Don Fisher storyline dropped in 2015-2017 (more details)

[Homeandawayfan.]

95% of the time co workers are not your friends, and if they are they seem to want to be in a clique. Norman, Judy, Ray and Cornelia seemed to be a typical workplace clique who were very choosy about who they bought into it.

[CaptainHulk]

16 hours ago, adam436 said:

Vanessa and Judy are still good friends today apparently. Vanessa, now working as a lawyer, helped Judy with research for one of her books. 

 

 

What's her field? Family law? Criminal law?

[adam436]

6 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

What's her field? Family law? Criminal law?

She had done quite a bit of work with refugees at the time Judy was writing her book.

[Red Ranger 1]

19 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

95% of the time co workers are not your friends, and if they are they seem to want to be in a clique. Norman, Judy, Ray and Cornelia seemed to be a typical workplace clique who were very choosy about who they bought into it.

I kind of have a hard time believing that, mainly because aside from Cornelia's extended run in 1989 (which was long before Debra and Dennis joined), there was barely a time when all four of them were on the show together!

[j.laur5]

I believe Ray/Judy/Norman/Cornelia were all professional and mature, and were polite with everyone on set and would not act like they’re in the popular group at school. 

I personally didn’t think Debra’s comment about Ray was necessarily negative, as she just said that what you see is what you get. That’s more or less just saying he is how you expect him to be. 

Not everyone is super close to everyone they have met but it doesn’t necessarily mean you dislike them. At same time, if you’re not super close to them, you’re not going make out how great you think they are as feelings towards them is just take them or leave them, and that’s basically what Debra said.
 

[James Martin]

Debra's said a few times enough's enough.  She's also made no secret in interviews (including for BTTB) of what she thinks of the present show and that's fair enough I guess.  And would there be much of a reason for Pippa to come back now?

Nearly all of Pippa's reprises except that 2009 one revolved around Sally, pretty much.  Both weddings, Flynn's funeral, the second stabbing and then her exit.  (There were initially plans to bring Pippa back for baby Pippa's Christening at the end of 2004 but Debra couldn't make it, hence Lance returned.)  So apart from Alf's 60th having Sally still in Summer Bay meant you could realistically write Pippa back in.

With Sally gone in 2009, it must have felt a little bit "well, what am I doing here?"

Edit: I know Judy and Ray remain close.  When the WormPoo21 dubs on YouTube came out 13 or so years ago (ouch I feel old) she came out in defence of Ray on (I assume) Today Tonight - which I believe is kind of an Aussie version of The One Show.

[j.laur5]

51 minutes ago, James Martin said:

Debra's said a few times enough's enough.  She's also made no secret in interviews (including for BTTB) of what she thinks of the present show and that's fair enough I guess.  And would there be much of a reason for Pippa to come back now?

Nearly all of Pippa's reprises except that 2009 one revolved around Sally, pretty much.  Both weddings, Flynn's funeral, the second stabbing and then her exit.  (There were initially plans to bring Pippa back for baby Pippa's Christening at the end of 2004 but Debra couldn't make it, hence Lance returned.)  So apart from Alf's 60th having Sally still in Summer Bay meant you could realistically write Pippa back in.

With Sally gone in 2009, it must have felt a little bit "well, what am I doing here?"

Edit: I know Judy and Ray remain close.  When the WormPoo21 dubs on YouTube came out 13 or so years ago (ouch I feel old) she came out in defence of Ray on (I assume) Today Tonight - which I believe is kind of an Aussie version of The One Show.

But the show was quite dramatic in the 90s with the cult. There were bush fires, guns and hold ups . 

[Sally Keating]

6 hours ago, James Martin said:

With Sally gone in 2009, it must have felt a little bit "well, what am I doing here?"

I think it was very much a case of the writers at the time seeing the adult (parent) characters as interchangeable. Debra wasn't brought back to play Pippa. She was there to be a stand-in generic parent character while Irene and Alf were gone. This was just one of many failings of the new production team at H&A to understand the show... it's ultimately led to them not bothering to try at all nowadays and just make it into something different. Which is fine, if they were getting it that wrong anyway.

[James Martin]

8 hours ago, Sally Keating said:

I think it was very much a case of the writers at the time seeing the adult (parent) characters as interchangeable. Debra wasn't brought back to play Pippa. She was there to be a stand-in generic parent character while Irene and Alf were gone. This was just one of many failings of the new production team at H&A to understand the show... it's ultimately led to them not bothering to try at all nowadays and just make it into something different. Which is fine, if they were getting it that wrong anyway.

Yeah that was where I was going with it.  Previously she was back as Sally's Foster Mum for major life events you'd expect her to be there for - in 2009 she was just... back.

I assume they haven't got anyone like Bevan Lee or Dan Bennett around now who have that intricate "walking-Wikipedia" knowledge of the shows heritage.  You wonder if on shooting, say, a wedding toast someone's given Lynne McGranger a glass of bubbly instead of orange juice and she's had to step in and correct them.  People notice stuff like that, and I know it happens - Bevan Lee infamously unwittingly retconed Cassie's driving ban when she left Summer Bay in 2008 so consumed were production with Kate's big exit the same week.  But it's dangerous not to acknowledge what's come before.

And it's not like the old style of show can't work in the modern era.  Again, Bevan Lee managed to give the show a very Early Years aesthetic back in 2008 but still have a throughly current twist on it.  Those lovely, very human storylines - Morag falling in love! - were able to sit alongside Johnny knifing Sally, Aden being sexually abused, etc.  It can be done.

[Sally Keating]

11 minutes ago, James Martin said:

I assume they haven't got anyone like Bevan Lee or Dan Bennett around now who have that intricate "walking-Wikipedia" knowledge of the shows heritage

More than that. I have it on good authority there is a blanket rule of "no looking back" with the current production team of H&A. So even if there was someone around who could help with links to the past, they aren't interested and would actively block it.

Probably due to them messing up so many times (Celia's awful return, Sally's, Fisher's, Pippa's) and the viewer backlash to how badly done they were, they probably decided to just draw a line under the past and only focus on the current show. Moreso, it probably suits them to do this as it's blatantly apparant they want to the show to be a different thing nowadays which is in no way connected to the original H&A. So it makes life easier for them to just completely and utterly ignore the past rather than try to concile the two.