Anyone else noticed that H&A has actually improved since Dan B?

[jellow]

his storylines were very unrealistic, repeative (always the same storylines over and over) and lame.

example of repeative storylines are the cancer and psychio (one after another) storylines.

its just my opinion of course feel free to post yours

[-Andrew-]

Yep, I hated Dan's era of the show with a passion (2006, 2005 was quite good). I cringed my way through most of 2006 with all the crap that kept popping up. It turned into sunset beach, but now there are faaaaaar less disasters. 2006 would have atleast 2 a week and the hospital was used in every episode.

[Roccoluver]

In my humble opinion, which isn't so humble, I feel Dan B period is better than the current one, sure there were heaps of disasters but the characters where more likable to me, I take it Rocco was Dan b creation? I love Rocco but that's beside the point, I'm really not liking where HAA is going at the moment, I'm not sure why actually. Although at least Beth death has been forgotten by the next week, which annoyed me about Dan B stuff, to much "Who cares about all these horrible things lets just act like they didn't happen".

[John A]

(Please forgive my having forgotten the actor's names - Five squashes them so small that I can't read them)

Home and Away has always veered between great and terrible but the last 6 months have really struggled and maybe that is because Dan B left. The Kelli-Amanda storyline has run months longer than it should have, killing off Beth was unnecessary and it is quite upsetting to watch poor Mattie brutalised by one crisis or departure after another! Then there are the bizarre attempts to inject comedy like the bowling tournament or the nude calendar that jar against the endless misery around them.

At its best Home and Away is funny, gripping or moving. But the writers are plainly worn out and a firm hand is needed.

It's not all gloom, Jack and Martha are two examples of actors who have really grown on the programme. The Cam storyline has some nice psychological depth, even though Cam's eyebrows are incredibly distracting.

It's much harder to write comedy than tragedy and when you get a little glimpse of how likeable and funny these characters can be played, it is hard to watch another week of misery.

But Home and Away is not exactly the top rung of a TV writer's career and anyone good will soon be on to bigger and better things. By the same coin, a lot of good young writers and actors get their first chance there, but you just have to be patient and wait for the next one to come along!

[simmins]

I disagree with you Jellow - most of the viewers, including myself (especially UK viewers) love storylines that are the cancer, psychio, crashed and any other tragady, that why we tune into H&A.

[alexx]

I’d say in some regards its improved but all in all, I actually think I preferred Dan B’s era…especially 2005. I just feel they dealt with my favourite half of the cast 100% better than the current writers do – we had Irene’s custody battle, Irene being so poisoned she was forced down with straps having needles thrust in her as she screams ‘It was him!!!’, the Irene Barry stuff, the whole Sally/Flynn saga of 05 and 06, Sally, Rocco and Johnny which reached an amazing peak into this year, the introduction of Rachel and all the storylines involving her including her meltdown after the death of her mum and Kim being ‘Lost’… the Mumma Rose finale (the one with the white house and Tasha pushing her out of the window) – that was my favourite ‘sequel’, the original Stalker storyline, finally making Sally a major character rather than the background ‘backbone’ she had been since pretty much forever…

Now that’s not to say there weren’t some boring and tedious stuff going on, but the biggest gripe we had was that once the storyline had ended, that was the last we heard of it, and the characters just went on with their lives as if nothing had happened…I’d say with the exception of Sally and Rachel. But the show was so fast paced and there was little character development going on…

…Now, in my opinion, the major thing we were all a peeved with was the lack of character development and continuity…and in my opinion, I don’t see that it has changed all that much, in fact the writers have changed some of my favourites characters, and not for the better…which is poor continuity.

I don’t think the writers know how to write a good character based show, they miss far too much out. They could have done such an amazing few weeks of emotional drama with Beth’s death storyline, but it turned out to be so crap and I just think in general the writers have stayed in the routine of disaster happens, without good sufficient follow through.

[claire29]

I’d say in some regards its improved but all in all, I actually think I preferred Dan B’s era…especially 2005. I just feel they dealt with my favourite half of the cast 100% better than the current writers do – we had Irene’s custody battle, Irene being so poisoned she was forced down with straps having needles thrust in her as she screams ‘It was him!!!’, the Irene Barry stuff, the whole Sally/Flynn saga of 05 and 06, Sally, Rocco and Johnny which reached an amazing peak into this year, the introduction of Rachel and all the storylines involving her including her meltdown after the death of her mum and Kim being ‘Lost’… the Mumma Rose finale (the one with the white house and Tasha pushing her out of the window) – that was my favourite ‘sequel’, the original Stalker storyline, finally making Sally a major character rather than the background ‘backbone’ she had been since pretty much forever…

Now that’s not to say there weren’t some boring and tedious stuff going on, but the biggest gripe we had was that once the storyline had ended, that was the last we heard of it, and the characters just went on with their lives as if nothing had happened…I’d say with the exception of Sally and Rachel. But the show was so fast paced and there was little character development going on…

…Now, in my opinion, the major thing we were all a peeved with was the lack of character development and continuity…and in my opinion, I don’t see that it has changed all that much, in fact the writers have changed some of my favourites characters, and not for the better…which is poor continuity.

I don’t think the writers know how to write a good character based show, they miss far too much out. They could have done such an amazing few weeks of emotional drama with Beth’s death storyline, but it turned out to be so crap and I just think in general the writers have stayed in the routine of disaster happens, without good sufficient follow through.

I liked how DB wrote the Sally and Flynn saga, and the 2005 season. This year has been OK, I have enjoyed the Will Sally Survive 2007 along with Beth's death and the consequences for Tony, Mattie and the families. However, I have not enjoyed some of the teen based storylines this year.

[Ryan]

I always felt that a mistake Dan made in a few of his major storylines is that he let us know before the people in the bay. For instance, we knew for 2-3 weeks that they were all alive in the bush. or that fact that we've known for 4 months that Kelli is out to get Amanda.

I always felt Dan had a few very good periods sandwiching some rather mediocre periods.

[Zetti]

I liked the season but it was boring after a while.

[I love music]

I’d say in some regards its improved but all in all, I actually think I preferred Dan B’s era…especially 2005. I just feel they dealt with my favourite half of the cast 100% better than the current writers do – we had Irene’s custody battle, Irene being so poisoned she was forced down with straps having needles thrust in her as she screams ‘It was him!!!’, the Irene Barry stuff, the whole Sally/Flynn saga of 05 and 06, Sally, Rocco and Johnny which reached an amazing peak into this year, the introduction of Rachel and all the storylines involving her including her meltdown after the death of her mum and Kim being ‘Lost’… the Mumma Rose finale (the one with the white house and Tasha pushing her out of the window) – that was my favourite ‘sequel’, the original Stalker storyline, finally making Sally a major character rather than the background ‘backbone’ she had been since pretty much forever…

Now that’s not to say there weren’t some boring and tedious stuff going on, but the biggest gripe we had was that once the storyline had ended, that was the last we heard of it, and the characters just went on with their lives as if nothing had happened…I’d say with the exception of Sally and Rachel. But the show was so fast paced and there was little character development going on…

…Now, in my opinion, the major thing we were all a peeved with was the lack of character development and continuity…and in my opinion, I don’t see that it has changed all that much, in fact the writers have changed some of my favourites characters, and not for the better…which is poor continuity.

I don’t think the writers know how to write a good character based show, they miss far too much out. They could have done such an amazing few weeks of emotional drama with Beth’s death storyline, but it turned out to be so crap and I just think in general the writers have stayed in the routine of disaster happens, without good sufficient follow through.

I think it's easier to develop characters in an actual story rather than a script. (eg Maeve Binchy's book Circle of Friends is a thousand times better than the movie). I can't help developing characters when I'm writing a fanfic, whereas writing conversation after conversation (as in scriptwriting) is very restrictive.

I'm not making excuses for the writers, just pointing out the limitations. For instance, a script could only have:

Sally (sadly): I wish I remembered my own Mum.

But a story could have: "I wish I remembered my own Mum," Sally said wistfully, fighting back the tears. Maybe it was silly now she was all grown up, but she still felt a pang of envy whenever people talked about mothers. Oh, Pippa had been everything to her and more, but Pippa hadn't been her real Mum and Sally would always wonder about those first three years of her life...

By the way, whoever wrote the Johnny Cooper episodes, that was a great storyline!