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Cancellation/Timeslot Change Rumours


Bri1231

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You're always going to have a high turnover of youngsters - apart from Sally and Leah you've not had that many young characters at all who have stuck around for an extended period of time, in the sense they've "stepped-up" a generation on the show (Leah's character can't have been a day over 20 when Ada debuted, and Kate was almost 30 by the time she quit.)  Marilyn and Roo could possibly also go into that list?

So you need a solid set of older adults to complement the revolving door of kids and young adults, which is where the show was strong originally - Fisher, Michael, Pippa etc. provided that.  When you consider that since Sally left, there's been an almost 100% turnover of cast except for Alf, Irene and Leah, it is a big change, even over 11 years.

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3 hours ago, James Martin said:

You're always going to have a high turnover of youngsters - apart from Sally and Leah you've not had that many young characters at all who have stuck around for an extended period of time, in the sense they've "stepped-up" a generation on the show (Leah's character can't have been a day over 20 when Ada debuted, and Kate was almost 30 by the time she quit.)  Marilyn and Roo could possibly also go into that list?

So you need a solid set of older adults to complement the revolving door of kids and young adults, which is where the show was strong originally - Fisher, Michael, Pippa etc. provided that.  When you consider that since Sally left, there's been an almost 100% turnover of cast except for Alf, Irene and Leah, it is a big change, even over 11 years.

We also got John and Marilyn and Ruth.

But there will always be a cast turn over the same with Neighbours and most soaps. 

Don't forget H&A was a lot younger when Pippa and Donald were in it. 

It's just been confirmed by New Idea that rumours are completely rubbish. 

People just need to not be so quick to believe things without a proper source!. 

I definitely think Lynne might had something to do with rumours being put to rest as I bet as soon as Lynne arrived on studio first thing she did was find out if there was any truth or not. 

Here’s link 

https://www.newidea.com.au/is-home-and-away-getting-axed-cancelled-ending

If anything I think the rumours have done the show some good as it makes the network realise how much H&A means to Australian and UK fans. 

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It will be interesting to see what happens. I mean every soap/drama in the world has had declining viewers on broadcast tv. So many people record and catch up. I am not home for the show four days per week in the UK and sometimes three. So I watch when I can usually on a Monday....three eps and then Thur two eps. Thing is I am 5 weeks behind so live dvr +1 week ratings would not even apply to me. Probably so many other people also not included in these outdated ratings systems. 

If it is moved to a different time slot or digital so be it. As long as we get the show :) I wonder what five uk would do in that event. If like has been said the show may gear towards a more TV14 or TV16 show, five may have to pull it from its 1.15pm and 6pm time slot.

Regardless. As long as it is kept :)

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A later slot on Seven would almost certainly mean more 'adult' storylines and I think that would be a mistake.

It would regress to the neverending crime / violence, guns etc. and that seems unpopular with people on this forum.

I think the show has already gone back to its roots, from what I've seen in the three months I've been watching regularly again and long may it continue.

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I was torn because I do like The River Boys era and I really liked Brax and his complex relationship with Charlie, loved them together, but I do agree that the gang focus got a bit too much and OTT in the end and the show became so dark that it lacked the light and shade to it and it didn't feel like the Home And Away I started watching when I was really young where you had that family orientated show, great use of the locations obviously, character driven storylines and the light/dark contrast was so better and the writing/characterisation was on point.

I felt disillusioned with the show for quite a while because it was different to the show I enjoyed watching.   I obviously know programs have to keep adapting and modernising or else they will become stale, but they should try to keep a bit of familiarity and it's a shame the shows history or past characters are never mentioned as we only have a few old timer or iconic characters around.

I can safely say the last time I enjoyed the show so much was the Amanda Vale era because I adored that character, she had such a journey and I thought Holly Brisley was amazing, loved Panda and Holly's work with Tim, Nicholas, Ada, Jessica etc.  I loved the Amanda/Belle bond when they got through all the shock of being related and past their hostilities etc.

I'll always remember iconic characters like Donald Fisher and Vinnie though.  Vinnie/Leah was peak H&A for me.  Loved their pairing and Ada/Ryan's chemistry.  I miss Colleen too!

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On 07/07/2019 at 07:52, Golden Sands said:

The budget issue isn't H&A budget, but channel 7's. They massively overspent on cricket rights in a joint partnership with foxtel. As sports rights are so expensive, AFL, NRL & Cricket actually cost the networks money as they can't recoup all the money back on adertisements. That's why whenever there is a new sports rights deal reached (always for more money), Australian drama suffers. It happened back in the mid noughties when 7 successfully renegotiated a new AFL deal and Blue Heelers was the victim.

Channel 7 decided the previous year that they were going to axe 800 words, before they finally aired the final batch of episodes. Yes the ratings were down on the first half (so was everything else) but they didn't even try to fix the problems with more promotion or a timeslot change, just canned the show right away. I suspect that that was also a victim of the sports rights issues. 800 words was even a co production filmed in New Zealand which probably made it one of their cheapest tv dramas in years.

What annoys me is that the networks constantly set unrealistic ratings targets for their dramas and when they don't achieve those at the first available opportunity it's the excuse they have to axe them. It almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when the network almost expects them to fail or loses interest.

Unfortunately the networks still think if they have big marquee sporting events, then the eyeballs that watch those sporting events will also watch the other programmes on their network, but that has consistently been proven false with the ratings data emerges and it also operates on the outdated view that watching those sporting events are only available on the commercial channels exclusively, when you can watch it with streaming or other third parties. It really is nothing more than a pissing contents between networks though that can grab or steal the other sporting code away from each other and have bragging rights.

As you have pointed out H&A also has other avenues of revenue, they even released merchandise like hats and towels, which makes targeting H&A even more ridiculous.

I like reality tv, except the awful dating ones, but I agree there has to be a tipping point eventually when others have finally had enough and reality tv gets pared back a little.  

Thanks for the info. I don't watch sports much (only the Olympics) but didn't realise they were so expensive to run. I think in the UK only the BBC really focuses on sports at certain times during the year. Most games and such your have to pay for otherwise or subscribe to those channels, which I think is better as then it doesn't mess with the usual programming schedule much.

I agree re: dramas too. I figured it was cancelled before it even aired as like you said, they basically gave up promoting it and posting on social media...I think the cast were the only ones left trying to get people to watch. Its a shame as I think Australia does scripted drama well and ratings could've picked up with promotion and overseas viewing. I feel like the issue is all networks are getting like that though - the US seems to be overrun with new superhero/marvel/DC shows, where as 10-15 years ago it was more focused on teen dramas.

23 hours ago, UK_fan said:

I can't stand Love Island either, but do agree that H&A do need to go back to basics.  Focus on character driven storylines and focus, more family orientated stuff and character development and a toned down approach, less gang focus, more humour, more interesting/complex characters emerging, but it's hard in terms of the younger ones as understandably they all like to go off and spread their wings.

Agreed. I have actually enjoyed this year of H&A so far but would love to see a return to fostering and more family stuff and humour as you said. I feel like often some of the families feel very separated which is a shame, plus some characters run their course quite quickly and tend to drag on or they don't seem to know what to do with them.

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But in terms of budget, the shows that have been axed have generally not had the international revenue level that Home and Away does.

There's very little free to air sport in the UK these days, with most of it being on premium subscription channels accessible via Satellite, Cable or more recently IPTV based systems.  So the main networks don't screen, say, top-flight soccer or rugby outside the odd international game (and of course World Cup and Euro competitions.)  Infact, almost all club soccer and rugby matches on television are behind some form of paywall.

Is multichannel premium sport TV not as big a thing in Australia?  It seems a lot of it still gets shown on the main networks down-under.

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2 minutes ago, James Martin said:

But in terms of budget, the shows that have been axed have generally not had the international revenue level that Home and Away does.

There's very little free to air sport in the UK these days, with most of it being on premium subscription channels accessible via Satellite, Cable or more recently IPTV based systems.  So the main networks don't screen, say, top-flight soccer or rugby outside the odd international game (and of course World Cup and Euro competitions.)

Is multichannel premium sport TV not as big a thing in Australia?  It seems a lot of it still gets shown on the main networks down-under.

The right's to show sport on free to air television seems to be the main battleground among "free to air" channels in Australia.  It probably has to do with the Australian love of sport and a belief by the free to air channels that if they allow major sports like Australian Football, cricket, tennis etc to go to the "paid subscription" channels the audience and the advertising revenue on which they rely for their financial survival will go with it.

 

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5 hours ago, John said:

The right's to show sport on free to air television seems to be the main battleground among "free to air" channels in Australia.  It probably has to do with the Australian love of sport and a belief by the free to air channels that if they allow major sports like Australian Football, cricket, tennis etc to go to the "paid subscription" channels the audience and the advertising revenue on which they rely for their financial survival will go with it.

 

The love of sport might have something to do with the gambling culture (remember Hayden Ross?)

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Meh. This is what I hate about modern day news. Someone somewhere - be it a blog post or an obscure local newspaper in the back end of nowhere - floats a theory and suddenly it's all over the internet like a rash. With added hysteria because we live in the era of clickbait.

I can't see H&A being cancelled in the medium term. All soaps have haemorrhaged viewers over the past decade so it's no different to its rivals. It also still sells to TV stations abroad which makes it worth their while to keep making it. In the longer term, there are big questions to be asked about the future of broadcast TV. Many youngsters don't watch TV but prefer to use streaming services like YouTube, Netflix and On Demand TV. Perhaps that's where H&A will end up ultimately. As long as the show makes money,  I think it'll stay on the air.

I only occasionally watch H&A these days but I would be sorry to see it go. The same with any of the other soaps. They might not be high art but they entertain people - that's no bad thing. They help keep people employed in a precarious industry. And they provide invaluable work experience to people starting out in their careers, be it acting, writing, directing or whatever. While I don't mind some reality TV being on the air, I'd rather not see TV dramas/soaps being sacrificed so that we can have more Love Island.

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