Rewatching The Early Years

[CaptainHulk]

2 hours ago, early years fan said:

The repeat guest appearances do play a big role… such as the recurring involvement of the group of mean girls at summer bay high, led by Alison Patterson. She plays the part very convincingly 

Cut and paste with Vicki not long after. Both had their offsiders/2ICs

[icarus99]

Some great news to start the year off - just seen the 'That's TV' channel will start airing Home & Away from episode 1 from tomorrow.

SKY (188) and Freeview (65) - they're also showing Prisoner Cell Block H and Baywatch.

[Homeandawayfan.]

I hope one day that H&A does return somewhat to its roots more with more focus on wayward foster teens but sadly I think that ship has well and truly sailed, the show is too far focused on crime/tragedy after tragedy and music to go back.

In regards to the guest characters taking centre stage in the first year, all of them were gone by March 1989. Narelle, Alison, Gary, Jeff, Sam and Brett. Only Stacey remained further into 1989.

[cymbaline]

17 hours ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

They already did hiding the pregnancy with Morag though, so either way it’s the same result Bobby is in the Stewart bloodline 

They did and it worked out fine. I was just riffing on an alternative universe, based on the idea of Celia being Bobby's mother. Just spitballing

8 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

I hope one day that H&A does return somewhat to its roots more with more focus on wayward foster teens but sadly I think that ship has well and truly sailed, the show is too far focused on crime/tragedy after tragedy and music to go back.

In regards to the guest characters taking centre stage in the first year, all of them were gone by March 1989. Narelle, Alison, Gary, Jeff, Sam and Brett. Only Stacey remained further into 1989.

Andrew Foley was another one who was around for quite a while, though of course there was a gap before they brought him back in '89. Some of those guest characters were around so long, they were borderline opening credits material. 

[adam436]

12 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Cut and paste with Vicki not long after. Both had their offsiders/2ICs

One of Alison's followers is Melissa Bell in an uncredited role! Never picked that up on previous viewings of the early years.

 

2 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Some of those guest characters were around so long, they were borderline opening credits material. 

Andrew and Stacey lasted longer than some regulars and probably appeared more frequently, so it's surprising they never made the credits and I always wondered why. It was obviously their contractual status, but you'd think if they were popular, they'd have been bumped up.

[j.laur5]

3 minutes ago, adam436 said:

One of Alison's followers is Melissa Bell in an uncredited role! Never picked that up on previous viewings of the early years.

 

Andrew and Stacey lasted longer than some regulars and probably appeared more frequently, so it's surprising they never made the credits and I always wondered why. It was obviously their contractual status, but you'd think if they were popular, they'd have been bumped up.

I was under impression that it was possible that they were  going to become regulars but changed in show direction might changed plans. 

Edited January 3 by j.laur5

[nenehcherry2]

I've read some contemporary interviews from the time RE Stacey. Sandie was actually on a 12 month contract (i.e. 260ish episodes; that's usually the cut-off for permanent vs. short-term) but a new Producer came in some months into her agreement with the show (presumably Andrew Howie, whose first episode as Series Producer was 261) & told her that they wouldn't be renewing her contract after that period expired. But they allowed her to finish the full contractual period since they needed the time to find more "suitable" long-term replacements (presumably Emma, Grant, Sophie etc).

So (pure speculation here) perhaps the plan was to add her to the credits from the ep 281 revamp but they quickly discarded that idea since they already knew she wouldn't be long-term (to avoid the cost).

Very similarly, John Morris (aka Phil) was also initially signed up for 1 year but the "new Producers" felt it wasn't working out. But, in his case, he was let go early. 

There's an interview with Cornelia from early 1990 where she confirms that she was also axed to "make way for younger blood". I'm assuming that that decision was made much further into 89 since she made the credits.

Moving further ahead, It's never been officially confirmed (as far as I can find) whether Roger and / or Fiona were axed or chose to leave. Their second-year contracts were at their natural end length, so either scenario is possible. Cornelia's interview does say that "Roger and Vanessa left in the ruccous which followed my departure" & there's an old annual which stipulates it was his choice but there was a rumour at the time that he was axed due to his (unconfirmed) sexuality. I've read several sources which imply that Craig and Peter were axed. 

Edited January 3 by nenehcherry2

[adam436]

11 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

I've read some contemporary interviews from the time RE Stacey. Sandie was actually on a 12 month contract (i.e. 260ish episodes; that's usually the cut-off for permanent vs. short-term) but a new Producer came in some months into her agreement with the show (presumably Andrew Howie, whose first episode as Series Producer was 261) & told her that they wouldn't be renewing her contract after that period expired. But they allowed her to finish the full contractual period since they needed the time to find more "suitable" long-term replacements (presumably Emma, Grant, Sophie etc).

Interesting to know.  I always wanted Phil and Stacey to be end game, and had the new producer came in, I wonder whether they would have. Since they both arrived around the same time, they probably would have been written out together too. 

Interestingly some of the new additions in 1989/1990 didn't go the distance for whatever reason. Viv, Grant, Emma and Ben all lasted less than year. It's probably a case of contracts in the early years being shorter, rather than 3 years though. Adam, Marilyn and Sophie were obviously much more successful though.

  

11 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Moving further ahead, It's never been officially confirmed (as far as I can find) whether Roger and / or Fiona were axed or chose to leave. Their second-year contracts were at their natural end length, so either scenario is possible. Cornelia's interview does say that "Roger and Vanessa left in the ruccous which followed my departure" & there's an old annual which stipulates it was his choice but there was a rumour at the time that he was axed due to his (unconfirmed) sexuality. I've read several sources which imply that Craig and Peter were axed. 

It makes sense that Craig and Peter were axed. They had essentially been replaced by Adam and Matt in terms of the hair-brained money-making schemes etc, though Adam and Matt were probably less caricatures, smarter and marketed as more "sexier". 

It could just be a coinidence, but Fiona, Vanessa and Roger all had significant absences in 1989 and then all were gone by mid 1990 - Celia went to Europe, Tom recovered from a stroke in a city hopsital and Pippa left to care for sick parents.  

[Homeandawayfan.]

Loved the Lance and Martin duo, and the banter between them, like Damo and Shane and more recently Jett and VJ. Lance and martin were always taking the mickey out of one another and enjoyed it.

It also shows though that there is a fine line between banter and bullying, as if one of them did not like it but the other did then it is not banter if one sided. Lance liked it, as did Martin but if say lance did not like it and Martin liked tacking the mick, then it would be one sided and not banter but more like bullying.

[j.laur5]

2 hours ago, adam436 said:

Interesting to know.  I always wanted Phil and Stacey to be end game, and had the new producer came in, I wonder whether they would have. Since they both arrived around the same time, they probably would have been written out together too. 

Interestingly some of the new additions in 1989/1990 didn't go the distance for whatever reason. Viv, Grant, Emma and Ben all lasted less than year. It's probably a case of contracts in the early years being shorter, rather than 3 years though. Adam, Marilyn and Sophie were obviously much more successful though.

  

It makes sense that Craig and Peter were axed. They had essentially been replaced by Adam and Matt in terms of the hair-brained money-making schemes etc, though Adam and Matt were probably less caricatures, smarter and marketed as more "sexier". 

It could just be a coinidence, but Fiona, Vanessa and Roger all had significant absences in 1989 and then all were gone by mid 1990 - Celia went to Europe, Tom recovered from a stroke in a city hopsital and Pippa left to care for sick parents.  

In way Celia could really be written out then in  1989 as she  really did not do much at all after she return from lengthy absence other then cleaning  out Morag house and hot dog stand and she wasn’t even really much of comically character or busybody by then as she seemed to mellowed by then with her gossip and getting into comical situations. 
 

I could be wrong but I think Fiona might already let producers know she was going to leave at end of her contact and Fiona said interview that she left H&A because she wanted back to Melbourne and Fiona thought show was only going last couple of years. 

Edited January 3 by j.laur5