Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[downy2009]

Whilst watching the arrival of the new character, Billie, it struck me that this programme just does not like female characters. Almost immediately, she attempts to seduce the dreamboat that is Kyle, without knowing a single thing about him - he just happens to be in the living room, when she first meets him, and ends up spending the night with him. Immediately, she is being defined by her relationship with a man. Her first important scenes are to sleep with a Braxton - she is now an appendix to the Braxtons, to be used by the producers and writers to produce more "drama" for this family.

Looking back at the repulsive Heath, when he was on his stag in Melbourne, he decides to sleep with a random barmaid, because he had a fight with the odious Bianca. Once again, the female character is used to bring drama to the Braxtons. But it gets worse - instead of coming back with a nasty STD, which in reality is much more likely, the barmaid turns up in Summer Bay pregnant and conveniently dies so we can see how wonderful Heath really is whilst bringing up baby.

We have had an insane teacher who, quite rationally, believed she should have been Principal of Summer Bay High rather than the gangster's moll, Bianca. So, instead of challenging this through "The Department", she tries to blow everyone up instead. Last year, tthe doctor rejects his wife and she then tries to commit mass murder too. It goes on and on and on - but the immediate characterisation of the new female, Billie, has really, really angered me

[kmp1963]

Whilst watching the arrival of the new character, Billie, it struck me that this programme just does not like female characters. Almost immediately, she attempts to seduce the dreamboat that is Kyle, without knowing a single thing about him - he just happens to be in the living room, when she first meets him, and ends up spending the night with him. Immediately, she is being defined by her relationship with a man. Her first important scenes are to sleep with a Braxton - she is now an appendix to the Braxtons, to be used by the producers and writers to produce more "drama" for this family.

Looking back at the repulsive Heath, when he was on his stag in Melbourne, he decides to sleep with a random barmaid, because he had a fight with the odious Bianca. Once again, the female character is used to bring drama to the Braxtons. But it gets worse - instead of coming back with a nasty STD, which in reality is much more likely, the barmaid turns up in Summer Bay pregnant and conveniently dies so we can see how wonderful Heath really is whilst bringing up baby.

We have had an insane teacher who, quite rationally, believed she should have been Principal of Summer Bay High rather than the gangster's moll, Bianca. So, instead of challenging this through "The Department", she tries to blow everyone up instead. Last year, tthe doctor rejects his wife and she then tries to commit mass murder too. It goes on and on and on - but the immediate characterisation of the new female, Billie, has really, really angered me

Thank you for putting so well, what has been my biggest problem with the show for the last four years, their portrayal of women.

I have been angry about the violence and the crime. But the mysoginism the show has been full of, was the biggest concern I have.

[cadyctslover]

I didn't like what Dan Bennett did to the show in 2005-2007 (pretty much changed the format completely and it went from character driven, Summer Bay vibes to plot plot plot) however, it was addictive to watch and I do think that it was a lot more enjoyable than what's been produced these days. He also did quite a few things right like giving Sally a rightly deserved push to the forefront and spreading out the drama so that all of the characters got a look in.

It has been ten years so he's probably matured as a writer/producer so it will certainly be interesting to see what he comes up with. But I think I'm going to wait and see what happens before feeling like H&A will be 'saved'.

I agree with alexx. I'm surprised that Dan Bennett's return is being greeted with such enthusiasm as I feel that his previous tenure was when things started to go wrong. It was certainly a new and exciting approach - and it was OK to start off with (I loved 2005, for example) - but by 2006 it was just exhausting. But, as alexx also said, he has more experience now - so perhaps the balance will be better this time around.

I think I'm mostly relieved to see the back of Louise Bowes, as I think her story-lining and characterisation has been more damaging to the show than Dan's stint between 2005 and 2006 ever could have been.

I am also optimistic that Dan has matured and that this will be reflected in his influence on the show this time around.

[kmp1963]

I am currently hanging on by the fingertips as far as sticking with the show.

Having enjoyed the ANZAC story, the current Braxton centric rubbish is just more of what made me switch off two years ago.

Its only the knowledge that Dan's tenure starts takeing place in just over a month, that is keeping my fingers off the remote right now.

[cadyctslover]

I stopped a while back and now Dan's return is the only reason I have to catch up with the show again. I might start a few weeks before 6216 to see if there is a marked improvement as Dan moves in.

[TelephotoMarigold]

I pointed this out to Lisa Gormley on twitter when she stated that she was "proud" of her character Bianca punching Heath at their aborted wedding when she found out he was unfaithful and there were numerous other occasions when she slapped him. If it had been the other way around and Heath was hitting her we would immediately be shouting about domestic violence.

Woman are just stereotypes on H&A. They have to hook up with random guys they have nothing in common and are repeatedly pushed to conform as though strong confident women have no place in Summer Bay and cannot exist outside a relationship.

Until the writing changes there won't be anything different.

[alexx]

I pointed this out to Lisa Gormley on twitter when she stated that she was "proud" of her character Bianca punching Heath at their aborted wedding when she found out he was unfaithful and there were numerous other occasions when she slapped him. If it had been the other way around and Heath was hitting her we would immediately be shouting about domestic violence.

Woman are just stereotypes on H&A. They have to hook up with random guys they have nothing in common and are repeatedly pushed to conform as though strong confident women have no place in Summer Bay and cannot exist outside a relationship.

Until the writing changes there won't be anything different.

Do you think that's more relevant to the show these days or do you think it's always been like that? I think that is more something that has happened over the past decade.

I think that in the past a lot of the female characters knew there own mind and wouldn't be pushed around or controlled by men (Alisa, Pippa, Shannon, Angel etc.)... sometimes looking back it appeared like a lot of the men were written as vulnerable without a strong other half. Alf for example in the show these days seems like a shadow of his former self without Ailsa and if you watch the early years their partnership is very balanced (although I just put that down to not knowing how to write Alf as successfully without Ailsa).

[Jamie2811]

Having been watching older episodes in the UK recently while the current show is on a break I would say yes the current producers are ruining the show. They have no idea and need to go, get a new producer in who knows the show and what it's all about.

[Gerard]

I must admit, I haven't missed H&A at all while it's been off air in the UK. I think I could quite happily live without it, but having said that, I'm not about to give up on it at the moment. Hopefully if we are about to enter a time of change for the series, the end result would be better than what we have today. I haven't been watching the repeat episodes, but I'm sure they would make me feel worse at how the series has declined over the years.

[Jamie2811]

I haven't really missed the current show either and yeah watching the episodes on 5* would make you feel worse about the current state of the show.