Home And Away

[jldraw]

First off I hope this is the appropriate place to post such a message and if it isn't I trust the moderators will find an appropriate place for it.

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I've been watching "Home And Away" on and off for around two years now. The phrase "on and off" should be taken quite literally as I'm American and therefore my only access to the show is through the internet and whatever is uploaded to YouTube or various "other places".

I first became interested in the show in an attempt to see some of the early acting work of Melissa George. As I was going through some of the early episodes of the show and those far and beyond Melissa's time on the show I began to discover how good this show really is. In fact after watching an array of episodes from 1988-2007 (I'm only up to the 2007 episodes right now) I think I can easily say this is one of the best teen orientated programs ever put together.

I'm aware that the original "Beverly Hills: 90210" has the distinction of being the first television program geared to a teenage audience but "Home And Away" actually has 90210 beaten by two years (H&A debuted 1988 and 90210 in 1990). Furthermore, I think at various times in H&A's history, they actually could've competed with any American teen drama and easily given any of them a run for their money. A good example of this would be the mid 90s where you had a cast of Isla Fisher, Tempany Deckert and Melissa George. That's a pretty solid cast right there and I'm not surprised at all that two out of the three went on to have successful careers in Hollywood.

I've always found it strange that the people behind the show (Seven Network is it?) has never tried to sell the show to the United States. We get a lot of Brit-coms over here and a lot of them are of a lower standard than H&A. Personally I don't find the Aussie humor that glaring that it would prove to be a great disconnect with American viewers. Characters like Alf Stewart and Colleen Smart translate very well at least for me. I also think the fact that a lot of the younger castmates have made transitions to the United States is proof enough that over the years H&A has produced some very charismatic and talented young actors.

I just wish the show was more available outside of Australia and the UK. Seeing a young Isla Fisher or even an actress like Isabel Lucas is a real kick. I really think the argument could be made that "Home & Away" is the best teen drama that half the world doesn't know about...in fact the only criticism of the show that I can think of in two years of downloading episodes is that they blatantly patterned the Ric Dalby character after "The OC's" Ryan Atwood...it's around the same time frame and just too much of a coincidence. Still it works well.

Hope to hear your thoughts.