Was 2000 meant to be a "revamp"?

[j.laur5]

29 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

Given that they wrote her out with a mere heart attack (or to paraphrase what she said - out you go with the trash), they probably just wanted rid of her by that stage. It's a shame because in the early years, Ailsa was one of the best long-term characters in the show. She was a fine actress too.

Given they gave her so many storyline’s in her last year I don’t think they wanted get rid of her.

[joany208121]

I actually think if you look at the sequence of events that lead to Ailsa's demise, being the mudslide and losing her home, the diner fire (and there was something else i can't quite recall at this stage), a heart attack was quite realistic. She had had a horrible time in the end of the 90s/2000 and the whole Shauna saga was very traumatic for her. 

Could there have been a better build up on the day? Sure. 

Could they have made an effort about it being something more than just the cardboard boxes she told alf to move? Sure. 

At the end of the day she didn't have a Beth Hunter or Dan Baker death. There was a climax, and it served it's purpose. Judy wanted to leave, and it propelled storylines for Alf, Duncan and Shauna. 

[cymbaline]

Lots of actors with decent storylines get axed. I don't get your logic. And all I was quoting was Judy Nunn's own words. 

[joany208121]

5 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Lots of actors with decent storylines get axed. I don't get your logic. And all I was quoting was Judy Nunn's own words. 

Yeah I understand Judy's POV with the 'going out with the trash' quote, but i think that perceptions is just looking at Ailsa's death as a small arc or one episode of her character. Ailsa's death worked great as it showed she and her body weren't able to cope with all the pressure and stress she had undergone recently. I like to think of it as the stress of re-opening the diner and her arguing with Alf was the straw that broke the camels back, as Ailsa already had 2 major breakdowns in her last few years, lost the diner, her home in the last few months and was very different and cold compared to the 1988 Ailsa we knew for the last 13 years. 

[James Martin]

I don't think she was "put out with the trash."  If anything it was a very realistic exit - the heart attack came with absolutely no warning, no build-up, nothing.  Which is how it would be in real life.

[cymbaline]

I'm only quoting what Judy herself said. As it happens, I think her death was realistic. Something that's rather rare in Summer Bay... 

[Sally Keating]

On 21/04/2019 at 04:44, joany208121 said:

Could there have been a better build up on the day? Sure. 

Could they have made an effort about it being something more than just the cardboard boxes she told alf to move? Sure.

I think you and a few of the people above have misunderstood what was bad about it.

It wasn't the lack of build up or the way she died (although that was lame). It was the fact that one minute she's grabbing her chest, and the next moment it's her funeral. Everyone's already grieved. We saw nothing of her death scenes, people finding out, rushing to the hospital, the reactions of people like Irene and Donald, the immediate reactions of Alf and Duncan... Shauna receiving the dreaded phonecall... people saying goodbye to her body (a la Bobby)... After 13 years she just blinked out of the show in one 20 second scene and there was no worthwhile aftermath at all.

[j.laur5]

On 27/04/2019 at 18:06, Sally Keating said:

I think you and a few of the people above have misunderstood what was bad about it.

It wasn't the lack of build up or the way she died (although that was lame). It was the fact that one minute she's grabbing her chest, and the next moment it's her funeral. Everyone's already grieved. We saw nothing of her death scenes, people finding out, rushing to the hospital, the reactions of people like Irene and Donald, the immediate reactions of Alf and Duncan... Shauna receiving the dreaded phonecall... people saying goodbye to her body (a la Bobby)... After 13 years she just blinked out of the show in one 20 second scene and there was no worthwhile aftermath at all.

I think they were just angry that Judy quit as they enjoy giving her storyline’s . 

But if they were not so demanding of Judy having storylines she might of stuck around. 

[cymbaline]

The impression I got from the 30th Anniversary show is that by the time Judy left, she had become much more enthusiastic about her writing. Someone who says “I’d be scribbling away on the back of my script, then they’d call, ‘Action!’” and. “I’d sit on the script and off I’d go and cry accordingly.” (link) does not sound like a person who's 100% committed to their day job. She also said in that same interview that she felt a bit artistically stifled” after playing Ailsa for 13 years. If the powers-that-be wanted to give her a lacklustre exit out of spite, it could be down to this as much as anything else. I'm not suggesting for one moment that she was less than professional but when you've got someone who's openly writing books on the set and perhaps going through the motions, it might not go down well with some.

I don't get the logic of them being so demanding of Judy having storylines being an issue. She was being paid handsomely to act on the show. It was her job.

Also, lots of cast regulars got big storylines in the run-up to their exit from the show. It's the bread and butter of the show. By the time Ailsa was killed off, the writers were well used to writing regulars out of the show. In comparison to many of the other actors who've been on Home and Away, they did well to have Judy for as long as they did.

[Summer's Bay]

15 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

The impression I got from the 30th Anniversary show is that by the time Judy left, she had become much more enthusiastic about her writing. Someone who says “I’d be scribbling away on the back of my script, then they’d call, ‘Action!’” and. “I’d sit on the script and off I’d go and cry accordingly.” (link) does not sound like a person who's 100% committed to their day job. She also said in that same interview that she felt a bit artistically stifled” after playing Ailsa for 13 years. If the powers-that-be wanted to give her a lacklustre exit out of spite, it could be down to this as much as anything else. I'm not suggesting for one moment that she was less than professional but when you've got someone who's openly writing books on the set and perhaps going through the motions, it might not go down well with some.

I don't get the logic of them being so demanding of Judy having storylines being an issue. She was being paid handsomely to act on the show. It was her job.

Also, lots of cast regulars got big storylines in the run-up to their exit from the show. It's the bread and butter of the show. By the time Ailsa was killed off, the writers were well used to writing regulars out of the show. In comparison to many of the other actors who've been on Home and Away, they did well to have Judy for as long as they did.

Just my opinion but I think this is the most logical reasoning behind why Judy was spitefully written out. She was trying to have her cake and eat it, she didn’t want to be there, but she didn’t want out either.  She pretty much wrote her own demise, so it’s baffling that’s she is bitter but the show goes on with those who want to go on and seniority doesn’t mean a thing.