Contacting TPTB on Twitter

[Jezz]

I'm a big Braxton fan but I'm also a long-term viewer of the show and I love watching the Early Years of Home and Away as well. At the moment, it's obvious that this is the 'River Boy' era, but it won't last forever, trust me. The show goes through phases and the River Boys are currently at the centre of it. I bet you people were complaining about the Sutherland family as they were the forefront of the show between 2000-2004.

First off: "you people"? I didn't realise we were a select group. Perhaps we should have T-shirts made and get a secret handshake?

I resent being labelled one of 'you people' because I've given the Braxton/River Boy storylines a fair go. I've suspended belief over and over again at the poor storytelling and the convenient plot points. Like how Cheryl Braxton changed personalities and only pops up for random family scenes. The way that Heath is all about 'Darce' one minute and then seems to conveniently forget her the next.

And not just them but Natalie is another random character. Gina has a problem so Nat is there to listen. She counsels both Sasha and Casey and doesn't see a conflict of interest there, especially when Sasha confides in her regarding a pregnancy scare.

Then you have Gina and John. How come they can eat in the diner or Angelo's so often especially when John lost so much money? Have we had a line of dialogue where John mentioned whether there is a court case or whatever regarding the embezzlement? Or even a comment from John about his other stepson, Trey. Remember him? The one John bullied so much he tried to blow up a bus. John obviously doesn't. And how come Trey was never mentioned when John and Gina were going through the fostering application to take care of Jett?

At the end of the day I'm not against the show because it is Braxton-centric, I'm arguing because I'm fed up of the poor storylines and storytelling. I want to sit down and spend my time watching something that entertains me, not that makes me depressed because there is so much more they could do in H&A. But as long as Braxton fans, whether teens or long term fans of the show keep telling them that they are doing a good job then we'll never get any real improvement.

I agree that continuity in the current show is poor, but I think a soap opera like Home and Away goes through good and bad phases. At the moment, some would say it's not in a great place, and that only a few characters stand out to them, but the rest are lacklustre. Characters come and go and so do writers and producers. I don't think it's necessarily the actors fault for the way they portray their characters.

To me it seems like you're more upset with the writers than anything else, and frankly it's hard to disagree with you, but don't give up the show though as it goes through good and bad phases as I said just now.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Here is a tweet I posted to the Home And Away twitter site. I mentioned I tweeted Louise and Lucy saying pretty much the same. Older characters get sidelined. H&A has become the EastEnders of Australia now with doom and gloom and gangster storylines.

@_HomeAndAway_ Hi, I have watched H&A since the start but now it is The Braxton Show. None are legends like Fisher, Alf, Pippa and Bobby.

A few online friends on Facebook who also like H&A and are friends with me on Twitter have posted similar comments on Twitter as well. One of them has watched H&A since it began like I have.

[Light of the Bay]

It's great that you're doing that. I think if they see that a lot of the audience want the older characters to have storylines and better storytelling in general, then they'll do something about it.

[Dan F]

Here is a tweet I posted to the Home And Away twitter site. I mentioned I tweeted Louise and Lucy saying pretty much the same. Older characters get sidelined. H&A has become the EastEnders of Australia now with doom and gloom and gangster storylines.

@_HomeAndAway_ Hi, I have watched H&A since the start but now it is The Braxton Show. None are legends like Fisher, Alf, Pippa and Bobby.

A few online friends on Facebook who also like H&A and are friends with me on Twitter have posted similar comments on Twitter as well. One of them has watched H&A since it began like I have.

That account is run by a fan, the only official one is http://twitter.com/summer_bay

But even then it's only run by publicity, who also run the FB account, so they won't be able to do anything about any comments.

[Light of the Bay]

I've only ever sent tweets to Louise Bowes or Lucy Addario since they are the only 'behind the scenes' people on twitter.

[cadyctslover]

^ I have a lot of respect for Louise for replying to the majority of our tweets, especially when they're critical of her work. I think she has listened, and is making an effort to balance the storylines and screen-time between the characters and the Braxtons. However there still needs to be a lot of work to actually make the show engaging once more.

Not that I've ever tweeted Lucy, but from what I have seen she's not into communicating with fans!

[Light of the Bay]

Yes Lucy rarely replies to anyone - even die-hard Braxton fans! She ususall just Retweets tweets from the Official H&A twitter page.

[TelephotoMarigold]

^ I have a lot of respect for Louise for replying to the majority of our tweets, especially when they're critical of her work. I think she has listened, and is making an effort to balance the storylines and screen-time between the characters and the Braxtons. However there still needs to be a lot of work to actually make the show engaging once more.

Not that I've ever tweeted Lucy, but from what I have seen she's not into communicating with fans!

Yeah, no.

I have zero respect for her and I know she hasn't listened to any of us.

She reckons she's checked out BTTB but if she had she'd would have realised of the derisive spilt of the fans over the Braxton's let alone the heavy crime related storylines. Going for ratings all the time hasn't worked except to build up a fan base of people that will probably not stick around once the actors who play Heath, Brax and Casey leave.

Further, introducing characters like Danny Braxton just to then kill him off, followed on by adding Adam into the mix and then killing him off is sloppy storytelling. If you are going to have characters like that in the show let us get used to them, find out a little bit about what makes them tick so that we are more involved with them and their potential demise will have more effect. Looking overall at guest characters we've had Marilyn's friend who died, Stu Henderson died, Teagan who died, Danny and Adam. I'm sure that any actor signed on for a guest stint is starting to feel like they should check their life insurance policies just in case.

I've mentioned here (and in another thread) some of the plot holes, these are things that Louise certainly should have picked up on. Bianca being able to fit into her pre-pregnancy clothes within days of giving birth without mentioning a diet or even exercising, and not forgetting her quick recovery from a C-section. Then there is the fact that four people lived in Irene's house at one time but now April moves back in and suddenly she has to share with Bianca. What happened to the other bedroom? And Angelo's, exactly how many staff manage to work there considering that it can't make that much money with especially with Brax throwing his customers out all the time?

Look, I'm aware it's a soap, that it's on five days a week so what can we expect but for any show you watch, you can suspend belief once or twice over obvious flaws but to keep doing it over and over again is asking too much of any fan, be they teens who like the Braxton's or long term fans, because at the end of the day it is us fans who provide the ratings that the show needs.

[cadyctslover]

^ Perhaps I should clarify, I respect Louise for replying to tweets from us as they are often very critical of her work, and sometimes overly agressive.

And although I do think she has listened and given the rest of the cast more to do, the Braxtons still dominate with really boring and repetitive storylines.

E.g. "Oh look it's an enemy from Brax's/Heath's/Casey's past (delete as appropriate). I wonder how this storyline can be steered in the direction of zero-consequence drug dealing and violence?" Etc.

[HomeandAwayFS]

Lol. It's really interest reading these posts. I actually went onto the writers twitter page and saw some of your posts. What "you people" have to say to the writers really means nothing to them because for every post you make there's plenty more who say just the opposite and that's all the writers need to continue what they are doing. They know that there are same people who don't like the way the show is written but they also know that there are millions more who do like it. So yeah.

As far as I'm concerned I'm happy with they way the show is written. It's more interesting then ever.