End of 2007 - Anticipation of H&A's 21st year

[-Kevin-]

Does anybody remember the buzz that surrounded The 2008 season, with Bevan Lee having such a direct role on the show again for the first 4 months of 2008. We had Sally's exit coming up and a couple of other main characters exits during that time aswell. I remember being SO excited about the upcoming season, and during those first few months of the season it definitely didnt dissapoint, I think they were some of the best episodes the show has ever seen!! Bevan knows Home & Away so well and the characters were written so well. The tone of the show changed almost instantly after 2007, it was clear to see TPTB had a shift in roles behind the camera. I hate to imagine how Sally's exit would have played out had Bevan not taken charge.

The show lacks such things in recent times, I really hope by some miracle we get another "golden era" ISH of the show that we had in the mid 90s. The show desperately needs people who KNOW the show, I dont think there has been any people in a long time who knows what the show is all about to be honest. The show has one of the richest historys ive known any show to have, and its not utilised at all. Its all gone so shallow and the characters have the depth of puddles.I think people associate the Braxtons to the era of the show where it got really crime-y and badly written , I think the Braxton's could have been even better had they been used in a different way than they were.

Summer Bay hasnt felt like a close community in such a long time. Looking back on the years 2005-2007 even though the writing wasnt the best the community was SO close and tight knit. I miss it. I miss it a lot.

[pembie]

Was Bevan Lee in charge when the Summer Bay stalker was around and when Noah was shot? If so yeah I enjoyed that time of the show really good. Expect when they made Zoe and Tracy gay that felt quite random.

[JamesC10]

I was watching old clips of 2008 last night and I really miss that season. Sally's exit was beautiful and it was one of the best ever exits. I really liked the music theme when Sally left the Bay. 2008 was a great year but I didn't like the Sam murder mystery. They obviously did this to reunite Jack and Martha IMO.

I really hope that they will sort out the community in Summer Bay properly. We need more scenes of Leah, Irene, Alf and Marilyn together. Going a bit off topic but I was a bit shocked with some of the negative feedback in the Home and Away Facebook page saying Kate Ritchie was a terrible actress and Sally was boring etc. It seems that many people on Facebook prefer topless Braxtons and love triangles...

[dvj1208]

I was watching it off and on for 2006/7 and started watching every single episode avidly since end 2007/beginning 2008. I really liked the show then. I still like it now, but in a lot of ways, it was a different show back then.

[ter06]

That 10 week arc at the beginning of 2008 was absolutely amazing. Sally's exit storyline,linked to her first story 20 year as previously was amazing. It was also a nice touch having the Fletchers together one last time.

These weeks also gave Sharni Vinson a time to shine, it's a pity it took until her last story to get a good one.

It was a fantastic time for the show and sometimes I wish Bevan would come back for another stint. He knows the characters and the history of the show so well and really does it justice. If I ever need a cry I just turn in Sally and Alf's final scene together and it sets me off!!

[Homeandawayfan.]

Bevan Lee really did know his H&A. He needs to come back I think. Often when a linchpin leaves behind the scenes it can dent the show. Seems Bevan's replacement was probably a 21 year old amateur. Sally's exit ended an era for H&A but she is not indispensable to the shows future, just a major character.

John Holmes is the executive producer alongside Julie McGuaran. But they probably just have a final say, they dont oversee the running. They should do and see how naff Lucy and Louise can be. In fairness H&A has toned down in recent months though.

[beau_t]

In my opinion 2008 was Home and Away's last great hurrah. Can't believe it was 6 years ago. I heard that Bevan has all but washed his hands of the show these days, he casts his eyes over the scripts in his duty as Network Script Exec, but apart from that, he has no emotional involvement in H&A, the ship has well and truly sailed. And if that is true, who can blame him for giving up on it? He came back in 2008 and returned the show to excellence, he showed them how it's done, and then almost as soon as he leaves, it just goes back to rubbish again.

It wasn't just Sally's exit that was good during Bevan's brief return. It was the normal, everyday episodes. They were so good. I strongly urge anyone to go and watch some back-to-back episodes from those first months. After the (IMO) dire 2007, Bevan really showed them how it's done. Every character was given a chance to shine, there was a real feeling of community, and all the storylines that were unfolding overlapped with each other, Geoff and Annie's storyline affected Cassie's storyline which affected Sally's, which affected Leah's, and so on. The Sally/Milco storyline was awesome, but even without that,

The show today (what I see of it) reminds me of Sunset Beach and other cheap American daytime shows. Most episodes contain 2 or 3 storylines which have NOTHING to do with each other, each story develops completely independently of the other, and the characters in each storyline barely know the characters in the other storylines, let alone mingle with them. They are like ships that pass in the night.

Basically, Bevan KNEW what fans wanted to see.

Episode 1: He brought Morag back and wasted no time in fixing her damaged relationship with Martha. Even though their early 2007 fight wasn't specifically mentioned, he clearly knew their relationship was important to viewers, something the 2007 writers hadn't bothered about despite Morag's returns in that year following their fight.

The introduction of Melody and vague references to a less-than-pleasant sounding mother whom we didn't actually meet for a while, was very reminiscent of early years storylines about kids from troubled homes finding refuge in the kind arms of the Summer Bay family.

He took the fascinating character of Aden and actually used him.

He took the awful Dom storyline (which had been building and building towards the end of 2007, even though nobody cared about it) and tied it up quickly without a fuss, yet at the same time, didn't cheat the audience, and gave it a satisfying end.

He turned the dodgy "hospital attacker" storyline into a very emotional, sad storyline with the R everend Hall. He saw how that was much more effective than the way previous writers had dealt with villains, being wheeled off to the police station never to be seen again (aka Mumma Rose, Charlie, Corey and so many more...)

^^^He knew what was good for the show, and what wasn't!

[ebrett84]

My memories of 2008 were that it started off really well, became rubbish for a short while (around the time Kirsty and Kane came back), got great around the time Kane left and then became terrible again as Aden's character went totally over the top and off the rails culminating in the hideous "Adelle" relationship and the completely stupid development storyline which just ended up being a plot device to kill off Jack. No idea how much of any of that Bevan was responsible for, but I agree that mid to late 2008 was the last time the show was really good.

[alexx]

^Beau, I don't know what else to add because you've summed it up perfectly.

[cadyctslover]

I agree with everything that has been said about Bevan, and it's a shame he probably wouldn't return to such a role today as it's a huge amount of work.

But although I think the show has fallen to the darkest depths of script quality in 2014, I am optimistic that these things always turn themselves around. I thought Neighbours was finished in 2010/2011, with an executive producer in charge who plainly didn't care about the fanbase, and actively ignored them and the history of the show. We're seeing exactly the same attitude from Home and Away's producers today.