Skylover

I thought Kate Oates was doing well but how many horrible things have to happen?

Thank you!

The suicide story was excellent.

Looks good! I'm catching up with Days of Our Lives then I'm gonna have a huge GZSZ binge!

Thanks @Huntress, that's an excellent run-down

I'm going to binge watch some GZSZ. I've really wanted to get into it long-term for a while but only watched an ep here or there. I'm thinking of giving up EastEnders & Home and Away so I'll have time to fit in GZSZ with Days and Neighbours. Is GZSZ good at the moment? I don't like the current opening sequence much.

Apparently not. More things are happening now but I don't care about the characters. Less things happened before but at least I liked the characters. I'm sick of Max. He's so done as a character and I can't get past him being responsible for the deaths of Steven and Abi. I feel like I'm being forced to watch him and I don't like that; it's ironic that they can't/won't let go of him when he's played out as a character when so many with potential were axed like Ben (I know many disagree but that's my opinion). I also really dislike its attitude towards LGBT characters - axing them all and making the ones left straight. Getting rid of Ingrid, what's their issue with foreign characters? She lights up the screen, and I liked her relationship with Keanu. Getting rid of Vincent is stupid, I'm just sick of all the idiotic decisions. And then Max and Rainie getting married - like I literally don't care. They think they're being all clever but I don't care about Max. I also think Kat, Mo and Jean are caricatures of themselves. They've all been brought back without any thought as to how they fit in in the modern show. Mel and Hunter are great but it's so nauseating they're desperate to make him a mini-me of his dad when he's only 15, and I'm sick of all the character regression, especially of Billy. I know it's been happening for years and it's not John's fault but I'm sick of Sharon being Phil's doormat as well. I'm sick of Louise and her just being a plot device, being a vile character who has no purpose, I'm sick of her having no development and no meaningful relationship with Phil, and it grates on me that Ben's gone when she's still there. He's literally got rid of all the characters I liked (or they've left which granted may not be his fault). Vincent, Donna, Ingrid, Ben, Lauren, Abi, Michelle etc. I just don't have an emotional attachment to hardly any of them except the Taylors which is ridiculous because they're new. Denise still floats around with NO purpose. It's so awful. Sorry, ranting.

EastEnders is so bad right now I'm thinking of quitting it. It's worse than it was under SOC.

Please sign the petition to save Steph Scully who it appears might have been axed. Thanks in advance. https://www.change.org/p/neighboursfans-com-save-steph-scully-neighbours

I feel differently but it has probably been a failure, they could still make it work but they're not keen to so fair enough. Big Mo back and still can't act.

The ‘damage’ had been done. They might as well have tried to stick with it. Having Martin’s sister around was worthwhile, they haven’t really made the most of it. I’d much rather have her than Kat back again, talk about a dead-end.

Stupid decision. John Yorke is past it.

I think they delve into the characters more as there's more time to. I think the storylines American soaps choose are often far too unrealistic but I find the scenes are written well.

I agree @Vee, the British soaps obviously have better production values but the American soaps are written better, I actually think day to day the writing is better on Days even if some of the stories are so ridiculously elaborate, the character writing seems to be better. I think EE's misery is what is killing it. It needs more upbeat stories, I've heard that Coronation Street has more comedy and upbeat stuff, not sure how true this is considering their recent male rape story and the Bethany stuff over the last couple of years, I don't watch that show but I'm not sure it's such relentless misery like EE.

I'm so frickin jealous that Coronation Street gets this while Neighbours, Days of our Lives and EastEnders don't have that luxury. I don't even like Coronation Street. On the plus side I'm glad that a soap in this day and age is getting such a huge investment like this.

Caught up. Mel and Hunter are fantastic.

10 minutes into trying to catch up on EE and I feel like switching off. Ugh. Didn't feel like this on my Days catch up. The heist storyline is still going and it's a load of crap.

Oh gosh, I guess I'll watch it anyway I'm gonna watch Days first though.

I've been in Australia for a month so I haven't seen EE. Has it been any good?

Nice treat for long time fans.

The show is chaos at the moment.

There's little doubt I imagine that the Max/Stacey thing was rushed in time for Christmas Day, and it's a shame there was no build up. I agree that it makes sense Stacey would be bored, and I don't find it difficult to believe that she could be tempted by Max but the story could do with being a lot less blatant and written with more subtlety. Perhaps it would have been more interesting if it was just a kiss, initiated by Max, and Stacey hesitated for a moment. Stacey still could have said that she felt tempted and likes the idea of feeling free but wouldn't risk her marriage to Martin. We then could have done without the theatrics over the next few months between Martin and Stacey before they inevitably get back together, they could have played on the Max/Stacey connection and still have had Tanya jumping to conclusions about them. I do think Max and Stacey have undeniable chemistry but unless they're going to go the whole hog and let them have a relationship together I don't see the point narratively of them sleeping together other than for cheap thrills. I did like Max telling Tanya that Stacey was the love of his life which I could believe, but the writing decisions always seem so short-sighted. Until now I've expected Max to be written out as they've exhausted him so much and I don't see any way they can keep him on the show, do you think they honestly feel differently? It would be a mistake IMO to keep Max around now, especially as I do wish everyone involved in Max being sent to prison showed some remorse because as it stands Max is being painted as the one in the wrong and evil and while of course his actions are deplorable, Ian, Phil and everyone else involved need to be held accountable for their actions too and this needs to be shown on screen in order for those characters to feel less damaged. I get the impression this is what SOC was aiming for but JY's interpretation hasn't seemed to include this; no idea whether the way it's coming across was always intended to be this way but I always viewed SOC's vision of Max's revision as a way to reverse some of the damage done to so many characters as a result of the Lucy storyline. I do get the impression I'll be taking a break from the show soon. I did enjoy the Christmas episodes despite the flaws, but if I carry on watching once the casting changes take place it will be out of curiosity to see how crap it can get.

I totally agree @BetterForgotten. The show is living in the past. At least SOC was keen to move things forward even if he did get it wrong many times.

Very unlikely. Not sure if I'm that interested going forward considering all the dud casting changes though.

The Australian government has begun to contribute funding towards Neighbours as a production to keep it running, as it was deemed too important to the Australian film industry to lose. http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/neighbours/news/a845914/neighbours-axe-government-funding/