Rewatching The Early Years

[cymbaline]

Andrew Hill left voluntarily because being on Home and Away was interfering with his studies and he planned to go to university. Sure enough, if you check his LinkedIn page you can see that he did. He must've remained on good terms with the producers because they brought him back twice over the next few years and gave him good storylines. I especially liked his 1994 return when he had a gambling problem and fed his old man a **** and bull story about starting up a surf shop. Apart from the cynical way he exploited Michael's guilt over the sort of father he'd been to him, the writers touched on another interesting theme. That of how a parent feels about their biological son or daughter in comparison to their foster kids. It was a satisfying continuation of the Michael/Haydn relationship that we'd seen in 1990 and 1991. In comparison, if they had brought Simon back a year or two later what would they have done with him? He had no interesting traits or backstory. Was Roxy any better when she came along? Aside from when she developed breast cancer, the only thing she ever did was attract good looking men and then trash her relationships with them. 

 

[nenehcherry2]

2 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Andrew Hill left voluntarily because being on Home and Away was interfering with his studies and he planned to go to university. Sure enough, if you check his LinkedIn page you can see that he did. He must've remained on good terms with the producers because they brought him back twice over the next few years and gave him good storylines. I especially liked his 1994 return when he had a gambling problem and fed his old man a **** and bull story about starting up a surf shop. Apart from the cynical way he exploited Michael's guilt over the sort of father he'd been to him, the writers touched on another interesting theme. That of how a parent feels about their biological son or daughter in comparison to their foster kids. It was a satisfying continuation of the Michael/Haydn relationship that we'd seen in 1990 and 1991. In comparison, if they had brought Simon back a year or two later what would they have done with him? He had no interesting traits or backstory. Was Roxy any better when she came along? Aside from when she developed breast cancer, the only thing she ever did was attract good looking men and then trash her relationships with them. 

 

I've always said that it would have made sense to bring in "Roxy" as Michael's daughter (Kate), have her be a bit of a tart / bitch and maybe a rivalry with Bobby. Whether Lisa Lackey would have pulled off this characterisation is questionable but it would have been more meaningful than Roxy's entire purpose.

[adam436]

On 11/09/2024 at 21:32, cymbaline said:

Richard Norton had been on Neighbours before this and I remember seeing him on posters in teen magazines at the time. I'm pretty sure he was poached from Ramsay Street, yet they underused him when they got their man. As an actor, Richard Norton was no better or worse than anybody else at the time yet Simon is quite unmemorable as a character. 

He wasn't very memorable in Neighbours either. I've also read he was axed from Neighbours. 

If he was poached, they really didn't have much luck with their poached Neighbours stars. Craig McLachlan was too, and his character was also a very forgettable character who didn't stay long. 

 

16 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Fully agree with every bit of your post. Who knows what the departure circumstances were for Haydn / Andrew? I understand that Karen/Belinda's was mutual consent because of her behind the scenes attitude. 

The turnover of characters did seem higher in the late 80s/early 90s than it was in later years. We had characters like Emma, Viv, Karen, Haydn, Ben, Grant, Simon and Lucinda who didn't really stay that long, even more so when you included "unofficial" regulars like Phillip, Stacey, Andrew Foley and Ryan Lee.  

I'd imagine contracts must have been shorter back then and there are some behind-the-scenes reasons for some of those exits (i.e. Lucinda), but was the show trying to find it's groove again after losing OG Pippa, Tom and most of the original foster family so early on? 

I never knew about Belinda Jarrett either! Maybe that explains why Karen got such a dark exit by 1991 H&A standards. 

[cymbaline]

Grant wasn't nearly as forgettable as Simon. He was a character who fizzled out because of Craig McLachlan trying to launch a music career. When he came back for a while in 1991 he was little more than set decoration.

I think the age profile of the current cast has a lot to do with people staying around for longer now. While there will always be people who see H&A as a stepping stone to better things, there are others who value the stability that it brings. That definitely applies to the older cast members (i.e. Alf, John, Irene, Leah) and to several of the younger cast too. Many of them are no spring chickens and have been around the block. Would many of the current cast get regular acting work if they left? Some of them are dead behind the eyes and would vanish back into obscurity if they left. 

[nenehcherry2]

On 14/09/2024 at 01:10, cymbaline said:

Grant wasn't nearly as forgettable as Simon. He was a character who fizzled out because of Craig McLachlan trying to launch a music career. When he came back for a while in 1991 he was little more than set decoration.

I think the age profile of the current cast has a lot to do with people staying around for longer now. While there will always be people who see H&A as a stepping stone to better things, there are others who value the stability that it brings. That definitely applies to the older cast members (i.e. Alf, John, Irene, Leah) and to several of the younger cast too. Many of them are no spring chickens and have been around the block. Would many of the current cast get regular acting work if they left? Some of them are dead behind the eyes and would vanish back into obscurity if they left. 

Grant's two return stints in 1991 are so incredibly random. They're most obviously some kind of contractual obligation (which would make sense as Craig apparently had "very flexible terms" built into his agreement with Seven to allow for his recording commitments). 

Another random one was Ryan Lee's return in the later part of 92. Lucinda had long gone by that point and he spends most of his time sat on his (really rather beautiful) backside at the diner bar stool. Again, likely a contractual obligation since he'd initially been signed up for a 2 year stint (according to the 92 Annual, at least). 

Edited September 15 by nenehcherry2

[cymbaline]

If somebody only saw him in 1991, you could understand why they would think he wasn't a memorable character. He had plenty to do during his first run and there's no reason to think that wouldn't have continued to be the case if Craig hadn't taken that first sabbatical. Ironically, when he was trying to get his music career going in the UK, it was off the back of his old job on Neighbours. H&A, of course, never quite seized the zeitgeist there. 

You'd wonder what they had originally planned for Alistair MacDougall if they offered him a longer contract. It surely couldn't have been more helpings of that tedious love triangle? Certainly, you can interpret his quote "I would have stayed longer before if the scripts had been good enough." as his way of saying he didn't care for it either.

[adam436]

  

13 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Again, likely a contractual obligation since he'd initially been signed up for a 2 year stint (according to the 92 Annual, at least). 

  I suspect there are a number of characters like that - where characters were written out early, but they were contractually obliged to keep them around or have them return for guest stints. 

Lynn Davenport had a random return cameo following the birth of Christopher. 

Celia disappeared for a few months when she went to Europe, and didn't really do anything noteworthy upon her return. 

 

3 hours ago, cymbaline said:

If somebody only saw him in 1991, you could understand why they would think he wasn't a memorable character. He had plenty to do during his first run and there's no reason to think that wouldn't have continued to be the case if Craig hadn't taken that first sabbatical. 

Didn't make him an interesting character though, it just meant the writers gave him lots to do. I honestly can't recall too much other than a romance with Josephine Mitchell's character, Carly throwing herself at him when he first arrived (as she did with every man in that era!), and constantly going head to head with Donald Fisher, which just made Grant seem really arrogant in my opinion. I suspect they were possibly planning a romance with Bobby, which never happened because he left. 

 

3 hours ago, cymbaline said:

You'd wonder what they had originally planned for Alistair MacDougall if they offered him a longer contract. It surely couldn't have been more helpings of that tedious love triangle? 

We know Dee Smart left rather abruptly, so it's possible that Ryan and Lucinda would have been end game and Nick Parrish just would have had the storylines he ended up with post-Lucinda? 

I also recall Luke Cunningham arriving not long after Ryan left, so he might have not existed had Alistair MacDougall stayed for his full two years either and he just would have been given Luke's storylines? 

Edited September 15 by adam436

[CaptainHulk]

^ That would have meant a character overhaul for Ryan. And MacDougall relished playing him as a git.

 

On 14/09/2024 at 01:10, cymbaline said:

Grant wasn't nearly as forgettable as Simon. He was a character who fizzled out because of Craig McLachlan trying to launch a music career. When he came back for a while in 1991 he was little more than set decoration.

I think Richard Norton is cursed playing Forgettable characters in soaps (Ryan McLachlan in Neighbours, Simon Fitzgerald in H&A, Shane Cochrane in Brookside)

Grant's 2nd  return in '91 was a plot device to help Don.

[nenehcherry2]

2 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

^ That would have meant a character overhaul for Ryan. And MacDougall relished playing him as a git.

He did but Ryan did sod all that we could categorise as "gittish" in that later 92 stint. 

[nenehcherry2]

4 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

^ That would have meant a character overhaul for Ryan. And MacDougall relished playing him as a git.

 

I think Richard Norton is cursed playing Forgettable characters in soaps (Ryan McLachlan in Neighbours, Simon Fitzgerald in H&A, Shane Cochrane in Brookside)

Ironically, mortal Shane in the equally mortal Brookside did more in the 2 months he had in Manor Park (before Chimmmmmeeeee Corkhill's smack fix finished him off) than Ryan and Simon did combined in their 2 aggregate years!  

4 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Grant's 2nd  return in '91 was a plot device to help Don.

 

Edited September 18 by nenehcherry2