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Was 2000 the end of an era?


adam436

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Does anyone else think the show struggled to recover from 2000? In my opinion, there were too many links to the original show and/or "classic" era that were lost

  • Pippa sold Summer Bay House and the caravan park to a new family
  • The original Diner and Stewart house were destroyed in the space of a few weeks of each other
  • Original character Ailsa and long-time character Sam also departed that year

 

The show was still trying to recover from the mass exodus of extremely popular characters in late 1999/early 2000 (Chole, Rebecca, Travis, Marilyn, Justine, Joel and Natalie, Tom, James and Sam all departing within a few months of each other). Although Leah and Noah were great, most of the replacements were less than adequate that the above-mentioned links pretty much closed the door on "classic" Home and Away. There was no real foster children anymore either, as to me, the Smith children felt more like Irene's step-children (after Ken died, they were pretty much her step-children like the Kinksi kids were to Susan on Neighbours) than foster children.  The following years also felt like "The Sutherland Show" with the show being too teen-focused.. the Sutherland girls and their boyfriends plus Hayley and Noah were the main focus of the show.

 

From 2005 onwards the show lost the plot with the Stalker storyline, the stuff with Amanda, OTT disasters and although I had stopped watching by that point, there was some year-long mystery that sounded rather far-fetched. And then of course there is the Braxton/drug and violence era. I think the show has tried to go back to fostering roots a few times over the years. In 2004 when Sally and Flynn bought Summer Bay House and took in Cassie and Rick and again a few years ago when Harvey and Roo took in Maddie and Spencer. It never seems to last though.

 

 

 

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To a degree it was but it was a Year where the show REALLY  reconnected with its past with a slew of returnees starting with Greg (who had become even more of a flake), Celia then Lance, followed by Jack, Carly, Stevo, Frank, Martin, Floss and the legendary Pip herself. Also the conveniently renamed Les Smart rocking back up to hurt Colleen all over again.

The only actual Foster children from that period were Mitch (though he was more like a Lodger) and Brodie (When the Sutherlands took over).

Sam was a boomerang that year to the extent his appearances as regular covered a 10yr period (1991-2001)

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2000 was the dawn of a new era for the show as it had been a bit stale since the mass exodus of great characters in 1996-1997, Jack, Shane, Angel, Michael, Damo, Finlay etc.

2000 was the show moving forward while bringing back some past characters, it was like it had stepped back a decade with Floss, Lance and Colleen. A more mature Lance and Martin returning. I dont think 2000 was the end of an era as in any soap, times change and characters come and go.

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I wouldn't say the end of an era, but the beginning of a new one. You say "the Sutherland show" like it was a bad thing but in my opinion, it brought the SBH to the forefront of the show again. And yes I agree that it was very teen orientated, but the show has always been, be it Sophie and Blake,  Shane and Angel or even the Bobby and Frank years. What I liked is community spirit and the close relationships of the town stayed. Compare that to our current show. This year alone we have had Ash ask who VJ and Sasha are, despite  him living in a small costaltown for a year. 

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Rewatching 1988 H&A I can safely say 60% of the storylines revolved around the under 25's even if they did interact more with the older ones. H&A has always been for a younger audience even if it did cater more for older people as well with Floss and Neville and Coleen. Many 1988 episodes were set around the youngsters having amusing brawls in the school corridor, getting detentions and then the kids bickering around the Fletcher kitchen table and Tom blowing his stack at them.

I quite liked the Sutherland era. 2000 was deffo a revamp for the ailing soap which in 1999 seemed to have run it course, but the 2000 revamp reinvigorated the show. Neighbours had a huge dip in 1996-1998 and was revamped with the Scully arrivals and the Drew and Libby years.

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It's widely acknowledged that Neighbours was in its second golden age around 1996-99 and It took people about 2 years to warm to the Scullys, IIRC. 

But people did warm to them though, and that "golden age" probably continued right up until late 2002 as a result. I could never take to the Sutherlands, especially Rhys, Jade and Brodie.

I actually think both soaps were experiencing a second "golden age" during that period. For Home and Away, it had a few lacklustre years after the mass exodus in 1990. It probably started to pick up again in 1994 with Shannon, Curtis, Selina, Finn and Jack arriving, and Shane, Angel and Damien becoming more prominent. This era came to an end, as, I've said, ended with the death of Ailsa, the arrival of the Sutherlands and destruction of the Stewart House and the original diner.

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  • 8 months later...
On 16 June 2015 at 9:18 PM, adam436 said:

it had a few lacklustre years after the mass exodus in 1990. It probably started to pick up again in 1994 with Shannon, Curtis, Selina, Finn and Jack arriving, and Shane, Angel and Damien becoming more prominent.

I agree with this. Parts of 1993 were okay but I definitely think 1988-1990 was an excellent period, and 1994 has been excellent too. 1991-93 weren't as good in my personal opinion.

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