Skylover

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

As soon as one of the main actors gave interviews talking about how good it was because it wasn't a soap, and made digs at Neighbours, I decided never to watch it. They clearly don't want soap viewers watching.

 

Yeah that annoyed me, some Australian actors seem to have a weird thing against soaps but I guess that happens across territories. Ironically her character is one of the weakest, it's definitely worth a watch. Its production values aren't as good as Neighbours but the writing is good.

There's a new Australian series/soap called The Heights airing on ABC in Australia. I've been watching it and it's very good. It airs 2 episodes each Friday, Series 1 has been split in two, the first 16 episodes started in February, the next (not sure how many) are airing in July. 

 

It has a very diverse cast including a character with cerebral palsy, indigenous Australians (and actors), a family of Iranian descent and a Vietnamese shopkeeper who has a gay son. I would highly recommend it, it's probably a more accurate reflection of Australian life than Neighbours or Home and Away.

Neighbours is introducing a transgender character later this year played by a real-life transgender girl who is only 18 years old.

11 hours ago, Huntress said:

Unfortunately, they shut down that website when TVnow was relaunched. 

TVnow is still uploading classic episodes of GZSZ and UU. Currently, GZSZ is up until episode #290 (July 1993), and UU is up until episode #220 (October 1995).
In addition, premium users have access to every episode since May 2007

 

Thank you for the information. I might have to sign up. Can you recommend any good tv series (comedies perhaps?) 

@Huntress soapchannel.tv doesn’t seem to work anymore  

20 hours ago, ~bl~ said:

Seriously that's why the character is being written off, was it due to her longevity or are no reasons given beyond money?

 

Yes presumably because she's been there nearly 10 years her salary will save a lot of money, and it looks like they didn't want to axe the other long termers who have been there about 25 years each.

Sonya Rebecchi was axed due to budget cuts  

13 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Peggy was great up until 2002. From 2005 on, she just became too much of a caricature. 

 

Possibly, mind you Peggy pushing Chrissie into Den's grave is one of my favourite moments (in 2005). I really liked when Peggy went to Spain for Frank's funeral and he wasn't dead.

 

 

Love those ones @BetterForgotten.

 

Here are a few more. I love Peggy spats. She's so brilliant.

 

 

I love Sharon's return in 2001:

 

 

 

Chrissie was awesome.

 

 

A few EE ones.

 

 

 

 

 

Just now, BetterForgotten said:

I do enjoy a large part of the early 90's, but anything 96 on can be hit or miss. 

 

Well I guess there is Bet so there's that.

53 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Corrie had a real sense of melancholy for its first few decades, yet also had trust in viewers to not manipulate them the way that Aidan's suicide tried to do. 

 

Corrie after 1985 is nothing compared to what came before.

I love Pat and Janine's relationship.

 

Love Elsie, Bet and Hilda. I love the Dot/Ethel story too. Thanks for posting the Pat/Janine stuff as I was looking for those scenes last week.

13 minutes ago, JamesF said:

 

 

 

I've seen that clip and have to admit, it's one of the only times I've actually liked Gail.

 

@JamesF out of curiosity, are you British, American or Australian? Or none of the above?

12 minutes ago, Darn said:

A book usually with a fairly light story, not terribly dramatic in execution. It can be about heavy topics, like an affair, but they're usually not treated with much gravity.

 

Thanks. I know it might sound funny but I often see phrases/words on here that I've rarely seen used before and have to look things up. This forum has opened my eyes up to cultural differences in a big way. It's interesting though. 

 

14 minutes ago, Darn said:

but they're usually not treated with much gravity. I'm looking for a bit more high drama

 

This gets me. How was Karl telling Susan he's having a baby with another woman then her storming into the street screaming at him not dramatic?? 

 

15 minutes ago, Darn said:

great acting or especially clever dialogue.

 

I feel like the acting on Neighbours is better than Days of Our Lives. But I often wonder whether it just looks like that because Days has no money and the lighting and sets undermine it. My biggest gripes with Days are the lighting, sets, no external scenes and length of episodes being too long. In terms of dialogue, on Neighbours I loved Susan totally owning Izzy about her comparing being snubbed by a neighbour to the breakdown of a 30 year marriage with 3 children. I also think Izzy explaining that she came onto Karl again 10 years later because she was searching for that feeling of happiness she used to have rather than actually wanting him was great writing. That's the kind of depth I feel like you don't often get on an American soap.

 

I feel like I need to venture back into the US soap clip thread.

 

BTW no offence intended with my remarks. I find it genuinely interesting to talk about, and you all know I'm a fan of US soaps, I'm just annoyingly passionate about Neighbours lol.  

 

Here are the clips of Susan's MS storyline if anyone's interested. I promise to zip it after this. (don't forget 2 clips in each post)

 

 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Darn said:

I don't know, I've never really seen anything on an Aussie soap that impressed me. They seem very...airy? Like the TV versions of a beach read.

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head there and it explains to me why it doesn't resonate with Americans. That airy kind of feel is IMO exactly what the British audience loves about it. It's more down to earth, it feels much more real. I guess what the UK/US soaps share is an OTT nature, but the US soaps obviously are the most extreme (and I think that extreme nature is what doesn't resonate with the UK as much). Obviously I like US, UK and Aus soaps, and for different reasons. I like the what I would say daring nature of US soaps (with some of the dialogue and scenes), the UK ones (well EastEnders) has a grittiness that is similar to the US soaps but it pursues more realistic stories. The reason Neighbours is my favourite is because it has heart, it has more heart than EastEnders or Days of Our Lives and it is like happy escapism. It also has everyday characters that aren't OTT glamorous like the US soaps, nor OTT skanky like the UK soaps. I wish we had a middle-class UK soap. The US and UK soaps for me are interesting in terms of how complicated they can be.

 

I don't think Americans like any tv shows that aren't constantly very dramatic. Random question, but have there been (m)any Australian shows popular in the US?

 

16 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

Home and Away has been running through the motions for years. There's no heart in the show. Nothing that really makes you feel connected. It died when Sally left, IMO. They also are so ass backwards with social issues. The show is white on white on white. Even when they cast actors that aren't,  they tell us that the characters are. (i.e., Andy Barrett) NB, at least, is one of the most diverse soaps around. 

 

Yes, Home and Away is basically nothing compared to Neighbours.

 

Also, what is a beach read?

9 minutes ago, Darn said:

However, for instance the first clip you posted, Susan Vs Izzy, is nothing special. You could find that same scene any day of the week on a current US soap.

 

Yes, just not on a real street  To be fair you've probably got a point with that one. I think it's enhanced within the context of the characters rather than as an isolated clip though. I also love all the neighbours watching. I do get the impression though that there is something about Australian soaps that doesn't connect with Americans. I think it's partly a cultural thing. What I do find odd is that Americans seem to really like the British soaps which are basically full of skanks, dodgy accents and what I'd consider poor acting a lot of the time. I guess you like the thought put into the big stories.

2 hours ago, Darn said:

So...I watched about 5 of the Neighbours scenes posted here and they were all middling to bad. But! This scene showed up in my recommendations after watching those and it's actually very good, the acting saves the rather average writing. She's very good, I hope the actress is still treated well on the show.

 

Some of those clips are poor video quality and don't sell the quality of the material. They look like they've been filmed on a potato. I also think none of the clips are poorly written. Neighbours does suffer from poor writing in general, but none of those clips are poorly-written. Neighbours is the best soap by miles IMO. Did you see the clip of Sonya being diagnosed with cancer? (from the official Neighbours Instagram account). I find The Slap actually a bit overracted compared to the other stuff.

 

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

Her last great work I think was when the character was diagnosed with MS in 2007. There is one particular scene which I desperately looked for to post (but couldn't find it) where she is temporary blind but hasn't yet been diagnosed. She's in hospital for a CT scan and freaks out halfway through until Karl goes in to her. They'd been rather stoic up to this point and then both break down - I've not seen it for some time but it always used to have me in floods.

 

I have every episode of Neighbours since 2002, and could probably find/upload that clip if you wanted. In the meantime, here are some more Neighbours clips. (ETA: Some of these Instagram posts are more than 1 video in a post as you can only upload 1 minute at a time, so click the arrow).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

I liked that Sally & Kevin were together a whole decade until his affair with Natalie. A couple being together all those yrs without an affair is unheard of in an American soap. I don't have a problem with Gail,Kevin and Sally. The writing of the last decade has really hurt all 3.  I miss Deirdre. Even though her Ken could be rather insufferable at times.

 

I've always generally disliked the 3 characters I mentioned. Didn't mind Kevin a bit in the 80s though. I really wish they'd do a full repeat of the 60s-1980 though. I bet it's a great watch.

I like Ken and Deirdre, but I think Gail, Sally and Kevin were the wrong characters to stay for so long. Too much emphasis on them from the 80s onwards IMO.

Coronation St from 1960-1980 is so good. Anything after that is generally rubbish other than Bet Lynch and Hilda Ogden. 

12 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I don't have a problem with Neighbours at all. I just didn't really have any clips of it. 

 

That fantasy with Susan and Janelle is hilarious. Susan is the epitome of a stealth bitch - it's much more fun to see a moment where she's just out and proud.

 

12 hours ago, Faulkner said:

I never really watched Neighbours. The only Aussie soap I’ve ever really watched is Home and Away, and that was only a few episodes for work. It was fun to see a pre-Wolf of Wall Street Margot Robbie in the Neighbours clip.

 

Sorry guys I know I'm a pain in the ass, just my enthusiasm for Neighbours is unparalleled  I know for some reason Neighbours doesn't resonate well with Americans. Of all the clips I posted, the one from the official Neighbours Instagram with Sonya is brilliant. She's such a brilliant actress. Though yeah, that Margot Robbie one with legend Harold rapping is a rare clip of complete gold.

 

11 hours ago, DaytimeFan said:

 

 

 

This is one of my favourite EE moments ever. Brilliant!

You guys really don't like Neighbours do you  

Here are some more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good idea for a thread @Faulkner. I can probably think of a lot of Neighbours & Home and Away ones.

 

In fact I know of millions of Neighbours ones. Unfortunately a lot of them won't be on YouTube but I could upload some in future and post them.

 

 

This is a really good character-driven set of scenes involving Karl and Izzy. Some of Neighbours greatest scenes IMO.

 

 

I've earmarked the exact time this video all kicks off for ease of reference for you, but you could watch it all if you want:

 

(apologies for the poor picture quality)

 

 

 

This scene is in the absolute golden era of Neighbours: 

 

 

This is probably one of the greatest soap scenes of all time IMO:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE THIS:

 

 

 

Sorry I know that's a lot. If you have any Neighbours questions, feel free to ask. And enjoy  

Was Luke Snyder any good? He was incredibly sexy.