What things never made sense to you on Home and Away?

[Homeandawayfan.]

My brother is in Australia now, in Sydney on a computer job. It would be cheeky to ask him to nip to Palm Beach on his 2 or 3 days off but he took a picture of Sydney harbour from the Meriton North Sydney. I went to Sydney in 2007 but my interest in the 2 main Aussie soaps was virtually nil by then and was only revived in 2012. However I met former Neighbours and H&A actors Jason Donovan and Nicola Quilter in 2014.

My brother is the same age, 44, as what the character Don Fisher was in my avatar, in 1989 when in punk clothing, if you go by Don's Feb 1995 age of 50. Also in a May 1988 episode, Alf said Don and Barbara on their wedding day were not much older than 19 year old Frank is now 19 years ago in 1968/1969, hinting Don was about 40/41 in 1988, so again the writers never cross referenced scripts, and in 1991 Don was hinted as being 50s is he was "retiring in a few years". In March 1988 Don said "25 years teaching" so quite a sloppy backstory for not just Don but many other characters. The writers always were more worried about continuity of the plots than the backhistory.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Homeandawayfan.

[Sally Keating]

On 18/07/2023 at 22:33, cymbaline said:

No. Both it and society have moved on. Last night I randomly watched a few episodes which centred around Jack's continuous lies and a lot of sausages. If you tried to explain that to a modern-day fan, they'd laugh and ask was everything OK at home

The problem with this B/S argument (and sorry to be rude, but it IS b/s), is that most of the other soaps in existence have managed to move with the times and still remain true to their roots/still feel like the same show. H&A hasn't. The current producers just wanted to make a totally different show. They kept the brand name, and some characters around, to fool the masses that they're still watching H&A.

Assuming that the people who dislike how much the show has changed just want it to be like it was in the 90s, is a very patronising and belittling response. No, I absolutely don't want it to be like it was in the 90s. I want it to be a modern version of Home and Away. Not whatever the hell it's been turned into by people who had no interest in keeping it the same show.

[cymbaline]

I agree with you to a certain extent. I don't like how far the producers have strayed from the show's origins. If you didn't see Alf or Irene or Marilyn would you even know what you were watching? Having said that, I don't know how long 1990s-style H&A would've survived. When I watch those old episodes with adult eyes, I can see some reasons why they moved away from the original format. It's an uneasy mixture of shows made for teens and something aimed at adults. I mentioned that example of the sausages because this handful of episodes was more like a morality tale that you'd show kids. Jack learned that lying is bad and it was like an Aesop's fable but with more sausages. That was the fundamental problem with the show. It was like Grange Hill crossed with a conventional soap at times.

Having said that, I don't find much to like in newer H&A. Leaving aside the baggage of what it was like 30 years ago, it's charmless these days. It badly needs a reboot but I get the impression the producers aren't that fussed. As long as it plods along as it is, and they can sell it abroad everything is fine. 

[Bobby Forever Missed]

I don’t understand what’s wrong with fostering, there are kids who go through foster care every day and yes I bet some were/are in gangs so they can still have their precious hot guy gangs and still keep the foster care element too it’s all about pandering to the social media crowd who like xyz character based on looks now sadly, H&A have over the last 12 years written themselves into a corner and i don’t know if they can get out at this point 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Bobby Forever Missed

[cymbaline]

9 hours ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

I don’t understand what’s wrong with fostering, there are kids who go through foster care every day and yes I bet some were/are in gangs so they can still have their precious hot guy gangs and still keep the foster care element too it’s all about pandering to the social media crowd who like xyz character based on looks now sadly, H&A have over the last 12 years written themselves into a corner and i don’t know if they can get out at this point 

But if you look back at the teens who were on Home and Away, most of them were very good-looking people. Social media mightn't have been around at the time but if you were a fan of these young actors, there were always photos and posters of them in teen magazines. I also think that if social media had been a thing at the time, they'd all have been on it. Can you imagine how many followers Dieter Brummer would've had?

I've said before that old-skool Home and Away was a model that was unsustainable. I loved the show when I was a teenager and tried not to miss an episode (my stubborn parents refused to buy a VCR for years). My classmates were equally enthusiastic about it. We used to talk about it in school and I remember the "Oh my god, Tom died" conversations the day after that episode aired. But then we all got older and just stopped watching. Everyone I know just grew out of it. It didn't matter at the time because there was always going to be a new batch of kids coming along behind us, ready to pick up the mantle. Except now, youngsters don't watch TV. It's even debatable how much catch-up TV they watch from established TV stations. It makes sense that they'd aim for an older audience and more mature storylines.

Having said that, they have gone too far. I think they could still do well if they toned things down and brought it back to something closer to its roots. They could bring fostering back in, easing in some foster kids with existing couples. Getting rid of chunks of the cast would be easy  Send Lyrik off on a never-ending tour à la Bob Dylan, meaning we'd never see them again. A police station in the middle of nowhere needs a new cop - bye bye Cash and Felicity. The lack of crime and big bangs means we see lees of the hospital i.e. no need for doctors and paramedics.... 

[Bobby Forever Missed]

I mean every place has crime even a sleepy town like Summer Bay c 1992 I mean yeah not as much like i don’t remember Nick arresting people every episode but they definitely had to have a police character to make it more realistic imo but the current format is way too far the other way 

[cymbaline]

A lot of Nick's police work was done off-screen and some of it appeared to be fairly mundane. Speed traps, police escorts, the occasional troublesome kid or a break-in. The only serious crimes I can think of are the ones relating to Karen and Revhead. Maybe there were others but I've forgotten. 

[Homeandawayfan.]

18 hours ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

I mean every place has crime even a sleepy town like Summer Bay c 1992 I mean yeah not as much like i don’t remember Nick arresting people every episode but they definitely had to have a police character to make it more realistic imo but the current format is way too far the other way 

I did watch some eps last night from 2023 and the show is better than it was during the Braxton era, well calmer, but still a way to go. The band storyline is quite good. After all there was a short lived storyline in 1988 with Lance, Martin and Chico, and I think Frank was involved. And Frank liked Bruce Springsteen of course.

[James Martin]

I miss the teen drama aspect, which hung on in some form right up until the late response 2000's.

Even in 2005, I remember overhearing conversations at uni about the stalker getting revealed (which aired in the UK the same day as Neighbours' 20th Anniversary episode) and it was still water cooler TV.

The original format would work today, but you'd have to make it for 7+ and 5 Star first and the actual linear networks second.

[CaptainHulk]

On 22/07/2023 at 08:00, Homeandawayfan. said:

I did watch some eps last night from 2023 and the show is better than it was during the Braxton era, well calmer, but still a way to go. The band storyline is quite good. After all there was a short lived storyline in 1988 with Lance, Martin and Chico, and I think Frank was involved. And Frank liked Bruce Springsteen of course.

Lyrik wouldn't be so bad if Remy wasn't a pound shop Liam Murphy or actually had some semblance of personalities. At least their Worst member (Bob) left, that's one plus for them.

Edited July 24, 2023 by CaptainHulk