Does the show need an injection of life, if so, then what?

[GOZZ]

I have been watching HnA since day one, through the ups and downs and the downs an ups. Obviously the most epic moment of time were The Braxtons and The River Boys, it was always evident that once that moment in time past it would have been such an extraordinary challenge to rise up again. In my honest opinion the show has had some rises across the way but sadly I think it as faltered a lot since. Its fine for a soap to have romance but it appears that the show has and continues to have such a large focus on the romance front which is dull and repetitive. I like the Mac character but since the affair story she has fallen behind in my support. Not sure where Eden is heading as far as her direction is concerned but she seems to be floating around waiting for something. Remi and Bree together has been noting but a whining length of whinging that is just so draining to watch.

I miss the gritty edge of your seat stories and the decent fallout of stories. Dont get me wrong, when The new River Boys returned with Dean at the helm, I liked that character but I felt bamboozled about the River Boys as they pretty much dissappeared as quick as they returned. It peed me off. Marilyns story of a change of character was fantastic and wished she would have stayed that way. The fact that John keeps mentioning his only son Jett BUT he actually has another son, a biological one, who is a pyscho. I forgot his name but found that the scene when he was quarantined with Dana and he said Dana needs to be with her parents because all children need to know their parents and parents need to stand by their children was so hypocritical.

 

So much more to say but will leave it with others.

[Bobby Forever Missed]

Wow you are probably one of the only long term fans I’ve seen who liked the Braxtons 

 

in terms of bringing new life to the show I really don’t know what they could do, they were obviously trying to do that by bringing Martha back but it backfired because it now makes Alf’s marriage to Ailsa illegal. 
 

 If they bring in another baddy or gang they get slammed by the majority of long term viewers if they go back to fostering (which I agree they should but that’s for another thread) they get slammed by younger viewers who tune in for what the show is now damned if they do damned if they don’t 

personally Lucy has put the show in a corner and i don’t know if it can get out 

[adam436]

42 minutes ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

Wow you are probably one of the only long term fans I’ve seen who liked the Braxtons 

I certainly didn't hate them, but it's not my favourite era of the show either. I preferred them to Lyrik, especially around 2013/2014 once they'd settled in a bit. 

 

43 minutes ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

personally Lucy has put the show in a corner and i don’t know if it can get out 

The only way it can get itself out of it is a complete overhaul. Any cast changes are likely to just replace one batch of cookie cutter twentysomethings with another, unless there is some sort of breakout character to come out of that. But even if there was, I imagine said character would get bogged down in relationship drama before too long. 

I imagine the introduction of Lyrik was meant to inject new life into the show, but it's been two years now so I think many of us are quite over it. 

Given how popular the Braxton family were, my suggestion would be to bring back Heath as a regular (since Steve Peacocke would unlikely return). It's probably a compromise that's going to suit anyone - it would appease Lucy Addario and the Braxton fanbase, whilst appeasing the fan base that want some teenagers back in the show. Darcy could slot into the twentysomething group and Harley would probably be 14-15 by now with inevitable SORASing. 

[Posy]

5 hours ago, GOZZ said:

The fact that John keeps mentioning his only son Jett BUT he actually has another son, a biological one, who is a pyscho.

But John’s only biological child is Shandi. Trey was John’s stepson (mother Jenena), as were Hugo, Xavier, Brendan  (mother Gina).

[atrus]

Yes, the show badly needs an injection of life.

It's not rocket-science as to why the show has lost its soul and become so stale and repetitive in my opinion; bringing back families would do it. And I don't mean random pairs of sausage-factory siblings with no connection to anyone else, or bands who are 'like family'; I mean proper families that span at least two generations. Ideally they'd be related to the long-term characters so you could kill the second bird with the stone of giving Alf, Irene etc something meaningful to do. But they don't have to be - just proper families of some (any!) description, whether they be fostering set-ups to take the show back to its roots, or traditional nuclear ones. We're so far gone now that I'm not even really precious about how they achieve this. If they're really dead against bringing back teens then that's one thing, but they could have a family with young-ish adult kids who still live at home if that's preferred. Case in point: Justin's daughter Ava. Why is she not living with him full-time? It just seems to be a really obvious avenue that would give that unit more of a purpose. They could bring back VJ too. What's Tina Thomsen doing nowadays, or Matt Doran? Bring one of them back with a family of their own. Give the show a reason to exist besides interchangeable romances.

Literally the only parent-child relationship in the show at the moment is Alf and Roo. Even in Home and Away's relatively small cast of 20-ish, I just find it really shocking that they think that's sustainable.

Edited June 19 by atrus

[adam436]

8 hours ago, atrus said:

And I don't mean random pairs of sausage-factory siblings with no connection to anyone else

It's actually getting ridiculous now - there are 5 pairs in the current cast, plus a vast number of past ones. I think the problem is that the Braxtons were so popular that the producers must think families of adult siblings is the answer - they tried to recreate the formula with the Morgans and the Paratas, but neither reached the same level of success, so now they've just seemed to stick of adult siblings now. 

They did try at least try something new with Lyrik, but that's just not working for me either. 

  

8 hours ago, atrus said:

What's Tina Thomsen doing nowadays, or Matt Doran? Bring one of them back with a family of their own. 

They wouldn't even need Tina or Matt - if Roo can be recast after Justine Clarke's iconic performance, then I'd say Finn and Damien would be fair game. I think it's more likely than luring either of them back to be honest. We've also got Irene's older son, Nathan and his wife Grace. Irene's grandsons via Finn would be the same age as many of the current cast, yet they'd prefer to have randoms like Xavier, Rose, Dana and Harper living with her.

For Stewart family, we have Duncan and Ric. Duncan has a son who would now be early teens, and they could easily bring him back with a new wife and some step-kids. Ric was last seen in 2008, so he could also have children who are 14/15 at this stage (older with SORASing).

Shandi Palmer or Leah's siblings Chris and Alex could also head up new families in Summer Bay. 

This is the reason I mentioned Heath Braxton and his kids - it would keep Lucy Addario and the Braxton fans happy, whilst still appeasing the fan base that want family units in the show again. 

 

 

[Jamie!]

Soap producers usually last for a maximum of about three years or so, (at least they do in the UK). Lucy Addario has been in charge for much, much longer than this. All she's basically doing is implementing the exact same ideas over and over again:

- Rough and tough looking bad boys that are covered in tattoos and wear sleeveless vests just so we can see their big muscles and think they're sexy. They have toxic masculinity and take out all their frustrations on everyone else, are the very definition of their own worst enemy, and act like the whole world is going to implode on them if they admit that they're in the wrong.

- Groups of siblings being introduced, with the older one usually being very overprotective of their younger sibling.

- Children and teenagers seemingly not existing in Summer Bay any more, meaning the whole ethos of what Home and Away is supposed to be about is now no longer part of the show.

- Characters being changed to suit a storyline, when it should be the other way ronud - the show fitting the storylines to suit the characters.

- A clear favouritism of certain characters who get treated like they are heroes when there is a whole lot of evidence that says otherwise.

The show has stagnated and is absolutely CRYING out for some new blood, preferably people who care about the show's history and who don't want to completely change it into something different.

[GOZZ]

16 hours ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

Wow you are probably one of the only long term fans I’ve seen who liked the Braxtons 

 

in terms of bringing new life to the show I really don’t know what they could do, they were obviously trying to do that by bringing Martha back but it backfired because it now makes Alf’s marriage to Ailsa illegal. 
 

 If they bring in another baddy or gang they get slammed by the majority of long term viewers if they go back to fostering (which I agree they should but that’s for another thread) they get slammed by younger viewers who tune in for what the show is now damned if they do damned if they don’t 

personally Lucy has put the show in a corner and i don’t know if it can get out 

TOTALLY agree with your response. Only, I am surprised with The Braxtons remark. I thought there were many who liked them and the drama and intrigue they brought to the Bay but each to their own and full respect. I think the show needs a complete overhaul but the problem is that they have drenched many of the possibilities over the years. Whats left? Its bizarre tough as the show is one of the number one rating shows on tv at the moment.

14 hours ago, Posy said:

But John’s only biological child is Shandi. Trey was John’s stepson (mother Jenena), as were Hugo, Xavier, Brendan  (mother Gina).

Ahhh that makes sense. Thanks for the clarity

[j.laur5]

I thought it was a shame they did not make the Paratas a nuclear family by making Gemma a regular with Tane being younger so he could be Genma's  son and Ari being older so he be old enough to be Tane dad and husband to Gemma. 

[GOZZ]

3 hours ago, adam436 said:

It's actually getting ridiculous now - there are 5 pairs in the current cast, plus a vast number of past ones. I think the problem is that the Braxtons were so popular that the producers must think families of adult siblings is the answer - they tried to recreate the formula with the Morgans and the Paratas, but neither reached the same level of success, so now they've just seemed to stick of adult siblings now. 

They did try at least try something new with Lyrik, but that's just not working for me either. 

  

They wouldn't even need Tina or Matt - if Roo can be recast after Justine Clarke's iconic performance, then I'd say Finn and Damien would be fair game. I think it's more likely than luring either of them back to be honest. We've also got Irene's older son, Nathan and his wife Grace. Irene's grandsons via Finn would be the same age as many of the current cast, yet they'd prefer to have randoms like Xavier, Rose, Dana and Harper living with her.

For Stewart family, we have Duncan and Ric. Duncan has a son who would now be early teens, and they could easily bring him back with a new wife and some step-kids. Ric was last seen in 2008, so he could also have children who are 14/15 at this stage (older with SORASing).

Shandi Palmer or Leah's siblings Chris and Alex could also head up new families in Summer Bay. 

This is the reason I mentioned Heath Braxton and his kids - it would keep Lucy Addario and the Braxton fans happy, whilst still appeasing the fan base that want family units in the show again. 

 

 

Thats FANTASTIC!! I love that outlay. However I wasnt aware that Nathan had a wife. What a memory you have.