Do You Consider H&A A Soap Opera?

[jldraw]

I should start this off by saying I can't stand soap operas in the traditional sense. "The Young & The Restless", "General Hospital", "Days Of Our Lives" and "As The World Turns" could just as easily put me to sleep as a night at the opera. In fact around a year ago I tried tuning into Y&R to catch a glimpse of Tammin Sursok and I barely made it through the episode. The storylines and the characters of these traditional soaps are just so heavy and melodramatic that the action just drags along at a snails pace.

H&A however is something very different to me. It's easily the best television program that I've ever watched that has the "soap opera" banner attached to it which leads me to wonder is H&A a soap in the truest sense of the word? Although it airs five days a week instead of once a week like a traditional sitcom/drama, I think H&A holds more in common with successful American teen dramas such as "The OC" and "90210" than it does with traditional soaps.

The action moves at a much quicker pace and the overall tone of the show seems to be far lighter than traditional soap operas. It also seems that more emphasis is placed on character development instead of jumping from one melodramatic storyline to the next. Personally I've always felt that H&A belongs more in the teen drama genre than it does in the soap opera genre and I'd even go so far to say that H&A was the first teen drama ever as it actually two years older than the original "90210".

I mean the basic premise between H&A when it first started and the original "90210" was basically the same and that was they were both television programs based around young actors. Both shows featured a core cast of young actors who were supported by a small cast of older actors (90210 had Jim, Cindy and Nat and H&A had Pippa, Tom, Alf and Donald) but the majority of the storylines revolved around a young cast of teenage-twentysomething actors. Soap operas in the United States at the time when H&A started production still mostly revolved around actors in their thirties and forties.

So I guess my question to the group is in what genre do you think H&A truly belongs and also how does it fare against the other shows in that genre?

Thanks for your time

[alexx]

I mean the basic premise between H&A when it first started and the original "90210" was basically the same and that was they were both television programs based around young actors. Both shows featured a core cast of young actors who were supported by a small cast of older actors (90210 had Jim, Cindy and Nat and H&A had Pippa, Tom, Alf and Donald) but the majority of the storylines revolved around a young cast of teenage-twentysomething actors. Soap operas in the United States at the time when H&A started production still mostly revolved around actors in their thirties and forties.

I agree that I dont see Home and Away as a soap opera, especially when comparing it to those American shows or even the UK soap operas. However I dont think you could class it as the first teen drama because actually when the show first started it was much more of a family orientated show and it wasn't just Tom, Pippa, Alf and Don - it was also Ailsa, Celia, Floss, Neville and later Morag all above the age of 45 and got equal amount screen time as the teenagers did espeically in the first 2/3 years of the show - during the 90's the show started skewing towards a younger demographic, but I'd say it really started becoming more of a teenage drama within the last 5/6 years, and much more predominantly since 2005.

But yeah I see H&A as more of a drama series - for a start it has location scenes, and lots of them, compared to the USA soaps which are ALL studio based and feel very fake and claustrophobic. H&A also has specially scored music for each episode and is shot in HD which gives is a much more 'film-like' feel, the pace of the show is more like a drama too. I'd say the earlier years felt more like a soap though I think that started changing come 1994/1995 when it took on a more pacey direction in terms of storytelling and production values.

[devon]

It's as soapy as they come, imo. Full of OTT cliff-hangers, dodgy dialogue, even dodgier acting, regular murder mysteries, unlikely romances etc...

Entertaining stuff, still.

[ebrett84]

I think a problem is that the people in charge aren't sure whether they want H&A to be a drama or a soap. It seems that they want to be taken seriously as a drama, but when people treat it as such and complain about continuity, plot holes etc. it's "hey, chill out, it's just a soap".

[MTerry]

I consider it to be a soap, but maybe not in the truest sense of the word. As some of you mentioned, US soaps are so far out there I usually spend more time laughing than being intrigued when I watch them. I think H&A is more moderate. My impression is that in the US, it doesn't have to follow any logical strain, as long as it is shocking. I feel Home and Away is more down to earth, at least a little.

That being said, we are in a small, Australian coastal town where there are fires, murders, armed robberies, hit and runs, helicopter crashes, fires, rapes, abductions and you name it, happening by the second. It's overly dramatic, insanely unlikely, and I think that's why we love it. It's rarely boring.

Also, I think H&A, like most other soaps, mostly stick to a very conservative pleasing character base, with white, heterosexual characters. Just look at the fuss over those little pecks between Joey and Charlie. Some people went off the railing over it. Same thing happened in the US when Guiding Light showed a lesbian relationship as well. I think they give in too much to conservative groups, and give everyone else who have better things to do that get hung up on it, too little credit. They want to make it as little provocative as they can, and sadly, some people today think it's more family friendly with people dying in fires and getting run over by cars, then for two people of the same sex kissing each other.

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm not sure what a soap opera in the "truest" sense of the word is;I checked the dictionary definition and it seems to describe at least 25% of drama series, probably more.But I'd say Home and Away is a soap opera.I've never really followed a US soap opera but they seemed to be somewhat trashy and low brow.The Australian soaps seem to strike a middle road between those and the more realistic and somewhat dourer UK soaps.Home and Away's probably closest in tone to the two ITV soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale, despite the vast difference in the average age of the cast:A nice mix of the serious and the light-hearted.

My own definition of a soap opera would be an ongoing series where the characters' personal lives are the focus rather than the job they do:Home and Away might include a police station and a hospital but isn't about them, it's about a town and the people that live there, even if it is skewed slightly towards the teenagers and their parents(although not as much as it was in the late '90s when the 18-30 age group seemed to be completely absent).I'd accept teen soap but not teen drama, I think that suggests too narrow a focus.

[alreetlike]

I think of it as a soap opera.. and the only one I like. I especially hate UK soaps. Eastenders and Coronation Street are both horrendous.

[alexx]

devon

It's as soapy as they come, imo. Full of OTT cliff-hangers, dodgy dialogue, even dodgier acting, regular murder mysteries, unlikely romances etc...

But you could argue that all of those elements feature heavily in drama series and even films. Crime films, romantic comedies, action films..etc

I think for me, other than Neighbours, which I do see as a soap opera, the soaps that come out of other countries, and countries the soap originated from, dont interest me at all, I find them to be so mundane and unexciting, and too realistic in some cases, (like Coronation Street), that I find it very hard to get into the flow - its kitchen sink drama at its best/or worst.

I think from a production angle it has every standard of quality a drama series has, i.e the way it is filmed, the music, lighting etc Id say the current H&A holds more elements resembling drama series than it does soap - when comparing it to the likes of soaps Coronation Street or Days of Our Lives, and drama series, Cold Feet or All Saints, it definitely seems closer to the latter, to me what separates a soap to a drama series are the production values taking them into account I'd say currently, it appears to be 65% drama series and 35% soap.

[DinerLandlord]

It is a soap, it just has it's own style. It doesn't have to follow the US or UK models of what a soap opera is. It has a faster pace than any US soaps (they just drag everything out for ages), but it isn't as gritty as UK soaps (which is probably just because of broadcasting laws in Australia).

You should see the South American soaps - now there is ridiculous drama. They make Sunset Beach look realistic.

[devon]

It's as soapy as they come, imo. Full of OTT cliff-hangers, dodgy dialogue, even dodgier acting, regular murder mysteries, unlikely romances etc...

But you could argue that all of those elements feature heavily in drama series and even films. Crime films, romantic comedies, action films..

That's true. Twilight is like a Soap Opera...so too is Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy.

Why Home and Away is classed as a Soap Opera (and will never escape this) is all because it's on everyday.