Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[c120701]

6 hours ago, Luke39 said:

Alf and Sally not close? Really? I thought Alf was almost like a father to her, that is how I saw the relationship. The biggest relationship in this shows history. Was that just me? 

Yes, really. Up until the point that Don was about to leave the show they didn't have a lot to do with each other, she'd even refer to him as Alf. Then they had the brain tumour story where Ailsa appeared & when Sally returned with (new) Flynn after a trip to see Sophie, they were by his side which to me marked a point of Don moving aside to build the Alf/Sally relationship. That's when we got the real push on her calling him Mr Stewart, but even then it was more that Alf & Flynn became mates because of Ric, it wasn't until Episode 5000 leading into Flynn's cancer diagnosis that I'd say that Alf stepped into that father figure role with Sally.

[Skylover]

They're doing the same thing with Alf and Leah now. They've never been OTT close like they are now.

4 hours ago, Luke39 said:

I guess you could argue Alf is the last resemblance of what Home and Away was.

Exactly, hence his importance.

[c120701]

15 minutes ago, Edward Skylover said:

They're doing the same thing with Alf and Leah now. They've never been OTT close like they are now.

Exactly, hence his importance.

Actually, Alf & Leah makes more sense that Alf & Sally as they ran the Diner together for quite a few years, with her working for Ailsa & him prior to that. She & Mitch kept the business going after Ailsa's death and then Alf was there for her when Vinnie died and they became very close during the period from Leah being given the partnership & Alf moving in with Sally. In the intervening years they had less to do with each other, but hints of their closeness would come up every now and then.

Of course you could argue that Leah & Alf are responsible for Ailsa's death as Leah found a unit for the diner which had a flat upstairs, saving them finding a unit & a house, so if she hadn't then the boxes that Alf needed to move from the Diner to the flat upstairs wouldn't have been there, so they wouldn't have been in Ailsa's way & she wouldn't have moved them.

[emmasi]

57 minutes ago, Edward Skylover said:

His current plot with Terese makes no sense at all. They seem to be sparring for no reason at all other than to 'have sexual tension'. Everything Paul does is pathetic.

Not sure where the UK is with Neighbours so just in case

Spoiler

It's because she paid someone to lie under oath to get him sent to prison, where he was tormented and severely beaten. When she realised she was wrong and that he wasn't actually responsible for Josh's death, "sorry" didn't cut it for Paul. I actually love how vindictive he's being. It's been great to watch him shift from desperately in love with her to making her life hell, because that's what she tried to do to him. I still think they both have romantic feelings for each other mixed into the serious hatred, which is fascinating. There's a lot of tension there but it's not all sexual, not by a long shot. In contrast, Home and Away would've had them back in the sack by now, if they would give over 40s a storyline at all, which they wouldn't. 

 

[Matt]

2 hours ago, emmasi said:

Not sure where the UK is with Neighbours so just in case

Just for future reference, the UK see it the same day as Australia

[KIMIF1]

Looks like he is over paid too then,  what does he actually do?   how often do people go in the bait shop? from the state of the caravan before it exploded it looked like some maintenance was needed,  but you never see anything done there either.  

 

  

[dee123]

54 minutes ago, KIMIF1 said:

Looks like he is over paid too then,  what does he actually do?   how often do people go in the bait shop? from the state of the caravan before it exploded it looked like some maintenance was needed,  but you never see anything done there either. 

What is this comment? Alf's an old man now. What do you want him to do? Climb Mount Everest? I also don't get your second point. You don't ever see Leah or Irene making meals in the diner either.

 

[Homeandawayfan.]

Emmerdale and EastEnders have changed a lot but more of their originality remains than H&A. Yes, farmhouse kitchen scenes in Emmerdale seem to be more about crimes but TBH in the 1970s and 1980s the show had the odd disaster and was racier than people thought. The 2 shows pubs, the Woolpack and Vic have remained throughout and the street market scenes (EE) and farmhouse scenes (ED) still remain, and feature in almost every episode. H&A may have Summer Bay House and the beach but virtually no fostering exists. Tonally, H&A is completely different to when it begun. It feels like a dark thriller where everyone is sinister. Or CSI Australia, or Underbelly Summer Bay.

[Luke39]

Haha I always thought Home and Away is alot like Underbelly lol. Since like 2010. Shows change over time don't they? All shows do. I guess you could argue the world lost it's innocent. Home and Away lost it's innocence too. I think it is less Crime driven, and dark then it was a couple years ago. 

[Gerard]

On 03/09/2016 at 0:44 PM, Homeandawayfan. said:

Emmerdale and EastEnders have changed a lot but more of their originality remains than H&A. Yes, farmhouse kitchen scenes in Emmerdale seem to be more about crimes but TBH in the 1970s and 1980s the show had the odd disaster and was racier than people thought. 

H&A may have Summer Bay House and the beach but virtually no fostering exists. Tonally, H&A is completely different to when it begun. It feels like a dark thriller where everyone is sinister. Or CSI Australia, or Underbelly Summer Bay.

TPTB can effectively make H&A whatever they like, they can move the action away from Summer Bay if they want and base it around the police station. There is nothing stopping them.

The only things viewers can do is complain and switch off if we don't like it. There is nothing really they can't get rid of. The show could carry on without Alf, the caravan park or the beach. They could still call it "Home and Away". As it is very little of H&A as we knew it still remains. I wonder how many of H&A's current viewers were also fans back in the '80s? It would be interesting to know whether they have retained many viewers over the years.