Rewatching The Early Years

[hapitoby]

Re-watching 1988 has made me miss Don all over again. He's one of these best characters in the whole show and Norman may be the best actor on the show. He is phenomenal and not just in 1988 but onwards.

 

Also, 1988 Ailsa was fantastic too. Really well and very strong (makes sense given her backstory surviving on her own and prison) and her relationship with Bobby is great. She also stands up for people a lot and is really assertive.

 

Two amazing characters, it is kind of sad that they're mostly forgotten but at least we still have Alf (and Roo).

[cymbaline]

1 hour ago, hapitoby said:

Re-watching 1988 has made me miss Don all over again. He's one of these best characters in the whole show and Norman may be the best actor on the show. He is phenomenal and not just in 1988 but onwards.

 

Also, 1988 Ailsa was fantastic too. Really well and very strong (makes sense given her backstory surviving on her own and prison) and her relationship with Bobby is great. She also stands up for people a lot and is really assertive.

 

Two amazing characters, it is kind of sad that they're mostly forgotten but at least we still have Alf (and Roo).

I don't remember Norman getting any of the attention or acclaim at the time. But when you look back, it's hard to argue with that. As I've said consistently, I don't care for early 1988 Donald because I think the part was badly written and very one-note. Norman was fine but he wasn't being given good material to work with. It was a different matter once everybody hit their stride and got a better handle on the character. From then on, Norman consistently knocked it out of the park. He was equally good as a school headmaster, and as the complex but soft-centred man away from the school. He was very funny whenever they got Donald drunk - I'd say more scenes of that ilk were written once they saw how entertaining he was. 

[CaptainHulk]

9 hours ago, cymbaline said:

I don't remember Norman getting any of the attention or acclaim at the time. But when you look back, it's hard to argue with that. As I've said consistently, I don't care for early 1988 Donald because I think the part was badly written and very one-note. Norman was fine but he wasn't being given good material to work with. It was a different matter once everybody hit their stride and got a better handle on the character. From then on, Norman consistently knocked it out of the park. He was equally good as a school headmaster, and as the complex but soft-centred man away from the school. He was very funny whenever they got Donald drunk - I'd say more scenes of that ilk were written once they saw how entertaining he was. 

"I am NOT a man who keeps Whisky in his desk drawer."

*beat*

"Try that filing cabinet."

 

 

[nenehcherry2]

11 hours ago, hapitoby said:

Re-watching 1988 has made me miss Don all over again. He's one of these best characters in the whole show and Norman may be the best actor on the show. He is phenomenal and not just in 1988 but onwards.

 

Also, 1988 Ailsa was fantastic too. Really well and very strong (makes sense given her backstory surviving on her own and prison) and her relationship with Bobby is great. She also stands up for people a lot and is really assertive.

 

Two amazing characters, it is kind of sad that they're mostly forgotten but at least we still have Alf (and Roo).

Ailsa was fantastic in 88-early 89. The diner and becoming a sort of foster Mum was the beginning of the end for her. She just becomes an initially kindly (later much grumpier) woman who serves milkshakes and calms Alf down with little purpose otherwise for 90-4. In 1995, they remember Judy's a good actress and give her storylines again but they do not fit the strong survivor she was supposed to be at the start. 

Edited April 9 by nenehcherry2

[hapitoby]

33 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Ailsa was fantastic in 88-early 89. The diner and becoming a sort of foster Mum was the beginning of the end for her. She just becomes an initially kindly (later much grumpier) woman who serves milkshakes and calms Alf down with little purpose otherwise for 90-4. In 1995, they remember Judy's a good actress and give her storylines again but they do not fit the strong survivor she was supposed to be at the start. 

Yeah it unfortunate..I feel like they do that with Irene the last ten years or so...then remember she's a great actress and give her something juicy or make her another murder suspect  

[cymbaline]

I get the impression it didn't bother Judy Nunn if they didn't give Ailsa much to do. She was spending her downtime on set writing her books and I'd say she was only there for the steady income. It's a pity she retired from acting because she would have continued to get acting work afterwards.

[adam436]

The irony is that I suspect Judy Nunn decided to leave because they were giving her too many storylines and she wasn't getting as much downtime.

In 1998-2000 there was the Diner shooting (was the fallout from that when she shot Alf?), the car accident that left her in a coma/hating Alf and then the Shauna story. That's probably more than what she got in all of 1990-1997. It's a shame she didn't negotiate to go part-time (or maybe she did, and an agreement couldn't be reached?), but the show was also going through a bit of a revamp at that time, so maybe it suited them for Ailsa to go too. Who knows?  

Ailsa became quite watered down after the first season (along with many others!). She was a strong survivor in 1988, having survived her father's abuse, a prison stint and stood up to the harassment of Roo, the Macklins and whomever else. In later years she seemed to breakdown over the Diner break in, the Diner siege, her car accident, post-natal depression and probably others I've missed.

[j.laur5]

7 hours ago, adam436 said:

The irony is that I suspect Judy Nunn decided to leave because they were giving her too many storylines and she wasn't getting as much downtime.

In 1998-2000 there was the Diner shooting (was the fallout from that when she shot Alf?), the car accident that left her in a coma/hating Alf and then the Shauna story. That's probably more than what she got in all of 1990-1997. It's a shame she didn't negotiate to go part-time (or maybe she did, and an agreement couldn't be reached?), but the show was also going through a bit of a revamp at that time, so maybe it suited them for Ailsa to go too. Who knows?  

Ailsa became quite watered down after the first season (along with many others!). She was a strong survivor in 1988, having survived her father's abuse, a prison stint and stood up to the harassment of Roo, the Macklins and whomever else. In later years she seemed to breakdown over the Diner break in, the Diner siege, her car accident, post-natal depression and probably others I've missed.

Judy Nunm recently said in podcast if they often me more  money to stayed they probably would bought me .

But I think PTB respected Judy Nunn wanted to leave to focus on her writing books and do think PTB would always had job for Judy Nunn if wished to had  stayed and Judy herself said too  I don’t  miss it because I know it was my choice to leave and could still be there today if I wanted  too.  
 

It’s shame she didn’t stay though as I enjoyed Ailsa/Colleen/Leah all working together in diner as they work well together and all being very different woman it bought interesting dynamic between them. 
 

Like how Ailsa was one off few people that seemed to take Colleen seriously but at same time could put her in line with  Colleen   Interference and judgement toward  others . 
 

I would like to see how Ailsa  would taken to mellowed Morag . 

Edited April 10 by j.laur5

[cymbaline]

Ironically, she might've enjoyed Ailsa having an arrangement like the one Alf and Martha had. The option to retreat to a remote 2nd home

[nenehcherry2]

7 hours ago, adam436 said:

The irony is that I suspect Judy Nunn decided to leave because they were giving her too many storylines and she wasn't getting as much downtime.

In 1998-2000 there was the Diner shooting (was the fallout from that when she shot Alf?), the car accident that left her in a coma/hating Alf and then the Shauna story. That's probably more than what she got in all of 1990-1997. It's a shame she didn't negotiate to go part-time (or maybe she did, and an agreement couldn't be reached?), but the show was also going through a bit of a revamp at that time, so maybe it suited them for Ailsa to go too. Who knows?  

Ailsa became quite watered down after the first season (along with many others!). She was a strong survivor in 1988, having survived her father's abuse, a prison stint and stood up to the harassment of Roo, the Macklins and whomever else. In later years she seemed to breakdown over the Diner break in, the Diner siege, her car accident, post-natal depression and probably others I've missed.

That's exactly how I divide her up...

88 Ailsa: strong survivor, environmentalist, fighting Macklins etc.

89-94 Ailsa: just an average nice woman, doesn't do much

95-00: lots of crazy storylines but seems broken and miserable much of the time