Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[c120701]

I think half of the problem with the Braxtons is when they came in, and I don't know if anyone else felt this way, but I was so used to Home and Away introducing these antagonists who would either come in and stir things up for a few weeks or months or maybe a year and then disappear or alternatively be completely rehabilitated and fully integrated into the community, that I kept expecting that to happen and it never did, except with Heath to some extent. Casey seemed the most likely at first to get out of the lifestyle, but Brax & then Danny kept dragging him back into it, Brax has done the same with Kyle & now Ash. Ricky is the only one out of the lot of them who genuinely feels part of the Bay.

[Luke39]

_{Yeah I get what you mean, the Braxtons never fully felt integrated in the Bay. You have your Aden type, repressed antagonist, who eventually becomes fully integrated. I guess with Brax, and by extension his brothers never became part of the community, were just part of the sagiest, but never fully part of the community. Kyle I guess still feels like an outsider looking in, and making a pass at Maddie didn't help haha. I guess that has always been the problem with the Braxtons, that lack of balance, it made their characterization too contrived.}

[jodlebirger]

You can't compare Aden to the Braxtons.  The huge difference was about how they were portrayed. Aden was more like Rick, Jesse and other bad boys from earlier times. They were portrayed with a problem, but they changed over time. Aden's background was probably used a little bit more than in several other cases, but it was the same way of storytelling there. The Braxton's have had a different kind of storytelling. The Braxtons storylines were with more wholes, and it was far more extreme, 2/3 were adults and the storylines had less root in reality and were less consistent. They had also their background storylines, but there were a lot of things that didn't fit into it at all. Rich and well educated ladies from Brax' past popping up all the time, and the enemies popping up with revenge thoughts that were far too extreme. 

Neither Aden, Rick, Jesse, Curtis or other bad boys had that kind of storylines. They had a better build up, and their storylines were more realistic and had roots in reality. The way they portrayed the Braxtons devided the wiewers far more than any other characters have done before. And it was not always about the drug dealing or the crimes, but with the lack of consistent storylines. With more root in reality, more consistent storylines then they would have been more viewable for more people. They should have used Teagan more and Ricky earlier, instead of bringing in well educated characters like Henri from Brax past. It just felt like nonsense, and the idea of showing other sides to Australian community faded away. 

Kyle has always been an unnecessary addition to the Braxton. His extreme introduction was in character for the Braxtons, but after that he never seemed like one of them, and he didn't became integrated to the community either. I don't think he ever is going to feel like a character on his own (I am five months behind),I think it is far too late. And his extreme introduction make it hard to do something out of his background storyline, it didn't add up. Why on earth did he do like he did? It was said that his foster parents were good too him. 

I wish they had introduced Nic Westaway as an another character. But now they should write him out of the show. 

[Homeandawayfan.]

This time last year, H&A was very un watchable, verging on depraved. How it has started to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes since then. 2016 could be a good year for H&A.

[Luke39]

I guess saying quality has improved is subjective. I was still enjoying the show, even when the Braxtons were at their peak in terms of writing. I thought they were different from what H and A had seen. SB is a sleepy, coast town. So it was good it got a shake up, and lost its innocence in a way. I agree the issue with the Braxtons, was the writing. Poorly depicted backgrounds, like Aden for instance had a more realistic story. I wasen't comparing Aden to the Braxtons, quite the opposite, I agree their is no comparisons, that was my point. I think the way the Braxtons drove the core writing of the show since 2010, was due to the trends. I have said before shows like Breaking Bad, CSI are very popular. And on prime time people like too see more real life stuff in their shows. So H and A producers I believe were banking on the trends. Problem is they should of also integrated the Braxtons into the community. Because they didn't it infiltrated the entire show, to the point 95% of the show was Braxton focused, and you only had 5% to develop other characters and their stories. It lost that community feel, which is so reflective of H and A. It is like on CSI when they lost Grissom, their star player.

But they still had a very good team who could carry it. H and A is like a team, without players playing certain roles, it feels misjointed. That was my issue, too much The River Boys starring Home and Away haha. Now that Brax has left, and most of the Braxton clan are gone (I agree Kyle has never felt like a Braxton, tbh he has never had much of an identity as a character, pity Nic is an excellent actor). Ricky has started to become fully integrated in the community. Now the show is starting to become fully integrated again. Some subtle changes to the tone of the show has helped massively, the music change is more light hearted, opposed to the harsheness of it. Now that the shows writing is not so driven through Brax and co, it has allowed the show to develop more existentially, and now it is almost like the whole community have come out of hiding .

[Homeandawayfan.]

I wonder if this thread may run out of steam in the next year, due to the improvements I and others have noticed with the show. I am watching it more and more now. Kudos to Dan Bennett, still a way to go but H&A is becoming much better. It is like the 2000 revamp all over again.

[Gerard]

H&A (at UK pace) has improved a lot over the past couple of months. Filling up Summer Bay House again (and having the exterior back on the show) has helped a lot to bring the series back on the right course. Charlotte and Hunter are good additions, and complex characters rather than out and out villains. Putting the focus on characters such as Marilyn and John has also been a positive. Irene still needs more to do.

I'm currently enjoying the bits of nostalgia introduced by Marilyn's amnesia - there should be more like this, although I appreciate the series can't live in the past. There is still some dead wood in the cast, but it is starting to have the old H&A community feel about it again. Hopefully it will continue to improve over the coming months.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I am well pleased that I can watch H&A again more often and not have to worry about another knifing or drug war every episode. There will be such stories in the future as H&A does need to cover these subjects from time to time. There is still some harsh music but I dont mind it as such because the harsh music has dropped a lot in the past few months. The music in dramatic scenes now tends to be faster dance style underscore.

[DialMforMorag]

I still think the show has a while yet till it's watchable again. What gets to me most is the small-talk from almost every character in the show at the moment. An example:

 

"Hey!"

"Hey." (anyone notice that this is how 99% of scenes start with?)

"What's up?"

"Not much... yourself?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, why?" (here we go...)

"I don't know, you seem... distracted?"

"Oh... No, I'm good." (clearly not)

 

... 

Its makes the characters so deadwood. Don't remember many of the characters being like this. Wonder if writers are struggling? 

My family dont watch the show, but occasionally when I'm watching it, they'll ask me "So... who's in hospital this week then?!" 

[jodlebirger]

I am five months behind. But when I read the Australian discussion, I can not help but think that the show has return like how it was in 2006. 

The thing which seem to me has improved is the community feeling (I already feel it in early july eps), and more storylines for all the characters, but still a lot of strange stalkers and over the top storylines which probably makes the show weird?  2006 was not much better than 2011-14, but different.