characters, although sometimes predictable (cheating exes, guy gets fatal brain tumor, etc,)are more realistic than any lame-o American soap- maybe because they don't sport red sequinned dresses and 5 pounds of make-up at 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday. There's a chock full of good stuff happening in Albert Square- call you cable operator and get the Beeb if, for nothing else, this fabulous show!

I've never been sure if soaps are supposed to simulate real-life. If they are meant for this purpose, that's got to be the biggest waste of time in history. Why simulate real-life? We can all admit that most of our lives are repetitive and dull, so why would anyone want to watch a simulation of that, played out by people who don't even exist?

Eastenders is unconvincing to the extreme. Nobody seems to own a computer, washing machine or car. People seem to buy shares in local businesses within a matter seconds, with someone owning "half the Arches" or "half the Vic". Sam walks around with "the books", which really are books! Most business managers have computers and accountants to do that for them. Those who run stalls on the market like to leave their livelihoods with friends, simply handing over their money pouches. They're the lucky ones - a lot of the cast don't have jobs at all so how they manage to survive in east London is beyond me.

The "gangsters" are so unrealistic it's hard to watch. The scripts are terrible, mainly down to watershed restrictions, so the writers cannot include most swear-words and are forced to use words like "moron", "idiot" and "wally" which don't really work on the same scale.

Strangely enough, soaps are the shows that are watched the most in the UK, and I don't understand this. Numerous soap magazines are on the shelves, and these tell us what's going to happen in the coming weeks, so nobody really needs to watch at all.

I don't understand the concept of soaps, why anyone feels the need to watch and why there are so many.

Where to begin? Where to end? I never miss an episode of Eastenders. But is that saying it's so good that I can't bear to miss it? Not at all. It's not as good as it used to be, obviously. Gone are the days of truly shocking and scandalous story lines. We were hooked on "Who Shot Phil?" We were hooked on Max and Stacey's affair behind Bradley's back. Countless more mentions can be made, but I can't be bothered to write anymore haha. Hooked and shocked. That was once the magic Eastenders had on us. Now, where has it all gone? But, I will say, there is still hope for this once beloved soap. Lucy's murder wasn't all that, and the wait they are keeping us on is a bit much. However, it's the performances of it's actors that will keep me coming back for more. Adam Woodyatt has been particularly brilliant in the unfolding storyline. The writers would be wise to keep focus on him rather than anybody else at the moment, and to surround him by the best actors around.

And that's the point. Eastenders has been a hit and miss over the recent years. But I feel, if they can play their cards right, they can bring it back to top form. Never to the heights of several years ago, that's impossible. But it can be repaired.

6 out of 10, for that little bit of brighter future.

This engaging British series has been a favorite of mine since I was a girl. The families of this fictitious End London borough become familiar faces and names as the show follows generations of the characters thorough their lives. "EE" is more than a working-class soap opera---it's a genuine episodic drama, which is painfully rare here in the US. The storylines arc over months and years instead of days and weeks like American dramas are scheduled. Unlike many American "soap opera-type" series, the majority of episodes are penned by male scriptwriters. The action can be slow-building, but it is engaging. It takes a few viewings to understand who's who and what's what, but with all the websites devoted to this show, the details and characters can be sorted soon enough. Thanks to the advent of cable TV and the BBC America satellite channel, Americans can watch this cozy drama with only a slight lag behind their British counterparts. Grab your favorite ale and some fish and chips and try this show out.

It's a shame to see Phil Mitchell as the one last true great. Ian Beale is past it and we are missing true greats such as Pat and Grant