Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, no show that's run more than about five years is going to have much left from the beginning.What's left of the first episode of Neighbours, three houses and Paul Robinson? Coronation Street has the odd-numbered houses and Ken Barlow, Emmerdale Farm has, er, the Woolpack and half the title... I guess there's stylistic continuity to bear in mind as well but you're not going to hold onto many concrete things for very long.

[Skylover]

1 hour ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Well, no show that's run more than about five years is going to have much left from the beginning. Emmerdale Farm has, er, the Woolpack and half the title...

I'm hoping things will head in a better direction

 

with Duncan's return.

 

[emmasi]

On 22/05/2016 at 2:37 AM, Lila_Q said:

I've been watching H&A since 2003 and it was my favourite show for a long time. There was always drama, explosion, murders and stalkers, but since 2012 H&A got a lot darker. I understand that they wanted to introduce Braxton's as a gang and I liked their storylines at the beginning, however the moment the writers started to focus only on them the show became all about unresolved/ forgotten crime, naïve/ recycled storylines and a lot of killed off characters. I've lost count how many characters was killed off since 2012 (main as well as guest). It will take a lot of time for the show to recover (if it recovers). This show was about foster kids, high school, community, friendship/ relationships, but I barely see that now. It is getting better, but it's not as it used to be.

What I really don't like is that in the last few years they write characters behaviours to fit the storylines. I preferred to have villains such as Amanda, Jezz, Josh West as a part of main cast, rather then characters being introduced as villains and then all of the sudden they became holier than thou (Kyle, Andy, Ricky, Billie, Hunter, etc). The other thing what I don't like is that they build up the storyline and then there is absolutely no follow up - it's done and forgotten in 2 days. Most of Braxtons storylines were like that, a lot of commercials on TV ("who won't survive", "what will happen", "what will he do"), as well as lot of cast/ producers interviews ("fist time on H&A", "it's never been done before", "greatest storyline ever", etc.) and then nothing happens.

First of all YES to all those villains!! Oh for those glory days again. Secondly, this post mentioning how everything has gotten "darker" connected the dots for me on a wider entertainment issue. Cracked.com (full of smut and swears, don't go there if you're young and impressionable or easily offended!!) posted an article yesterday about how Heath Ledger's dark, insane, OTT, and intentionally unmotivated (chaos for the sake of chaos) portrayal of the Joker has influenced (and potentially ruined) every super hero movie ever since, because it was so universally loved and now everyone is trying to copy it and failing miserably. But I think that logic can be applied to a lot of TV drama as well, and it now makes sense to me why Home and Away has gone over the edge of insanity - all the darkness and destruction of a current Hollywood blockbuster to draw people in, without the (you would think obvious) realisation that this show and these characters are having to live in this apocalyptic dystopia for more than 2hrs a year. And it's all Heath Ledger's fault! A former Home and Away actor! It's all coming full circle!!  

[pembie]

The Michael Keaton Batman movies are my favourite so I have always thought Jack Nicholson was always the best craziest Joker in a movie.Heath Ledger was good but he never played Joker as a fun clownish character I didn't think just as a crazy insane person I guess he made the character more scary in a way But since playing the Arkham games Mark Hamill is the best Joker.. I know this is totally off topic

[Blaxland 89]

I think the show is far too unrealistic now to be called dark. If the event had a genuine  lasting impact on the characters than maybe so. 

[Gerard]

H&A was great when it had maybe one big event every year or two, like the bushfire, the flood, the earthquake, various sieges, crashes, and the occasional dramatic death. But nowadays it's non-stop going from one catastrophe to another. Lives are in danger nearly every week. If they toned it down a bit and spent more time exploring the fallout from these high drama situations, it would be much more effective. As it is, something bad happens, but is forgotten within a week or two because they're busy lining up the next "event". Yes, it can be exciting to watch, but any realism goes out the window, and it almost becomes a parody of itself and is hard to take seriously any more.

[dee123]

On 28/05/2016 at 11:58 AM, pembie said:

The Michael Keaton Batman movies are my favourite so I have always thought Jack Nicholson was always the best craziest Joker in a movie.Heath Ledger was good but he never played Joker as a fun clownish character I didn't think just as a crazy insane person I guess he made the character more scary in a way But since playing the Arkham games Mark Hamill is the best Joker.. I know this is totally off topic

Completely agree. He's the only one who knows how to switch from funny to deadly in a split second and when is the right time to do it.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I know some of us may find the "Neighbours is closer to H&A than H&A is" a bit wearing but I think it is true. It is like H&A has died and lives on in Neighbours. While Neighbours has stunts it has mainly many light hearted family scenes and local events, relaxing garden scenes, school corridor and classroom scenes with the usual typical teens getting into pranks, and a Colleen Smart busybody in Sheila Canning. And the local cop mucks up but always means well, Brennan is that man. Light hearted tones mixed with the odd bit of action. Everything that H&A used to be. And harsh background music is rare in Neighbours.

All the classroom scenes in H&A seem to have a huge explosion or psycho kids. Any rare everyday scenes in H&A seem to end with a gunshot or explosion. The local cop seems to have many enemies and dark secrets. So I think the "Neighbours is closer to H&A than H&A is" does have a lot of merit. So yes, the current producers are ruining H&A, suffocating the show.

[Red Ranger 1]

Frankly, I'm struggling to remember the last time we had a classroom scene in either show, which is ironic given that both of them took characters who should be leaving school in a few months and stuck them in the year below with little or no explanation.Neighbours' teens seem more likely to steal stuff than attend classes and the show has just as much of a problem with characters' actions failing to have consequences as Home and Away.Go on a Neighbours discussion and you'll see just as many complaints about characters constantly getting away with crimes.Home and Away's local cop also mucks up but always means well(I don't really know where this "many enemies and dark secrets" thing comes from), Neighbours' Brennan is considered as big a joke and would have been fired years ago in real life.Both shows suffer the same problem that whereas once they were set in a close-knit community where everyone interacted on a regular basis, now they are divided up into little cliques of characters who struggle to cross over.But perhaps that's merely an indication of society, where even 25 years ago it was admitted that the soap standard of streets where everyone knows each other bore little relation to reality.I wouldn't have said gunshots or explosions were any more common in Home and Away than Neighbours.(Okay, maybe gunshots.But I'm struggling to remember there ever being an explosion in a classroom in Home and Away, and I don't think the school's suffered a major disaster since the 90s, whereas Neighbours burned down its school just last year.)Indeed, the spoilers for the UK have both shows this coming week having the solution to a long-standing murder mystery.And if Home and Away has got rid of the loathsome woman that most of the audience want to strangle while Neighbours still insists on ramming them down our throats, I know who gets my tick of approval.

[c120701]

1 hour ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Frankly, I'm struggling to remember the last time we had a classroom scene in either show, which is ironic given that both of them took characters who should be leaving school in a few months and stuck them in the year below with little or no explanation.Neighbours' teens seem more likely to steal stuff than attend classes and the show has just as much of a problem with characters' actions failing to have consequences as Home and Away.Go on a Neighbours discussion and you'll see just as many complaints about characters constantly getting away with crimes.Home and Away's local cop also mucks up but always means well(I don't really know where this "many enemies and dark secrets" thing comes from), Neighbours' Brennan is considered as big a joke and would have been fired years ago in real life.Both shows suffer the same problem that whereas once they were set in a close-knit community where everyone interacted on a regular basis, now they are divided up into little cliques of characters who struggle to crossover.But perhaps that's merely an indication of society, where even 25 years it was admitted that the soap standard of streets where everyone knows each other bore little relation to reality.I wouldn't have said gunshots or explosions were any more common in Home and Away than Neighbours.(Okay, maybe gunshots.But I'm struggling to remember there ever being an explosion in a classroom in Home and Away, and I don't think the school's suffered a major disaster since the 90s, whereas Neighbours burned down its school just last year.)Indeed, the spoilers for the UK have both shows this coming week having the solution to a long-standing murder mystery.And if Home and Away has got rid of the loathsome woman that most of the audience want to strangle while Neighbours still insists on ramming them down our throats, I know who gets my tick of approval.

Didn't the Summer Bay High roof fall in during Gina's reign due to a storm?