Neighbours, well over 30 years old now.

[CAEF]

Well Neighbours turned 30 in March 2015. And as of July 2015, the show is still going strong. In January 2016 it will be 30 years since Madge, Clive, Zoe and Mike first appeared. 18 March 1985, Neighbours began and little did anyone know it would still be on air in July 2015.

When Neighbours was first on air, Emmerdale still had Silent Walter and Pat Sugden, Corrie had Hilda Ogden and Crossroads had Amy Turtle.

[Holey]

Them were the days. Amy Turtle. Loved Ann George, especially when she forgot her lines. Wonderful memories of Crossroads.

[Deleted]

I loved Shuey McPhee (sp)...what a legend.
Shame the actor died a few months ago.

[CAEF]

Anyway Neighbours will soon celebrate 30 years since Madge first arrived.

[kitkat1971]

I'm rewatching early Neigh ours at the moment. I got the first 2 volumes of the DVD at Xmas which go up to Terri being engaged to Paul and then volumes 3, 4 and part 1 of the charlene years about a month ago.

I'm loving it. I adored the channel 7 episodes (they end 3 episode into volume 4 if anybody is interested) as i did at the time. I can see why it became more popular after the channel 10 transfer - it got brighter, sunnier, prettier (in cast, clothes and direction) but i will always have a fondness for that first year and believe it lost much of its charm.

In particual, i much preferred Darius Perkins as Scott Robinson. I don't think he'd have had the chemistry with Minogue so in that respect it was a wise move to recast but donovan just comes across as sulky and petulant without any of The depth Perkins brought to the role. He also doesn't look like he could be related to Stefan Dennis, Vikki Blanche or Kylie Flinker whereas Perkins did. Those original 4 kids really gelled as a family, looks and chemistry wise.

[kitkat1971]

Re current Neighbours.

I started watching again about 18 months ago after probably about 15 years of being an occasional viewer. I'd watch if i happened to be off sick say or if i knew something big was happening and would read the synopsis in the soap mags so always knew what was basically going on but was never impressed when i did see it and obviously will have missed a lot of details.

Basically i was interested to see the return of Brad and Lauren so tuned in and found it interesting so stayed with it and i'm glad i have. It's really quite good, better than the last few years i did watch which was probably around the time Phillip Martin left for the last time.

[CAEF]

Out of Neighbours and Home And Away if I had to choose 1 it would be Home And Away hands down. A much more colourful history, better locations and it made Neighbours look very dull when it began in January 1988. H&A had better teens, a golden beach and caravan park and was much more like my own childhood.

I did meet Jason Donovan in 2014 when he did a gig and he was rude to one fan who asked him to sign her hand and he looked like he could not wait to get out of there. As soon as the concert finished he was quickly into the taxi and gone.

[kitkat1971]

I agree Home and Away was much the better show when it started and probably for a good 10 years. Even though i kept watching both through that time, H+A was the one i cared about. It did have better characters, better locations and more of an 'edge' to it. The foster famiy set up was genius for them to be able to introduce lots of different characters with very different, often troubled backgrounds as the scope to then introduce their extended families. Also, it was more believable that there would be a high turnover of characters in that scenario who perhaps wouldn't reappear for family events unlike the situation you get with Neighbours where each time a family member leaves they bring in an identikkit never before mentioned cousin to replace them - Nikki for Julie Robinson, Matthew and then Glen Donnelly for Scott Robinson, Gemma Ramsay for Charlene etc.

I do also think Home and Away is more in touch with its history - partly because it has more longer terms characters even if they've had breaks over the decades.

But, i do think it lost the plot a bit about 15 years ago with over reliance of serial killer or criminal storylines and i'm afraid i can't abide the River Boys stuff so the last few years have been a nightmare for me. Even ignoring them, iu find it very hard to invest in any of the recent younger characters like Maddie, Evie, Phoebe and i have tried. Last decent one was Sacha imo.

However i'd forgive everything if they reintroduced Don Fisher - my fave character ever.

[CAEF]

Jul 31, 2015 15:53:34 GMT kitkat1971 said:

I agree Home and Away was much the better show when it started and probably for a good 10 years. Even though i kept watching both through that time, H+A was the one i cared about. It did have better characters, better locations and more of an 'edge' to it. The foster famiy set up was genius for them to be able to introduce lots of different characters with very different, often troubled backgrounds as the scope to then introduce their extended families. Also, it was more believable that there would be a high turnover of characters in that scenario who perhaps wouldn't reappear for family events unlike the situation you get with Neighbours where each time a family member leaves they bring in an identikkit never before mentioned cousin to replace them - Nikki for Julie Robinson, Matthew and then Glen Donnelly for Scott Robinson, Gemma Ramsay for Charlene etc.

I do also think Home and Away is more in touch with its history - partly because it has more longer terms characters even if they've had breaks over the decades.

But, i do think it lost the plot a bit about 15 years ago with over reliance of serial killer or criminal storylines and i'm afraid i can't abide the River Boys stuff so the last few years have been a nightmare for me. Even ignoring them, iu find it very hard to invest in any of the recent younger characters like Maddie, Evie, Phoebe and i have tried. Last decent one was Sacha imo.

However i'd forgive everything if they reintroduced Don Fisher - my fave character ever.

I think H&A started to lose the plot a bit about 10 years ago. It was still highly addictive in 2005 even if it was starting to waver. You could say the same for other soaps, Emmerdale and EastEnders started to lose it about 10-15 years ago. Ie more sensationalism and plots.

[kitkat1971]

Yes, very true they all did start to get somewhat Ott and sensationalist but some seemed to suffer more like Brookside and I'd say Home and Away.

Maybe i'm being unfair but it seemed to go through a stage of constant natural disasters and serial killers and it started to feel more like watching Sunset Beach (without the knowing humour) than ths show i"d fallen in love with in the 80s and 90s. Now i loved sunset beach, that kind of stuff is enjoyable but it wasn't Hone and Away to me.

[kitkat1971]

That said, from what i saw Neighbours was equally keen on disasters such as the bomb on the plane and Lassiter fire around the same time but it seems to have gone back more to grass roots now whereas H+A hasn't.

I have been enjoying the Alf Vietnam storyline recently, in fact it is the only thing i've watched for but then that is back to real, proper drama about proper emotions that real people suffer.

[Holey]

Jul 31, 2015 14:25:45 GMT kitkat1971 said:

I'm rewatching early Neigh ours at the moment. I got the first 2 volumes of the DVD at Xmas which go up to Terri being engaged to Paul and then volumes 3, 4 and part 1 of the charlene years about a month ago.

I'm loving it. I adored the channel 7 episodes (they end 3 episode into volume 4 if anybody is interested) as i did at the time. I can see why it became more popular after the channel 10 transfer - it got brighter, sunnier, prettier (in cast, clothes and direction) but i will always have a fondness for that first year and believe it lost much of its charm.

In particual, i much preferred Darius Perkins as Scott Robinson. I don't think he'd have had the chemistry with Minogue so in that respect it was a wise move to recast but donovan just comes across as sulky and petulant without any of The depth Perkins brought to the role. He also doesn't look like he could be related to Stefan Dennis, Vikki Blanche or Kylie Flinker whereas Perkins did. Those original 4 kids really gelled as a family, looks and chemistry wise.

Yes I agree, the Channel 7 series was a little grittier and Darius Perkins imo was a better scott.  I also liked the friendship with Danny (David Clencie.)  One of my favourite characters was Eileen Clarke played by the wonderful Myra De Groot. Julie was also fun, being a right sticky beak.  I liked the character of Paul better when he was a working on the airline as a trolley dolly.  When 10 took over they turned Paul into a JR type character, he was nothing like that and did not have a head for business. They changed the character completely over night.  

The Robinson's and Ramsey's seemed to be great family unit's, being chalk and cheese with Max and Maria and Jim and Helen.  I loved Anne Haddy and thought it was a master stroke to have the mother in  law as a caring linch pin of the family, rather than an interfering old cow.

 When 10 took over the series it was more teen based and beautiful people and basically the scott and charlene show, sugary and all that.  

[kitkat1971]

Yes, my overall memory of the change from Ch 7 to Ch 10 was that it got 'bluer' (colour not porn) and 'lesser'.

Now in fact, rewatching, it is only really the Robinsons decor that changes that much with new blue wallpaper although the Ramsays gets lighter walls and darker furniture but it still seems lighter some how.

That's not to say it's bad, i'm really enjoying it and i can see it needed characters like Clive and Madge to bring humour plus teenagers that teen viewers could aspire to be, which meant prettier and romance which was missing from the Ch 7 season but I do still think it is a shame it changed.

I loved Danny and Scott's friendship too. They do keep referencing it in the 10 eps but it doesn't ring true without Perkins playing Scott and Danny working at the bank. Indeed, it seems like they just don't know what to do with Danny or Shane which is a shame when the Ramsays had been by far the most interesting family in the first year. No womder they both left fairly soon after Max.

[CAEF]

I think 1997 to 1999 were pretty meh periods for Neighbours and H&A with the ridiculous stories such as Lance's gambling and staging a robbery and the Robert Perez story in H&A. Both shows started to become more disaster based with the fire at No 26 in Neighbours and the H&A mudslide. However both shows did revamp in 2000.

[Holey]

I think Neighbours now strikes the right balance and is an enjoyable watch.