Ben

7 hours ago, Vee said:

I hadn't realized the Rodwells were apparently a relatively new addition to the show themselves.

Yeah, they unfortunately were introduced just before the show was cancelled in 2022, so they never really had a chance to be developed in any kind of way. Andrew had been a recurring cop for a few years prior to becoming a regular, though. I think it’s testament to all involved that they have slotted back in so well and have been so well received.

7 hours ago, Vee said:

J.J. had some very green moments but I'm pretty fond of him.

I think he’s a very likeable actor, who has potential. The actor who plays Dex is pretty ropey, but he does get slightly better. 

I’ve been meaning to come back here and post my thoughts on the show. I’m enjoying it a lot; the quality is back to what it was in 2022 after the bumpy return last year (let’s call that the Mischa Barton era ). 

I think what we’re seeing on screen now is everyone settling in, so all the initial nerves and excitement of being back have gone; new actors are bedding in and recasts are clicking into place (I’ve warmed to nuByron now). Production wise, the addition of 4th walls in some of the sets have been very welcome, which has given those sets a more real feel and allows for them to freshen up the directing of scenes; the incidental music is now really good, too. 

Neighbours have produced some outstanding episodes this year, especially the episodes around the death of a long time character, with the grief being played brilliantly by all involved. Krista’s traumatic birth went into the kind of detail I’ve never seen the show do before, and it really elevated Chelsea’s gold digging to a whole new level of villainy. (I’m being careful not to give away specifics for those who haven’t caught up, yet.)

Chelsea, as a character, was difficult to get behind at first, as she seemed to be so cold and devoid of any caring side, even for her sister, Cara (I do like all the barbed exchanges between Chelsea and Remi and Leo describing her as a ‘trashy blow in’ ). But since the story has taken a dark turn with Krista, Viva Bianca has been able to show the guilt Chelsea feels (not enough to stop her from trying to push Krista into a drugs relapse, though), and I’m starting to love to hate her character now. I low-key want her to stay. 

I love the Rodwell and Varga-Murphy family units, and I thought the recent inclusion of Andrew’s brother Felix, was great, but his stint was shorter than I expected, which is a shame. 

I think the teen scene could be beefed up a bit; maybe give JJ a friend at least. 

Haz has suddenly become more interesting with his latest storyline exploring his past as a hacker. He definitely works better as this morally grey character instead of whatever they were trying to do before. I won’t say that I like him, but his scenes are certainly more interesting to watch now. 

The one area of the show that doesn’t work for me is the Terese/Toadie/Mel triangle. It’s terrible and really drags the show (and characters) down. The writing for Toadie has been especially damaging, and I’m happy that he’s currently off screen. 

I’m super-excited about the Emmy nomination for Best Daytime Drama and for Guy Pearce getting nominated, too. That’s a huge deal for the show in terms of publicity in the US. 

On 2/4/2024 at 6:15 PM, Vee said:

I still can't decide if the kid playing Nell has any talent or is just that painful to watch. Her monologue about her dead mother with the therapist several episodes back was not bad, but in virtually every other scene (including some of that monologue) she is smirking and squinting her way through all her dialogue and while I assume they found this to be naturalistic it just makes me want to run her over with a car.

You’re not alone in thinking this. She overacts in every scene she’s in unless it’s one that calls for “sad” acting. The squinting is particularly bad. Sadly, she does not get any better. Also, the tone of her line delivery is really annoying, with every line being said with such labour. 

On 2/4/2024 at 6:15 PM, Vee said:

I won't be shocked if the dog starts gaslighting Mackenzie as the storyline heats up.

That would be more interesting. 

Things definitely pick up with flashback week, especially with the returning characters it brings. 

I’ll collate my thoughts soon, @DRW50.

On 2/2/2024 at 6:29 AM, Vee said:

I am never going to catch up on this show but I promise I will keep trying, lol.

How many episodes are you behind? I advise dumping your entire life in favour of catching up.

It’s not an “attitude”, NBC would have happily renewed the show had Spelling given up the international royalties, so it was never about ratings at that point. 

Let’s not forget NBC basically buried the show when they moved it to Noon in July 1999 to make way for Passions, which left many affiliates airing the show at 3am or just not at all. 

And we all saw how cheap Passions looked in comparison (nice location shoots for the first week to hook viewers in, then back to shooting the outside inside). 

On 1/27/2024 at 12:52 AM, AMCOLTLLover said:

Wasn’t channel 5 from the UK even offering them some money to co-fund another season coz it got good ratings over there? Yet they declined. Which is weird considering they wouldn’t have to spent much as before. They could’ve at least tried it

Yeah, Channel 5 did offer to co-fund the show with NBC and Spelling, but they refused. Channel 5 also wanted to rerun the show immediately after the final episode, but NBC increased the licensing fee to some stupid amount, essentially pricing them out. Clearly, they were bitter over not getting those international royalties they so desperately wanted. 

Yeah, it’s a little confusing, but all that seems to be known is that the back catalogue of Spelling Entertainment is now owned by CBS Paramount now. Given that the show has been rerun on international CBS channels in recent years, it seems like NBC no longer have the rights to the show. 

As NBC had broadcasting rights and were funding 50% of the show, my guess is those rights expired at some point and all rights reverted back to the production company, Spelling Entertainment. 

The rights for the show were a contentious issue, as NBC wanted to own the show outright, most likely to have more control, but also to get their hands on the international royalties, which were going directly into Spelling’s pocket. The more popular it became internationally, the more money they were making, which is why NBC pulled the plug as Spelling refused to share those royalties. 

I loved Monday’s episode; it really packed an emotional punch with the resolution to last Thursday’s cliffhanger. Wendy putting her life on the line simply to make up for her meddling in the Varga-Murphy’s business said a lot about the integrity (and stupidity) of her character. Then JJ drops the paternity bomb…

Everything with Eden suddenly ramped up. There has to be more to him than meets the eye. 

How is everyone else finding the show now it’s ramping up the drama?

I can’t wait until David and Aaron return. The show is stepping up a gear now, especially with the most recent cliffhanger. Although, Reece’s search for her MIA sister lacks energy, but so does Mischa Barton’s performance. 

I’ve seen that promo live. It is one of the best made promos the show ever had, and one of the few special presentations made at that time. I think only EastEnders had similar ones made, but never that long.

I guess the 4-day model allows for a nice round number of episodes to be produced a year (200 per year). 

EastEnders has the same airing pattern on the BBC.

1 hour ago, althea-davis said:

I am hungry to find out what happens next lol 

That’s what they want to hear! 

Thursday’s episode was the best of the week for me, as it felt like proper Neighbours. 

Shame Mischa Barton is still phoning it in. Hopefully she improves once she’s settled into the role and the show.

2 hours ago, althea-davis said:

So, Neighbours won't be airing Fridays? Is that typical for this soap or is this an Amazon thing?

Ooh, complicated answer alert! Historically, Neighbours has aired 5-days a week, but in 2020, UK’s Channel 5 cut their output due to the pandemic despite Neighbours continuing production, which left us falling behind.

The contract with Fremantle was that the UK and Australia aired episodes on the same day, and the intention seemed to be that Channel 5 would catch up, but instead, they took a Christmas break and fell behind even more.

In 2021, Australia’s Network Ten reduced their output to Mon-Thurs to help the UK catch up, even retooling the season finale. By this point Channel 5 had renewed their contract with Fremantle for a year with expectation that the UK would drop to 4-days a week in 2022 in line with Australia. 

But relations between the networks had soured by this point, and Channel 5 continued with 5-days a week, gaining the world premiere and pulling ahead of Australia for the first time ever. That left Ten to air triple episodes just so they could air the series finale first. In hindsight, Channel 5 had already decided to cancel the show so had no problems burning bridges. The irony is that Channel 5 and Ten are owned by ViacomCBS, so this must have caused some interdepartmental conflict. 

It seems like Amazon have continued with this model of producing 4-episodes a week in line with what Ten want (the Friday episode was notoriously low). 

40 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

It might have made more sense to try this with Glenn, although I know that wouldn't have been very exciting. It's too bad they could never get someone like Peter O'Brien on full time again as that might have been interesting to see Paul reacting to Terese/Shane.

Now this I could get on board with. Shane would have been an interesting choice. I think if the show hadn’t of been cancelled, I could have seen them going down that route with Glen, but clearly during the hiatus, Jason Herbison lost interest in his character.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

Did Melanie have some sort of mental health issue?

No, none that we were aware of. She was scatty and bubbly, occasionally prone to childish revenge stunts, but nothing that screamed mental health issues. But as @DRW50 says, Mel was off screen for years, so it would be plausible that she might have an undisclosed mental health issue. 

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

I find Terese/Paul so tedious as a pairing at this point

I get that - and I think any reunion between them needs to be earned by Paul - and I’m all for Terese being with a new man, just not Toadie. It’s not right on any level, and as you say makes no sense for him.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

The first Byron was very attractive without being plastic, and a decent actor too. I imagine he chose not to return, but this new guy from what I've seen doesn't really stand out for me

Agree completely. Joe Klocek brought a certain “roughness” to the role of Byron; plus, he has a spark about him and good chemistry with other characters. This recast is plastic and bland, too pretty boy next door for Byron. 

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

They had one popular cast member from BBAU in the '00s 

Blair McDonough who played Stuart had charisma and talent. 

13 hours ago, Vee said:

Wasn't Jason Herbison a massive soap fan or soap magazine guy before he became showrunner?

Yeah, he wrote for Inside Soap Magazine, TV Week, then wrote into Neighbours and the rest is history. 

13 hours ago, Vee said:

I wonder how longtime fans feel about the details we've been given as to the break-ups.

Not great from Melanie’s perspective. The explanation given trashed her character and what we saw on screen in 2022. I’m hoping there’s more to it. As you might have gathered, the Terese/Toadie pairing has not gone down well with the longtime fans, including myself. It’s so wrong and so alien. Imagine if Bo Brady randomly married Marlena on Days. It’s that kind of wrong. 

Thanks for sharing @victoria foxton. So many great memories. 

On 12/13/2022 at 11:33 PM, Melroser said:

Sarah did have a memorable role, though truly under appreciated, on B&B coming between Ridge and Taylor. 

Didn’t Sarah Buxton also appear on Days in a guest roll playing someone called Crystal? I think she was Marlena’s prison cell mate in 2005 or something. 

3 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

I wonder what the business logistic are - did Freemantle sell the show to Amazon, or is Amazon paying Freemantle a licensing fee to produce it (similar to what Channel 5 and the BBC did previously)? Amazon acquired the entire library in this deal as well. 

From what’s been said, it appears Amazon FreeVee is paying a licensing fee to produce the show in partnership with Network Ten in Australia - so, kind of what it was before. The show will also be moving back to the main channel in Australia instead of being on a digital channel.

It’s really good news that it will be on FreeVee as the ad revenue will support the production costs. The only problem with streamers is that it’s difficult to know what constitutes a successful show from a viewer perspective. 

I’m very happy about this. Totally buzzing. The back catalogue being available is a lovely bonus, especially as it will be available in the US, too! The American market has always been a bit difficult for Neighbours to break into, so I hope this is a success.

I remember watching One Life To Live when it moved to Prospect Park, and I thought they did a decent job, generally. But that was a move that was ahead of its time as someone else said. It’s a bit like Days moving to Peacock - these are experimental times for the genre. 

On 8/29/2022 at 9:18 PM, DRW50 said:

This story with Hannah is odd. Was the house meant to be haunted (by Julie  or someone)?

Not Julie, as she was still alive at this point, but strangely, after Julie’s death, Hannah did start believing that Julie was still with her.

This Hannah story was one of those filler plots where she thought paranormal activity was causing all of these easily explainable things. Not sure how it ended.
 

On 8/29/2022 at 9:18 PM, DRW50 said:

I don't know if this was seen as doldrums period  for the show

1994 had some good points, but it wasn’t the best season and it did transition into 1995, which is regarded as being one of the worst years.

On 8/15/2022 at 12:48 PM, DRW50 said:

I guess at least a former Family Affair actress joining Corrie means the other show we talked about is relevant again.

Speaking of Family Affairs, I found out the other day that the series finale ended the way it did because they were apparently setting up for the more popular characters to get a spin-off. My guess is Eileen Callan (who randomly won the lottery) and the Costello’s. If only that had come to pass.

On 8/15/2022 at 12:48 PM, DRW50 said:

I do still watch Home & Away

I struggle with H&A as it’s just not the same show as it once was, so whenever I tune in, it’s either boring or extremely plotty. Not many characters with personality.

On 7/29/2022 at 8:43 PM, DRW50 said:

And I don't think he posts here anymore but I wanted to thank @Ben for the conversations we had here about the show years ago.

Thanks for remembering me and the many convos we shared. I pop back here from time to time to see what’s happening with Days/B&B, but there’s not a lot for me to talk about or join in with. I can’t believe how long its been since the days when we used to discuss so many soaps. It was a real pleasure talking to you and sharing knowledge. 

21 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

I'll take a stab:

Back
Thomas (drinking from bottle) and Amber? (red skirt)
Nick Marone and ??? (holding wine glasses)
Rick (shirtless) + woman ??

people in pool ???
2 models
Dayzee (white shirt with red scarf)
Thorne? (in black)
Pam and Steven

Front:
Man and woman in blue dress ???
Women fighting over man: Steffy, Oliver, Hope?
Man with watch - Liam?
Eric and Stephanie
Ridge and Brooke
Donna, Marcus, and Justin
Katie and Bill 
 

Back
Amber and… Is that Thomas? Wasn’t Drew Tyler Bell playing him during this era? 
Nick Marone and Taylor or Aggy (I think she was called)
Rick, Bridget, Jackie and Owen in the pool.
Two models
Dayzee, Thorne, Pam, Stephen

Front
The man and woman…?
Steffy, Oliver, Hope, Liam(?)
Eric and Stephanie 
Ridge and Brooke
Bill and Katie
Justin, Marcus, and Donna

Sorry to cut into the Taylor/Hunter discussion, but just wondering if anyone has seen these before? I thought they were fun. Do you recognise all the characters on the lunch box? 
 

OK, American Beachers, help me out please: during the reunion, several actors spoke about doing a live episode; Nick Kiriazis has said before in an interview the live episode aired in prime-time, but this is the first I have ever heard of this.

Did a live episode air in prime-time on NBC in 1998 or 1999? The only prime-time ep I know of is Shockwave, which was a compilation episode of the tsunami plot.

Also, the reunion was awesome!

On 2/6/2022 at 11:24 PM, DRW50 said:

It's good to see you here @Ben if in such sad circumstances. I hope there's some chance to save the show.

What kind of situation is Home and Away  in? I know it was better rated in Australia but I'm not as sure these days.

Thanks @DRW50. It’s been along time posting here. We used to have some great discussions.

Re: Home and Away: I think it’s life of series deal protects it on Channel 5, who really can’t do much with it no matter how low the ratings slide. They seem to have stabilised around the 400k mark. 

In Australia, the TV landscape has changed so much. Aussie’s prefer watching scripted TV on streaming services, leaving only reality shows and the news as rating high on FTA TV. Home and Away is the #1 drama, but that’s not saying much when there is hardly any competition. It’s ratings have also fallen into the 400k-500k, with the occasional spike depending on the storyline of the moment. 

Like Ten, Seven also needs Home and Away to fill their local drama quota, and after the changes to the system last year, series with more than 65 episodes a year now qualify for a producer offshoot - they get money back. 

Ten was only contributing $20k to the Neighbours budget, with some help from Film Victoria, while the rest comes from the UK broadcaster. But the UK doesn’t have such funding available to broadcasters, solely relying on sponsorship and advertising revenue. Practically, I totally get the expense, but equally, it’s so sad when everything has to come down to money. 

One of the things to come to of this is the outpouring of love for Neighbours. It means so much to so many people, even those who have stopped watching. There’s been so many articles written and news reports generated, the petition has nearly 45,000 signatures! 

Where’s one of those billionaires looking to invest when you need it.

Also, this is so freaking cool! Fans Push Neighbours Theme to The Top Of The Charts!

17 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

I wonder if the Australian broadcasts might get any special additions to them.

I doubt it. 

18 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

This is all so sad.

Extremely sad. As you know from cancelled US soaps, this whole situation has been a bit of a mess. I think it’s worse because it basically comes down to money; ratings are still healthy, the show is in the best shape it has been for a while, but money matters more. *sigh*