Are the current producers ruining Home and Away?

[cadyctslover]

Ah I knew I remembered the name Dan Bennett for a reason. 2005 was a great year! Things started going downhill some time in 2006, and I don't remember 2007, but there were great characters all through that era, if not always great story lines, so we should get some good character development out of this. Looking forward to it! 

​Absolutely, great characters is one of the things the show is sorely lacking at the moment. Louise Bowes introduced some absolutely startlingly dull characters in her time.

[Slade]

Amazing how in the UK in January 1994, H&A was getting almost 15 million viewers. Now it is about an 80th of that. Just 300K, shows how low the ratings have sunk in England.

​Interesting how you've given the figures from over twenty one years ago and compared them to today.  There's no mention in your post about the fact that in 1994 the show was broadcast on ITV which genuinely gets more viewers than channel 5 anyway.  Since a lot of posts in this thread have complained about the Braxtons (and how they're one of the main reasons for the current state of the show), how about providing typical ratings only on channel 5 before and after the Braxtons came to the bay?

[c120701]

I like that Dan seems to have come right out and said the show has lost itself - I asked him on Twitter if the he was trying to make the show Home and Away again and he said...

 

[Gerard]

Amazing how in the UK in January 1994, H&A was getting almost 15 million viewers. Now it is about an 80th of that. Just 300K, shows how low the ratings have sunk in England.

​Interesting how you've given the figures from over twenty one years ago and compared them to today.  There's no mention in your post about the fact that in 1994 the show was broadcast on ITV which genuinely gets more viewers than channel 5 anyway.  

...how about providing typical ratings only on channel 5 before and after the Braxtons came to the bay?

​Viewing figures are a yardstick of any TV show's popularity, but it is quite complicated to draw accurate conclusions from comparing them, especially the further apart in time you do comparisons.

There are many variables: H&A is on another channel, in a different timeslot, the time of year, the weather even, audience figures in general have declined for all TV series in the past 20 years, and not least how they measure viewing figures has changed over the years, There are now many opportunities and ways to see each episode, not just two any more.

In the 80s and early 90s, all the soaps were rating 15M-20M in the UK. Figures for the major current soaps are now roughly a quarter to a third of what they were. H&A did used to fall into that mid-to-high-teens of millions, and was rivalling the figures of the prime time soaps.

While H&A has moved to a minor channel, it is still one of the mainstream channels, with a lower average audience however. E.g. a fair comparison would be when Neighbours switched over. Viewing figures fell overnight, I think (very roughly) from around 5-6M to about 3M. (I know H&A was off air for a year which didn't help).

So (non-scientifically), if H&A's figures fell in line with other main soaps (accounting for the Channel 5 factor), it could be rating today around 3 million. The most recent figures are around 20% of that. Neighbours figure is roughly double that, but also down on where it should be.. On the surface it would seem that H&A's ratings have suffered more than average for soaps in the UK.

Even with figures, it would be difficult to tell how much (positively or negatively) the Braxtons affected the ratings - and impossible to know how many old viewers were lost and new viewers gained. But if ratings do increase over the coming months, it would be an indication that the storylines and characters have improved, or maybe just that the weather is getting worse.

[emmasi]

I got curious and went snooping through the Character forum to see which appreciation threads were started in 2007. Aden and Geoff, thank you very much  (although the Aden AND Geoff thread wasn't started til 2008 ). Both threads were started later in the year so I'm not sure when the characters arrived, but I hope Dan was responsible for them, because if so *settles in*. 

EDIT: And yes, I know Aden was briefly around before his starring role so I take that as a good sign. 

EDIT AGAIN: 

I've wandered over to the actual character profiles, and wow. WOW. Robbie, Kim, Tash, Ric, Mattie, Peter, Dan (all present in 2004 but came into their own in 2005), Lucas, Tony, Jack (and Martha I guess), Belle, Aden, Geoff, Drew, Zoe/Eve, Corey, Amanda, Jazz...and probably dozens more I'm blanking on. I hope I don't have to start obsessively taping episodes again because I don't think the VCR still works   I wonder if that era was lightning in a bottle, or if some of that magic can be recreated??

EDITEDITEDIT: JOSIE!!

[cadyctslover]

I like that Dan seems to have come right out and said the show has lost itself - I asked him on Twitter if the he was trying to make the show Home and Away again and he said...

 

Louise Bowes often said she read these forums, but if that was the case she clearly selectively ignored the majority of the threads and posts here!

I wonder if Dan reads these forums, particularly this thread!

[CaptainHulk]

Friday's evening H&A on Channel 5 scored its lowest audience figure in almost a year (409k),

​Yesterday's evening figure was even lower - 393K with 160K at lunchtime. Hopefully ratings can't sink much lower. Any possible changes in storyline direction can't come soon enough!

​Ratings drop over time plus we have to factor in online/on demand/repeats/timeshift.

Usually I avoid Twitter like the plague, but I like Dan's response!

[Gerard]

You're right, ratings for all TV shows have dropped over the years. It's a pity there doesn't seem to be an accurate way of measuring how many unique viewers an episode gets in total adding up all the shows, catch up etc.

How much of the dip in ratings is down to these "external factors" and how much is down to the series not being as good as it once was? How do the TV execs decide a series is a success these days, and how low do the ratings have to get before they declare a "revamp" or start sharpening the axe?

Anyway, I am hopeful Dan can turn the series around in the coming months.

[James Martin]

I'm not entirely sure about this news.  On one hand, Dan's last time in charge was very much the "BC/AD" moment of Home & Away for me, and it's where we started to get some get a character in hospital seemingly every other week.  The Lost-type storyline which followed the barn explosion just didn't work for me either.

But there's also some great stuff which came out of that era - the first Eve Jacobsen storyline was genuinely unmissable TV, and Sally's move from supporting character to lead was inspired.  It's also undeniable that Dan knows the history of the show inside out, and I think that can only be a bonus.  I'm really excited by the plans hinted at on Twitter that Leah will be pushed forward.  I hope he can find more for the older, more long-standing cast to do.

I wonder if Alf's 70th birthday, which is due in a few weeks, will be marked?

Sad to see that Bevan Lee has moved on from Seven Network however, he has left an incredible legacy by way of his contribution to Home & Away.

[gutterboy]

I got curious and went snooping through the Character forum to see which appreciation threads were started in 2007. Aden and Geoff, thank you very much  (although the Aden AND Geoff thread wasn't started til 2008 ). Both threads were started later in the year so I'm not sure when the characters arrived, but I hope Dan was responsible for them, because if so *settles in*. 

EDIT: And yes, I know Aden was briefly around before his starring role so I take that as a good sign. 

EDIT AGAIN: 

I've wandered over to the actual character profiles, and wow. WOW. Robbie, Kim, Tash, Ric, Mattie, Peter, Dan (all present in 2004 but came into their own in 2005), Lucas, Tony, Jack (and Martha I guess), Belle, Aden, Geoff, Drew, Zoe/Eve, Corey, Amanda, Jazz...and probably dozens more I'm blanking on. I hope I don't have to start obsessively taping episodes again because I don't think the VCR still works   I wonder if that era was lightning in a bottle, or if some of that magic can be recreated??

EDITEDITEDIT: JOSIE!!

​

Some great characters there for sure...... Robbie/Tash two of my all time favs (note the avatar ) and so many others you mentioned!