Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[Homeandawayfan.]

I guess the nature of soap is that it is always evolving. Characters, locations and storylines come and go, but it's a good question - at what point does the series evolve into something completely different? When does it reach "the point of no return"?

Summer Bay and Alf are still there. but Ray Meagher isn't going to be there forever. When he leaves, is that the point H&A ends as we know it? Or are we already at the point where the series can never return to its core values? I'm sure a lot of long term viewers feel like this isn't what we signed up for, and in the same way, we could give up watching, but equally we resent that someone has morphed our show into something we don't want. We can choose to stick with the show and hope it improves, or move on and lfe continues. How much of a say in the direction of the series should the fans have? We don't own the show, we just enjoy watching it.

That's an interesting one. I believe Home and Away in 2014 is in roughly the same place as Neighbours was in 2010.

There are a group of individuals in charge of the show who don't understand it. They had some initial success with a certain group of characters and storyline structure, and have chosen to rehash the same formula ever since. Fans are certainly divided but a growing cohort recognise the damage being inflicted on the show. Decisions that are made in the interests of attracting new viewers take their toll on long-term viewers. Inevitably these methods fail and when popular characters leave the 'conquest' viewers go too.

However I must say, even compared to Susan Bower I don't believe I've seen producers so actively display such contempt for their viewers.

This.

The current H&A producers have certainly overtook Susan Bower as the producers to show most contempt for fans and Susan was a master at it. As people know I am an old school N and H&A fan and 20 years ago H&A was ten steps ahead of Neighbours, now it is the other way round.

[CaptainHulk]

It’s such a meaningless, empty act that Jake might as well have been killed by a faulty light fitting falling on his bed.

Am I sadistic/twisted for finding an image of that funny?

Home and Away needs to do a back-to-basics, community feel with actual relatable stories. You can have drama, just not send people to prison/hospital every five minutes. I don't expect late 90s-early 2000s Neighbours tameness but there's got to be something in the middle!

[greg098]

As the 2014 season comes to an end, i have to say that this year was one of the worst years for the show.

Most of the characters lack any real personalities. To be honest, I don't care about the bus crash at all. I know that no one will die so why should I (a viewer) even care? This storyline is a boring cliffhanger that will not be spoken about a week after the season opener in 2015.

I quite like the relationship Ricky and Brax has. I also like the character Maddy but they should use her more.

In 2015, I hope the following happens:

I hope Nate leaves. He offers nothing to the show. His character is plain boring and way too good looking. He seems to be a super doctor at everything.

Spencer should struggle with his bi-polar. Have his character be centred around that which will offer awareness to viewers on this medical condition.

Andy should go to jail and Josh should leave.

Hannah and Zac should get together and leave.

[cadyctslover]

2014 has easily been the poorest season of Home and Away I've ever experienced, with the possible exception of 2012.

The majority of characters I have absolutely no interest or investment in, as a direct result of hopeless writing and poor character development. They are all miserable and hate each other.

Then for some reason we are supposed to care that their lives are in constant danger.

[gutterboy]

Gotta agree with the above posts..... this year has been by far the worst season in recent memory; I thought the previous season was bad; but this season took things to another level of bad.

As for the season finale.....

Seriously!? Nate had a hysterical women and he didn't think to ummmm maybe STOP the car!? When he was driving it was like he had no brakes lol...... trying to control the car and her whilst driving the car; I know they wanted to causr the crash, but geez..... how about some better writing eh!?

[Homeandawayfan.]

I casually watch H&A now and if it is yet another kidnapping, violent drugs heist or punch up within a minute of the episode (after the extra long recap) then I switch over to Judge Judy. I personally feel the way the show has gone is not fair to the longer term viewers. This era of H&A has overtaken Susan Bower's contempt filled era of Neighbours as the worst period in the shows history.

[CaptainHulk]

Some scenes I just wind up FFWDing if I've recorded the show.

[Gerard]

This era of H&A has overtaken Susan Bower's contempt filled era of Neighbours as the worst period in the shows history.

That's true. Some of Susan Bower's efforts were so dire, I almost reached for the off switch, and H&A these days feels a lot like that. There is still some good stuff going on in H&A, but it is overshadowed by much of the OTT antics of certain characters who seem to dominate screen time. I'm not that interested these days that I care to know what's coming up, but from the bits and pieces I've seen, it feels like business as usual. It looks like H&A will be stuck in its current rut for some time yet.

[LondonF4]

This era of H&A has overtaken Susan Bower's contempt filled era of Neighbours as the worst period in the shows history.

That's true. Some of Susan Bower's efforts were so dire, I almost reached for the off switch, and H&A these days feels a lot like that. There is still some good stuff going on in H&A, but it is overshadowed by much of the OTT antics of certain characters who seem to dominate screen time. I'm not that interested these days that I care to know what's coming up, but from the bits and pieces I've seen, it feels like business as usual. It looks like H&A will be stuck in its current rut for some time yet.

I agree that H&A is not all bad, whereas Neighbours really did hit the skids from 09-12. The difference today is that H&A is still pulling decent numbers and is being artificially propped up by the shows around it. During the dark Subo era, Neighbours didn't have the luxury of being on a #1 network with strong shows on either side. It's easy for the audience to keep watching H&A regardless of the dip in content - they just hang around for MKR or XFactor or the show that comes after. But the minute Neighbours went bad, there wasn't enough happening on the network so viewers abandoned it.

[CaptainHulk]

In all fairness Neighbours in that period DID have "Who Pushed Paul?".

H&A at that point had crap about Abalone/People Smuggling and Dead men who weren't really dead....