Is Martha given too much air time?

[Tasha]

The poor girl. Having to go all the way to Palm Beach, which i guess cant be that far from the City, i dont know, ive alwayz wondered though, just for a 10second scene Obviously Martha is in other scenes in that ep, and thats why she was there. Who were the two people talking about her?

As for there being too much of Martha, i guess thats because she is given the bigger storylines. And as someone said, her fans arent going to complain. I look forward to the Martha episodes everyweek But thats because im a crazy Jodi/Martha fan

[Mistified]

Dan, I know this isn't the appropriate forum, but how come you haven't been giving us any spoilers from your trip?? A new topic in the spoiler section with all you know therein would be very welcome

[bttb-rox!]

A spoiler thread where you can talk about the spoilers from Dan's trip has been set up in the spoiler section, Mistified .

I've always thought that Martha gets waaaay to much air time. She got quite a bit of airtime in 2005 with the car crash after the 4000th episode and with all the Corey buisness etc. but it's only been since mid 2006, that there seems to have been a huge increase. It can get a bit boring with nearly every other storyline being seemingly devoted to either Martha, or Martha and Jack and how they are not back together yet .

Jodi is a great actress and a wonderful person i'm sure, but there does come a time when a particular character gets more attension than the rest and i'm pretty sure that Martha is one of them. Alf, Colleen, Irene and Leah haven't had any storylines of real depth this year unless you include Alf's eye problems and Alex arriving...but they lasted for about two minutes!

I'd much rather see Martha have a couple of big storylines over the course of the year, instead of always having something to do. The Cam storyline did that to an extent I guess, with it being an ongoing storyline. But even then, she is still getting too much airtime IMO. I think the writers should have given her a bit of break after all the Rocket Club stuff to just let her settle back in, instead of immediately throwing her into the 'Do I still love Jack or not?' storyline.

I'm really hoping that 2008 is a calmer year for Martha, in terms of storylines. This year has just been one thing after another and it's getting a bit boring now .

[Dalby]

Everyone goes through a period of having loads of storylines focused around them, take the Sutherlands for example! Loved it when it was Dani, as she was like the only Sutherland I really really liked! So Martha's time to calm down for a bit will come! Im talking nonsense here, lol.

[claire_louise]

Everyone goes through a period of having loads of storylines focused around them, take the Sutherlands for example! Loved it when it was Dani, as she was like the only Sutherland I really really liked! So Martha's time to calm down for a bit will come! Im talking nonsense here, lol.

Yes, but there were five Sutherlands (not to mention Max, Dylan, Laura, Pete, Beth etc), so at least they weren't focusing on the one character the whole time. If you didn't like Rhys, for example, there weren't too many storylines that focused primarily on him. It was usually just one or two of them at the forefront at any one time, with the rest hovering in the background. But if you don't like Martha you're pretty much screwed at the moment!

[princess.sparkle]

She is definitely given way too much airtime, first there was the whole Jack/Martha marriage breakdown, then Ash, Then Cam/Rocket club stuff, and now there's the flat sharing thing, Martha/Jack thing and I can sense a whole lot of other stuff coming with Jack/Sam/Martha, and considering there are other way better actors at their disposal who are ridiculousy underused, I think the writers have an ongoing obsession with Martha that needs to be sorted out. Otherwise they may as well call it the Matha show and be done with it.

[ilovekateritchie]

I'm so sick of Martha, I forward (watch it back on PVR) everytime she opens her mouth. Nothing against Jodi, but GOSH they could honestly give Martha less screentime! And give people like Leah, Irene, Sally, Alf and Colleen more storylines.

[gmgirl]

Everyone goes through a period of having loads of storylines focused around them, take the Sutherlands for example! Loved it when it was Dani, as she was like the only Sutherland I really really liked! So Martha's time to calm down for a bit will come! Im talking nonsense here, lol.

Yes, but there were five Sutherlands (not to mention Max, Dylan, Laura, Pete, Beth etc), so at least they weren't focusing on the one character the whole time. If you didn't like Rhys, for example, there weren't too many storylines that focused primarily on him. It was usually just one or two of them at the forefront at any one time, with the rest hovering in the background. But if you don't like Martha you're pretty much screwed at the moment!

yeah but the point is they did focus on the one character the whole time - Dani But anyway my opinion is it's a fun soap, and soaps are all about the latest hot guy and hot girl - the 'it' people of the moment. So just accept it and move on. It's like people complain about the chaser. You know what you're going to get and if you don't like it, don't watch it.

[claire_louise]

Everyone goes through a period of having loads of storylines focused around them, take the Sutherlands for example! Loved it when it was Dani, as she was like the only Sutherland I really really liked! So Martha's time to calm down for a bit will come! Im talking nonsense here, lol.

Yes, but there were five Sutherlands (not to mention Max, Dylan, Laura, Pete, Beth etc), so at least they weren't focusing on the one character the whole time. If you didn't like Rhys, for example, there weren't too many storylines that focused primarily on him. It was usually just one or two of them at the forefront at any one time, with the rest hovering in the background. But if you don't like Martha you're pretty much screwed at the moment!

yeah but the point is they did focus on the one character the whole time - Dani But anyway my opinion is it's a fun soap, and soaps are all about the latest hot guy and hot girl - the 'it' people of the moment. So just accept it and move on. It's like people complain about the chaser. You know what you're going to get and if you don't like it, don't watch it.

Just because we don't like a certain aspect of the show doesn't mean we don't like the show full stop. This is a forum for discussion, so to say 'get over it' or words to that effect isn't really contributing anything. Although I did say myself that soaps always have the golden girl and guy of the moment, so I agree with you there. But I don't agree that Dani was the sole focus of the Sutherland family's storylines. Yes, she was the show's big star at the time, but they gave just as much time to Kirsty. Plus they had Bec Cartwright in the show at the same time, so that took the limelight away from Tammin quite a lot. Jodi seems to get even more screen time than 'golden' characters usually do, which doesn't seem fair to the other actors or the viewers.

[stra gilr]

Well said Claire_Louise. I think this has been a good debate.

The golden girl, guy, hot girl/guy characters argument does not hold much water with me. To be honest I think it is patronising to say to viewers something like, " Well viewers, we know you are all shallow so we will just put the hot looking guys and chicks on the TV for you, we won't bother you with quality acting, or quality drama, because possums we know you would not really appreciate or understand it and more importantly the suits tell us it might be bad for the ratings." No one is saying get rid of Martha, but I think its pretty clear that most people think she gets more than her fair share of the air time, even people who love her to bits are conceding that point. Like a lot of other people I feel a bit cheated that better actors, and characters who are just as interesting, or would be if we ever saw them for more than 3 seconds a week, are not getting a look in. When you have an ensemble cast like Home and Away it upsets the equilibrium when one character gets too much story time at the expense of all of the others. It's not The Martha Show, though you would never know it these days.