Home and Away 'After Hours'?

[Miranda]

I watch Hollyoaks sometimes and they have some episodes shown late at night [i think they're called 'After Hours'], to show more adult subjects and themes. I wondered if it would be any good if Home and Away [or Neighbours too I suppose], did this as well. It might explain a few things if we saw more of what happened and it would give the writers and actors more of a chance to stretch their writing/acting muscles more. Anyone any views on this idea?

I thought this when the Martha/Cam storylines were going on. I can't believe they handled a story like that on a series rated U or PG!?! It was handled a bit too superficially, I thought.

[Mistified]

Yes, I agree that an After Hours approach would be interesting, and give them a bit more scope.

This should probably be in General Discussion.

[Miranda]

Yes, you are right. Could someone transfer it or can I transfer it myself?

[Liz]

Moved.

[slick_dude_5]

well originally the idea for the axed "Headland" was to be a 1 hour late night show once a week and would revolve around the lives of the characters attending the Uni in Yabby Creek (I THINK)... someone confirm if this is wrong.. but yeah originally headland was going to be a more adult spin-off.... but then became the summer replacement and bombed...

[Miranda]

Thanks for moving this Liz

Slickdude- that is very interesting! I saw Headland advertised but didn't think it was anything to do with H & A, so ignored it.

Another thing- they have a university in Yabbie Creek???!! How big is that place?!? But then again I can't believe they have a high school in Summer Bay

[-Andrew-]

No, I really dont want an after hours, the writers would change the charcaters based on what they think they could get away with, like hearing Sally saying 'f**k or something would be horrible. However, as the original pre watershed version of Zoes final revenge turned out so lame, maybe that episode would have benifited from a later timeslot, so they can show stuff, within reason (Zoes body close up, and her explaining in detail ,her relationship with Tracey) for example.

[emmasi]

^Most M rated dramas don't have a lot of swearing. Not to the "F Word" level anyways... I don't think you'd have them speaking much differently to what they normally would, but the things they'd be talking about would be more in depth, and probably more realistic. They'd be allowed to use the "R(-a-p-e) Word" for instance, and the "S(-e-x) Word" itself wouldn't be so shocking. They might even be able to use the "G(-a-y) Word" for more than two weeks!

lol, wouldn't that be fun? Watching two characters being "friends" all week, and then at 8.30 on a Thursday (yes, be gone you Bionic hussy!!) they start making out as if it was perfectly normal for them to do so? Ah that would be so confusing, yet so satisfying hehe.

On a darker note, I think that death and tragedy could be dealt with in a more serious way, with the characters being much more pained about it, rather than picking up and getting on with things, because that's the positive message to send. For some reason Dan's reaction to Peter's "death" is coming to mind. The way he broke down over Peter's body was just shattering to watch... but then there was nothing more to it. I suppose it would have been too distressing to see him actually trying to deal with emotions that intense in a G - PG program. But in an M rated one, we could have seen more of what he went through, and much more of how it felt for him to realise that it was all a cruel joke in the end. (Not literally a joke, but you know what I mean.) I still feel cheated about that.

[Miranda]

"lol, wouldn't that be fun? Watching two characters being "friends" all week, and then at 8.30 on a Thursday (yes, be gone you Bionic hussy!!) they start making out as if it was perfectly normal for them to do so? Ah that would be so confusing, yet so satisfying hehe."

Ha ha, yes that would be good.

I think I could cope with relationship issues, but maybe not with death and tragedy issues. I have been in tears more than once with some H & A episodes as it is e.g. Jude's girlfriend Charlotte losing her twin babies then drowning herself, and sometimes I don't watch the episodes if I know they're going to be sad e.g. Noah dying, Beth dying.

So really I'm arguing against myself But I suppose I can't have deeper relationship stuff and not have deeper tragedy stuff, so I shall stick by my original idea and say I would like some more adult H & A episodes, for better or worse.

[claire_louise]

I definitely think it would be useful for storylines like Dani's rape, as they could have handled it in more detail and it would have been clearer and more realistic as a result. But I'm not sure how 'adult' eps would fit in with the normal show. If they were a continuation of the daytime eps that would leave a lot of younger viewers with big chunks of the plot missing.