Donald Fisher - Norman Coburn

[j.laur5]

I don't feel that sorry for Donald. Don't forget the way he used to treat poor Bobby and the Fletcher's

[BurgerPhone]

When did he treat them bad ? He was always tough but fair from what I can remember.

[j.laur5]

In the pilot episode going out of his way to stop Tom getting a job and trying to get Bobby sent to jail over grudge with her.

[adam436]

He started off as the villian and was very one-dimensional. I think once he became a regular around episode 100, when he was added to the credits, he became more three dimensional. Alan's death and finding out Bobby was his daughter really started this process.

There are times when you feel sorry for Fisher: the deaths of his children, the breakdown of his marriage, losing his home in the bushfires, Judith choosing Joel over him (does anyone remember that bizarre dream sequence?) and Pippa rejecting him when he developed feelings for her after Tom died and then getting involved with Michael a few months later. I haven't seen his 2007 return, but I've heard that is very tragic too.

By the mid-late 90s, he did, as you say, became the mug in a few situations. While Marilyn and Fisher were good as individual characters, their relationship really weakened both characters and I don't think he really recovered from that. Although Fisher is one of my all-time favourite characters, I really am struggling to remember anything he did after late 2000, other than writing "A Letter to Byron" with Hayley and his relationship with Rowena Wallace's character. I can't even really recall him having that many scenes with Seb.

[Spinach]

^I think Fisher showed development before becoming a regular. I don't know episode numbers off the top of my head, but after initially handling the situations badly, he did show something of remorse and an acknowledgement that things aren't always black and white after Carly's rape and the Nico situation, for example.

[CaptainHulk]

The first time we saw Fisher act like a Dad to Bobby even before the reveal was when he tried to stop her bailing after Frank's accident.

Surprisingly, I think Don and Maz were believable for the short time they were together. It just sucked as just when things settled down for them, it all went wrong (Naturally in soapland).

He did save (or try to) Will from a kicking at the hands of Kane + friends and pretty much was crusading to help Alf during the tumour business. Seb (although a lot people didn't like him) gave Don a new leash of life to a degree. I reckon the character outline was in place from about '99 when Alan's book popped up again but wasn't fully realised until 2001.

Back to the Piano stunt, That had to have been made of the CHEAPEST matchwood available as it pretty much shattered on impact!

Don was rather prickly and probably thought a family of waifs and strays would "lower the tone" of the area, an attittude not unlike Mrs. Mangel on that other show on the other channel across the state line

[Homeandawayfan.]

In the first few months, Fisher was deffo very one dimensional and a villain. He tried to stop Tom getting a job, harassed Bobby, tried to get Nico locked up and was generally insulting esp to Tom about his Vietnam days. But he mellowed when Alan Fisher died.

[Jezz]

I'm not sure whether Don was ever intended to be a main character as he was quite a nasty character at the start of the series but as time went on and certain events occurred like Carly's rape and then later Alan's death he mellowed out quite a lot and became a likeable character without necessarily losing that hard edge about him.

Don was one of my favourites but he changed a lot after getting together with Marilyn. He was no longer the authoritative and nasty character he could be before he was with Marilyn. Personally I actually prefer Don in his earlier days just after he mellowed but I always appreciated the fact that the character was around for 15 years!

It was a strange feeling initially when he was gone in 2003 but he made many guest appearance returns later that year, in 2004, 2005 and of course his thorough guest stint in 2007 which lasted about two months from memory.

[CaptainHulk]

They wrecked 2007 Don making him seem like a total out-of-touch loser, forced to become Sal's subordinate.

[adam436]

Do you think that is why Norman Corbun has never returned since? Because of what they did to Don in 2007?

He could always visit Alf and Roo, and bump into his ex-wife Marilyn.

The position of Summer High Principal is now a joke. It is hard to believe that Donald Fisher held the same position as Bianca and Sophie.