Lila_Q

Oh, I remember now. It was the day before Colby was arrested. To be honest I'm not surprised that they didn't say anything. Tane stole a van full of drugs. I would keep quiet as well.

When The Paratas came to the Bay, nobody was after them. They didn't want people to know that Mikaere was killed while robbing the store and that Ari was in jail so that people wouldn't turn against them as they did in the last town they lived in. They were also wrongly accused of the Diner robbery by Colby who only went after them because he was jealous of Ari and Mac. Colby was already in jail by the time Leon and Paul were after Tane. To answer the initial question, every new River Boys storyline is pointless. They had a good run with the Braxtons and should've left it with that. For me dragging them back every time they need criminals and drama is ridiculous, however, there are many fans on social media getting excited for the River Boys return - so TPTB cater to that audience. The only thing they've achieved with this storyline was that they went full circle with Felicity's character making her basically what she was when she came to the Bay. I had a blast reading people's comments and theories. People were desperate for Rory to be an undercover cop and for Devlin to be in the gang when it was obvious from the start that Rory was a villain.

The popularity of the character or storyline can't be measured by people commenting on this forum or social media. Out of all members/ followers, only a handful actually comment. That's why I find polls more reliable, people vote and move on, and don't open themselves to potential arguing with people who disagree. The Facebook poll showed that about 70% of people voting liked Harper and Tane together. This surprised me as judging by comments I thought the majority of people disliked them, but then as I said, most people who participate in polls don't ever comment. It's the same with Tane, Mac and Eden, judging by the people's comments on social media, one would think that they're currently the most despised characters, yet they all ranked high on the poll. Anyway, the results of this poll are pretty much what I expected. I had fun going through the results and remembering some characters who left the show long ago. Thank you for organising it this year.

I think that the show has changed because teenagers stopped watching. All the kids that I know don't watch TV at all, just streaming services. Also in one interview, Shane (John) said that they constantly needed to have high drama/ action storylines because they had to compete with other channels. If you look at TV programs it's either reality shows (high drama) or TV shows (a lot of drama, crime and action).

In my opinion, the reasoning behind the change is that high school kids are not the main audience anymore. When I was in high school everybody in my class was watching H&A, nowadays I don't know anyone younger than 25-ish who is watching. If the main audience is older, their characters and storylines have to mirror that. I'm constantly winging on this forum about how bad the writing is. It is not that storylines are repetitive, but the actual writing is so bad, that I feel like the writers are insulting our intelligence. The fact is that H&A still gets high enough ratings and gets companies to advertise to stay at the 7 pm slot, not to mention that in the last few years they won Logie for best drama, so I don't think that anything will change any time soon - if it's not broken don't fix it.

Robbo and Tori. I liked Christian and Tori and I'm glad that her character got a happy ending (even though I found her annoying at times), but I liked the friendship/ connection between her and Robbo. I think that they would've been the end game if Jake didn't decide to leave. I felt that they threw Jasmine in the mix just to create drama and a love triangle, I never really bought their love story.

Sophie's got endometriosis which makes her stomach bloated and it's very painful (hence looking uncomfortable). https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/home-and-away/sophie-dillman-home-and-away-endometriosis-battle-71893 https://www.newidea.com.au/home-and-aways-sophie-dillman-inside-my-health-battle

Rebecca is doing very well in Hollywood, tbh I would find it surprising if she actually came back. I think the actors don't want to shun the show so they always say they would consider returning but they never do.

Kristy Wright just ranted about a new character named "Chloe" on her Instagram: "Hey @homeandaway! I hear there is a new “Chloe” joining the show? Strange choice in Character name considering I played Chloe for 5 years. Have you run out of names or did you just forget? I mean I know my Chloe is dead and can’t return but it would have been nice of you to have allowed me to keep “Chloe” as my own legacy. Especially after 5 years of putting my heart and soul into a character. I’ve got to say... it kinda sucks. Oh well" "Am I crazy to be pissed off about this? I know it was a long time ago... but Chloe is a MASSIVE part of who I am and my history. And I feel like she’s been stolen from me. Like my Chloe meant nothing. I’m really upset." https://www.instagram.com/p/CLx1crHgX-i/

Mac said that she paid off the debt for the restaurant, however Rick was still paying for the car. So the car might be rented and Rick was paying for it, or its his car but Mac is driving it. Either way it doesn't legally belong to Paul even though Mac made a deal. I think that was the moment Tane realized he was falling for Ziggy. Until then he thought he was helping her because he owed her.

I think that Ari feels responsible for the way Tane turned out. I remember Ari telling Mac that Tane was the best student and well behaved kid until he went to jail. When he got out Tane was completely different person. He is aware that he and Mikaere were bad role models and now has no other choice but to back him up - he's the only brother he's got. Tane said that he was young when Ari and Mikaere moved to Australia, so I assume he's joined them maybe after finishing high school, however I would like to know where their parents are. I actually like seeing them get along.