Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[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?? 

[Homeandawayfan.]

38 minutes ago, fangirloverload101 said:

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. 

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?? 

They never stated if Andy Barrett was of mixed race or not, I think as usual they left it vague and gave up the impression he was white. Neighbours has had several multi racial and LGBT characters than H&A. The Kapoors, and Nate Kinski, who is part Aboriginal. And Shay Daeng etc. And LGBT characters such as Nate himself and Aaron Brennan, Steph Scully and Belinda Bell. It is one of the reasons why I find Neighbours much more recognisable and watchable than H&A now.

No diversity and endless crimes is 2 huge things that has ruined H&A. That is before you mention how Josh and Andy have killed 4 people and are now on the run.

[fangirloverload101]

1 minute ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

They never stated if Andy Barrett was of mixed race or not, I think as usual they left it vague and gave up the impression he was white. Neighbours has had several multi racial and LGBT characters than H&A. The Kapoors, and Nate Kinski, who is part Aboriginal. And Shay Daeng etc. And LGBT characters such as Nate himself and Aaron Brennan, Steph Scully and Belinda Bell. It is one of the reasons why I find Neighbours much more recognisable and watchable than H&A now.

No diversity and endless crimes is 2 huge things that has ruined the show. That is before you mention how Josh and Andy have killed 4 people and are now on the run.

Yep they always keep the ethnicities vague which is annoying. Yeah I agree. Neighbours is better with diversity. I still think the diversity on Neighbours could improve a little when it comes to POC's but it's much better than Home and Away when it comes to diversity. I watch Shortland Street and it's pretty diverse. There's a transgender character, a bisexual female, a gay POC teenager, a few Maori characters, a muslim POC, and a couple of samoan characters. And yeah, I agree. They really over did Josh and Andy's crimes, they over did it to the point where they aren't redeemable. And to be honest, I didn't really like the choice of Josh being the one who killed Charlotte.  It just grossed me out at how secretive he was afterwards. Like even when Zach was being accused he didn't say anything! And I actually felt that they made Josh kind of OOC in that way. Because in the previous seasons he had a little bit more of a moral compass. 

[Homeandawayfan.]

2 hours ago, fangirloverload101 said:

Yep they always keep the ethnicities vague which is annoying. Yeah I agree. Neighbours is better with diversity. I still think the diversity on Neighbours could improve a little when it comes to POC's but it's much better than Home and Away when it comes to diversity. I watch Shortland Street and it's pretty diverse. There's a transgender character, a bisexual female, a gay POC teenager, a few Maori characters, a muslim POC, and a couple of samoan characters. And yeah, I agree. They really over did Josh and Andy's crimes, they over did it to the point where they aren't redeemable. And to be honest, I didn't really like the choice of Josh being the one who killed Charlotte.  It just grossed me out at how secretive he was afterwards. Like even when Zach was being accused he didn't say anything! And I actually felt that they made Josh kind of OOC in that way. Because in the previous seasons he had a little bit more of a moral compass. 

When H&A begun it was always the more exotic and modern of the 2 shows whereas Neighbours seemed like a dinosaur compared to H&A. Right from the pilot H&A had school classroom scenes, teen pregnancy, wayward rebellious teens, the lot. In the past 5 to 10 years Neighbours has overtaken H&A as the show which deals with modern day society. H&A's sets feel a lot more modern than Neighbours and always have done but that is no consolation for the lack of diversity in the show.

[fangirloverload101]

4 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

When H&A begun it was always the more exotic and modern of the 2 shows whereas Neighbours seemed like a dinosaur compared to H&A. Right from the pilot H&A had school classroom scenes, teen pregnancy, wayward rebellious teens, the lot. In the past 5 to 10 years Neighbours has overtaken H&A as the show which deals with modern day society. H&A's sets feel a lot more modern than Neighbours and always have done but that is no consolation for the lack of diversity in the show.

Yeah agreed!! There just isn't enough representation on H&A now.