Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[Bobby Forever Missed]

But if you choose to switch off be prepared for people to label you disloyal ... a Braxton-hater.... and other things.

I switched off in 2011 and have been called a Braxton hater had comments deleted off the FB and been trolled and I really don't care if Lucy and Louise want to lose the long term viewers that's fine but WE made the show popular to start off with and now they are just pandering to the teeny bops! it is a pathetic excuse for a show nowadays!

[-Andrew-]

I don't think a television show is the kind of thing you can 'fight for', unless a show has been axed of course. All the network will care about is viewing figures/ money, which is understandable because that is what television is all about, it is a business. If H&A is still bringing in the viewers/ money, they will see no need for change.

So the only chance of things significantly changing is with a massive drop in viewing figures and even then, the first restoration point they will turn to will be the beginning of the popular, though not to be confused with 'acclaimed', Braxton era. They won't even bother looking at what was popular in the 80's/ 90's because it won't be deemed relevant.

I guess a producer who really fights for writing quality could make a great deal of difference, but then it'll probably still be the same sort of show it is now, just less crap somehow.

The turnaround in Neighbours is a different story. The difference between 1991 and 2011 was like some 10 Million+ viewers. It went from massively popular, to massively unpopular and it was ridiculed even by those who stuck with it. So when the show fell to pieces, the obvious place to go looking for inspiration was the popular years, which luckily for fans could be any period between 1986- 2004, when the show was arguably of a consistently good quality.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Of course you can fight for a show.

We live in the age of social media campaigns that put people in touch with each other even though they live at opposite sides of the globe.

And no, if your fight is balanced, rational and backed up by evidence like survey statistics then it has to have some influence.

Basically we can all sit here and moan about how bad it is or we can do something....

[-Andrew-]

But the show is very much 'alive' in terms of ratings, publicity and popularity, so they have no incentive to listen. The entire genre of the show has gradually shifted over the past decade and the fan base has almost completely 'refreshed' in that time. For every fan that disliked the new format and abandoned it, is a person who loves it (for reasons unknown ) As long as there is an audience there, lapping it up, they will not care.

Home and Away has been the way it is for 5+ years, and even for 5 years before that, it was pretty rubbish, plot-driven fluff, with the occasional good moment/ storyline. So I'd say the damage is mostly done by now.

I just think it is best to just drop the show if you don't like it anymore. The early years is there for those who are after a mostly well-written and entertaining version of Summer Bay, and with like 1,300 consecutive episodes available, there's already 10x as much content as you would get from any other drama series.

[TelephotoMarigold]

If you think that then maybe you should check out the ratings. Compared to 2008 figures only a few episodes have reached the same peak of numbers. Promos and publicity are biased towards certain characters who have a finite timespan remaining with the show. You can easily check out the people on this forum who have already stopped watching the show as certain characters leave and those who have stated that they will stop viewing altogether when the last are set to leave.

Sure, continue watching the 'Early Years' ad nauseum to get your fix of drama but surely there are only so many times you can view those episodes before you know them off by heart. Or you could even migrate to Neighbours. And you know it's never going to be the show it was all those years ago but it can certainly improve on where it is now.

[cadyctslover]

I have the same attitude towards the show as I did with Neighbours circa 2010. I can't believe it will get any worse/insult me any more as a viewer, but I stick around in the blind hope that one day some producers will be hired that know what they're doing.

As has been discussed multiple times now, that's not going to happen any time soon on H&A so I'm close to giving up.

[alexx]

As we've said (and as I just commented in Aus Discussion) they're going to have to keep bringing in these carbon copy characters in order to keep this 'new wave' audience who started to tune in specifically to watch a show about bad boys/criminals. If they don't, that audience wont be tuning in.

I agree that if a new producer was to take over, they'll still probably have the pressure to keep bringing in these new types of characters (due to what Louise/Lucy have created) to please the new audience so the format is probably going to stay pretty close to what it is at the moment unless the audience cottons on to how predictable and boring it is and stop watching too.

[TelephotoMarigold]

I disagree.

Cameron Welsh first introduced the River Boys but it was under Lucy Addario and Louise Bowes that they obtained dominance. We have no idea what direction Cameroon would have taken them. Nor do we know what a new producer would do. They would have to look at the whole picture first before making any decisions regarding the cast and direction of the show.

[alexx]

Nor do we know what a new producer would do. They would have to look at the whole picture first before making any decisions regarding the cast and direction of the show.

I agree. But I think the new producer would still be pressured to keep the 'new' audience happy - and I'm referring to those who switch on to watch the 'bad boy' element of the show - which is so dominant now. Unless the new audience get bored of the repeated 'bad boy' drama and want something else.

[Red Ranger 1]

Cameron Welsh first introduced the River Boys but it was under Lucy Addario and Louise Bowes that they obtained dominance. We have no idea what direction Cameroon would have taken them.

I disagree.Things were far worse under Cameron Welsh.Maybe not in terms of the amount of publicity and storylines the characters got, that was about the same, but in terms of the type of storyline.Under Lucy Addario, the River Boys have pretty much gone.The endless stream of interchangeable henchmen that we had in 2011 were gone by the middle of 2012.Over the last two years, I think the show has done a good job on pulling back certain elements and reducing the drugs, gangs and revenge storylines...until they completely undid all the work with a horribly conceived storyline that threw away years of character development and made it seem like 2011 never ended.I am beginning to suspect that this is a case of wanting to revisit a past storyline before characters leave but if so it's a badly misjudged one, same as undoing two years of character development on Aden by giving him abuse issues again before he left or thinking that bringing back Johnny Cooper gave Sally a fitting send-off.

Factions of fans claiming ownership of the show and trying to force people to make it the way they want is not a good route to go down.Everyone has different ideas on what makes shows good and it's reminiscent of the Doctor Who fans of the 80s who went from hailing a new producer like the saviour to publishing hate pamphlets.(Yes, people were saying that Cameron Welsh was ruining the show.And Dan Bennett before him.)As far as I can see the choices fans dissatisfied with the current show are decide they don't like it anymore and stop watching; keep watching it in the hope it will get better; or accept the show's changed and find something to enjoy in the way it is now.