H&A Spring Break - From the Bay to LA

[c120701]

I don't understand why we have a month's break every year, looking at the date on characters phones in last weeks eps put us around 4 weeks behind, after this break we will be 8 weeks behind! Whereas Neighbours is only 2 weeks behind and it doesn't take a break! Just think it would be a whole lot better for spoilers if we weren't so far behind

The reason we're so close to Neighbours is probably to stop viewers watching ahead because they'd want to. No one has any reason to watch Home and Away ahead of the air date now, whereas most of us used to because we were excited by the storylines.

[atrus]

Enjoyed the nostalgia hit today - not that I'm particularly interested in Chris Hemsworth's character, who was always dull as ditchwater, but it was good to see Sally, Hayley, Seb and the Sutherland-Hunters again (except Brad Willis from Neighbours, whose H&A name temporarily escapes me, and who was also dull as ditchwater). I forgot how much of a cartoon villain Hyde was at the outset.

Speaking of villains, I take it that this is quite a way on from the whole Dani/Kane rape storyline, since everyone including Dani's boyfriend seems to have forgiven him by this stage?

Funny we got a boxing storyline (like in the present-day show) and that I couldn't remember any of it - just shows how they can recycle plots because they know everyone will have forgotten about it. I looked at the synopsis beforehand, and couldn't for the life of me remember who Max and Henry even were, until I watched the episode. Am I right in thinking Henry in particular wasn't around for very long?

[Red Ranger 1]

I don't understand why we have a month's break every year, looking at the date on characters phones in last weeks eps put us around 4 weeks behind, after this break we will be 8 weeks behind! Whereas Neighbours is only 2 weeks behind and it doesn't take a break! Just think it would be a whole lot better for spoilers if we weren't so far behind

The reason we're so close to Neighbours is probably to stop viewers watching ahead because they'd want to. No one has any reason to watch Home and Away ahead of the air date now, whereas most of us used to because we were excited by the storylines.

Really?Because while there have been times recently when I've enjoyed Neighbours more than Home and Away, I'd say they've both got their equal share of good and pointless storylines at the moment, and frankly I'm far more interested in Maddy's cancer, Leah's return and the upcoming Alf storyline than in the teen love triangles and paternity issues seemingly recycled from one of HA's worst ideas (featuring one of the same actors!) that Neighbours served up today.And I think the number of UK-based fans who have given up on waiting for Channel 5 to deign to show these episodes speaks volumes.

But anyway, this is what Channel 5's showing and so it begins.And while I understand the logic of including Kim's first episode, if you're going to do a series of episodes focusing on a character then it's a bit odd to start with one when they don't appear until the last five minutes.To be honest, at this early point Kim was even more two-dimensional than Barry, being a pretty bog standard rebellious teen who shouts a lot, but they both developed a lot quickly and I think I'd already worked out at that point that we'd end up liking Barry.A very uneasy beginning to his friendship with Irene though.His shenanigans with Max and Henry was not too bad an idea but very badly handled, but it does remind me that a year on he'll be doing something similar with Ric and Henry (forcing them to do an activity together to get over bad blood that is, not boxing).

A reminder that Jade was irritating without Nick and that Scott and Dani were pretty much doomed already: He was always a bit too much of a loser for her, frankly.Rhys' prediction about Kirsty and Kane ultimately came true but his desperate desire to prove himself was quite endearing.Yep, we're nearly three years on from the rape at this point.Henry lasted a year and a half as I recall, Max about two years with following a guest stint the previous year.Shame we didn't get to see the very young Matilda though. Was that Caitlin chatting to Max near the end?I seem to remember it was her and the BTTB guide says so but I completely failed to recognise her and she wasn't credited.

Lots of storylines came back: "Ah, that's Hayley with amnesia.Oh yeah, Kirsty's pretending to be pregnant and only Jade knows."Beth came across as surprisingly self-righteous, which isn't really how I remember her, although I think a lot of characters were at this point.(It was pretty much Jade's only character trait at this point.)Robbie just seems to guess who Kim is.Barry's habit of calling everyone "Mister" was slightly endearing.And Sally!She didn't do much but hey, it was Sally.And Flynn being solid and dependable.

[alexx]

Lots of storylines came back: "Ah, that's Hayley with amnesia.Oh yeah, Kirsty's pretending to be pregnant and only Jade knows."Beth came across as surprisingly self-righteous, which isn't really how I remember her,

I haven't seen the episode you're talking about but it's interesting about Beth because I remember her coming across as quite self-righteous, cold and moody quite a few times and having heavy discussions around 2006 about whether it was supposed to be part of the character/if it was the writers intention for her to come across like that or if it was Clarissa House's acting style. I remember her being like that more prominently in 2006-2007 and it irritated me because there were a lot of mixed signals going on and it wasn't addressed onscreen.

[Red Ranger 1]

Lots of storylines came back: "Ah, that's Hayley with amnesia.Oh yeah, Kirsty's pretending to be pregnant and only Jade knows."Beth came across as surprisingly self-righteous, which isn't really how I remember her,

I haven't seen the episode you're talking about but it's interesting about Beth because I remember her coming across as quite self-righteous, cold and moody quite a few times and having heavy discussions around 2006 about whether it was supposed to be part of the character/if it was the writers intention for her to come across like that or if it was Clarissa House's acting style. I remember her being like that more prominently in 2006-2007 and it irritated me because there were a lot of mixed signals going on and it wasn't addressed onscreen.

Interesting.I remember her as someone that I actually really liked most of the time, although she did try and break up Ric and Matilda, pretty much my favourite couple at the time, for no good reason during that period, which was a black mark against her even if she did eventually admit she'd been wrong.Oh, and there was that period in 2005 when Beth was turning her nose up at Scott and Amanda dating, and we were probably meant to be on her side (mainly because the audience were supposed to be rooting for Scott and Hayley to get back together and...weren't) but I just wanted her to get over it and let them be happy...Yeah, okay, Beth could suck at times.

I was wondering if I'd overestimated how long Max was on the show but yeah, I double-checked and he left just over two years after he came back as a regular, it happened soon than I thought, just a few months after his guest stint.He went in the big Sutherland exodus of late 2004, which always seemed like a missed opportunity (having him stay on with Beth and the Hunters after Rhys and Shelley left could have been an interesting dynamic) and I suspect if Coral Drouyn had still been around it wouldn't have happened but Dan Bennett didn't have much interest in the character.Henry wasn't too bad but axing him was no great loss: They didn't even bother to give him an exit storyline, just had the family go away and come back without him making a throwaway comment to explain his absence, and I don't think anyone really cared.

[Dan F]

Was that Caitlin chatting to Max near the end?I seem to remember it was her and the BTTB guide says so but I completely failed to recognise her and she wasn't credited

No it doesn't appear to be Caitlin unless she changed a lot since the 2003 ep I compared it to.

[James Martin]

Max was axed during the Bevan Lee era, as was Rhys. I remember that it was documented here at the time however that Jade and Seb's axings came from further up at Seven and Coral Drouyn's hand was effectively forced.

Hyde became alright in the end (well, apart from murdering two people.) I forgot what an arsehole he originally was. And also amazing how little Sally had to do before Dan Bennett took over. Yes, Dani and Scott were a doomed couple but Tammin... Totally still would. What's she up to now?

All in all, a really interesting snapshot of life at the end of Coral's time in the chair.

Presentation geeks will have noticed the rogue appearance of the old Five logo and the original 2004 break bumpers. Surprised that they would have been physically cut onto the tape and not generated live in the playout gallery. And surprised not to see them edited out given how repeats have to go through compliance checks these days, ranging from editing out a reference to Jimmy Savile to recreating the credits because of a rights dispute.

[Slade]

I was in autopilot mode when I was watching the episode so was half expecting to get the current intro format and much to my delight it was from my favourite era. Wasn't expecting to see Dani and Kane, two of my favourite characters. So that was good. Just a shame Kirsty wasn't in it. I remember when Scott allowed Kane to start working with him on the Blaxland and he would go home talking to Dani about his shifts and even one time told her about the scars on Kane's back and Dani didn't like the fact that she felt Scott was trying to make her feel sorry for him.

I actually really liked Jade's hair. I remember when she changed it and thought it really suited her.

And we get to see fake Flynn with Hayley. Can't remember what happened to her.

I didn't see it the first time around but really liked Kim and Robbie's first meeting. I liked the fact that Seb, Jade, Tasha and Robbie were all talking about what a Nazi Hyde was and were expecting his 'daughter' Kim to be just as arrogant without realising that 'he' was standing right in front of them. And we have the start of a beautiful friendship. Interesting that Tasha though Kim was a teacher because he looks old enough to be one.

Irene has been getting on my nerves in the current storyline so even though this was about 11 years ago, I still enjoyed Hyde telling her not to earwig his shouting match with Kim and got her to put an advert in the Gazette to replace her own position.

[c120701]

I don't understand why we have a month's break every year, looking at the date on characters phones in last weeks eps put us around 4 weeks behind, after this break we will be 8 weeks behind! Whereas Neighbours is only 2 weeks behind and it doesn't take a break! Just think it would be a whole lot better for spoilers if we weren't so far behind

The reason we're so close to Neighbours is probably to stop viewers watching ahead because they'd want to. No one has any reason to watch Home and Away ahead of the air date now, whereas most of us used to because we were excited by the storylines.Really?Because while there have been times recently when I've enjoyed Neighbours more than Home and Away, I'd say they've both got their equal share of good and pointless storylines at the moment, and frankly I'm far more interested in Maddy's cancer, Leah's return and the upcoming Alf storyline than in the teen love triangles and paternity issues seemingly recycled from one of HA's worst ideas (featuring one of the same actors!) that Neighbours served up today.And I think the number of UK-based fans who have given up on waiting for Channel 5 to deign to show these episodes speaks volumes.

I was basing it off when the decision was made and UK broadcast of both shows when announced. To give H&A it's due, the last 5* episode before the break had some good stories and scenes - but just when I thought we were rid of Brax, we're still seeing him in prison. There's work to be done still before we get to the 2004/2005/2006 demand for new episodes.

[emmasi]

I didn't see it the first time around but really liked Kim and Robbie's first meeting... And we have the start of a beautiful friendship.

Jealous jealous JEALOUS!!! I've been trying so hard to drag myself out of the past (avatar not withstanding) but I can tell I'm going to want to live in this thread all week. Such a fantastic, magical era. It literally defined 3 to 4 years of my life. I still have dreams about it. And then I wake up and realise that Robbie and Kim are never coming back, and then I'm sad

I was in another thread reading about stuff that happened last year, and half the names meant nothing to me. Reading this thread, I remember all the names and all the storylines. Is there a way for Aussies to watch these eps online...?