Right off the bat, i'm warning you. This post contains spoilers for Canada, New Zealand and Australia. OK? There's no way to hide these posts behind a link like we have over on Livejournal so you'll have to make do with a warning.
Sometimes actors are only hired for a short term. Sometimes actors are fired and sometimes they want to go of their own accord. They want to try other things like stage and films or just explore other television opportunities. The only things Granada allows their actors to participate in while under contract are either to promote the show or charity related things like Stars in their Eyes or those star-pop-idol shows. When an actor is going to leave the show, they try to think of inventive ways for them to exit. They don't want to repeat the same sort of exit storyline over and over.
Some exits are more or less ordinary. The character gets to go off into a happy sunset or they are upset and hurt or fed up and stalk off to make a new life for themselves. "There's nothing left here for me now" ... that sort of thing. Some go out in a blaze of glory with spectacular, sensational and gripping storylines. That's the media-speak for it, anyway. Car crashes and fires figure strongly in those, sometimes both at the same time! There are some that die of disease where they die tragically surrounded by their loved ones. Once in awhile, there is a suicide, or a sudden heart attack and occasionally there's a murder.
Sometimes the actor wants to be killed off but other times, they have a disagreement with their employers and it seems like they're killed off out of spite. It's been known to happen. Most times, the exit storyline is well written and well thought out even if we don't want to see the character leave. It's always good when a disliked character gets a fitting end, either death or disgrace.
So anyway, I am getting to a point. Really! In Canada we are about to embark on a storyline that will bring about the departure of characters Frankie and Danny. They are popular characters on the show for me. Currently they are divorced although Danny really wants Frankie back. She seems to be wavering at times but is holding fast and dating others. I know because i always look ahead, what their exit storyline is and i have to say i HATE IT!
They're going to have Jamie, pretty much out of the blue, start moping around just when he and Violet are getting closer. She wants more of a committment and he starts backing away but lets her move in anyway. Then the fun begins. We are teased by the writers into wondering if Jamie is actually going to come out of the closet and get together with Sean, his mate. But no. That's not what they're heading for though i really don't see how they decided on that "twist" along the way to where they actually were going.
No. They're going to have Jamie realize he's got feelings for someone else, allright. His stepmother, Frankie!!!!! Back when his alcoholic mother was around, she accused them of just that but they both said she was talking out of her backside. Turns out she's going to be proven right. There is no blood relation between Frankie and Jamie and there's about 10 years difference in their ages so it's not like Jamie's a teenager. He's about 27 i think. Frankie has raised him from the time he was about 7 or 8. As a son. Yet Jamie wears her down and she admits she has feelings for him too.
This is wrong on just so many levels!! Even if she's using Jamie because she can't admit she wants Danny back, it's no excuse. This has to be the worst storyline for the ICK factor EVER! Pure tabloid trash. When did Coronation Street start channeling Jerry Springer? I'd rather have had Jamie realize he was gay or at least think he was but find out he was wrong. Frankie goes from Jamie to Danny and back to Jamie again and when Danny finds out he goes ballistic and he leaves. Frankie finally realizes how it's shattered all their lives and packs her bags as well and leaves Jamie behind. But this storyline, though it's just barely going to start here, is already leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth.
I know it's not technically wrong because they aren't blood related but Frankie has been a far better mother to Jamie than his own and he's always thought of her that way, even as an adult. It came out of the blue because the writers thought the sensationalism of it would be a "gripping" storyline. They are wrong. People just don't accept it. Oddly enough, they kissed at Christmas 2005 and the press blew it out of proportion, the actors later said that it was a storm in a teacup. Obviously even then they didn't know the writers would revisit it.
After they leave, Jamie limps along with no real storyline to speak of until Leanne comes back (the actress was on maternity leave) and even then, he's only on the periphery. I won't be surprised if Jamie gets his own exit storyline soon. There hasn't been much for him lately and he's got no family around for connections really. Even the odious (uncle) Adam Barlow is gone (no great loss there, though).
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