New-wave - old school

[alexx]

Just wondering when you guys think the new-wave of H&A fans became hooked? And when the old-school lot started phasing out?

I think it was probably around 2000 when the long time fans started phasing out, but the majority would be around 2003/2004. And that was probably when the new-wave came in. What do you reckon?

Once wide-screen was introduced (2001?) it seems there was a pretty big change on a production level, and it’s when the Sutherlands really came under the lime-light. It kinda felt like a stage in itself those 01-03. Whereas pre-2000 seemed to be pretty consistent in its direction from beginning up until that time, that’s the vibe I got from it. And now we have the 04-present from when HD was introduced (although that was mid-03) which has remained pretty similar in direction and on a production level, although I must admit it seems a lot more glossy these days.

[ste]

I hated when the Sutherlands became centre-screen and although I kind of liked them by the time they were being phased out, I'm still glad they're gone.

Obviously a lot of people loved them because they were huge parts of the show and to many fans they wouldn't remember any differently but to me they just weren't H&A and never will be.

I stopped watching in 2001 though I tuned in for big events like Morag's return and Shauna's kidnap, in 2002 I started watching again during the ferry disaster and all the old characters returning, and I got hooked again. But I know a lot of old-school fans stopped watching after 2000 and never came back.

There are always new fans tuning in so I don't think you can really identify one single "new wave" of fans.

[Tillybilly]

i think in the uk the majority of people tuned out when it changed channels to channel 5 because

1)channel 5 could not be received in a lot of households

2)we had to wait around 9 months i think it was for the changeover rights to be completed therefore 9 months without any home and away

3)itv is a more popular channel (statistically) than channel 5

i cant quite remember what the storylines were at that point.i wasnt really interested in it when danni etc were at uni and livin in the palace until the whole stalker came into it.i still watched occasionally hungover on a saturday mornin!

[alexx]

I thought 2001 was really boring, but I liked 2002 and some of 2003. But I basically kinda lost interest in 2003 when it went into HD, because it started changing so dramatically and it didn’t feel like the show I’d grown up with, it started reminding me of Blue Heelers, which I think is boring. The music all started changing aswell and it was really out of character for the show. Now I watch it in a completely different way, like a different show.

[c120701]

I think that the show began to lose it's way a bit after Pippa left, they moved Travis & Rebecca into the Caravan Park and Sally moved out, which lost a lot of history too quickly, and then the rest of the Nashes moved in and Travis & Rebecca moved out, which was a big change too quickly really. There was more upheaval at the heart of the show again as the Nashes broke up and Joel sold on - although it was handled brilliantly, bringing Pippa back to give her a proper farewell (as the previous one wasn't really), and the Sutherlands moving in seemed like a fresh start, with new furniture etc... However, 2001 and 2002 saw a major change in the show, and not for the better, the show sort of lost it's way and the loss of Ailsa, Donald and characters such as Vinnie, Will & Gypsy who had all been with the show longer than the 2-3 year norm, and whilst the sesquicentenary celebrations were great for bringing characters back again, it made people remember just what they were missing.

I think the 2004 finale and 2005 seemed to bring the show back to it's roots, a Fletcher in the Caravan Park and fostering becoming a much stronger part of the show again. We also had the token villain in the bay with Zoe/Eve - which we had in the early days with Dodge, and with then the development storyline the show really seemed to be picking up, however we had the never ending paternity storyline which by the time Hayley had the baby had become tired and most people had forgotten it was an offspring of the stalker storyline. Then we got to 2006 and whilst the cyclone was the typical 'Home and Away' disaster and Flynn's death was brilliantly handled, we then got lumbered with the Believer storyline which seemed to go on and on, and yet another development putting the bay at risk and another police investigation. From what I have heard of what has been going on in Australia, we have more repetition of last year and more relationship trouble, which is going back to the early 2000's faults. Hopefully the last 4/5 months of 2006 have more original storylines to offer in the true style of Home and Away.

[TabbyCool]

Hopefully the last 4/5 months of 2006 have more original storylines to offer in the true style of Home and Away.

I think the problem is that a lot of the people who want "old style" Home and Away basically expect the show to stay the same forever. Times change, people change, fashions change. The show has been going for a long time, we're onto the 19th season now, things are bound to change really.

Lately it seems that the scriptwriters have been too eager to jump from one major, dramatic storyline into the next without any time for a breather inbetween, which makes the show seem a lot less realistic than it used to be. It seems like the whole town always seems to be fighting against something, whether it be a construction company (how many of them have been around lately?!?), threats to close the school down, an evil stalker... anyway, I'm sure you all get my point!

These days I find that the younger characters are a lot less involved to an extent, I also find it harder to really get that bothered about them. I don't know if it's just because I'm older now, but I used to find the teenage characters a lot more interesting, people like Gypsy, Shannon, Chloe, Vinnie, Edward and Peta were far more interesting than Cassie, Luc and Matilda. Luc and Matilda don't really do much, I know they are going to have some storylines soon, but apart from Mattie's rebellious stint when she fell for Callan, the rest of her time on the show so far has been pretty uneventful. I've always liked Tasha and Robbie, they are more interesting characters than the other teenagers. I also like Belle and Ric, althouth I do hope Belle doesn't get watered down like Cassie did when she became a more regular character.

Maybe we just look at the old days through rose-tinted glasses, or maybe the show was actually better then. I do think there has been a tendency lately though to ignore a lot of the character development in favour of hurrying onto the next big scandal.

[alexx]

Hopefully the last 4/5 months of 2006 have more original storylines to offer in the true style of Home and Away.

IThese days I find that the younger characters are a lot less involved to an extent, I also find it harder to really get that bothered about them. I don't know if it's just because I'm older now, but I used to find the teenage characters a lot more interesting, people like Gypsy, Shannon, Chloe, Vinnie, Edward and Peta were far more interesting than Cassie, Luc and Matilda. Luc and Matilda don't really do much, I know they are going to have some storylines soon, but apart from Mattie's rebellious stint when she fell for Callan, the rest of her time on the show so far has been pretty uneventful. I've always liked Tasha and Robbie, they are more interesting characters than the other teenagers. I also like Belle and Ric, althouth I do hope Belle doesn't get watered down like Cassie did when she became a more regular character.

It’s like all the teen characters of present are all clones of each other just going through different things – whereas the characters you mentioned above actually had different personalties that made each character unique in their own way – something that is definitely lacking at present. Peta was moral, but she had a short temper at times and a heart of gold, the actress wasn’t initially that great, but she made the character so believable after a few months and I loved her and Edward together, they were an awesome match. Edward was definitely quite different during his time in the Bay, I loved his character and his reactions to issues, and he was a very intelligent kinda guy and had a great repour with his on-screen mum and Donald Fisher.

The teen cast from 2003-onwards have been utterly boring, and I have no interest in them or the boring storylines, with the exception of a couple.

I would say we ARENT looking at old H&A through rose-tinted glasses, it really did have a lot more depth to it and you could actually believe that Summer Bay was a real town.

[TabbyCool]

Yeah, it used to be a lot more real than it is now. It seems that recently there have been far too many scandals and tragedies compared to the old days. I know there were always things like this back then too, like storms, Chloe's rape, Selina and the cult etc. but I'm sure there were actually times in between when things were pretty normal. The people of Summer Bay seem to have 1 drama after the next these days, it's crazy!