Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[Homeandawayfan.]

H&A does need to bring in a regular LGBT character or couple, and another multi racial person or family, and not just to tick boxes. I know Leah is of Greek heritage and in the past we have had Ben Lucini, Stephanie Mboto, Laura Bonneti, Frank Zanotti, Nico Pappas and his gran, I think Frank Morgan is of Greek heritage, and I think Andy Barrett is mixed race. Plus that Jai who is Asian. And a few others I have forgotten about. But most characters in Neighbours and H&A have often been English, Irish or Scottish Australians.

[H.M]

On 8 April 2016 at 5:51 PM, Matt said:

I'm about to be blasted for this, but do I really care? Not particularly.

I am in the seemingly small minority that doesn't think there should be a gay character on the show. Why? Well, why does there have to be one? Because society deems it so? I don't think it's homophobic, transphobic, whatever-phobic... Just because the writers don't introduce a gay character doesn't mean they hate them... We still live in a sheltered society, and unfortunately our government's stance on issues such as the Safe Schools Coalition and same-sex marriage unfortunately still dictate the societal movements that are show on our screens...

"But Neighbours has main characters who are gay"... And Neighbours is also not on a main channel, Neighbours is vastly less popular in Australia and Neighbours is about the reality of middle class Australian life... If anyone wants to argue that Home and Away is reflecting the current reality of middle class Australia, you'd have to be fooling yourself...

I lead the Safe Schools Coalition movement at my school, I support the rights of everyone, whatever sex, race, sexuality etc. Heck, my best friend is gay, but the reality is, however homophobic this may sound, as soon as you start showing public displays of affection between two members of the same sex on Australian national television, on a platform as large as Home and Away's, you are going to receive negative criticism.

My friend doesn't like the notion of the a gay character on TV because it brings attention onto the fact that he is, in the smallest part of his persona, different from everyone else. Why should he be made to feel uncomfortable? And let's face it, I don't like seeing gay couples kissing on my screen, but I don't like seeing straight couples kissing on my screen either.

I honestly don't think the show needs to have a gay character because I don't think that Home and Away reflects today's society... Call me homophobic if that is what validates yourself and helps you sleep at night, but why should they introduce a gay character just for the sake of introducing a gay character?

I haven’t watched H&A in quite some time, so I won’t comment of the quality, or lack thereof, of the current show. However, I do believe that H&A should make an effort to include a proper gay romance in the show. Featuring a gay storyline wouldn’t just be ‘for the sake of it’. It would be done because gay storylines create a whole range of potential plots that Home and Away have never explored before. It would also demonstrate that Home and Away is making an effort to present characters that non-straight viewers can relate to. The fact that Home and Away has been on air for nearly three decades and has never done a proper, long-term gay storyline is simply unacceptable.

In response to your comments here, since when are gay characters considered controversial on a mainstream Australian TV show? 

Gay characters have been featured on mainstream Australian television for more than four decades.

Number 96 was an Australian soap that aired from 1972-77 and had a gay character for its entire run. Number 96 was the HIGHEST RATED show on Australian television for its first three years on air. The Box was another Australian soap which aired from 1974-77 and had a number of high profile non-straight characters. The first episode of The Box in 1974 showed a same-sex kiss between a bisexual woman and a lesbian. Paul Karo played the openly gay character of Lee Whiteman on The Box, and won a Logie for his performance in 1976. The Box was consistently among the top five most watched shows on Australian TV for its first two years on air.

 

Your comments about Neighbours being unpopular and on a digital channel are correct, but the same cannot be said about Offspring, House Husbands and Winners and Losers. All three of these shows have recently been highly popular, award winning dramas that have had gay characters in them. If gay characters weren’t accepted on Australian TV, then that wouldn’t have been allowed. Children’s programming like Dance Academy have also done gay storylines and even a same-sex kiss.

 

Also, many US and UK imported shows with lead gay characters have aired on Australian TV and achieved huge popularity. Modern Family has two gay parents raising a daughter, and was hugely popular during its first three seasons, achieving 1.5million city viewers at one point back in 2010. The New Normal is another sitcom with a gay couple in the main cast, and the first episode showed the couple in bed together kissing. That episode was broadcast by Australia’s Channel Ten in 2012, without any issues.

 

There are also popular reality shows like Masterchef and Big Brother and Masterchef that have had popular gay contestants. Every Big Brother season has featured a t least one non-heterosexual contestant, and the 2012 season even had a gay male winner that was voted for by the viewing audience. If Australian audiences didn’t like gay people on TV, then why would so many vote for a gay man to win Big Brother?

 

 

[H.M]

That should be 'on the quality of the current show' and Masterchef only mentioned once in my previous post.

[Luke39]

ADAM Lambert American Idol 2009 lol. ALTHOUGH that's Us. Aussie Audience don't hate lgbt ppl.on tv.im presuming. Their are a lot of homophobic ppl.out their and bigots. And the fact lgbt.and equal rights is a hot topic right now. So maybe h and a don't want to turn the Show into a social referendum or some kinda soap box. They hd a taste with Charlie and Joey. They got negative feedback. So I.don't think.the question is should H and A have more diversity on the show. But are tptb bold.and brave enough to.

[Pierced Musie]

I have said all along that it is not a gay character H&A needs but a character who just happens to be gay. By introducing a character whose 1 defining quality is their sexuality then it fails from the start. The problem with H&A is that the last time a lgbt character without issues appeared was in 2003, when Christopher was introduced. Since then all lgbt orientated storylines/characters have shown the community in a bad light.

Sarah - Used bisexuality for her own agenda.

Zoe - Unhinged lesbian/bisexual.

Tracey - Possible lesbian/bisexual who sacrificed her career for her own kicks/kinks.

Dean - Aggressively in the closet.

Joey - Tomboyish stereotype who hit the trope of torture your gays. Homophobic family? Check. Rape by male? Check. Cheated on by girlfriend with a man? Check.

Charlie - Possible bisexual who slept with a man while in same sex relationship. Her bisexuality blatantly written off with the back historyretcon of Ruby being her daughter from when she was raped, which makes her behavior with Joey seem more like transference and less like sexual attraction.

Anymore I've missed?

And I just want to say thank you to Matt for his thought provoking post and his opinion on the situation. It is always nice to get opinions from every camp, whether it is from the majority or the minority end. And no, I really didn't find it homophobic at all. We've had worse on this board .

[Little bean]

2 hours ago, Pierced Musie said:

I have said all along that it is not a gay character H&A needs but a character who just happens to be gay. By introducing a character whose 1 defining quality is their sexuality then it fails from the start.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Excellent post.

[Luke39]

I guess it would be sort of the same. As OnLy bringing in a female character to date a river boy era haha. If that's their one defining quality. Then obviously doesent work out. So I agree on bringing in a gay character who being gay is just one part of their character. Completely agree re Charlie. Her attraction to Joey was pure Transference.

So tptb have tried a lgbt character in the past and clearly failed in execution. So if they were hypothetically thinking about it. Probably need to think before they introduce. Or they could turn an already established character on the show who already has other defining qualities beyond their sexuality. Gay or Bi. Say maybe Olivia or Skye haha, or maybe Billie. I don't know. Maybe a better route to take.

[pembie]

Olivia and Skye would be good I think Then Hunter could get with VJ ;)

[Red Ranger 1]

Cautiously throwing my hat into the ring...I wouldn't say they shouldn't introduce a gay character but I'm reluctant to outright state they should, even though I can see the validity of many arguments for it.If the show is to reflect to society, then ignoring a certain aspect of society for so many years seems like wilful blindness.I'm not well up enough on Australian culture and television to know whether or not the introduction of a gay character would be a ratings disaster and whether the shows people have quoted are comparable.I know when British soaps started introducing gay characters there was a media furore, which didn't change for about a decade afterwards, but eventually it died down and people got used to it.

Referring back to Sarah Walker's comment, while I find them absurdly simplistic, she does have a point.Saying "If you pair up two characters of the same gender there's no-one left for two characters of the other gender" is obvious nonsense, there's been times when making two of the characters gay would have solved the imbalance (there was a point last year when you had Spencer, Oscar, Josh, Matt, Jett and VJ on the show with the only teenage girls being Maddy and Evelyn, although it's a bit more balanced now), but nevertheless it does limit things.You do see on soaps with gay characters that when a new gay character comes in everyone knows that they're going to be paired up with the only other gay character of that gender on the show, which can cause problems if the relationship doesn't gel because there's no other option.I'm not saying that's not a reason to try but there are practical problems.

[H.M]

1 hour ago, Red Ranger 1 said:Cautiously throwing my hat into the ring...I wouldn't say they shouldn't introduce a gay character but I'm reluctant to outright state they should, even though I can see the validity of many arguments for it.If the show is to reflect to society, then ignoring a certain aspect of society for so many years seems like wilful blindness.I'm not well up enough on Australian culture and television to know whether or not the introduction of a gay character would be a ratings disaster and whether the shows people have quoted are comparable.I know when British soaps started introducing gay characters there was a media furore, which didn't change for about a decade afterwards, but eventually it died down and people got used to it.

Referring back to Sarah Walker's comment, while I find them absurdly simplistic, she does have a point.Saying "If you pair up two characters of the same gender there's no-one left for two characters of the other gender" is obvious nonsense, there's been times when making two of the characters gay would have solved the imbalance (there was a point last year when you had Spencer, Oscar, Josh, Matt, Jett and VJ on the show with the only teenage girls being Maddy and Evelyn, although it's a bit more balanced now), but nevertheless it does limit things.You do see on soaps with gay characters that when a new gay character comes in everyone knows that they're going to be paired up with the only other gay character of that gender on the show, which can cause problems if the relationship doesn't gel because there's no other option.I'm not saying that's not a reason to try but there are practical problems.

The introduction of a gay character was not a ratings disaster for Number 96.

The introduction of a gay character was not a ratings disaster for The Box.

The introduction of a gay character was not a ratings disaster for Skyways.

The presence of gay characters was not a ratings disaster for Prisoner.

The introduction of a gay character was not a ratings disaster for Winners and Losers.

 

The introduction of a gay character was not a ratings disaster for House Husband.

The introduction of a gay character was not a ratings disaster for offspring.

The introduction of a gay character was not a ratings disaster for A Place to Call Home.

Ratings for Neighbours and Dance Academy.

The presence of gay contestants was not a ratings disaster for Masterchef or Big Brother.

A string of successful US imported programming with gay characters in key or guest roles have been successful on Australian network TV. Modern Family, Glee, Roseanne, Will and Grace, The Simpsons and Queer Eye for the straight guy (the title speaks for itself) just to name a few.

All the above mentioned (excluding Neighbours and DA) shows were hugely successful on Australian TV when gay people were included. So what anyone believe that Home and Away would be any different? In what way would Home and Away not be comparable to any of the above mentioned shows?