Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[CaptainHulk]

^ He's not Bertram! 

[Matt]

8 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

I think Bennett did say he had come back for a bit longer on the show, not permanently. It may take a while before we get notified of his replacement.

Dan Bennett did return for six months. His material should finishing airing at the end of this month. However, long-time Script Producer (to varying degrees) Hamilton Budd took over in the absence of a Series Script Executive, to bridge the gap between Dan's departure in January and return in February. Bearing in mind that there was a production break over Christmas, Dan's material should start airing again in October/November, and should last until next July/August 

[Homeandawayfan.]

It does seem that H&A has taken a completely new direction for no good reason and totally abandoned the old style H&A. H&A always did move with the times but in the last 7 or 8 years it took a totally different direction. Neighbours did start to adopt a radical change in style but reverted back, and H&A needs to do that as well, whether it will do is another story.

[dee123]

On 10/08/2016 at 6:26 AM, Homeandawayfan. said:

Maybe it shows that Dan Bennett was big on promise, short on delivery as script editor. A temporary improvement last year but the show soon returned to default. The show needs a new producer. But could it be better the devil you know?

H&A is practically a crime/thriller show now and that is everything I hate about the current episodes.

We are still all waiting for that diversity that he promised. I wonder if he got told no.

[cadyctslover]

2 hours ago, dee123 said:

We are still all waiting for that diversity that he promised. I wonder if he got told no.

I am beginning to suspect there is another force at play. Someone higher up on the show, or more likely at Network 7 who is dictating a style of storylining/writing, regardless of who is Script Producer/Network Script Executive.

Dan left after 6 months, and 'agreed' to return for another 6 months. In 2015 he said that more diversity would be coming, and I think that resistance to his efforts probably lead to his first departure. Plus the style of storylining/writing is so different to his previous stint in 2005/6 that there must be some other middle-man. It's not just that it is more modern, but the follow-through on storylines and character development is far less mature than it was back then, even in 2006!

I think Dan was strong-minded enough to resign because of it in 2015, and I don't think Louise Bowes cared enough to try and change things for the better. I also suspect Lucy Addario is too weak to overrule the decisions made by this higher-up at the network.

[c120701]

I think that's highly likely. Ten used to do it all the time with Neighbours.

[fangirloverload101]

On 8/26/2016 at 3:15 AM, dee123 said:

We are still all waiting for that diversity that he promised. I wonder if he got told no.

Probably was told no! It really wouldn't surprise me. The lack of diversity drives me nuts! Is their goal to travel back to the 1950's?? Lol, I'm kind of kidding. It's just not an accurate portrayal of modern day life and the lack of diversity is so boring! We want something new and refreshing. They're just not taking any risks. Eventually people are just going to get bored. I think they need to realise that the majority us want more diversity. It's like they're stuck in the past. It's really not taboo anymore to have a bi character, or to have a gay character, or to have a trans character. Many other tv shows have done things like that, like the producers/writers just need to realise that it's 2016 not 1956. (That's a joke obviously lol). 

On 8/26/2016 at 6:16 AM, cadyctslover said:

I am beginning to suspect there is another force at play. Someone higher up on the show, or more likely at Network 7 who is dictating a style of storylining/writing, regardless of who is Script Producer/Network Script Executive.

Dan left after 6 months, and 'agreed' to return for another 6 months. In 2015 he said that more diversity would be coming, and I think that resistance to his efforts probably lead to his first departure. Plus the style of storylining/writing is so different to his previous stint in 2005/6 that there must be some other middle-man. It's not just that it is more modern, but the follow-through on storylines and character development is far less mature than it was back then, even in 2006!

I think Dan was strong-minded enough to resign because of it in 2015, and I don't think Louise Bowes cared enough to try and change things for the better. I also suspect Lucy Addario is too weak to overrule the decisions made by this higher-up at the network.

Yep I really wouldn't be surprised. A lot of shows do that. I used to watch Pretty Little Liars and apparently the network which is Freeform has a big say in what happens in the show. Like Marlene wrote a really edgy episode once but the network didn't like the script for it so they told her they wouldn't be producing that episode. And she had ideas about who she wanted A to be and if they didn't like those ideas they'd tell her that they didn't want her to go down that route. I think MTV does it too but I'm not entirely sure. I don't watch PLL anymore but I found that interesting. 

[Homeandawayfan.]

True though, there is no diversity apart from Leah's Greek heritage. No LGBT characters whatsoever. All seem to be European Australians and all are straight. It is like Summer Bay is a coastal town that is locked away from civilisation.

[dee123]

1 hour ago, fangirloverload101 said:

Yep I really wouldn't be surprised. A lot of shows do that. I used to watch Pretty Little Liars and apparently the network which is Freeform has a big say in what happens in the show. Like Marlene wrote a really edgy episode once but the network didn't like the script for it so they told her they wouldn't be producing that episode. And she had ideas about who she wanted A to be and if they didn't like those ideas they'd tell her that they didn't want her to go down that route. I think MTV does it too but I'm not entirely sure. I don't watch PLL anymore but I found that interesting. 

That's actually a very strange case. Freeform/ABC Family whatever ya wanna call it used to be a Christian TV channel and because the God Squad still has a lot of control in the US they still get their way sometimes with what is shown.

[fangirloverload101]

17 minutes ago, dee123 said:

That's actually a very strange case. Freeform/ABC Family whatever ya wanna call it used to be a Christian TV channel and because the God Squad still has a lot of control in the US they still get their way sometimes with what is shown.

That's interesting! I didn't know that. I do think it's improved a bit with shows like The Fosters but yeah I've heard the network can be pretty controlling. 

29 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

True though, there is no diversity apart from Leah's Greek heritage. No LGBT characters whatsoever. All seem to be European Australians and all are straight. It is like Summer Bay is a coastal town that is locked away from civilisation.

Yep!!! It's so annoying, like they're so stuck in the past and they're not actually listening to what a lot of us want. And when you think about it, Leah might still be a European Australian because technically Greeks are European. I personally don't think of Greeks as Caucasian though. If someone knows more about this could they educate me? I also hate it when they have a POC actor on the show but have them play a white character. Like Bob Morley who played Drew is a POC but his character was white. I don't understand how it'd have hurt the show to make Drew a POC character. They could have easily gotten a POC actress to play his mum. And he's not even white passing! It's pretty obvious to me that he's mixed race. And same with the actor who plays Justin, he's a POC (part Chinese) but I have a strong feeling that his character is white. Same with Tai Hara who plays Andy. I think Andy might have been a POC character since Josh and him were half siblings but no one actually knows. And yeah the whole LGBT thing is ridiculous. They act like it's so taboo and risky but it isn't! Like do they watch other shows or do they just watch soap operas from the 80's??