Ben

This is so awesome. Libby and Mal, hopefully at the same time. Would be awesome if they could bag Jesse Spencer for a cameo - he can't be filming Chicago Fire all the time.

Holly Valance's (ex-Felicity Scully) sister Olympia Valance has joined the cast. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s14/neighbours/news/a556345/neighbours-holly-valances-half-sister-olympia-joining-cast.html Speculation is she will be playing Lauren and Brad's thought-to-be-dead daughter. In other news: Scott McGregor (Mark Brennan) recently mentioned in TV Week, that he's in contract talks to possibly stay for longer. This has given weight to the theory that Kate will be killed off.

It took a lot to get the theme song this good. They ran a competition to find an Aussie and a British singer, which was supposed to come down to one winner, but they went with a duet. The first version that actually went to air was terrible. Thankfully they listened to fans and changed it slightly to what we have now. I was never a fan of the frilly girly versions, as it all sounded too pre-teen pop, and gave the wrong impression of the tone of the show. I've always had the impression that American's wouldn't take to the show, due to it being so different in tone and style to the Daytime soaps. In a nutshell, Sonya befriended Jacob on her blog, whose wife had just died. He was having problems caring for his baby. Due to Sonya's own messed up history (she's a recovering drug/alcoholic/gambling addict), she didn't want Jacob to abandon his son like she did with Callum, so threw herself into supporting him. Jacob got the wrong idea and kissed her. Sonya said she didn't have feelings for him, but kept it secret from Toadie for a while, as Toadie was helping Jacob fight for custody of his son against his in-laws, and she didn't want to jeopardise that. Kyle & Georgia are a mess. Basically, Georgia and Kyle were happy together until he stupidly starred at an eclipse and went temp blind for a month. During this time, he and Georgia were on a break, due to Kyle struggling with the blindness and a lack of independence. He and Kate had a ONS and kept it secret for 6 months (K&G got back together soon after his ONS). Kate's character has been poorly written since she arrived 5 years ago. She actively pursued Kyle (in a saintly, passive manner) in 2012 when he was in love with Jade (Sonya's sister), and now she's decided that she is, after all this time, in love with Kyle. Georgia's psychotically obsessed cousin Gem found out about their ONS, and tricked Georgia into exposing it - and learning about it - at Georgia & Kyle's engagement party via an unsent email from Kate, that Gem had printed off from illegally hacking into her emails from a remote computer. Up until now, Kyle was never confused about his feels for Kate, and was 100% in love with Georgia. Now he's suddenly dithering between the two. Georgia wants Kyle to choose her b/c he wants her, not out of obligation or b/c he's decided he doesn't want to be w/ Kate. Basically, she wants him to fight for her. Imogen and Mason were never really dating before. She had a crush on him, they kissed, but he became overly concerned about Kate's (they're ex's) safety when she had gone to find Georgia, who had been left for dead by cray Gem, and this made Imogen feel like he was still hung up on Kate. FYI: she's a recovering bulimic. The other thing you should know is that Susan has MS. It's remitting, so it pops up every now and again for plot purposes.

Thanks for explaining the Hannah/Ethan/Zac connection. Capitalising on the beach location and all the constant promotion has helped keep H&A alive, and will continue to do so. This is what Neighbours needed to happen, but Ten doesn't have the brains to work out heavy duty promotion would be good for them and the show (promos running constantly on Ten, not Eleven, as more people watch Ten).

Always nice to see new eyeballs watching the show, as you'll bring a fresh perspective to areas that may grate on long time viewers. I assume you started watching Oz pace episodes, as opposed to UK pace? Is this the first time you've watched Neighbours, AMS? The show has always eaten through the younger cast, but over the last 10 years it has become a lot more noticeable; they have a period every few years where a mass exodus happens, and the majority of the cast becomes new. This has been a really big problem recently, as the show has struggled to form long term couples and characters. Out of the current cast, Karl, Susan, Paul, Lou and Toadie date back to the 90s, and in Paul's case, the very first episode. This is why it's nice that Lucy is recurring now, as she dates back to the 80s and 90s. I'm not necessarily including Lauren and Brad, as the only historic thing about these guys is their 90's history; they may as well be new characters. The main reason for the cast turnover is that many of the young actors leave to pursue a Hollywood career. You'll notice that some have made it, while the majority don't. As for who is returning: I'd guess Libby Kennedy and Zeke Kinski. It is Karl & Susan's 20th anniversary and the 7000th episode (I think) this year, and these character's returning would be a way of celebrating that. The only other possibility is when Rebecca returns, she brings Original Declan and his daughter India with her.

So, they've brought back the farm again?! I rarely watch H&A these days, but I try to keep up with what's going on on a general level. How are Hannah and Zac related? I understand that Zac was Ethan's brother, and the twins were Ethan's kids, but how is Hannah related to them all? I read an interesting post from an Aussie about a possible theory as to why H&A still brings in high ratings today. They said that it's b/c of the beach location, and that H&A is the only show to capitalise on the beach setting, which is a big part of the Aussie lifestyle, which is highly relateable for many. The show has dipped in quality over the years, and hasn't been that well written for a long time, and they believe the beach setting is a big pull for Australians. They also mentioned that H&A gets the hell promoted out of it, so viewers are constantly reminded of its existence. I thought this was an interesting take, and I do agree that the beach locale is probably a major reason why the show continues to command high ratings even during bad periods. Do other Australian's agree with this?

I liked Deano, and his relationship with Shirley was left underdeveloped, so this will be good to explore. However, I'm not sure the character needs a permanent return, as I don't know where they can take him long term. A 6 month guest stint would be long enough, IMO - just enough time to explore his relationship with Shirley and his grandfather, Stan, and have a few scenes with Stacey. On another note: Shabnam is back, and is now a bigoted, unlikeable woman. Her racist comment seems to have caused a stir, and I hope this is something they explore with the character. I hope Shabnam rediscovers some of her old traits at some point, as Original Shabnam was more likeable and a free spirit, if underdeveloped.

Please, no child. Sometimes the story warrants it, and sometimes it's a change of dynamic for the characters. Other times, it's predictable tosh. Donna returning with Marlon's kid would be the latter. Marlon & Laurel have 3 kids linked to them already. They do not need another child cluttering up their lives. Also, the show already did this plot with Kelly/Jimmy/Nicola, when Kelly returned with Jimmy's offspring a couple of years ago. Hopefully, they've come up with a better reason for Donna returning.

That's such a terrible reason for dumping a popular show. Did the restructure work for ZDF? This may be stupid, but why couldn't ZDF just air 1 episode a day, instead of 2? Is it b/c they are only 20 minutes long (without commercials), and ZDF favours 60 minute slots? Editing a 40 minute show into 2 episodes would never really work, as the structure and pacing would be all wrong. Thanks for explaining the names thing; it actually makes perfect sense why some shows are translated and other's aren't.

Carl's right about Liz. I always remember the trashy, fun Liz, as it's the most recent, but during the 90s, she was serious and long-suffering, having to deal with Steve and Andy's dramas, and Jim going to jail more times than he changed his socks. This Liz isn't fun, serious or suffering - she's nasty, rude and witch-y. Steve & Michelle used to be together, running the Rovers with Liz, then he cheated, and Michelle dumped him, never to go near him again (this was one of the character's positive points). Then randomly, she took him back, which was very out of character, and suddenly they buy the Rovers (again), and Liz returns to run it (again). Notice a pattern? It's like they've purposefully rewound time to 2004-05, and reset these 3 characters as if the proceeding years didn't exist for them. However, they've failed to capture Liz and Michelle's characters and their relationships with Steve, and thus their "fun" banter of old now translates into "fun" bullying of Steve. Now, they've made Liz a confidante for Tina, who keeps telling her that what she's doing is wrong and how she should stay away from Peter. Yada, yada, yada. If Peter had to cheat (like why? He was only just developing!), then it should have been with Eva Price. She never gets any story at all. They made a thing about Eva getting the PA job, and her and Peter genuinely get along. It would have been much more conceivable for these two to have an affair, than randomly chucking Tina into Peter & Carla's orbit. It's all very fake. To make it all the more complicated, Eva is dating Jason, and while I think it would be cruel to have yet another girlfriend cheat on Jason, it could have created a different dynamic story wise. I do wonder how much of this story was planned in advance, and how much of it was thrown together after they fired Chris Fountain, considering Tommy & Tina were a pretty solid couple. I really can't see what Tommy's role in the story would have been if he was still around. Really bad move firing him, IMO.

Well, I stopped watching it for over a year, and only started again last October, and the show has changed a lot. The day-to-day episodes are much more watchable and enjoyable. Characters motivations are clearer, stories have better aftermaths and reactions, and there is comedy that flows through the show, again, something that was basically annihilated in 2012. I keep reading how people expect the show to be like the climax to Cameron's story every week, sometimes every episode, under appreciating the slower paced, more character centred episodes. I quite like the episodes that give the impression that more is happening than what actually is. There have been some really great scenes between Cain & Moira, and Cain has really developed a lot in the last few months. I love Moira and Vanessa's friendship, it has a genuine feeling about it. I think they've done a great job with Declan's downfall, and I'm liking Charity's revenge. I loved Leyla the first time round, so it's so awesome having her back, stirring the pot for David & Alicia, who I'm happy are finally married; throw in Priya's pregnancy and her developing eating disorder, and you have a lot of story scope. Jimmy & Nicola, Bernice, Diane, Zak, etc, are still great. Ashley has been saved - major kudos to Kate Oates for that - and new character Harriet is a breath of fresh air - she's very different, kinda off the wall, in some ways. The show isn't perfect. The Bartons are OK, but not overly great (I'm disappointed Finn is gay, as it means Victoria gets overlooked again, at the chance of a story. Plus, the gangster stuff they brought to the farm was terrible, and Papa Barton is dull); Val is still vile and Maurel still suck. Dom & Gemma are spare parts - they seriously lack direction and purpose). Amy's exit was terrible - in fact that whole story with Amy trying to get custody of Kyle from Joanie, got old real fast, especially with how badly Amy, Kerry and Val treated and vilified that poor woman. There's a lot to like and appreciate, especially considering the mess the show was in during 2012. I'm hoping Belle doesn't get pregnant. That would be too predictable. Surely there must be other story options that doesn't result in a teen pregnancy? I really don't want any Maurel drama - I'd be happy to see them quietly slip away.

Thanks for the breakdown of the Inception story. Doesn't sound as interesting as the Marc/Viktor/Sandra story, but Sandra sure had a lot of drama packed onto her. Cult stories can be quite boring, IMO; there isn't much scope to reinvent it, so once you've seen one cult story, you've generally seen them all. I think cult stories work best when they are super creepy. Judging from that list, it appears that foreign soaps don't do all that well in Germany, bar B&B, which appears to be the exception running for nearly it's entirety. Shame it got dropped in 2011, after such an impressive run. Long time fans must have been gutted. I notice that Germans translate some of the titles, but keep the original English titles for others, while changing the names completely for some. Like, B&B gets translated, but Sunset Beach is left with its original English title, but Santa Barbara and GL are given new names: California Clan and Springfield Story, respectfully. Why were they given new names instead of a German translation or just keeping their English name? I always imagined Germany would have aired Home & Away at some point. Do you think the British soaps wouldn't appeal to a German audience? Is there much British TV broadcast in Germany?

Emmerdale 2014 Preview by Kate Oates. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s12/emmerdale/news/a541002/emmerdale-producer-hints-2014-drama-for-bartons-pollards-dingles.html Returning characters! http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s12/emmerdale/news/a541004/emmerdale-producer-old-faces-will-return-in-2014.html

I've just Googled that Marc/Viktor/Sandra story and it sounds so OTT, campy fun. Let's see if I have this right: Viktor was Marc's evil schizophrenic identitical twin who assumed Marc's identity and hooked up with Sandra. He forced her marry him, held her hostage, only to die when the cops stormed the bunker. Sounds crazy fun, but if the writing wasn't good then it's a fail. What was the Inception cult story about? Does Germany air any of the UK and Oz soaps? Which US soaps are popular?

Mercy pushed Clare, and she just happened to fall into the path of Browning's on coming car. This is why Grace blames her. What I don't get is why she doesn't kill Mercy herself instead of getting other people to (try to) do it?

It started with Collinson for sure, who did a lot of damage. I think he was able to cover it all up better, if that makes sense. With SB, it's very obvious; the shift in tone and style suddenly becomes miserable and grey. Even without Collinson's damage, SB would still ruin the show. It's true about Michelle, but she's even more nasty now, if you can believe it. ETA: And she's taking Liz down with her!

I forgot Dennis is leaving. I always thought he would be around for several years, or even for ever. I think it's a shame, even if his stories have sucked. I don't watch much of the show now, but when I last watched, Rita was acting nasty - seems like she's had the SB personality transplant treatment that he prescribe to the majority of Emmerdale characters. Liz and Michelle were also behaving nasty, too.

Carl, it did seem like JER was happy to write for black characters, considering he had several black characters front burner on Passions. But, I guess it may have been his writing style that saw the Carvers go nowhere, although it's possible he may have been stopped, like you suggest. BIB: That sounds hilarious. Such a WTF?! sentence. It reads like it can't possibly be serious, but I know this is Days, so... Thanks for explaining the story, but with that last sentence, does it mean the vigilantly-ism turned out to be a dream?

That wasn't Janine's exit. She has her trial to come. The Janine/David dynamic was the highlight of the Christmas episode. This is one of the reasons why I love Janine, she's so rich in history, so fallible, so dysfunctional, so layered as a character; she will be a loss to the show, that's for sure.

Sindacco, you are so right about the poor treatment that Renee faced story wise. It baffles me that so few HW's couldn't see her potential. Some of those B-, C-stories should have made her front burner, like Theo's autism, and even Abe running for Mayor, but as a family, the Carvers were never viewed as anything more than supporting players; they never knew how to write for characters that weren't villains or the classic hero/heroine, unless it was crime/medical stories, then they knew how to utilize Abe and Lexie. Don't forget about Abe's blindness, another story that could have gone somewhere decent, but never did. I remember that time they seemed to flirt with the idea of Abe/Kate and Abe/Celeste, which was quite odd. What was the Pacifier story? This must have been before my time. I thought how Renee was treated under Sheffer was appalling. Didn't Lexie get locked in a tunnel or some such nonsense, only to come back being all agoraphobic or something? As time went on the Carvers became more isolated. Even now, they don't use Abe in any meaningful way. It made sense for Renee to no longer be interested in staying with Days, considering how mistreated she had been by management. They wasted Paul on the teens and that damn tropical temptation story. I'm glad Nicole had some meaningful scenes with him, but really more could and should have been done with Paul/Brandon/Abe/Faye, especially after all that had been built up, and the deep history that they apparently shared. I guess by this time the momentum was gone and they lost interest.

I've just read both the Lauren chat, and the one with Joe and Renee. Both were awesome reads, and all three really came across as down-to-earth, nice people. I quite like the way Joe answers some of those questions, like he holds some information back, even if that is a little annoying. Like, what was his least favourite storyline? I also liked what they said about Tanya Boyd/Celeste, as at the time, I felt she should and could have been used a lot more affectively; I certainly liked the appearances she made during that time. Yeah, Renee deserved to have more to do, especially during the latter 2000s. I do think 2000-02 had a lot of plates spinning in the air, and not every story was fully realised. The whole Abe/Faye/Brandon/Larry thing could have been better developed, and I think Brandon being Abe's son should have been explored when it was fresh, before it lost momentum. Interesting comment about Stefano and Kate, which did eventually happen. Good memories for me as a viewer, considering the quality of the show would later sharply deteriorate. BTW: Thanks Paul for posting those chats. Much appreciated.

This show is such a mess. The Carmel story is terrible. It's the typical trash of female character discovers she can't (possibly) have kids, so randomly becomes obsessed with having one. I will give them credit for linking it to an STD, which beats the usual car crash/fall/accident that so often leaves soap women baron. I will also give them credit for finally writing Theresa to match her horrible personality. The OTT, OMG! moments are eating the show up; the writing is so hollow, that all the stories have no aftermath, reaction or any decent motivation for happening. Everything is for shock factor. The only story that has had any kind of depth and pathos has been Cindy and Dirk, and her pregnancy. I really hate how they've ended that relationship, b/c it was actually developing Cindy into a more humane character. The show has too much Fraser, Grace, Trevor, violence and crime, kidnappings, Roscoes, and random hook-ups that go nowhere.

Carl, people seem to think the ratings will just increase overnight simply b/c EE has had a change of producer, forgetting that the majority of (offline) fans won't be aware of this change (and not really care) and will form an opinion based on the episodes that air. I think the quality has increased, but not a great deal. The day-to-day episodes can still be a little boring. I know it will take time for things to improve, and for stories to get going. People just want things instantly, and get bent out of shape when the ratings don't reflect the quality they (blindly) believe the show to have. As for Danny Dyer, well, I don't think he's going to be a massive draw, considering his acting is mediocre and he seems a bit nervous - he's yet to relax into the role. Their first episodes were OK. There was the odd plot hole, like Mick (who has just left one pub to by another) apparently having zero contacts within the industry, so had to beg for favours from Kat & Alfie to get them some beer. All contrived just so K&A could come off looking like decent folk.

It is very rare. However, Neighbours has a bit of a history with lawsuits and disgruntled actors... Shane Connor, who played the patriarch of the Scully family for 4 years, was fired from show effective immediately in 2003, with claims of bad behaviour on set. There was this thing about Janet Andrewartha (on screen wife Lyn Scully) complaining about him being aggressive; it was also alleged at the time that he would turn up late . Shane Connor then sued the show for unlawful dismissal. It transpired that he had a drug habit brought on by the death of a relative, to which he apologised to the cast and crew and sought help for his addiction. But, the hostility between him and Janet remained, with her continuing to complain about him, which was when he was fired, despite being clean. He won his case and was awarded over AU$200,000! Then you have that interview with Alan Dale in 2007, who slammed the show for not allegedly paying the actors enough money from international sales during the years he was with the show (80s-early 90s). He felt ripped off, and hates the show to this very day, which is why he never partook in the 20th anniversary. But, he never sued the show, even though he felt so strongly about the situation. I don't know of any lawsuits between UK actors/soaps either. Has there ever been similar cases with US soaps/actors?

Interesting article from Producer Jason Herbison on diversity, returnees and more Lucy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s14/neighbours/news/a534674/neighbours-producer-jason-herbison-ethnic-diversity-is-important-to-us.html FYI: In case anyone missed it, Kym Valentine settled her lawsuit. No word on whether that was a monetary settlement or simply a guarantee of a return. She has also left her management, too, at about the same time. It did feel like a very out of character thing for Kym to pursue, so maybe she was under pressure from her management to file the lawsuit, and she was still attending the Neighbours Nights, and who would do that if they hated the show. Either way, I hope Libby does return, as it would be a shame for this to end so messy after so may loyal years to the show.