Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[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.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, personally every time I hear about the current show I feel frustrated at being made to wait to watch it.Especially when Neighbours is still being shown despite being in a terrible state at the moment.Not that I'm not enjoying the 5* run but I'd still like to catch up with the current characters.

[cadyctslover]

IMO Neighbours is in pretty good shape at the moment Red, what don't you like about it?

[Gerard]

I agree, Neighbours is in a good place at the moment, with a balanced mix of young and old characters, drama and comedy. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I was enjoying H&A.

Two weeks down and two still to go on its UK break. I'm not exactly counting the days until H&A comes back. But maybe a break has been good, although I've forgotten much of what's been going on. Day after day of life-changing dramatic situations gets a little tiring after a while.

[CaptainHulk]

Red has always stuck the boot into Neighbours a bit more than H&A, haven't you?

Anyway, Neighbours while tepid at the minute (The fizz from Anniversary month has finally gone), it's still a lot more watchable than modern H&A. Not saying it's perfect, just a few less " I wanna Kick the TV in" scenarios.

[Red Ranger 1]

At the risk of going massively off topic, I found this week on Neighbours to be bordering on atrocious.The 30th anniversary was a damp squib: Nice as it was to see some old characters (although most of them deserved to be used better), the much publicised wedding didn't happen and instead we got a couple of characters trapped down a well for about four episodes for reasons that were hideously contrived while most of the audience banged their heads against the wall in frustration.I don't think the balance of characters is right at all.It seems to be almost entirely composed of young adult characters, and 40-somethings who are written as if they were young adult characters, with literally no children (except for a 2-year-old who plays a minor part) and the older generation mostly confined to long serving characters who no-one has the heart to get rid of even though they're increasingly written as supporting characters at best.

Not too long ago, I actually found myself liking Neighbours more than Home and Away simply because I liked the characters more.But at the time HA went on its break, it was definitely swinging in the other direction.Neighbours seems to be full of resident villains who are never going to be anything else(Paul), self-righteous shrews who aren't as likable as the writers think they are(Sheila, Imogen, Georgia and to a lesser extent Lauren and Terese), smug jerks(Brad and Josh), cardboard characters who are just there to look pretty(Mark and to an extent Nate), once good characters who are now washed out(Kyle) and a few potentially decent characters ruined by terrible storylines (Naomi, Daniel, Amber, Tyler and maybe Paige although she's leaning towards the second category these days). Home and Away, meanwhile, has a decent set of likable young adult characters (Zac, Ash, Kyle, Denny on her better days) and some interestingly complex and different teens (notably Maddy and Oscar), while characters I wasn't keen on seem to be in the ascendancy: Phoebe, a character I'm very on and off with, was going through one of her better patches, the initially shallow Nate and Kat pairing was actually starting to grab my interest, Alf was being used well, John, Marilyn and Jett continue to be one of soaps' better family groups and even Hannah and Evelyn, two characters I'd written off, starting to become more likable thanks to some decently sympathetic writing and an attempt to inject some spark into them.The two areas HA tended to be superior to Neighbours in were villains and relationships.Well, neither of them can do a villain without making me think how much more likable and complex they are than the regulars, but I think HA is definitely ahead in terms of relationships: They've fumbled a few times in recent years but Neighbours has practically combusted in that manner, turning into an endless, aimless love dodecahedron in which characters seem to like each other for two episodes before being linked to someone else.

It just seems at the moment that every time I read spoilers for Neighbours my heart sinks whereas every time I see spoilers for Home and Away I wish it would hurry up and come back.

[Angelica]

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

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.

This is so true. The characterisation of women in this show is absolutely horrendous. New woman are introduced, and instead of being developed as character, they are instantly linked to a man, and somehow characterisation flies out the window. Instead, the woman becomes nothing more than an appendage. What's worse, as this men invariably seem to be attracted to the bad boys of the show, these women have to lose any ounce of intelligence they have to make this relationship seem believable. The cycle doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.