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

[Homeandawayfan.]

Deleted.

Edited November 7, 2024 by Homeandawayfan.

[Sunny Girl]

I haven't watched 'Home and Away' for eight years now and I really miss the 'old school classic story lines of yesteryear. 

I don't think it right how they have sidelined the older characters and hardly give them meaningful story arcs at all. 

[AznPride112]

On 16/11/2024 at 13:05, Sunny Girl said:

I haven't watched 'Home and Away' for eight years now and I really miss the 'old school classic story lines of yesteryear. 

I don't think it right how they have sidelined the older characters and hardly give them meaningful story arcs at all. 

Honestly same, I used to watch Home and Away like everyday, I think I stopped watching around the time Jasmine/Robbo were introduced. And I stopped frequenting this forum around the same time also

I tried to watch an episode the other day and just lost interest after like the first 5 minutes, it's just so boring now. I miss the days where you had things like "Who killed Sam" - and then it was revealed by Morag she setup this elaborate suicide to frame Martha

or the days of Tasha joining the cult and Mumma Rose being crazy, need I mention the Summerbay Stalker storylines or the Sarah Lewis storylines.... I would say that was the peak of Home and Away. 

Bring back the beginning credits... and the theme song. Get rid of all the current characters. 

Introduce Summerbay High School again.

Edited January 1 by AznPride112

[Gerard]

I agree with many of the sentiments here. Home and Away is pretty unrecognisable compared to the show it was for the first 30 years and worlds apart from where it was in the "classic days" (pre-2000) of "warm family drama". 

It's great we still have the strong "legacy characters" (Alf, Marilyn, Irene, Roo, Leah), but these should be the backbone of the series rather than siloed off in the Diner for much of their time.

The series needs to "move with the times" of course, but it's sad they have thrown away the whole "family" aspect of the series, where the adults looked after the younger cast, gave out advice and you had all the drama and humour that came from the natural friction between different generations. You also had incredibly well defined and complex characters, like Don Fisher, Alf, Ailsa, Pippa and Irene. Might just be nostalgia and remembering things are better than they really were, but H&A when it was on top form, particularly in the early '90s, was so so very good.

I really miss a lot of the old humour in H&A. It feels like the series (for some time now) takes itself too seriously with endless plot after plot involving crime/police or hospital drama. H&A can do drama very well, but I think it was more effective when you had a major drama plot every few months, rather than it being a weekly thing. Endless drama either becomes ineffective or exhausting to watch.

Aside from the "drama", the series feels top heavy with 20- and 30- something characters, and many of the storylines around romantic relationships which all becomes a bit stale after a while. Getting rid of the teens and the school would have been unthinkable once. It's just now about random loosely-connected "young" adults living in a town by the beach. Lyrik started out as a decent idea of connecting unrelated characters, but even it feels a bit tired now.

Given the longevity of Roo, Leah and Justin, seems like a real missed opportunity not to have them in a parent role to teens. Home and Away used to do such stories so well. Also, Marilyn and John could have so easily continued as foster parents. I can't even remember now why Marilyn and John split up, but neither character has benefitted from it, they could have so easily been as central as Alf and Ailsa or Pippa and Michael. What would H&A be like now if it centred around families led by Leah/Justin, John/Marilyn and Roo/Partner? It's disappointing that a series with such strong characters and history is not making the best of it. It's rare even to get a mention of a past character these days.

H&A is still watchable but not "unmissable". It's been off air in the UK for about 7 weeks, I can't say I've missed it much. It's back next week and I will tune in (as I have done since the 80's), but if the series ended soon, I wouldn't be upset about it.

[adam436]

I would like to see H&A return to the "family" aspect too. I feel like the current producers think families and teenagers as a backward step (i.e. how it was in the eighties or the Sutherland era), but it doesn't have to be, especially with a PG rating. The show can do darker/more adult teen storylines with the current ratings rather than just the usual "X has a crush on Y" or the latest school yard drama. The show seems to shy away from LGBT storylines (I'm not sure whether this is down to the current producers or Channel 7/Channel 5 though!), but the show could cover a teenager exploring their sexuality and coming out, plus other teen stories that Hollyoaks and some British soaps cover really well like a drug storyline, eating disorders, the online world, historic sexual abuse, self-harm, teen pregnancy etc. Some have been covered in the past and done well within the timeslot restriction, but I think it could be done better now with a PG rating. 

Here would be my solution: 

The twenty-somethings: I would keep a core group of 5-6 twentysomethings. The show has generally had some, but they've been one age group of many (often the most under-represented!). I would keep Mac, Remi, Mali , Kirby, Dana and maybe Theo for the Leah and Justin connection. So I would axe Rose, Bree, Eden, Theo, Tane, Harper, Levi, Abigail and Cash, and replace them with families and younger characters. It might make sense to keep characters with a purpose (i.e. a doctor or a police officer), but I struggle to see those exisiting characters fitting into a show with a bigger family focus.

If the school is reintroduced, we would need a teacher, so maybe Remi, Kirby, Mali or Mac can reveal they completed a teaching degree prior to arriving in Summer Bay. It honestly wouldn't be the worst retcon in recent years and would at least have a long-term gain for the show. It would also make more sense logistically to use an existing characters in the high school rather than to axe so many characters in an age group to introduce new ones for the role a teacher. 

If the show needed to round out a teen gang, maybe Mali could take on responsibility for a younger cousin or mentor a young River Boy onto the straight and narrow. 

Summer Bay House: I'd then introduce a recast Duncan as a single dad, having just lost his wife, and three children: his son Bryce, and two-step children from his late wife. Alf would have a large family to play granddad to, giving him a greater purpose as the show's patriarch, and make Summer Bay House the central family home again. With Emily Weir seemingly in it for the long haul, I'd also introduce a slow burn romance between Duncan and Mackenzie, with them eventually getting married and maybe even having a child of their own. I would then either axe Roo or move her into her own place (see below). 

John and Marilyn: I'd reunite them and introduce a foster child for them too. It is still one of the most baffling decisions as to why they even split up in the first place, since neither have developed as individual characters since. Aside from the odd storyline (Stunning Organics, the Heather stuff), she's pretty much just floated around the Diner and Summer Bay House. John has done even less in the last 5 years! If the producers deem them too old to be foster parents, maybe John's grandchild via Shandi could lob on his doorstep in the same way Seb did to Fisher or Ryder did for Alf, but I'd save the grandchildren aspect for Alf and Irene (see above and below!). 

Roo Stewart - As much as I like Georgie Parker as an actress, she's wasted and underused in the role of Roo, so she could easily be written out to be honest. I imagine losing her would also increase the cast budget and with Duncan and family around, she wouldn't be needed as family for Alf. If they were to keep her, she would need to be made principal of the high school and move into her own place. It would be hard for Roo to become a main parent/guardian given how much time Georgie Parker has off though. 

Irene: There are two options for Irene - make her a supporting older character with no family (similar to how Colleen was for many years) or you bring in her grandchildren. Irene has been around for so long now that the former could work - she would just be on the peripheral of the Palmers or Justin and Leah's family, in the same way Colleen was for the Sutherlands and Sally and Flynn. Alternately, you've got her grandchildren. We've got Paul and Mark who haven't been seen yet, who could become lodgers at Irene's. If Paul, Mark or Finn's subsequent children were introduced, I'd make them a teacher, police officer or a doctor. It might seem too much to have Alf, John and Irene all suddenly have grandchildren around, but that's what happens when you have an aging stalwart cast who might be past becoming serious foster parents. Nathan's family would likely be teenagers or younger at the moment, so I'd probably keep them in reserve for when a full nuclear family is needed. 

Justin and Leah - two characters I wouldn't be sad to axe, but as the younger stalwarts, it makes sense to keep them on, perhaps even more so than John and Marilyn. They could look into official fostering or maybe expand their family with maybe Leah's nieces and nephews (we still have Alex and Chris' families who haven't been explored!) in the first instance. Theo could stick around for a transitional period and perhaps even act as a big brother while the newcomers settle in. With Danny Raco working behind the scenes, it might make sense to start with Alex's family if Danny is willing to make the odd appearance on the other side of the camera. 

[j.laur5]

2 hours ago, adam436 said:

 

Roo Stewart - As much as I like Georgie Parker as an actress, she's wasted and underused in the role of Roo, so she could easily be written out to be honest. I imagine losing her would also increase the cast budget and with Duncan and family around, she wouldn't be needed as family for Alf. If they were to keep her, she would need to be made principal of the high school and move into her own place. It would be hard for Roo to become a main parent/guardian given how much time Georgie Parker has off though. 

 

Since Roo  be back she be having more to do and her character personality brings lot energy to show. 
 

I be happy to keep all 7 mainstays for as long as possible!. 
 

I don’t count Mackenzie as mainstay yet even though she be around longer then most but I count people as mainstay once they hit ten years and Justin almost ten years so include him as 7 mainstays. 

[atrus]

3 hours ago, adam436 said:

The show seems to shy away from LGBT storylines (I'm not sure whether this is down to the current producers or Channel 7/Channel 5 though!)

 I'll narrow it down: it isn't Channel 5!

3 hours ago, adam436 said:

Here would be my solution: 

I might be tempted to tweak the details here and there, but broadly speaking I think this is exactly what needs to happen - what has been crying out to happen. It seems so obvious that it would improve the show enormously to have a wider diversity of character ages again and to put the 'legacy' cast at the centre of families. Then it essentially doesn't matter how many weeks a year the likes of Irene and Alf do on the show in the years to come - but when they are rostered on, they can be guaranteed involvement in something meaningful.

To add to the above, we surely need to kill off Martha offscreen at this point, don't we? I've never heard of a married couple of that age living in different towns and commuting to see each other (or rather, Alf commuting to see Martha, because she sure never returns the gesture ). I know currently it provides an excuse for Ray to have a break every now and then, but as far as Alf the character is concerned it feels deeply unsatisfactory. I guess you can argue it works for them, but... apart from anything I'm bored of hearing about the constant to and fro. He has plenty other relatives he could go and see as an excuse for a write-out, or Sally, or Don Fisher.

[hapitoby]

There's still quite a bit they can do with the older cast. Ryder and Theo were great additions for Alf, Roo and Leah. It's a shame Ryder was let go. I thought he was a character that could hang around for ages as he still had a lot the could do with him. They could have still brought him back as a guest now and again. Same with VJ. Andrew was also another good albeit brief addition for the family unit with Leah and Justin..and they could always bring Ava in more too.

Roo does seem unfertilised...I'm glad she's doing more with the Surf Club but she should have done more with the school or working in this Youth centre with Harper and Tane, yet we didn't see that at all. It was just to introduce Perri, unfortunately. It'll also give Harper more of a purpose if they brought this aspect back. It's a good way to introduce younger characters too without the school of the show really wants to distance itself from that, while maintaining the fostering or mentoring aspect of the show.

I'd prefer if Marilyn and John didn't get back together, as long as they give them something else to do. One of them could try a single parent fostering thing. It'll be nice to see Marilyn join another family unit. She's often been in long term relationships with older guys so it'll be nice to see her be with a guy her age or younger. Maybe a singular dad that moves to the bay and Marilyn has to navigate taking on another parental role with his kids. Heather wasn't the worse idea for a long list daughter for Marilyn - it was excited very, very poorly for a short term villian - similar with Mick for Irene. John could try single parent fostering or even have Shandi come back with children...or even he just has one or two grandchildren that he looks after.

Irene could leave the diner and start a new business, start a new relationship (it's been forever) or have one of her many grandchildren come to stay. Not sure her grandchildren but her ex foster children kids.