Storylines

[Light of the Bay]

Great post.

Your vision reminds me of how EastEnders was in late 90's and early 00's.

I really think they need someone to come in, swing the axe and revamp the entire show by shifting the direction of the show back to the Summer Bay community and focusing on the everyday lives of the residents. Obviously there needs to be gripping drama too.

[Ryan]

^{I think though that having the vision and then creating the vision are two completely two things. Louise Bowes etc. probably didn't sit down when they were aspiring writers or pre-2011 or whatever and have this current show as their dream show. Like Alexx, I've thought about what storylines I would write if I had that power, what characters I would introduce, what changes I would make. But then I don't know whether these ideas that I've created in my mind would actually make good TV.}

[sarahlou61]

I don't actually think that the writers are doing that bad a job. Granted, there have been a lot of Braxton related storylines but they are incredibly popular characters, despite what's written on here!

I would like to see more overlapping of storylines though. I thought that Dex realising (through watching Heath with Brax) that he hasn't really considered how his family coped with his accident was a step in the right direction. We need to see more of that & more of the community spirit, as we saw in the fundraiser for Rocco.

[alexx]

I don't actually think that the writers are doing that bad a job. Granted, there have been a lot of braxton related storylines but they are incredibly popular characters, despite what's written on here!

Yeah but one of the major reasons they are so popular has to be because the writers give them all of the drama, 'exciting' stuff, the action.... etc.

If they were given the same sort of stuff as some of the other characters they wouldn't be half as popular. What I'm saying is that the entire cast of characters could be hugely popular, if they were given the same amount of attention. But if all they ever do is wipe a table in the diner or talk about 'I love him, or her and he thinks this and she thinks that' - of course they're going to be seen as boring in comparison.

[shyongirl]

I love stories where everyone is involved. Like boat accident, helicopter crash. THE GREAT STORM.

[alexx]

I was just watching the interview with Ray and Kate on the official site and I think it's interesting how Ray said he hasn't had any of those personal/character driven scenes to do since Sally left! This underscores to me that the show just doesn't focus on them anymore, it's so event driven these days.

I'm hoping that

Sally's

return will bring some of that back and that it will inspire the writers to flesh all of the characters out and the whole show and finally get rid of this 'new H&A vs old H&A' divide that has happened.

[j.laur5]

I was just watching the interview with Ray and Kate on the official site and I think it's interesting how Ray said he hasn't had any of those personal/character driven scenes to do since Sally left! This underscores to me that the show just doesn't focus on them anymore, it's so event driven these days.

I'm hoping that Sally's return will bring some of that back and that it will inspire the writers to flesh all of the characters out and the whole show and finally get rid of this 'new H&A vs old H&A' divide that has happened.[/quote
Should you have used spoiler tags?.

[TelephotoMarigold]

I was just watching the interview with Ray and Kate on the official site and I think it's interesting how Ray said he hasn't had any of those personal/character driven scenes to do since Sally left! This underscores to me that the show just doesn't focus on them anymore, it's so event driven these days.

I'm hoping that Sally's return will bring some of that back and that it will inspire the writers to flesh all of the characters out and the whole show and finally get rid of this 'new H&A vs old H&A' divide that has happened.

I think you are being optimistic. I don't think that the writers have the guts or the drive to do something that will end the divide. They've gone too far down the 'must make the Braxtons the focus of the show because they are popular especially with a certain demographic' that they can't see what the other characters can offer in terms of plots and stories.

I haven't watched it for 3 weeks and I'm not even tempted into seeing an episode which to me is quite sad after 25 years.

[alexx]

I was just watching the interview with Ray and Kate on the official site and I think it's interesting how Ray said he hasn't had any of those personal/character driven scenes to do since Sally left! This underscores to me that the show just doesn't focus on them anymore, it's so event driven these days.

I'm hoping that Sally's return will bring some of that back and that it will inspire the writers to flesh all of the characters out and the whole show and finally get rid of this 'new H&A vs old H&A' divide that has happened.

I think you are being optimistic. I don't think that the writers have the guts or the drive to do something that will end the divide. They've gone too far down the 'must make the Braxtons the focus of the show because they are popular especially with a certain demographic' that they can't see what the other characters can offer in terms of plots and stories.

I haven't watched it for 3 weeks and I'm not even tempted into seeing an episode which to me is quite sad after 25 years.

I'm not tempted to watch at the moment either. I watched inconsistently from February up until March when I pretty much switched off and haven't been back, other than to watch Gina's death episode and funeral. But I'll be tuning in from Monday. I'd really like to be able to watch the episodes from start to finish, and will give it a go, but it depends on what else is going on. I agree that the producers have backed themselves into a corner.

When I stopped watching there was a clear separation, almost like two different shows running alongside each other sometimes within the same episode. And even the more 'traditional' H&A segments were boring and dull because there didn't seem to be any effort put into those scenes.

[cadyctslover]

When I stopped watching there was a clear separation, almost like two different shows running alongside each other sometimes within the same episode. And even the more 'traditional' H&A segments were boring and dull because there didn't seem to be any effort put into those scenes.

This is the main problem. They clearly enjoy creating storylines for the Braxtons because they know they have a significant fanbase for these characters.

There are storylines for the other characters, to appease viewers who may dislike the Braxton characters. However, so little effort appears to be focussed on these storylines and other characters that they are often very dull.

This becomes a vicious circle as the Braxton fans find episodes/scenes minus the Braxtons dull, and the fans of the rest of the cast aren't satisfied so they stop watching.

This leaves the producers with a smaller and smaller viewership of purely Braxton-obsessed fans, who will switch off as soon as these characters leave.