Neighbours: Discussion Thread

[Ben]

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?

[All My Shadows]

I've been watching this show this week, and I generally like it so far. Hoping to get into it and follow it for a few months or so because I've missed having a non-US soap in my life. Looking at characters and what-not, I never realized how rare it is for anyone to stay on this show for more than 3 or 4 years.

[august1229]

they go through younger characters like water. The younger actors likely figure they have to leave and try for the big time while they are still young.

[DRW50]

Two of these characters will be returning.

https://www.facebook.com/NeighboursOnEleven

[All My Shadows]

I knew they went through the younger characters quickly, but I guess I always figured that was a more recent trend. I didn't realize that was pretty much the norm from the early years (at least since they moved over to Ten). It kinda makes sense because who's gonna grow up into adulthood and continue to live on the exact same street?

I don't even know most of the people in that picture, but I do see Lynne Scully.

[Ben]

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.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Ben

[All My Shadows]

Thanks, Ben.

I actually watched it off and on ten years ago whenever Oxygen (a cable net in the US) aired about a hundred episodes from 1999 over the summer. The ratings weren't what they were looking for (considering it was on against AMC and Y&R, they should not have been surprised), so they canned it. I've watched episodes here and there since then, including some old eps online, like Scott and Charlene's wedding, but this is my first time really watching regularly. I've done a lot of reading about the show, though.

So far, I'm enjoying it. I think I get most of what's generally going on. Kyle and Kate are on the verge of getting together, but Kyle is still hung up on Georgia, and now that he knows she's pregnant, he's even more focused on her. Imogen and Mason used to be together, but they broke up for reasons I'm not aware of yet, and she moved on to this guy Isaac, who has turned out to be sort of a loser. Paul fired Terese from Lassiters and realized what a mistake he made, so he attempted to hire her back, but she held out until she could go back on her own terms. I don't understand what's going on with Toadie and his wife except that she cheated on him or some guy wanted her to cheat on him or something. I don't completely understand Kyle and Georgia's history, either.

And I just have to say, the current arrangement of the theme song is the best in years. All of those frilly girly versions from the 00's were so cringe-worthy.

Edited February 5, 2014 by All My Shadows

[Ben]

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.

[AdelaideCate007]

[Ben]

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.

[DRW50]

Kym Valentine is returning for a brief stint, along with several others.

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2014/03/kym-valentine-returns-to-neighbours-in-guest-role.html

[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.

[Ben]

Charlie's gets a complete make-over, and is re-branded The Waterhole. FYI: The Waterhole was the original name for the pub back in the 80s.

[AdelaideCate007]

Has anybody else been watching Rebecca's return? I've really been enjoying it.

[JamesF]

Yep, she's just returned this week in the UK so I decided to watch the entire week' worth of episodes in one sitting.

I'm someone who has basically grown up with the show since it started - rarely missed an episode until 2002 (out of habit), never missed an episode between 2002 to 2007 (mostly out of love) and then over the past five years keep an awareness of what's happening but only watch once in a while for the big events.

This week's episodes were the first time in years that I've enjoyed most of the show and can imagine picking it up regularly again. It reminded me how comforting Neighbours is as a long time viewer; it really is like checking in with old friends. The balance is so much better with different types of stories, the new characters such as Lauren seem to be fleshed out a little more, production values are better (sunshine!) and Rebecca's return, however contrived, is a pleasure to watch. Love the actress and character and literally had a warm glow when she walked back into the Kennedy house.

I'll stick it out next week and remain guarded because I've been burned before. Josh and Amber in particular are a millstone for the show from what I can see. Terrible actors and characters with no personality so naturally, they are pushed as the Next!Big!Couple!