Soap bubble bursts

[jack4martha_forever]

Soap bubble bursts

2 August 2006

Herald-Sun

KARL goes to humiliating lengths to stop Susan's bombshell, Sky is frightened by a clairvoyant's predictions, and Janelle is led to believe that Karl has the hots for her.

So, what's this? you ask. A Neighbours plotline, what else?

Meanwhile at Summer Bay, Home and Away is also all hot and steamy.

"Belle is crushed when Ric demands she stay out of his life. Irene and Amanda's battle for Belle reaches an explosive climax," the plotline reads.

Ah, the world of the soaps. What would we do without them?

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting to the stage where I could do without one, and am becoming increasingly intrigued with the other.

In short, Home and Away has got me in, but Neighbours is badly in need of some fire in the belly.

In last week's ratings Home and Away had a national audience of 1.248 million, 360,000 of those in Melbourne and 356,000 in Sydney.

On the other hand, Neighbours attracted 883,000 nationally -- 236,000 in Melbourne and 239,000 in Sydney.

The Home and Away figure is still healthy, despite being down from the halcyon 1.4 million days of Bec and Lleyton.

But let's not beat around the bush, Neighbours should be doing better. A consistent one million viewers is there for the taking and it's not getting to them.

And when you watch it you can see why.

The show looks dull, the sets look dull, and I presume someone from Grundy forgot to pay the electricity bill because much of the time it appears to be shot in the half-dark.

In contrast Home and Away looks sharp, the dialogue is snappy, the kids look good and it moves along at a breathtaking speed.

Sure, there's not much credibility as characters lurch from one crisis to another, but it gets you in. Over on Ramsay St, it's all a bit lacklustre these days.

Stephanie McIntosh (Sky Mangels) has been everywhere of late, but that's thanks to her new CD.

Even her new Friday-night reality offering, The Steph Show, is designed to help the CD.

Thank the Lord for that, because with the departure of Natalie Bassingthwaighte there's been precious little Neighbours flog.

It's time someone at Ten sat down Neighbours' executive producer Ric Pellizzeri and whispered in his shell-pink that he should shake the tree.

New writers? I reckon. New look? Yep. Use more outdoor footage? Definitely. Decent music? Please. More pace? God, yes.

And a couple of new young faces who could genuinely act wouldn't go amiss, either.

If all that's not possible, maybe it's time for a new executive producer.

Certainly a couple of new directors would be a step in the right direction.

Neighbours still has plenty of life in her, and a consistent 1.1 million is a realistically achievable figure.

But for heaven's sake, let's get into it now before the old girl withers and dies.

It's still worth Ten persevering with Neighbours. There are still plenty of 6.30pm stories to be told.

And, for goodness sake, will someone pay that damned electricity bill?

[becky_lacey]

An interesting read! I am a fan of both Home and Away and Neighbours, but I think Home and Away has better storylines and people have better relationships in Home and Away!

[Libertin]

Neighbours sucks. Plain and simple. The sets might have been okay back in the eighties, but it's time to move on and revamp. Neighbours is supposed to be a great australian iconic soap and yet it looks as cheap as a high school amateur film.

Home and Away has a great look and mostly very decent actors but the storylines are getting really stupid and bad. I heard there're new writers now, I don't know if that's true, but that would explain how it's suddenly starting to go downhill.

Neighbours sucks, and Home & Away is probably going to suck just as much soon.

[Jamey-Maria]

^Lol, I wouldn't have been so blunt but that's pretty much what i was thinking. Where neighbours lacks, haa thrives and vice versa. If only haa could slow it down a tad regarding drama, not to neighbours pace (because that'd suck), but just a little i would love it a lot more. But that said,I still love haa and it can kick neighbours butt anyday!

[bella]

Hehe....I like Neighbours though it doesn't compare to H&A, in my opinion.

Thanks for the article...

[xGlowingAngelx]

I used to watch Neighbours, as it was on just before Home and Away, but lost interest after a couple of weeks, yet it's very rare I miss Home and Away. I think it's obvious which one I'd choose...

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I used to watch Neighbours, as it was on just before Home and Away, but lost interest after a couple of weeks, yet it's very rare I miss Home and Away. I think it's obvious which one I'd choose...

I agree,I only miss H&A in the UK occassionally if I have to go out, and I rarely watch Neighbours. Neighbours set needs updating as it is really grey and drab. Also, most of the younger characters can't really act and the storylines are really bad. Today is the first time I have watched Neighbours in weeks, and it is boring me already !. H&A in contrast always keeps me interested and entertained, and the writing and acting (especially by the younger cast) is great compared to Neighbours.

[zozalina]

I used to watch Neighbours, but now I really can't understand why. H&A is so much better - alright, it's not perfect, but I think it has more appeal.

[tonywilson]

Neighbours has always seemed like fluff when compared to Home & Away which always seems darker and more adult.

I think Neighbours is long past its sell-by-date, although it is more popular here in the UK than H&A.

[ste]

I agree with everything in the article except the thing about the sets - they were recently revamped and now look very modern. However they do all look kind of the same now (whoever redesigned them obviously didn't have many ideas). I do think they are too dark though.