Teenagers

[Little Lilly]

I loved teenagers like Nick Smith, he was always getting into trouble but was having fun. he seemed much more real than the ones they have today. Today the story lines they give to teenagers dont seem to go much further than sex, drinking and drugs. They used to be about having fun, friendships, getting into trouble and whole lot of other stuff. I know teenagers have sex and get drunk, but that isnt what all teenagers do, and we dont do it 24/7. I think they concentrate too much on couples, and forget about friendships, forget about friendship groups and also forget that teenagers dont think about sex and alcohol all the time. watching Nick and Jade and the old crowd and the older eps has really brought it back to me how much more real the teens were back then. Todays teens are so unreal.

[sunshine girl]

Yes they are unreal. Its not just them though. They are so wrapped up in the couple phenomenon they forget about friendships. Sally and Leah are best friends though you would never know it these days. Unless some one is one half of a couple they drop off the radar as far as the writers are concerned and when they are a couple its about sex and betrayal. Which is rather boring after the 29th time.

[princess.sparkle]

Yeah I agree, watching the 'early years' and then the current episodes there is quite a contrast. Today's show is too focused on drama that all the 'normal' stuff, the friendships etc are just ignred or only used when it suits the storylines. I mean back then they had Sally, Leah, Shauna and Gypsy who were all great friends eventually and who you got to see a lot of scenes with, those friendships weren't ignored when suited, the same thing applies to Nick, Seb, Kirsty and Jade, who had real chemistry and actually hung out together as friends, then there was Jude and Flynn, Don and Alf, Rhys and Alf, Brodie and Dani etc- there were so many great friendships that you could relate too that seem to be missing now.

One thing in recent times that I absolutely hated was the way Kim, Robbie and Tasha's friendship was completely tossed aside as soon as Jack/Martha arrived. When Rob and Tash asked Jack to be God-Father to Ella ahead of Kim it pretty much summed it up for me. I just couldn't imagine them actually doing that, especially in light of what Kim had been through with Baby Noah. That was a trio that I loved and really believed in as friends and they go and do that .

In the current episodes I honestly can't think of any great friendships, I mean take Lucas and Ric, they could have built up and maintained a great friendship between the two but instead they put Drew in in Lucas' place just to suit the storylines. With Cassie and Mattie I honestly can't remember the last time they actually just hung out without any major dramas going on. Then there's cassie/Martha who are apparently supposed to be really good friends- except I think someone's forgotten to tell them .

[Daisyap]

One thing that I find unrealistic is the huge serious relationships they have at the age of 15/16. I can't say I knew anyone with serious relationships like that the whole time I was at school. The person they're with at the age of 16 is always 'the one'!

[Josiebel]

So true. Teenagers do spend time with their friends, have girls nights out, boys nights, they hang out in mixed groups, they do things other than in couples. It is never that intense except in teenage girls magazines. It makes teenagers look like mindless idiots.Whatever happened to stories around friends or around kids and their families? Its all about couples these days.

[carmelle]

One thing in recent times that I absolutely hated was the way Kim, Robbie and Tasha's friendship was completely tossed aside as soon as Jack/Martha arrived. When Rob and Tash asked Jack to be God-Father to Ella ahead of Kim it pretty much summed it up for me. I just couldn't imagine them actually doing that, especially in light of what Kim had been through with Baby Noah. That was a trio that I loved and really believed in as friends and they go and do that .

^^I totally agree with you. I never understood that. Jack and Martha were much older than Robbie and Tasha to start with and them forgetting Kim like that was so untrue to their characters. It made me so angry at the time. Now I've just given up on having a storyline that isn't somehow related to Jack and Martha.

I never understood the Ric and Luc friendship either. What looked set to be a good friendship changed when Drew arrived on the scene. Since then Ric's friend has been who ever suited the story more (Drew or Luc) and even then it usually has something to do with being in a relationship.

Of course teenagers go out and have relationships, but most teenagers if not all hang out with friends just as much, if not more. One of the most important things in the life of a teenager is their friends and the time they spend together, having a laugh, getting up to mischief/getting in to trouble and just having a good time.

[Reo]

I prefer the friendships of the old rather than new teens..

Also I cant see Ric and Luc or any of the others stealing a traffic sign like Nick and Duncan did..Even if they are a few years older than them..I still couldnt see it if they were the same age..They treat the teens so much older than they are,they have just lost the typical teenage stuff and its all adult and relationships,just one after another.

Im enjoying watching the early years more than the current episodes,because of the storylines arent all death and destruction all the time.

I cant remember exactly what it was,but one of the early years episodes had a very simple ending and I was thinking while watching it that that would never happen in the current episodes because its always something really dramatic.

[celtgirl]

It's true, friendships and teenagers in the early years seemed a lot more true to life and didn't automatically go from disliking or hating each other to be best friends in a couple of episodes like they seem to do now. It took Bobby and Carly a good while to trust each other or be friends and even when they were, one of them might still say something cruel or they might have a falling out ( which is a lot more realistic). Roo basically stayed a bad girl throughout her time on the show (yet she still had some good moments that you'd sympathise with). They didn't fundamentally change her, like they did with Ric, and that's a good thing. It made it a lot more interesting to have someone like her, who wasn't a supervillain or crazed stalker, for other regular characters to get back at. No love triangle since has matched the Frank, Bobby and Roo one. Bobby and Roo's fights were classic, especially when Bobby figured out that Frank couldn't be Roo's baby's (Martha) father, due to how far along in her pregnancy she was. Classic stuff. They need to go back to basics.

[valli]

They say that change is good, but in this case that’s not true. The friendships back in the "old days" were so much better! Today they just ignore them. Mattie and Cassie never hang out unless there’s something dramatic going on. And like princess.sparkle said, Cassie and Martha are supposed to be so good friends, but it seems like someone forgot to tell them. You only see Cassie and Martha together when it has something to do with J&M. And I was really angry when I saw how Kim was pushed out of the picture when J&M came in. Maybe Jack got jealous of Kim because he has a better body, so he pushed him out of the picture? When Robbie and Tasha chose Jack over Kim as Ella’s God-father, they just proved that everything is about J&M or some teenage drama. And that’s annoying me

[freakybuffy]

I prefer the friendships of the old rather than new teens..

Also I cant see Ric and Luc or any of the others stealing a traffic sign like Nick and Duncan did..Even if they are a few years older than them..I still couldnt see it if they were the same age..They treat the teens so much older than they are,they have just lost the typical teenage stuff and its all adult and relationships,just one after another.

Im enjoying watching the early years more than the current episodes,because of the storylines arent all death and destruction all the time.

I cant remember exactly what it was,but one of the early years episodes had a very simple ending and I was thinking while watching it that that would never happen in the current episodes because its always something really dramatic.

I totally agree with everything you've just said. When was the last time Luc and Ric hung out playing pool or went for a surf? I can't remember the last time they did and thing together that didn't involved sex, alcohol and cars. Ok, yes that’s part of what teenagers do, but it’s not all they do. In almost all the early years episodes they are hanging out, whether it’s the Nick/, Jade, Kristy, Seb situation or a fun raising event for the drop in centre.

What also annoys me about the regular episodes is like Daisyap says someone at the age of 16-18 finds ‘the one’. Like Cassie, first it was Ric few weeks later it was Macca, then Ric again and now

Henk

Ok yes it does happen sometime, but not 4 times in the space of 18 months. And it’s the same with Martha, Jack and Sam. Why do H&A insist of doing this to us? At least before they got together and were happy the slowly grow apart, where as now they are

sleeping with married women, teachers, girlfriend’s mum’s etc…

I want to see some friendships/ relationships like the good old days.

Another thing that bugs me is the Gypsy/Will, Haley/ Scott/ Kim situations. I know they are different but it’s the way they have shown them. With Gypsy and Will, you could see real chemistry between them and also nothing was said baby the baby, then it just came out. But With the Haley/Kim Scott I could never see them together, to me it just felt like they all needed a storyline and this was the best they could come up with. Also who’s the daddy got mention in most episodes.

Anyway getting back to the topic, it’s about time; H&A got some new teens, to do some real teen things.

That’s my little rant over for today.