Gente de barrio

The only reason this isn't less than 2, or 2 & a half stars out of 5 is because this isn't one of those poorly made mockbusters where the acting is non-existent, the same can not be said about the writing.

I'm an American who has watched "EastEnders" on and off on my local PBS station over the last 15 years. I find the show fascinating and it's not because the plots are particularly original or the acting is so amazing. It's not the "exotic" location either, I've been to London a couple of times. No, the reason I can't stop watching "EastEnders" is because it's the complete polar opposite of an American soap opera!

On an American soap opera, everyone is attractive or at least above-average looking. On EastEnders, (although they will occasionally throw in an attractive person to confuse you, I mean is Rosie's older daughter a super-model for that neighborhood or what?) everyone is pretty much average to below-average looking. There's one character who always looks like he's in desperate need of a blood transfusion and another who is quite simply the ugliest human being I've ever seen on scripted television.

On an AS, everyone is always fashionably dressed and impeccably groomed. I don't think you ever even see anyone in the same outfit twice. While watching EE, I sometimes wonder if the actors didn't do their own hair and makeup and bring clothes from home. On second thought, most of the actors would probably dress better than their characters.

On an AS, everyone has a glamorous and/or high-profile and/or high-paying and/or highly- respected career, e.g. doctor, model, cosmetics tycoon, writer, chief of police (even if they only appear to be about 20 years-old!), etc. On EE, the characters work in stalls at the street market, in pubs, cafés, garages, and laundromats. The most successful guy in the neighborhood is the guy who owns the café.

You really can't help but feel pretty good about yourself and your life after watching EE.

There are some other characters on EE that you typically wouldn't see on an AS, like a 14 year- old (who looks like a 12 year-old) girl with a baby and a man who seems to be in at least his mid-forties who can't read or write. One nice thing is that the writers don't seem to consider people over the age of 40 too old for romance. People in their 40s, 50s, 60s and older are depicted dating and even getting married. I've laughed out loud at a few hilarious moments involving horny seniors Pat, Patrick and Big Mo.

My favorite character is Dot Cotton/Brown, the church-lady type who gets some good lines. The actress who plays her is 88 years-old and it's pretty impressive that she's still working a grueling soap schedule and memorizing tons of dialogue.

Is EE a great show? No. Is it even a very good show? No. Will I keep watching? Well, yeah. We only get 2 episodes a week in the States (we're 10 years behind the UK, episode-wise), that's not enough to kill the novelty factor. I wouldn't watch "Days of Our Lives" but I'll watch "EastEnders" and feel like a successful super-model when the end-credits roll!

I have watched Eastenders for years from 2000 as I lived in South Africa, but it is just too boring now. I can't watch it anymore. All doom and gloom.

Everyone is trying to get one up on the other, scripts are shocking, and people not getting there just deserts for murder, how long can a person go about daily life.

I've watched and loved Eastenders for decades but my God am I hating the storylines more and more every year! It's become a boring unbearable depressive drag!

This stupid neverending Keanu saga will drag on all year no doubt, the alcoholic Linda, the looney Denise, the stuck up Suki and her backwards and forwards lesbian affair...where are the likes of Mitchells and good stories relating to them,...that family made the soap, nothing happens anymore! The slapper Stacy and her numerous kids and affairs...the perv Dean...where's Shirley by the way?! All the Linda's kids?? And did you lose a gem in Danny Dyer...him leaving killed it completely for me!

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.