E Street

E-Street screened on Australian television between 1989 and 1993, when it was axed by Channel 10 (the network which screened it). Channel 10 repeated some episodes around 2002-3, but I never watched these, and am thus going on my memory of seeing them 'the first time around'. And a long time ago, that was! That my memory of these episodes is so vivid only goes to show that the show (whatever its faults - and there were many!) definitely left an impression.

E Street began as a social commentary/slice of life program, dealing with such issues as single parenthood, drug addiction, sexual violence, suicide, safe sex. Quickly, however, it

disintegrated into something else. Something entirely different. 'Social realism' disappeared from the program, to be replaced by a string of serial killer story lines, dream sequences, gangsters, and - at one point - a werewolf.

These 'fantasy' elements were often ridiculous, and the acting ranged from the ordinary to the banal. And yet, it's these elements that allows the program to play again in my memory. I giggle as I remember the mind games played between Sheridan Sturgess (that name sounds like something from a black and white 1940s melodrama!) and the uber-sadistic Mr Bad. I laugh out loud as I recall Rev Bob's death scene, complete with a religious angel and rays of light pouring into the church.

Put simply, E Street was a dreadful show. Yet this dreadfulness, the utter tackiness of the program was (in hindsight) one of

its great qualities. The show certainly managed to rise above the banality of so many other 'soapies' (i.e. Neighbors), and

is a strong contender for a cult following - if it doesn't already have one.

Yes it was the very different array of characters, we got to know and love in E Street, but it just didn't stand up to the other mainstream soapies. May'be we had seen two many like this before, but really the story lines weren't up with the others, or weren't anything special. It was more the characters that moved us, some of the young cast, disappearing and becoming shadows. Most memorable was Alyssa Jane Cook, Marcus Graham, and hot Toni Pearen. I remember the character, C.J, her love interest, was or went blind, and hot guest star hottie Caz Lederman went nuts with a knife once, in one of the earlier shows, where our Father (Tony Martin) tried to talk her down. Look, I really did like the show, and it did make 89' a memorable year, but as in quality, it was just of average stature, but this and almost every other soapie, is better than The Bold And The Beautiful. Incidentally, B and B, first came out this same year too, on in the mornings at 11. But on an enjoyable scale, E Street was quite the tasty entertainer with a great soundtrack. Penny Cook's little girl played by Brooke Mikey Anderson, was cute too. Cook's performance was very good in this, too. Yeah, where did she go, besides that movie, Coda. Check out Vince Martin's entry into the show.

Oddly, one of the main characters was mute - who refused to talk because of all the horror in the world. Then, later in the show, there was a mysterious, profound radio DJ, who no one knew the identity of.

Guess what, it was in fact the mute character! One never would of guessed. Australian Soaps at this time were pretty lame, "A country practice" had been running for 10 years and had some ludicrous, unbelievable scripts.

While a lot of Australian Soaps were set in the country, in contrast, e street was set in the inner city.

Melissa Tkautz from this show went on to be a minor Pop star. Bruce Samazan, also one of the shows main characters, went on to star in Neighbours for a while, but eventually left acting and went into real estate (probably a good move).

E street also had Robin Hardy directing it - which was odd as he was famous for directing the cult movie, "The Wicker Man".