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Cancellation/Timeslot Change Rumours


Bri1231

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Fake news. The British press have picked up on an article that said the Network were considering its timeslot and in typical tabloid fashion have run with their own version. This story also circulated in January and was also fake news.

No matter what anyone’s opinion on the show is, it’s not just Seven’s highest rated drama, it’s Australia’s. It’s massively profitable and this week has rated in the top ten every night. Yes, it’s ratings have dropped but what soap ratings haven’t? It’s also Seven’s number one streaming show.

Seven schedules H&A very erratically. Three episodes on some Thursdays (very hard to sustain high ratings for an hour and a half soap) and no episode on a Friday. It only has itself to blame for falling ratings 

What it needs is stable scheduling and some familiar faces back to grab the attention of the fans of yesteryear to try hook them back in again. 

I gave the show a break last year but am now hooked on it again. 

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A permanent scheduling change is hardly a surprise. It's been painfully obvious that H&A has a pain for Seven programming for some time with all the erratic schedule changes and double/triple episodes and I always believed the temporary scheduling changes and delaying H&A's return early this year were a "trial run" for a more permanent move in 2020. 

 

I can't see H&A being axed, as surely Seven needs it to fulfill its Local Content quota. The most likely scenario would be a move to 7Two, where it can probably air five nights a week without interruption. It did Neighbours no harm moving to Channel 11 (now Ten Peach) in the long term. It's also possible that the writers might lobby for a later night timeslot on Main 7 though, as it would allow the writers the freedom for more "adult" storylines. 

 

 

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Channel Seven's plan to 'pull Home and Away from prime time'

It’s one of Australia’s longest-running soaps, but after 30 years it seems Home and Away might be pulled from Channel Seven’s prime time programming.

According to TV Blackbox, network executives have observed a decline in the show’s ratings since 2017, and replacing Home and Away with another show in that time slot is one of the options they’re considering.

 
 
 
 
 
 
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The Australian television commentary website claims it’s ‘learned’ that Channel Seven has thought about moving the Summer Bay fan favourite to a later time slot, so the network can compete effectively at 7pm with the other channels.

One option is to bring Today Tonight back to Eastern states, which would pose as direct competition to Channel Nine’s A Current Affair that airs at 6:30pm and Ten’s The Projectthat airs 6:30pm to 7:30pm.

The other pathway that is reportedly “being considered by Seven” involves five episodes of Home and Away airing on Friday nights on the network’s streaming platform 7PLUS, before being broadcast the following week on 7TWO.

Ray Meagher who plays Alf Stewart is one of the most recognisable faces from the Australian soap Home and Away which could be axed by Channel Seven.
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Earlier this year Home and Away was briefly bumped from its usual time slot to make way for the launch of My Kitchen Rules, but that was just a temporary change.

The show, which first aired in 1988 has launched the successful international careers for the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Melissa George and Isabel Lucas.

Meanwhile rival soap Neighbours was booted from Channel Ten in 2011 and moved to its other channel called Channel Eleven, which is now known as 10 Peach.

Yahoo Lifestyle has contacted Channel Seven for comment.

Source: https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/channel-seven-home-and-away-axe-timeslot-032946158.html

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Thanks for the article, was just coming here because i came across one that says the show is facing the AXE?

Maybe DanF or someone else can shed some light on this. I don't want to lose my favourite show ?

 

It was an after-school favourite for millions but Home and Away could be closer each day to the chopping block.

With slumping ratings and a new rush of reality shows dominating telly schedules, bosses are thought to be rethinking the soaps furture.

The hit soap, which first aired in 1988, is aired in the UK on Channel 5 and Channel Seven down under.

Sources blamed the later time slot and a slew of very popular reality shows, such as Married At First Sight which airs on a rival Aussie channel, dominating the national conversation.

 

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Channel Seven is said to be 'under pressure' to make changes to its scheduling but could pull the soap altogether.

Home and Away airs in Australia at 7pm for 30 minutes, Mondays to Thursdays, in the UK it airs twice, at 1.15 and 6pm over on Channel 5.

 

Back in 1988 the show took over schedules for the evening and it's with a special feature-length 90-minute episode pulled in millions.

 

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Fans will remember the tinkly theme tune, Summer Bay's white sands and character stalwarts like Alf, Sally, Pippa and Fisher.

 

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The first episode saw Tom and Pippa arrived in the Bay with their five foster children.

Fostering was a regular focus of Home and Away's storylines in its early years, with the show's title making reference to children who were away from home.

It bourned soap legends like Alf and Pippa, challenged stereotypes by featuring same sex couple policewoman Charlie Buckton having a relationship with guest character Joey Collins back in 2009.

 

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5 hours ago, jakeyy. said:

It’s sad but not a surprise,neighbours have bought back a lot of old characters to keep the show alive. Home and Away have not. It’s time to listen to the viewers

The thing is, what is the use of bringing back old characters before the fundamental flaws of the show are fixed? Otherwise you're just bringing them back to ruin them (i.e. Fisher), do nothing with them regarding their past (i.e. Roo who, apart from being Alf's daughter, might as well have just been a new character), or water them down (i.e. Marilyn).

Fix the show first, then bring back old characters.

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I really wish they would scrap the double/triple episodes as I feel like then the UK could catch up (or maybe even air at the same time like Neighbours does?). I think that would help ratings in the UK (especially as places like DailyMail spoil stuff without realising it hasn't aired in the UK), and would also maybe drive up engagement on social media. I've noticed that the homeandaway tag on Twitter isn't that popular compared to Neighbours, where you get loads of people live tweeting.

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Its stories need more impact Characters need to hold grudes and not forgive so easily because it becomes very predictable you are able to guess the outcome or is very unrealtic before it happens and sometimes they do tend to hang on to the wrong characters that should just be there for a short time.

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For a start, Lynne & the rest of the cast always deny when someone is leaving, despite what social media and their CV's state so take the cast and their offerings with a grain of salt. They are hardly going to confirm it are they?

 

It's obvious channel 7 have wanted rid for a while and despite what some fans think on here, I doubt Home & Away will still be here in 3 years time sadly. The constant time slot shifts, the late start season premier that had nothing to do with sport or any scheduling conflicts and the lack of investment in storylines and fixing issues behind the scenes result in a can't be bothered attitude and rather fixing something that isn't even broken they are willing to ditch it. It's like death of a thousand paper cuts and it's classic behaviour of a network that quietly wants to axe a show. It's just Channel 7 being greedy and using the poor ratings as some lame excuse to dump it. No show is going to consistently rate what H&A rates all year round and help anchor an evening, not even reality tv junk (which both House Rules & MKR have either plateaued or dropped).

Commercial networks just don't like investing in scripted drama. Every network has significantly decreased their output compared to ten years ago, or even five years ago. Which is strange, especially for 7 that creates their own dramas in house and then sells them overseas keeping all the profits and not sharing them with a production company. So like every time they overpay for sports rights they axe something they deem expensive to rectify their budget blowouts or reduce overheads, which is always Australian made content and nearly always scripted tv. The really ironic thing is that it's the scripted tv and other departments that make money for 7 so they can afford to buy sports rights in the first place.

 

As for moving to 7two or streaming, how long do you think that will last? 7two couldn't even keep their soap imports and repeats of early Home & Away were replaced by million dollar minute, aka cheap filler crap. Moving to either platform would give channel 7 the excuse they need to axe the programme with a minimal amount of fuss. If 7 are worried about ratings now, well they are certainly going to be unimpressed by the results of streaming and 7two. Costs and expenses aren't going to suddenly decrease. If H&A did move it there it would be axed within a year and hardly anyone would care as both have a far less important reach than staying on 7. H&A doesn't have a cushy deal like Neighbours.

 

Also blaming H&A for its other shows failing is blatantly ridiculous. MKR is ten years old and people are just tiring of the overproduced, fake crap. How many more dinner parties can we sit through where someone can be extra, bitchy or inept at cooking? Though I would love to see H&A move to a later timeslot so Channel 7 could see H&A isn't the problem (well apart from the scriptwriters) but their tacky reality offerings that people aren't interested in.

 

As for saying MKR did marginally better in H&A's slot, they did, but MKR isn't on for over forty weeks of the year, Channel 7 doesn't have any other show that can last the distance and deliver the same ratings and their new reality shows have all tanked. Also to note that MKR didn't significantly boost other shows that aired after it in H&A place. Also how much was spent on the marketing budget for MKR? Yeah probably ten times more than for H&A, so you would expect better results.

 

Lead ins are also overrated. Hardly anyone is going to watch one channel all night and not every show on one network in one night is going to appeal to everyone. 

 

The biggest WTF though is that H&A still rates in the top ten night nearly every night and posts good demos. Yeah like I said, it's budget related, 7 are greedy and they need extra funds, probably for more sport that loses money or more reality tv that can fail.

 

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