Soap bubble bursts

[Emmadolly]

The only time i see neighbours is, if i'm over my mum’s house. Then i talk all the way through it, very lame and boring compared to home and away.

[claire@easypeasy.com]

I can't even be bothered with Karl and Susan anymore. I used to live for the day they'd get back together and now I don't even know if they have and I don't really care.

Same here! When they first broke up, I expected it to last a couple of months, and now it's lasted so long that I just lost interest.

I used to watch Neighbours, but now I don't and I love Home and Away. I do agree that H&A focuses on quicker, more dramatic, less deep and meaningful storylines, but in the end, that's what attracts people to it. Despite the fact that the stories for Neighbours are probably better written, I got bored of them being strung out over a long space of time, even though that makes them more realistic. (H&A tends to sometimes be annoyingly unrealistic).

The production values are also way better for Home and Away. Everything looks more carefully done, more expensive. Whereas, for example the Neighbours credits just look cheap.

I think that basically Home and Away is more idealistic and Neighbours is more realistic. In the end people don't want to be reminded of the problems/bad things they have in their lives. In my opinion, people watch soaps to ignore the stresses of their lives. E.g. Like how people read a book to be transported into a world that is not their own. Even though a lot of bad things happen in Summer Bay, the show still manages to hold a happy carefree feel, which I know attracts me because it make you feel happy. =) The setting of the beach also really helps. Everything looks nicer and brighter in Home and Away - the people/actors, the set, the settings and the credits. In contrast, Neighbours looks dull and boring. They don't have the advantage of a beachside location but they obviously need to do something to bring in the viewers.

Honestly though, I have nothing against Neighbours, and I don't think it's completely rubbsih, but it needs to be revamped.

I agree. Another example of this would be the Home and Away episodes 4000 and 4001 in particular, (and also the episodes after these). I cannot remember a single episode of Neighbours (even in the 80s /early 90s) which was as well written and as well acted as this one. The way the whole episode 4000 concentrated on how happy an occasion Alf's 60th was, only for the accident to ruin all of it. To have Chloe's present for Alf still sitting unopened, and the whole time we are expecting Martha to die, then Chloe does. That whole episode was brilliant, and even now, I never get bored watching it. There has never been a Neighbours episode in any way as good as these two H&A episodes in the 90s , or in more recent times either. This is one example of why H&A IMO is a much better show than Neighbours, and much classier.

[claire_louise]

^ Plus the eventual revelation that Jesse was the culprit. Not sure I agreed with it, but it was definitely a good twist!

[burr]

Even though Neighours is totally shoddy, and often dull, I don't think I'd agree with others who say the acting on Neighbours is worse - often I think it's better, although that's probably because they get to deal with more character-driven storylines. And I do think they deal with some issues far better - Sky, how she considered abortion (even if they didn't have they guts to have her go through with it) as opposed to the way they totally swept that issue under the carpet with Tasha. Also, how Max was unimpressed with a teenage wedding as opposed to the way people on H and A always thinks it's the very best thing that could happen. And at least university exists on Neighbours, whereas in the bay they seem to have totally forgotton tertiary education is an option for the young.

And one final thing: Izzy would whip Amanda's ass anyday, a better villian/vixen by a country mile.

[*dW*]

Dont know what they mean about neighbours lighting because the otherday susan,lynne and pauls house the lights were so dam bright. I can say the home and away sets look like a real life house were the neighbour sets dont look like anything real at all they look so fake.

[encouraging_angels]

Home and Away is the Best. I used to watch neighbours when i was little, but we though Today Tonight was better and soon loved Home and Away. i do flick over the chanels sometimes when the sport section of the news is on at 6, , I don't what neighbours even though I sometimes flick to chanel 10, From what I see, Neighbours seems dark, dingy, and alway yelling at screaming at each other! Home and Away is the Best.

[claire_louise]

Even though Neighours is totally shoddy, and often dull, I don't think I'd agree with others who say the acting on Neighbours is worse - often I think it's better, although that's probably because they get to deal with more character-driven storylines. And I do think they deal with some issues far better - Sky, how she considered abortion (even if they didn't have they guts to have her go through with it) as opposed to the way they totally swept that issue under the carpet with Tasha. Also, how Max was unimpressed with a teenage wedding as opposed to the way people on H and A always thinks it's the very best thing that could happen. And at least university exists on Neighbours, whereas in the bay they seem to have totally forgotton tertiary education is an option for the young.

And one final thing: Izzy would whip Amanda's ass anyday, a better villian/vixen by a country mile.

I actually agree with a lot of your points. Neighbours is often more realistic than H&A, but then again not everyone watches soaps for the realism. The fact that so many young couples get married and the way the writers often discard the characters' jobs/schooling because it gets in the way of storylines are two of the things that grate on me about H&A. For example, something that's annoying me at the moment is how Tasha gave up school to live with the Believers and has done absolutely nothing since she came home. What are she and Robbie living on, fresh air? It was the same with Kirsty - she finishing school and decided that she wanted to start a family, but nothing was ever mentioned about her getting a job. The characters that do go to university either drop out or seemingly never attend or even mention it.

As for the abortion issue, we haven't seen Sky's storyline over here yet, but I'll be interested to see how they handle it. I was pleased that abortion was at least thought about (albeit briefly) with Tasha, but I doubt either show will be brave enough to tackle the issue anytime soon. From a uk perspective this is hard to get your head around, as people are much more liberal about it over here. In fact there was an abortion storyline on Emmerdale just last week and no one so much as batted an eyelid. I hope that in the future Australians will begin to soften their approach as it would make for better, more realistic storylines.

And Izzy vs Amanda? No contest. Izzy is one of the best assets Neighbours have at the moment. It will be interesting to see if the show suffers once she's gone.