Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[Dan F]

Just a quick reminder that this thread is in the General Discussion area, so please be careful about mentioning storylines that are yet to air in the UK.

The main things we've had to add spoiler tags to recently in a few posts are mentions of

Casey's death and/or the fact he's left, and Oscar's eating disorder

If you're unsure, you can check where the UK are up to on this page - http://www.backtothebay.net/episodes/upcoming_uk.php

[chels24]

Yes lately there have been so many loose ends, characters that had so much potential running out of ideas for them and becoming stale or so annoying storylines being rushed and often with no real outcome and THE BARRETTS casey not included, ridiculous storylines that are thrown in for no reason at all and criminally underusing some fantastic characters and ruining others and having MADDY at all dont get me wrong there had been some really brilliant stuff but at the same time some stuff thats just annoying

I agree, there was no point in my opinion to make Casey the Barrett in his last 6 months on the show. Chris who??? Since he came to the Bay the only thing he did was to chase girls and get on Irene's nerves. Same with Sophie, her on-off relationship with Nate is just plain boring. No decent storylines for Oscar, Spencer even Zac lately. I don't even want to comment on Alf and Irene. They ruined Maddy's character more than Ruby and Martha's.

I know they came with such potential but now I think they have run out of ideas

[Homeandawayfan.]

I think H&A is going through a Susan Bower phase, hence the current format.

[Gerard]

H&A really is a show of two halves these days, broadly split into the old characters who are enjoyable to watch, and the young characters, who are less so. I think H&A was at its best in the mid-1990s, when although there was an improbable number of disasters, this was balanced by a real family and community feel, and much warmth and humour. Back then you could really believe in the romances, which didn't dominate, really care for the characters, and there was plenty of drama without the need to resort to crime storylines all the time.

If H&A could get back to how it was then, it would be perfect, but it seems these days there is a need to constantly up the ante with more ridiculous high drama and the expense of good continuity and character development. If most of the younger cast left tomorow, I wouldn't care. I guess it could currently be likened to the Susan Bower era of Neighbours, and thankfully that came to an end - not without doing a lot of damage first. But what would be needed to trigger such a change? As it is, H&A still seems be rating well, in Australia, so I would imagine it would be allowed to carry on as normal. In my opinion ratings in the UK are quite poor by comparison. I doubt if it was still on ITV with those ratings that they would be renewing it.

Even if new producers did take over, there is a good chance that they would be told to continue with the current formula as it is still delivering. Unfortunately, for those of us who dislike it, we could be stuck with the current H&A format for years to come.

[cadyctslover]

Even if new producers did take over, there is a good chance that they would be told to continue with the current formula as it is still delivering. Unfortunately, for those of us who dislike it, we could be stuck with the current H&A format for years to come.

Possibly, although I would be surprised if they could find a worse set of producers after Lucy and Louise.

It took over three years, a 50% drop in ratings and a channel change before Network TEN showed Susan Bower and Neil Kingston the door. But that allowed Richard Jasek and Alan Hardy to come in and turn the show around with probably very little interference from TEN. And they turned it around very quickly.

The difference with H&A is that Lucy and Louise are in the twilight of a successful (ratings-wise) period, and they're sticking with it through the departure of the Braxton's. Hopefully they stick around for another year or two until the ratings are really in the toilet, at which point Network 7 might hire some decent talent that understands the soap opera genre.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Reading on some old threads on other forums and on here from 2007-2008 the exact same conversation was being said about Neighbours. I first lurked on BTTB in 2004 when it was a new site but did not join until 2012. People were saying that Neighbours is losing its roots and becoming a teen show and crime show. Now history is repeating itself with H&A.

Some of the ratings may be us long term viewers still tuning in to see an improvement, which helps keep them up as well as the teens who have no idea who people like Damo and Bobby are and who love the Braxtons and nothing else.

[LondonF4]

Even if new producers did take over, there is a good chance that they would be told to continue with the current formula as it is still delivering. Unfortunately, for those of us who dislike it, we could be stuck with the current H&A format for years to come.

Possibly, although I would be surprised if they could find a worse set of producers after Lucy and Louise.

It took over three years, a 50% drop in ratings and a channel change before Network TEN showed Susan Bower and Neil Kingston the door. But that allowed Richard Jasek and Alan Hardy to come in and turn the show around with probably very little interference from TEN. And they turned it around very quickly.

The difference with H&A is that Lucy and Louise are in the twilight of a successful (ratings-wise) period, and they're sticking with it through the departure of the Braxton's. Hopefully they stick around for another year or two until the ratings are really in the toilet, at which point Network 7 might hire some decent talent that understands the soap opera genre.

It's hard to know what the real story is but I agree that things will probably need to get worse before they get better. Over at Neighbours SuBo ran the show into the ground over 4 years - in fact the rot began before her with the botched 2007 revamp but people forget that - and though fans were getting riled it took blooming forever for action to be taken. The networks dont seem to care very much about the soaps in Aus which is unlike the UK where swift action is taken when things go awry.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I think the current format really set in when the River Boys arrived, yes it had problems before but I feel it still had a good community feeling. Watching a 2005 episode the other day, I found just how much more calmer H&A was just those 9 years ago. The fuzziness was adamant. I also will hold on to hope that the show improves, it will not happen overnight but I am not yet ready to accept that the current style will be the style going forward. Neighbours pulled itself out of the dark and destructive phase it went through, I am confident H&A can do the same.

[hward]

I've never been so disappointed with the show in all the time I've watched it as I am right now, I think it's been a poor year and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. There's only one or two characters I seem to have anything positive to say about nowadays and I feel as though I'm on the verge of washing my hands of H&A and not bothering anymore. Some of the storylines are just ridiculous and some characters are totally unlikable, it's a downright shame what the writers/producers are doing to what used to be such a fantastic show.

[alexx]

I think the current format really set in when the River Boys arrived, yes it had problems before but I feel it still had a good community feeling. Watching a 2005 episode the other day, I found just how much more calmer H&A was just those 9 years ago. The fuzziness was adamant. I also will hold on to hope that the show improves, it will not happen overnight but I am not yet ready to accept that the current style will be the style going forward. Neighbours pulled itself out of the dark and destructive phase it went through, I am confident H&A can do the same.

I think the difference is that the ratings plummeted during it's 'dark and destructive' phase, whereas H&A's ratings haven't really... so 'they' won't see it as a downward spiral, the network/producers see it as a positive that the show's format has changed. Unless the ratings take a drastic nose dive, or a new producer takes over, I doubt the format will be altered very much going forward.