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

[James Martin]

Oh Christ, I forgot about Celia coming back with a gambling problem.  That was grim.

As for cliques, they happen in the arts everywhere.  I often see it in musical theatre which I do as a hobby - often you have a Chinese-wall clique based around whatever dance school the Choreographer came from.  They've grown up and worked together for donkey's so I can understand it.

[Red Ranger 1]

5 hours ago, James Martin said:

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. 

My understanding is that Bevan Lee had actually moved on from the show by the time the episodes were filmed and they changed it from what he wrote/storylined.

[adam436]

6 hours ago, James Martin said:

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.

They've tried a few times - John and Marilyn's foster children, Maggie's cancer, Ben's depression were played out against all the partner-swapping and cheating, drugs, violence etc. It's just the last few years they seem to have lost touch with what H&A is all about. John and Marilyn can still foster children with complex issues, whilst the twenty-somethings play out the "Unmissable drama" stories. 

It's definitely become more of an adult show than a "family" show like it was in the early years. I never expect the show to return to how it was in the nineties, as I doubt it would survive in the current TV climate (sadly!), but I do think they need to find more of a balance. The last few years have really gone so far one-sided. I can't remember the last "human" story the show as dealt with, in all honesty. It's all been about sex, violence, gangs, drugs etc. 

 

6 hours ago, Sally Keating said:

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. 

I'd add the Martha story to the list too. I've still not forgiven the writers for Alf lying to Ailsa and Roo all those years. 

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

On 10/06/2022 at 19:01, James Martin said:

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.

When I rewatched Sally's departure recently, Carly was the one to point out about all the wine people had gifted to Sally and when Sally asked if anyone needed another drink, I'm pretty sure I heard Carly replying "Yes please".  Does Carly have a better relationship with alcohol in 2008 for her joining in with drinking wine to be less risky?

[Sunny Girl]

1 hour ago, homeandawayroxsomuch. said:

When I rewatched Sally's departure recently, Carly was the one to point out about all the wine people had gifted to Sally and when Sally asked if anyone needed another drink, I'm pretty sure I heard Carly replying "Yes please".  Does Carly have a better relationship with alcohol in 2008 for her joining in with drinking wine to be less risky?

She's a lot older - I'm sure her drinking has settled down by now since she has matured and she wouldn't have an issue around alcohol these days.

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

20 minutes ago, Sunny Girl said:

She's a lot older - I'm sure her drinking has settled down by now since she has matured and she wouldn't have an issue around alcohol these days.

Yeah, it might have done.

[j.laur5]

But truth be told I am glad the Donald storyline did not happen if they were just going to bring him back to kill him off. 
 

If his return was going in a positive direction and was going to be Donald returning in a positive light such as helping Marilyn with her memory loss and making pence with Marilyn.
 

It would made up for his 2007 return which ruined his happy ending and insulted to his character. 
 

I really don’t know why they bothered  bringing him back in 2007.  2007 really was year that was a lot of plot  devices and a lot of characters were just spare parts expressing Dan Baker and Tony Holden.  

2007 was bit disappointed season after great seasons in 2005-2006. 

[Sunny Girl]

On 11/06/2022 at 08:59, adam436 said:

They've tried a few times - John and Marilyn's foster children, Maggie's cancer, Ben's depression were played out against all the partner-swapping and cheating, drugs, violence etc. It's just the last few years they seem to have lost touch with what H&A is all about. John and Marilyn can still foster children with complex issues, whilst the twenty-somethings play out the "Unmissable drama" stories. 

It's definitely become more of an adult show than a "family" show like it was in the early years. I never expect the show to return to how it was in the nineties, as I doubt it would survive in the current TV climate (sadly!), but I do think they need to find more of a balance. The last few years have really gone so far one-sided. I can't remember the last "human" story the show as dealt with, in all honesty. It's all been about sex, violence, gangs, drugs etc. 

 

I'd add the Martha story to the list too. I've still not forgiven the writers for Alf lying to Ailsa and Roo all those years. 

I missed the Maggie's cancer storyline and Ben's depression plotline as well.

I do miss the old fashioned and older type of characterisations and storytelling from the earlier days although I do admit that I no longer watch 'Home and Away' how I used to.

[Dag Dog]

On 11/06/2022 at 04:01, James Martin said:

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.

This is a really interesting take. Bevan and Dan were both assets to the series, as confirmed by many of those who worked on the show.

However, even as you say, the human storylines can play out nicely against the heightened drama, the heightened drama will never be the same on the show as it once was.

Take some of the big stories they've had in the last five years for example. Apart from the Ebony story, has anything been that real "soap"? My concern is greater than the acknowledgement of the past, which the current hierarchy is so desperately afraid of, worried it'll age the show. It's that they believe the show is more than "a soap". They look at it as if it is a "high concept drama", but the reality is nothing about the series is high concept. Their rinse and repeat method of storytelling as evidenced by a recent story that was a carbon copy of something that happened around this time last year is proof that there needs to be a change from higher up.

The moment the people who run the series stopped looking at it as "a soap" is when the true undoing of the show began. I'll be surprised if we have five more years of Home and Away, without a drastic change in its pacing, storytelling and character development. When Bella Nixon was the best developed character in recent years, that's saying something.

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

On 11/06/2022 at 01:59, adam436 said:

Ben's depression were played out against all the partner-swapping and cheating, drugs, violence etc.

I saw Ben's depression storyline first, but it had me gripped in the same way that Tug's 1994 depression story did when I watched that earlier this year.  The dramatic climax of the latter had me crying over Dieter's death all over again.