T Boy

No issue getting Yearbook 99 from my local HMV this morning. Glad it’s got the good version of Shania on it. But surprised to see Scott Mills get a shout out in the booklet.

Swagger Jagger was absolutely dreadful. I wasn’t a big Cher Lloyd fan when she was on the show but this song turned her into a novelty act.

The problem this time isn’t just believing the new character it’s the fact that this new character has already been proved dodgy AF.

I am not invested in Suki and Eve getting a child. Suki was a dreadful mother and Eve never wanted to be one. Part of me hopes that when the truth about Bea comes out, Billy actually gives Honey the cold shoulder. Though I predict he’ll just forgive her straight away. Given that Kim seems to have gotten involved, it’s weird she’s forgotten her battle to help Patrick stop using AI Anthony.

Making the way for some proper Yearbooks?

Nicola vs Suki is the feud we deserve but it does seem to have just randomly started. I can’t really remember anything of it from before? I guess Ravi holding Barney off a bridge might have kickstarted something but I don’t really remember. I don’t see why all these people who have known Billy for years are doubting him? Yes, he’s made mistakes before but ALL they know about Bea is how dodgy she is? She’s already committed fraud that they all know about? You can almost hear the writes going ‘Yas go Bea iconic!’ Thinking that her cutting the head off the doll will become a new trending meme but they have just gotten this one so wrong.

I know it makes sense and all but I really wish they’d leave Karen in the last, horrendous character. Bea, who hasn’t even been in Walford a full six months and has literally made one friend in all that time and only had sporadic weird interactions with other characters, seems surprised no one remembered her birthday. She likely hasn’t had the opportunity to tell anyone about it. I know Honey has always been a ditsy character but they’re really doing a number on her intelligence. She’s not supposed to be that thick. And when you wonder whether Zoe’s dating app references are building to a new juicy storyline but no, it’s just another random Bea thread.

I’m not sure Burnham would end up quite like Starmer. The press would go for him because he’d be a Labour Prime Minister that’s for sure but I think there’s a good chance he’ll handle it better than Starmer has. That’s always been Starmer’s problem in my opinion. He is unable to take criticisms well and spends way too much time trying to please critics that he’ll never be able to satisfy. He has taken for granted many Labour voters as his u turns and speeches about an island of strangers have been all about trying to get lost cause reform voters on side and yet go against the people who voted for him in the first place. He’s aimed to please everyone and ended up pleasing none. I do think Burnham may have a thicker skin.

I wasn’t sure Hanson would sneak in but glad to see them there!

Sheila is nowhere near old enough to be Grey’s Nan. Not when we already met his dad, her son, who looked no very much younger than she appears. I mean I’m sure there’s mathematics that can support it, but she wasn’t exactly Mo Harris was she?

Diane Parrish has always been a powerhouse but it’s good to finally see her centre stage with a good storyline. The last time they chose her to be leading lady she was eating out of bins, cooking pasta and studying for a single GCSE, they’re giving her the decent stuff. And I love Kim as a comedy character but Tameka always excels at the big drama too. She was sensational last night making me feel without even saying a word. I’ve always believed those two as sisters. Speaking of which it’s incredible to think that Zaraah and Belinda have never been on screen together before yesterday. They have also got the sister chemistry. I did love Jordan tonight describing Nicola as ‘the big scary lady with the yellow hair’.

Matt Cardle’s debut album released in this year and it was brilliant. A shame people slept on it to an extent.

I understand the problem they’re trying to solve. I work with children and some are obsessed with social media some to extent it affects their day to day lives. However the same is true for many adults and the poor habits some children have come from the habits of the adults in their lives. Really we should be looking at the content of what is available online rather than gatekeeping social media. More regulations for these companies.

I didn’t think Josh was THAT bad an actor when he joined but the last few performance have been abysmal.

Also remember Diana was only 36 when she died so it’s not like it was expected. It was a huge shock to everyone.

Thinking about it, shouldn’t she have been in it this week sticking the boot into Ian? There was no plan for this character. I think they just wanted a meme machine and it flopped.

Do you think she’ll get a coherent storyline before she goes?

And yet there are some many things that much money still can’t buy.

Times were completely different when Virgin were in charge. Charts were a lot less static, there were more hits to choose from and people actually bought compilations.

Josh is becoming quite unlikeable quite quickly. I wonder if he has a darker side that’s been hidden?

Deserving no.1. Fireflies is a great track. I would have had Bruno and Cee Lo top 5 and maybe Matt Cardle higher but I think this list is generally otherwise accurate to my own thoughts.

Can’t believe Chris is close to going already. It’s a great song! Gwen too, I wasn’t fussy when it was first release but what a grower it was! Ahead of its time! I voted S Club 8 first. Forgettable.

I actually enjoyed Zoe in today’s episode. It was nice to see her seem like a human character and have some happy moments-something we really didn’t get from her before Christmas. It’d be nice to see her properly involved in the fall out of this. The affair seems so unnecessary though. I like the scenes of Jasmine and Josh bonding, I don’t think they need a sensational affair story right off the bat. Ian and Chelsea were great in their scenes.

Probably best to rest it. I did like some of RTD2’s era-some very good episodes! But he couldn’t land the plane for the finales and just thought chucking loads of characters at it would make to weak resolutions acceptable. Taking ideas from the sequel Star Wars trilogy and giving in to fan speculation because he hadn’t planned anything weren’t RTD’s best moves. His first run is still exceptional to this day. I do think he lost sight of why that run has been so special and couldn’t replicate it. The template was great, a series long thread that you could try and follow that would seem obvious when revealed. Just having obvious mysteries to get people talking isn’t enough. It should have been planned better with the audience being able to say ‘of course’ rather than ‘what?’ At the reveal. Again, see Disney Star Wars for examples how not to do this well. It’s annoying Billie has been left hanging but I wasn’t bowled over with the reveal at the time. There was clearly no plan to resolve it unless they’d signed Billie up for a series and that’s so unlikely. It had a twenty year run. A couple of years break is just what’s needed. When it returns I’d love to see some classic villains again as well as new stuff. I’d like to see the Doctor not be falling in love or have any companions fall in love with him/her/them. Fun is what we need and good stories.

That’s what I thought but it’s sloppy no one on set has taught Josh or Oscar how to say it.