Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[Light of the Bay]

17 hours ago, cadyctslover said:

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned and I missed it, but did anyone notice Dan Bennett announce that he has left the show again? (I know Matt did)

It was announced on the main site when he quit in December last year, and then we discussed it here when he announced he was returning in April.

I suspect Dan's material will now air up until the new year. I wonder who will replace him in this role?

This is worrying. The fact that he never seems to last long in the post tells me that he is having trouble/disagreements BTS. How much longer are they going to keep the absolute hack of a producer that is Lucy Addario? 

It makes me so sad to see what this once wonderful show has morphed into. It truly would be unwatchable if it weren't for the older characters.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Sadly Lucy has been at the helm since May 2012. I think Aussie shows keep their producers longer than UK soaps which change every 2 or 3 years, that should apply to Neighbours and H&A so they don't go stagnant. Lucy would be great producing Underbelly, she can have as many crimes as she likes. I worry that she will stay on H&A and be in charge for the 30th, in which case it will be a Brax/Barrett/Ashford fest.

[CaptainHulk]

Right someone needs to stage a Coup, Shanghai Addario and ship her to well, Shanghai... if that happens!

[Homeandawayfan.]

Well Josh and Andy being mass murderers, having killed 4 people (Pirovic, Charlotte, Oscar and Hannah) and escaping justice tonight shows how ruined the show is, and beyond repair.

[Ludub]

42 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Well Josh and Andy being mass murderers, having killed 4 people (Pirovic, Charlotte, Oscar and Hannah) and escaping justice tonight shows how ruined the show is, and beyond repair.

They're not 'mass murderers'! Lol! Andy is a murderer, I'll absolutely accept that, but he only murdered one person. He played a part in the accidental death of two people (caused by Roo's gross negligence which everyone is bending over backwards to forgive her for) and is therefore 'apparently' guilty of manslaughter. Josh didn't 'murder' anyone. He accidentally killed Charlotte in self defense (again, manslaughter... for some reason). Whatever you feel about Andy and Josh, and it's your right to dislike them (that's absolutely fine), they are not 'mass murderers'. Also, even if Andy had actually murdered three people, those would have been his crimes and his alone. Josh's crimes are separate. Anyway, I'm angry about this entire storyline from start to finish. They could have chosen a much more sensible murderer than Josh and I think they may have originally intended to from the way it was played. I don't think the actor had the slightest clue that it was the 'blind man what did it' until a long time after, which is why there was absolutely no sense of him being guilty in how he played the character (which is now being used as proof of his complete lack of remorse). This year has been atrocious in terms of writing! Just terrible. The handling of Oscar's death being one of the worst examples, and this getaway storyline just adding insult to injury. Love or hate the Barretts, the show writers have managed to achieve a very peculiar situation in which both sides are incredibly unhappy. That takes some doing, so let's give them a little round of applause for that.

[Gerard]

1 hour ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Well Josh and Andy being mass murderers, having killed 4 people (Pirovic, Charlotte, Oscar and Hannah) and escaping justice tonight shows how ruined the show is, and beyond repair.

H&A used to be a very moral show where the bad guys were punished, and by bad, I mean like stealing a loaf of bread, not blowing up the Diner. It's one thing to show all the criminality in action. It's quite another to show people getting away with murder (literally) and glorifying their evil actions. If I wasn't so invested in this show, I think I would switch off. More often than not, it seems to be setting an appalling example to the audience.

[Homeandawayfan.]

23 minutes ago, Gerard said:

H&A used to be a very moral show where the bad guys were punished, and by bad, I mean like stealing a loaf of bread, not blowing up the Diner. It's one thing to show all the criminality in action. It's quite another to show people getting away with murder (literally) and glorifying their evil actions. If I wasn't so invested in this show, I think I would switch off. More often than not, it seems to be setting an appalling example to the audience.

I feel this all started in 2005. And has built on that ever since. 1988-2004 felt very Home And Awayish.

Yes, even if Shane nicked a water bottle from Alf's shop he would sweat on it and then come clean and Alf would say "Don't ever steal from my store again you flamin galah" and would be let off with a warning from the police and made to do lots of housework for Don.

[Gerard]

28 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Yes, even if Shane nicked a water bottle from Alf's shop he would sweat on it and then come clean and Alf would say "Don't ever steal from my store again you flamin galah" and would be let off with a warning from the police and made to do lots of housework for Don.

Whereas nowadays Andy Barrett would ram raid Alf's shop with a knocked off car, empty the till, beat Alf senseless, leaving him on the brink of death for the 10th time this year, then brag to Josh and Ash over a cold beer about what he got away with. Then Kat would come around to investigate, Andy would sleep with her and the next day she would conveniently lose all the paperwork and evidence.

[Ludub]

4 minutes ago, Gerard said:

Whereas nowadays Andy Barrett would ram raid Alf's shop with a knocked off car, empty the till, beat Alf senseless, leaving him on the brink of death for the 10th time this year, then brag to Josh and Ash over a cold beer about what he got away with. Then Kat would come around to investigate, Andy would sleep with her and the next day she would conveniently lose all the paperwork and evidence.

Okay, that's funny! 

[Red Ranger 1]

Having watched today’s UK episode with the escape of the Barretts, I am forced to conclude: Yes. For me, the show has been entirely ruined. I should be used to criminals getting away with everything by now: It was obvious when Hunter was made a regular that his crimes were going to be swept under the carpet. It angered and frustrated me but it was par for the course. But this time, there’s a “cat and mouse” aspect to it that I find very unsettling. Andy’s casual murder of Jake was, for me, a high water mark for the show, a real sense of a moral line that had been intact for over 25 years being suddenly crossed. But I felt that as long as he remained on the show, there was a chance it could catch up with him. I wasn’t expecting it, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if he’d married Hannah and sailed off into the sunset and if he had I’d have grumbled under my breath and carried on watching, but I was hoping for it. aND then it started to happen. I actually took comfort in Kyle’s exit: I liked him, I didn’t want him to go to jail, but I accepted the philosophy that he’d got away with things in the past and now it had caught up with him, and with Andy’s departure announced I hoped the same rule would apply to him. Brax got let off the hook…I could accept that as an aberration, different rules for someone’s favourite. Then Andy killed Oscar and Hannah. He confessed, he was charged with manslaughter, there was no attempt by the show to pretend it wasn’t his fault. Surely he’d go to jail now? Surely the show wouldn’t pretend that their lives didn’t matter? Then he actually confessed to killing Jake, and Josh confessed to killing Charlotte…This was it. They were both going to jail. I was going to get my Home and Away back, a show that I could be proud of. A show that knew that no matter how sympathetically you’re written, how popular you are, if you cross the line you have to suffer the consequences. It seemed so certain, I didn’t even doubt it.

And then…the bad guys won. And I’ve got a sinking feeling that those making the show don’t realise they’re the bad guys and don’t expect any of the audience to realise either. But they are. Four unlawful killings go unpunished, those left behind (from Hunter to Evelyn to Zac to Chris) have to live with the fact that the people who took their loved ones away from them were never brought to justice, and two unrepentant killers are free to reoffend. And they will reoffend: I don’t even have to make it up, we saw it. When doing the right thing became too hard, Andy went right back to being a criminal. They’re not going to spend the next 60-70 years fruit picking for cash in hand, or setting up a homestead in the bush and growing organic vegetables, or finding a deserted island and living off fish. They’re going to be dealing drugs, doing robberies and acting as errand boys for criminals. Best case, they find someone who’ll only want them to do a few jobs in return for new identities or passage out of the country, and even then they’ll likely be starting from the bottom and it won’t be long before Andy decides on a short cut to make some easy money. Most likely, Andy, bereft of civilising influences, turns back into the evil thug we first met and this time Maddy isn’t around to stop Josh turning into him. Or Andy will do his usual job of upsetting the wrong people, won’t have the Braxtons to save his behind, and they’ll end up in a shallow grave. And I’m left with the distinct feeling of being trolled, of those who make the show saying “People still think Andy should be punished for Jake? Okay, we’ll show them: We’ll make them think it’s going to happen and then snatch it away.” Maybe I’m giving them too much credit but the message is the same: “If you want a show with a sense of right and wrong, go elsewhere.” Instead it’s aimed at the Hollyoaks market: No credibility, no morality, but hey the cast are good looking and we’ve got a great stunt lined up. The producers scour Twitter for all the “Yay, the hot brothers got away!” comments and say “Job done.” (Sadly, Kate Oates killed Emmerdale the same way: The brutal and meaningless murder/manslaughter of Katie Sugden, followed by her killer becoming part of a Golden Couple because they have the strongest following on social media, was the last straw. No point having conversations in farm kitchens if they’re about drug deals, car thefts and murders. I’m hoping Corrie’s too strong for her to ruin that too but early signs aren’t good…)

It’s not including these elements that ruins the show. In the first year, you had an armed siege ending in a fatal shooting, a rape, an arson, a stalker-like whodunnit, a car crash as the culmination of a “Who will die? Well, no-one actually” storyline, a main character confessing to a fatal stabbing, a teacher supplying a student with performance-enhancing drugs, and numerous punch-ups. The problem is including those elements without a moral framework. If the current producers had been making the show in 1989, Dodge wouldn’t have been a sociopathic manchild with a twisted sense of fun. Instead he’d have been instantly forgiven for the manslaughter of Philip (because accidentally killing a sympathetic character in an act of violenT revenge is no big deal now apparently), gone on being friends with Steven and when Emma turned up they’d have got together and been the new golden couple. If they’d been making it in 2006, Rocco wouldn’t have been a good kid trying to escape an abusive brother. Instead, he’d have been portrayed as in the wrong and told to go back to his brother who still loved him despite being a violent criminal. He’d have still died, and it would still have been Johnny’s fault, and Johnny would still have blamed Sally and stabbed her, but she’d have spoken out in his defence and convinced the town to forget about it, and when he finally left they’d have all said what a great bloke he was. (Let’s be honest, Andy Barrett is just Johnny Cooper with more sympathetic writing, except he succeeded where Johnny failed: Robbed his brother of everything and everyone that’s good in his life and completely corrupted him until he’s nothing but a criminal.)

I feel like I’ve spent this year watching likable characters get tortured, given stupid and/or cruel exits or both (Zac, Maddy, Chris, Billie, Irene, Oscar, Skye, Kyle) while characters who are annoying, unlikable, selfish and in some cases completely reprehensible get happy endings they don’t deserve (Brax, Ricky, Josh, Andy) or stick around to continue to blight the show (Evelyn, Nate, Phoebe, Hunter, Olivia… and sadly Ash and Kat, who I used to really like, are going the same way). Frankly just about the only thing left that I care about is VJ and Billie, and I’m expecting that to end with the rape victim portrayed as the villain and the nice guy getting kicked in the teeth, because that’s what this show does to nice guys, it’s thugs and criminals who come out on top. That is not a programme I want to watch. And on the same day as UK viewers are forced to watch this travesty dreamed up by cowards both on and off screen, we get the spoiler Lynd mentioned above, killing any hope of things getting better.

I’ve been watching Home and Away since I was 13, well over half my life. I’ve been a member of BTTB for 8 years, a staff member for 7. If it wasn’t for this site, I’d stop watching. I’m proud of this site and I’m proud of the work I do on it. Maybe if I disappeared someone would do everything just as well, but I’d still feel like I’d left a job half done. So that’s my reason for continuing to watch: Pride and obligation. I’m going to try and restrict my presence on the forum, because being this invested in the show is making me angry and depressed as it continually lets me down. I need to learn to stop caring as much. I used to be proud of this show for not letting characters get away with murder because they’re deemed popular: Now I’m ashamed of it for doing exactly that.