ITV Dramas

[Pishdecoof]

Why do ITV keep broadcasting dramas with the same plot: 1) Dowdy middle aged woman's husband dumps her out of the blue for a younger, blonde woman. 2) Dowdy woman breaks down and becomes an emotional wreck, followed by 3) a release of pent up anger towards husband, thus enabling her to break free from the confines of her role as housewife and doormat . 4) Then it's time for the make over, symbolising woman's acceptance and embrace of her independence. (Woman usually emerges from this part resembling Judy Finnegan or similar daytime chat show host) . 5) Suddenly male admirers step out of the woodwork and hubby (who has been watching her burgeoning new lease of life from the sidelines whilst his life with bit on side is turning sour) begins to fall back in love with her. 6) Drama ends with uplifting soundtrack and new, made over woman smiling into the horizon, whilst husband looks confused and vaguely desirous somewhere in the background.

[WoWo]

I think ITV is a bit of a womens channel these days, doesn't seemt to cater for men at all. Women love this sort of thing and lap it up. Its the same with American romantic comedies, all of them have exactly the same formula yet my wife has to watch every single one of them.

[el duerino]

gah yeah there seems to be a never ending stream of 'women power' shows where older women begin again. wow darlin' very impressive. we might have doubted you could do it in the 1980's, but it's 2004. There is an awful lot of female orientated tv around, but if the premise of some of these shows was role reversed there would be outcry. Personally I think that it is giving young females the wrong impression i.e. life is not the set of a romantic comedy, things are never perfect, and they will not get better if you shag around. . .

[misslideaway]

In the summer, womens glossy mags give away many books (although it may aswell just be the one) with the same freaking plot. For some reason, I think we chicks are supposed to dig it.

[johngammon]

Yeah, Shirley Valentine has a lot to answer for. I used to think that the demise of the one-off play was responsible for the lousy drama that British TV is throwing up nowadays, but piz poor drama of a similar nature can be found in BBC1's appalling "Afternoon Play" slot. Maybe we really need to stop watching this stuff and be more discriminating, and then the TV people would get the message. Sad that US television, with The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and The Shield, is now whole neighbourhoods ahead of our "star" driven tat.