H&A Spring Break - From the Bay to LA

[Jamie2811]

Thanks Dan, after the 2000 fire I don't get why they relocated to new premises? It was only a small fire in the kitchen.

I imagine it was a production decision rather than a storyline one. Maybe the owners of the original Diner building no longer wanted them to film there. I agree they could have made the fire bigger to make it more realistic that Ailsa would move premises.

I never liked the Beachside Diner (2000-2008). It was an ugly building from the outside and the upstairs flat never made any sense dimensionally.

Yes I agree the fire should've been bigger and caused more damage to make Ailsa move, I don't believe she would've left that diner as she'd started it with Bobby some years before. Shame that towards the end of 2000 Ailsa lost her home AND her diner, would've been better if they'd lost the diner in the mudslide maybe? Perhaps the thinking was to have Alf and Ailsa lose both their home and the diner, and to have the two things in one building, the beachside diner.

Btw I just checked out your avatars Beau_t, I like them

[alexx]

The original diner location was way more picturesque and felt more 'Summer Bay'. I thought that the Beachside Diner was too busy looking and obviously near a beach that wasn't Summer Bay itself.

[c120701]

The original diner location was way more picturesque and felt more 'Summer Bay'. I thought that the Beachside Diner was too busy looking and obviously near a beach that wasn't Summer Bay itself.

I didn't mind the location being on a different beach as it was a location they'd used before, but the name Beachside Diner to me conjured images of the surf and not the calm sea it was by. I agree it wasn't the nicest location either - which is probably why we rarely saw people sitting outside.

[Blaxland 89]

I still thought the beach side diner was in Summer Bay. Especially as it was next to the old bait shop that Alf used to own. In fact you used to see the building of beachside in the background when they filmed outside the bait shop 97-99. But agree it wasn't as nice as bayside

I LOVE the underscore played in the scene we had yesterday with Pippa and Steven outside the house.

[Slade]

Whilst the episode was OK Shannon's departure felt anticlimactic (Although it was shades of Danni Sutherland). I was glad Shannon made up with Selina though and quite enjoyed their talk about Steven. Would have liked to have known what Lachlan meant by Shannon being a user. It was interesting seeing the interaction between Shannon and Fisher given what happened in Thursday's episode.

I did really enjoy all the scenes with Steven. There was his talk with Pippa. I liked his brutal honesty when she quizzed him about not keeping in touch. I also thought it was big of him to adopt the no hard feelings approach with Fisher. I even actually liked him coming back to the bay solely for Selina. I didn't think Steven was a snob and thought it was a bit harsh for Shannon to call him a creep although I liked her interaction with him towards the end of the episode. And Jesse was passive aggressively trying to intimidate Steven into staying away from his woman although by the looks of things you could kind of understand why.

Never realised Sally was a gambler. Good thing it wasn't internet gambling.

And Mandy. I vaguely remember her but even watching she kind of had a sexy voice. Would have liked to have known more about her...

[CaptainHulk]

Skipped 2213 because I've seen it a couple times, before 5* reran it. but it does feel like the end of an era and foreshadows a bit of a downturn for H&A that lasts a couple years.

[Jamie2811]

Skipped 2213 because I've seen it a couple times, before 5* reran it. but it does feel like the end of an era and foreshadows a bit of a downturn for H&A that lasts a couple years.

hmm I think 1997-1999 was ok, not as good as 1995-1997, but still decent.

[Dan F]

The original diner location was way more picturesque and felt more 'Summer Bay'. I thought that the Beachside Diner was too busy looking and obviously near a beach that wasn't Summer Bay itself.

The building was ugly, but the surrounding location around the bait shop and beyond wasn't too bad. The only thing that ruined it for me was that they weren't too careful with their shooting angles, as a result we often saw the view over to Collaroy beach with its high rises, which completely took you out of 'Summer Bay'.

Incidentally it was that area around the bait shop that they used for the 1999 opening titles.

[Red Ranger 1]

So, that's the end of Shannon Week.Quite an emotional farewell and they seemed to be doing their best to give Shannon a proper last moment with every conceivable character:Pippa, Sally, Selina, Steven, Lachie, Don, Alf...Ironically, the person she had least interaction with was ambiguously gay lover, ahem, "friend" Mandy, who seemed to have more interaction with Don Fisher than the girl she's heading off to a new life with.Chloe was a rather blatant absentee though.After making a fuss that ITV were never in sync, they actually were by that point:I can safely say that that episode was shown over here on Wednesday 1st October 1997, exactly eight weeks after its Oz broadcast.It says so in my diary, and I remember seeing the kiss between Steven and Selina two episodes later on a Friday night in a hotel in Daventry.Lachie still upset about Shannon effectively dumping him for Mandy after he proposed to her, which also caused the rift between Shannon and Selina.When Shannon says towards the end that she'll be back...sadly she won't be.

And some nice continuity on Steven's return with a reminder that he and Pippa didn't part on good terms in 1996, with his last episodes seeing him plagued by memories of the lambasting he got from both her and Don.She made up for it on this stint, supporting him wholeheartedly when he wasn't entirely popular.Irene continues to be cold towards him, and they won't fully reconcile until the Ironbridge episode the following year when she acknowledges he's best for Selina (she was very much Team Jesse during this stint, even if she did support Selina at the abortive wedding).I can remember Selina throwing herself at Jesse to trying to convince herself she's over Steven (with Lachie's bemused interruption) and Jesse didn't do himself any favours by baiting Steven, who remains aloof throughout.

The Sally C-plot reminds me this is only two weeks before the online episode from the last Channel 5 90s run (Marilyn announcing she's pregnant), where Steven follows Sally to the casino.The credits show we'd lost Kelly and Curtis since the previous episode, and I'm guessing Travis and Rebecca would be together at this point.Oh, and I notice Steven's surname was misspelled as Matherson on the closing credits, it's usually Matheson.

[CaptainHulk]

The more I think about it, ITV were totally BALL-LESS when it came to H&A.

Yes, it aired during a time when kids caught it straight after ITV but some of the cuts were insulting to everyone's intelligence!