T Boy

I’ve never been fully on board with Ben and Callum given that it’s always been an abusive relationship held up by the show as some sort of fairytale. Ben needs a long rest now. Whitney also needs a long rest and I think I can now see where she’ll get it. Yet another character who’s quite horrible to everyone but constantly thrust forward as some sort of saint. I don’t see many issues with Denzel’s acting, I do often cringe when they have teen characters shouting but this current crowd are all pretty talented and unusually fleshed out as characters for their ages so it works. Priya is also an absolute find for the show, fantastic actor and character, I can’t wait to see more of her. I’m also glad that Martin is getting distanced from Stacey.

I just think Yolande must be some sort of saint to just watch the rest of the family float away and leaving her to pick up the pieces seemingly alone. I mean, where is Patrick at the moment?

My goodness that was heavy and so well played. Neighbours proving it can still deliver in this relaunch. Surely there is not much time left for Chelsea after this?

One True Voice were sort of assumed to win the battle before the mids. The year had been quite boy band/young male singer heavy with Westlife, Blue, Will and Gareth, etc. and it was a wintery cover ballad-it probably would have worked for Westlife.

I disagree with that McFly example. It was an obvious no.1. In fact, people on here predicted it would do exactly what it did. For me, these count: Gabrielle-Rise-not too surprising but I think other new entries were favoured to get there such as REM and Andreas Johnson. Oxide & Neutrino-Bound 4 Da Reload-I just didn’t really know this until it got there. Destiny’s Child-Independent Women-I couldn’t see past Craig David vs Roman Keating that week. Atomic Kitten-Whole Again-as Gooddelta says, there were on the way out with U2 seemingly the obvious no.1. It had a lot of airplay but I thought it’d be top 5 at best. P!nk-Just Like A Pill-a very predictable year for no.1s and I loved this track but I’m pretty sure everyone thought it’d be Eminem or Busted. Daniel Bedingfield-Never Gonna Leave Your Side-just didn’t think it would get there. Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne-Changes-again, something that passed me by until release week. Michael Andrews Feat Gary Jules-Mad World-thought it’d be the Darkness. Ja Rule Feat R Kelly & Ashanti-Wonderful-sales were very low but I thought Daniel Bedingfield would have a triumphant return and I wasn’t too familiar with this. Stereophonics-Dakota-despite low sales and being desperate for a non Elvis no.1, it just didn’t occur to me that they’d have a chance. Arctic Monkeys-I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor-hadn’t heard of them until the release, thought McFly had it in the bag. My Chemical Romance-Welcome To The Black Parade-another that seemed to come out of nowhere. Robyn-With Every Heartbeat-not so much that it got to no.1 but I hadn’t heard it until the midweeks came in the week before and it was random to see her come back at the time! Eva Cassidy & Katie Melua-What A Wonderful World-honestly still can’t quite believe this happened. Black Eyed Peas-Meet Me Halfway-I think we all assumed Leona would get it.

Again, people will dismiss whatever I say regardless but I question the need these days for an ‘official’ chart. Obviously you can’t just have a sales only chart these days, times have changed. But with streaming being such a radically different way of measuring consumption to straight sales, they should have held off trying to combine them like for like. The chart has been a boring mess for almost a decade and having removed every ‘rule’ in 2007, they’ve had to bring more in to try in vain to keep the chart the way they think it needs to be. What is an ‘official’ combined chart needed for? No one outside of online forums takes notice of it anyway. We have charts for everything separately anyway so why can’t we just have them instead? The only reason we ever had an official chart was because sales were the only thing that could measure consumption and that is no longer true. Why don’t we have Radio 1 air an official streaming chart and Radio 2 air an official sales chart? I just don’t get the need to combine things that are so different. You could still reference what no.1 is but just throw the words ‘sales’ and ‘streaming’ in front of them. People get all the other no.1s mixed up anyway so I don’t see why it matters. This way you could get rid of ACR too. The streaming chart would be slower but the sales one would be faster but this way all sorts of artists would get some exposure. Separate the charts for albums too so that we don’t see new albums nosedive after a week.

It wasn’t outside the dates at all, they just don’t think P!nk is relevant enough anymore. It’s a shame as Trustfall is a great album but looking at the mess that was this year’s awards, perhaps it was best she didn’t get nominated.

I don’t want him and Mel reunited. The way he has treated her is disgusting. She been no angel of course but he got into such a sulk about her leaving that he got married WITHIN A YEAR, couldn’t be arsed listening to her when the truth was revealed, tried to take revenge on her for merely speaking to her former stepdaughter, shouts at her constantly for just existing in the same space as him and then blames her because he couldn’t keep it in his pants after being mildly inconvenienced for some afternoon plans. He’s a jerk and has been for the best part of 15 years. He’s even done this before to Sonya who was the love of his life. He’s a dirty cheat and we really need Susan back to call him out on it. Terese also deserves better. Why on Earth is he being portrayed as some sort of prize? I know the ‘big four’ are untouchable but Toadie isn’t as evergreen a character to me as Karl, Susan or Paul. Or even Terese and Jane. He’s a spent character who is going around in angsty circles. The only thing left for the character to do is leave. And I met Ryan years ago, he’s a lovely bloke but the character is now so awful I can barely bare to watch him.

Ugh they just need to write Toadie out now. His character was destroyed long ago and Ryan Moloney’s angsty acting is atrocious. I cheered when Mel slapped him.

Given the charts are boring as, it’s nice to see they’ve found some way of justifying their existence.

Disappointed they’ve not given Billy Joel his first numbered Now appearance tbh. There’s enough other flops on there.

It does feel like Zack is only there to look bad in order to get Whitney to look good. A bit like Linda’s function when Mick was around. Whitney and Zack getting together in the first place was forced, random and completely plot driven. They wanted Whitney pregnant and Zack was who they plumped for. And now Whitney gets to once more flounce around demanding everyone gives into her latest whim and make them feel like they’re not worthy of they don’t. I mean I guess it’s a very Whitney exit.

Not gonna lie, this is really boring me. The plot is contrived, a bit too like a public service announcement from saviour Whitney, I’ve never really believed in her and Zack as a couple and Patsy Palmer seems really flat. It’s amazing to think this has come from the same place that recently produced George’s storyline.

I can’t believe Bianca’s ‘specialty’ is still chicken nuggets. And there we are, I said a while ago my acting coach would feature in these episodes and there he was playing ‘Vince’.

Really enjoyed that 9000th episode. Lots of references to the past without being too on the nose of distracting from the ongoing story. The weak link, however, is absolutely Toadie. I don’t think many fans would be bothered now if he left for good. He’s nothing like he used to be and a chore to watch.

I don’t get why they air it on Saturdays now, not that I’m certain it’d make a difference. I was out last night and the pubs and clubs were heaving and I really don’t think children and teenagers are that into the Brits these days.

But it is still awarded on merit regardless. Everyone to have received one has been deserving, it’s just that they also use opportunity to decide which of the deserving artists receive it when. The artists have still had long and distinguished careers even if it could be argued others are more deserving. We shouldn’t be trying to take anything away from them. The fact is if you’re going to argue the point, the whole of the Brit Awards is meaningless and always have been. They’ve rarely been that deep.

But again, I haven’t stated that she deserved the award more than anyone else, just that she did deserve it. Loads of artists have one it less than 25 years into their career and yet Pink is the one gets criticised time and again. It’s clear why the Brits make their decisions on these things and that it’s usually opportunistic for them as much as the artist. Pink was launching a new album and they wanted her to perform so she got the award. Kylie got hers last night instead of any other year she could have had it because she’s had somewhat of a revival this year. I’m pretty sure Blur had a new album in the works when they won it. U2 and Petshop Boys also had new material out when they won. The fact is there is no queue and anyone arguing that the award is given purely on some measured merit and nothing else is deluding themselves. There aren’t enough years to give out the award to absolutely everyone that deserves it so there is always going to be another motive behind the choice-usually, who will actually come and perform? Kate Bush is one of my favourite artists but she will never come and perform at the Brits to receive the award. I just tire of the playing down of Pink and her success as an artist. So many fit the bill of what people are complaining about but Pink is the one people go in on.

Yeah, and I actually haven’t denied that point. I just saying she deserved it regardless of that point and regardless of the fact that others may have deserved it too. I mean, you’d probably argue with me that Spice Girls deserved winning it just 3 years and 2 albums into their career before all those artists you’ve listed when really that was also a dubious award at the time. But they don’t get played down on this site the way Pink does so some other posters always target Pink’s success to play down first. And just to clarify, I’m not saying you play down Pink’s success, I’m just stating that many here do. As for the show, I didn’t watch as I was out last night and I don’t tend to bother with it these days anyway unless I really want to see someone perform. I’ll try and check out Kylie’s performance but I wasn’t too interested in this year’s show. I’m happy Raye has done well as she’s always seemed like a great person and it’s been sad to see her struggles just to get an album out there. I haven’t actually checked out her album, is it any good?

Not that I’d doubt that the label bought the award for her, but people are so quick to do down Pink at any given moment. To have still been relevant that far into her career as a solo female is an outstanding achievement and plenty of artists have been influenced by her. Just because you think someone else deserved it first doesn’t mean that she didn’t deserve it. At the end of the day, it’s another round of music snobbery.

Let’s face it, no matter what Now 117 looks like, plenty of people will be able to moan about it.

This Slade stuff is so embarrassing as they’ve clearly miscast him. He looks 20 years too old and not intimidating at all.

Linda has rarely been portrayed as a saint. If anything, she previously existed to prop Mick up and make him look saintly by comparison. He was never allowed to be portrayed as the cause of any of the Carter problems. That was always Linda’s job. She only got saint treatment when is was she and Mick vs someone else. I don’t mind Janine getting a comeuppance as it’s unrealistic she’d get away with everything she’s done but considering all that she has done, it’s laughable she got such a big prison sentence for what amounts mainly to lying. Her crimes this time around just weren’t that great.

Honestly though I think a lot of the uplift in the show is because he left. The show was obsessed with centering everything around him and even Janine’s comeback was all about him. I hope he never returns. I wish there’d been a body.

I’d like to see Billy Joel’s new track on there as he has never appeared on a numbered Now before.