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Should EastEnders experiment more?
Yes 2 (18.2%)
No 0 (0%)
Maybe, depending on what they do 9 (81.8%)
Total Votes: 11
Should EastEnders experiment more often?
Topic Started: Jul 7 2018, 11:36 AM (116 Views)
EE85

Last night’s episode of EastEnders was the first time in a long time that the show broke away from the traditional format, and did something different. I think the last time might have been Jane’s a Christmas Day dream maybe.

The other soaps are constantly experimenting, with what they do. Emmerdale even experimented with style on Christmas Day.

Should EastEnders experiment more?
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See You Slater
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I went for the maybe option. It can be refreshing to once in a while break away from the rigid house style and try something a little bit different but it’s very easy to get it wrong. Would I want every episode to feature documentary style talking heads? No. Is it a technique I’d want them to try again now they’ve done it once? Probably not, no. I did however appreciate the attempt to do something different and did think for the most part it worked.

I quite like the fact that EastEnders only does things like this every once in a while. I’d hate for them to rely on the gimmicks too much. We’ve had the live episodes, the flashback episode and Stacey’s POV episode back in 2009 all of which really worked and were an exciting change to the usual format.

Corrie has started breaking style more and more which doesn’t work and has become far too frequent. I’d much rather EE experiment once every few years when they’ve put proper thought and effort into the episode.
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PurpleRain
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Definitely depends on what kind of experiment, but I think frequent experimenting can be damaging to the fact that this is essentially a soap opera. We watch EastEnders for EastEnders, not "EastEnders does Misery" or "EastEnders does Final Destination". The last thing we need is EastEnders to become Coronation Street, which is so far from a real, honest soap these days it's ridiculous.
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Kelly Minige
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I've voted maybe. I think last night's episode was special and well done, but I think doing too much of this type of thing takes away from what the show primarily is.
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Charity Dingle
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Emmie in recent years has become the soap to look towards for forward thinking, progressive storytelling. They are never afraid to push the boundaries of the genre in order to try something new and that's what I really do adore about the program. It is easy to be confined by the rules of what a soap is supposed to be but sometimes it's better to divert from precedent and to try something new in order to show what soap can be. Some of the ways that Emmie has experimented with the way they get their messages across in the past few years has been absolutely incredible. I'm not blindsided enough to think that they've always got it right: I'm not going to pretend that I enjoyed Robert's Christmas Day dream sequence! It's good that they try though as it shows a team willing to take creative risks.

Friday's episode of EastEnders was a fantastic risk which had brilliant intentions of getting across an all important message in today's society. That is definitely what I will take away from their episode and if they are going to experiment some more in the future I would like it to be well thought out and considered like Friday's episode was.

Sorry, I'm rambling again lol. :$
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Mystic Mo
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They should experiment by shaking up their writing room which has become stagnated and complacent over the past couple of years. Going by the dialogue choices that somehow manage to get through countless quality checks there isn't many, if any, younger writers on the team. This has led to the teenage characters speaking like adults. Fair enough, they employ adults to play the teenagers and I don't have a problem with that per say but they could at least write them like real teenagers.

The writing team is in desperate need of some flesh blood to spark some life and creativity back into the scripts.
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The Other Slater Cousin
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Maybe.

The inserts into Friday's episode didn't gel quite as well as I imagine TPTB thought they would. The fictional scenes were incredibly powerful. The talking heads were incredibly powerful. But they didn't really work cut together. However, they didn't bother me as much as they seem to others. I understand the idea behind it, in merging the fiction with the harsh reality of knife crime in the real world.

The ending however, was incredibly powerful and hard-hitting. And a huge departure from the show's norm. But, stunningly shot and edited. The brilliance of the real life inserts for me was how much it raised the topic at hand's importance. This isn't one more issue storyline added to a list of stories told in the established house-style, and instead really elevated the scope. If it happens again, it will be diluted. But to explore knife crime in London in 2018, it needed to feel distinctly huge. And this did. The general viewer adored it. I appreciate the concept.

For me, to deviate from the norms of EastEnders, the norms of EastEnders need to be being met consistently and well. The inserts and ending worked because the episode itself was so shamelessly EastEnders in its style. If they tell grounded storylines and have their big "Night of Souls" episodes and everything that comes with it, the odd montage or flashback or voiceover doesn't cause any issues. It's when we have "Horror Movie EE" or "Thriller EE" or "Action Movie EE" (2015-2016) that the show being experimental doesn't work.
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Mystic Mo
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The Other Slater Cousin
Jul 8 2018, 04:51 PM
Maybe.

The inserts into Friday's episode didn't gel quite as well as I imagine TPTB thought they would. The fictional scenes were incredibly powerful. The talking heads were incredibly powerful. But they didn't really work cut together. However, they didn't bother me as much as they seem to others. I understand the idea behind it, in merging the fiction with the harsh reality of knife crime in the real world.

The ending however, was incredibly powerful and hard-hitting. And a huge departure from the show's norm. But, stunningly shot and edited. The brilliance of the real life inserts for me was how much it raised the topic at hand's importance. This isn't one more issue storyline added to a list of stories told in the established house-style, and instead really elevated the scope. If it happens again, it will be diluted. But to explore knife crime in London in 2018, it needed to feel distinctly huge. And this did. The general viewer adored it. I appreciate the concept.

For me, to deviate from the norms of EastEnders, the norms of EastEnders need to be being met consistently and well. The inserts and ending worked because the episode itself was so shamelessly EastEnders in its style. If they tell grounded storylines and have their big "Night of Souls" episodes and everything that comes with it, the odd montage or flashback or voiceover doesn't cause any issues. It's when we have "Horror Movie EE" or "Thriller EE" or "Action Movie EE" (2015-2016) that the show being experimental doesn't work.
Excellently put.
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