Neighbours 30th anniversary special flops in Australia

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  • junipairejunipaire Posts: 3,517
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    vaslav37 wrote: »
    I don't understand why H & A is popular than Neighbours! It's crap!

    Oh no I've watched both for years but Home and Away has been streets ahead for at least 6 years I would say, much more going on. Neighbours these days is very dull.

    I really don't get why Neighbours get more mentions over here, I must think like an aussie lol.
  • junipairejunipaire Posts: 3,517
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    TLC1098 wrote: »
    Apart from the oldies the rest of the cast is horrendous. The show seems to be incapable of creating good characters like they used to.

    I agree the new characters just seem one dimensional and bland, its really missing something, when you look at Neighbours in its glory years its cause of great characters and acting. You don't seem to get much going on, maybe I'm just growing out of it.
  • WoodbineWoodbine Posts: 14,185
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    I used to enjoy watching both Neighours and Home & Away, but I haven't watched Home & Away since it moved to channel 5, it's been far too long for me to get back into it now.

    Neighbours I've always preferred more and stuck with it, can't really say I have ever got bored of it and like watching it as soon as I'm home from work. I am surprised the viewing figures is low in Australia though.
  • Dr K NoisewaterDr K Noisewater Posts: 11,554
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    TV ratings mean very little nowadays if you don't take into account online viewers. For example I haven't watched an episode of neighbours on TV for years. I don't get in from work in time when its broadcast so watch online on demand 5 Im an avid fan and catch every episode yet my viewing is not taken into account at all.
  • ravensboroughravensborough Posts: 5,188
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    I'd have been surprised if it rated well to be honest. Aside from the fact that Neighbours is on a digital channel, Channel Ten has got some serious problems attracting viewers at the moment. Someone mentioned that they've got other dramas, but other than Offspring (which has just finished its run), every single drama Ten has launched has tanked. Even their much publicised I'm a Celeb version didn't attract more than 600-700,000 viewers.

    So long as the show continues to rate well on Channel 5, I don't see the show going anywhere to be honest. It's frequently the most watched on Channel 5 and attracts close to two million viewers a day for the channel, so for the time being it's future is secure.
  • MelSingletonMelSingleton Posts: 1,894
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    Though I think most (all) Australia has access to digital, few people regularly watch the multichannels. This is partly through habit: people I guess stick to the main channels they are familiar with. Multichannels also have an image problem as viewers imagine they run old repeats, children's programming, and things that failed on the main channels.

    I think it is safe to say once a program moves to a multichannel, its ratings reduce compared to when it ran on a main channel. And Eleven seems to be the least popular multi channel there is. (That said, Ten itself isn't especially high rated.)

    Ten was traditionally the third placed Network after Nine and Seven. Ten hit the top briefly with hit soaps Number 96 and The Box in the 1970s; later Prisoner then Neighbours rated well for them in the 1980s. But Ten seemed to rely on these hit soaps, and since history has shown Australians are fickle soap viewers - quick to desert a show after a few years - this isn't a recipe for long term consistent success.

    Neighbous had a few very high rated years on Ten in the late 1980s however. I think what helped was Ten's overall high ratings for its early evening block at that time. Dating game show Perfect Match was a massive hit at the time and brought with it a large carryover audience. Apparently Richmond Hill (1988) was devised as an additional Neighbours type show to continue that audience, because Ten was finding that their audience would drop off from 7.30 pm.

    Ten's ratings plummeted at the end of the 1980s. A new American boss Bob Shanks arrived in 1989 and changed the station branding and wanted to rework the Network's programming around game shows. (Soap E Street at that time rated OK on Ten... it wasn't a huge hit though its increasingly crazy plotlines I think helped boost its ratings for a while.) Shanks' revamp was a disaster; most of Ten's new shows were cancelled by the end of the year.

    It is true and very believable that Neighbours survives today on its UK audience. This has been said many times not only by cast members but also by unbiased commentators.
  • Ash_M1Ash_M1 Posts: 18,703
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    Us Brits have good taste ay. Whilst Neighbours is Australian, it feels very British too...perhaps because us Brits and Aussies are intrinsically linked.
  • wolfukwolfuk Posts: 367
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    Not helped with false title - it stated Stars reunite - Uh no they did not, Most that talked are still in the show, Or recent, not many and thats was what they / people where expecting
  • Edward_QuackensEdward_Quackens Posts: 95
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    junipaire wrote: »

    I really don't get why Neighbours get more mentions over here, I must think like an aussie lol.
    I think its due to the cultural impact it made over here. It wasn't the first aussie soap we had but it was the first to smash through in to the mainstream. People will always talk about Scott and Charlene's wedding rather than the home and away equivalent which would be I dunno, Bobby and Frank?! :)
  • Ash_M1Ash_M1 Posts: 18,703
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    I think its due to the cultural impact it made over here. It wasn't the first aussie soap we had but it was the first to smash through in to the mainstream. People will always talk about Scott and Charlene's wedding rather than the home and away equivalent which would be I dunno, Bobby and Frank?! :)

    ...but the timing of the soap here in the UK in the 80s, coupled with drama/comedy/engaging story-lines was really perfect. Scott 'n' Charlene, Des 'n' Daph, Jane 'n' Mike, Mrs Mangel, Madge and Harold, Helen, Paul 'n' Gail, Clive 'n' Susan...brilliant. Kids here used to bunk off school to see the latest from down under.
  • H.MH.M Posts: 54
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    Though I think most (all) Australia has access to digital, few people regularly watch the multichannels. This is partly through habit: people I guess stick to the main channels they are familiar with. Multichannels also have an image problem as viewers imagine they run old repeats, children's programming, and things that failed on the main channels.

    I think it is safe to say once a program moves to a multichannel, its ratings reduce compared to when it ran on a main channel. And Eleven seems to be the least popular multi channel there is. (That said, Ten itself isn't especially high rated.)

    Ten was traditionally the third placed Network after Nine and Seven. Ten hit the top briefly with hit soaps Number 96 and The Box in the 1970s; later Prisoner then Neighbours rated well for them in the 1980s. But Ten seemed to rely on these hit soaps, and since history has shown Australians are fickle soap viewers - quick to desert a show after a few years - this isn't a recipe for long term consistent success.

    Neighbous had a few very high rated years on Ten in the late 1980s however. I think what helped was Ten's overall high ratings for its early evening block at that time. Dating game show Perfect Match was a massive hit at the time and brought with it a large carryover audience. Apparently Richmond Hill (1988) was devised as an additional Neighbours type show to continue that audience, because Ten was finding that their audience would drop off from 7.30 pm.

    Ten's ratings plummeted at the end of the 1980s. A new American boss Bob Shanks arrived in 1989 and changed the station branding and wanted to rework the Network's programming around game shows. (Soap E Street at that time rated OK on Ten... it wasn't a huge hit though its increasingly crazy plotlines I think helped boost its ratings for a while.) Shanks' revamp was a disaster; most of Ten's new shows were cancelled by the end of the year.

    It is true and very believable that Neighbours survives today on its UK audience. This has been said many times not only by cast members but also by unbiased commentators.

    All good points.

    1988 was the last time Ten placed in the top two networks. When Nine was the top rated and Seven was third. 2004 was their most successful year from 1989 onwards. When they decided to axe the Sunday night movie and move Law and Order Criminal Intent to that timeslot, where it went on to dominate against the movies on Seven and Nine. And they had Big Brother, Aus Idol, Simpsons, Raymond and other high rating shows. They came close to beating Seven into second place.
  • CreamteaCreamtea Posts: 14,682
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    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H1cXyhqK2Kk
    Watched this 10th Anniversary documentary the other day and it's a lot more interesting/insightful. Presented by the irreplaceable Anne Haddy.
  • CreamteaCreamtea Posts: 14,682
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    Ash_M1 wrote: »
    ...but the timing of the soap here in the UK in the 80s, coupled with drama/comedy/engaging story-lines was really perfect. Scott 'n' Charlene, Des 'n' Daph, Jane 'n' Mike, Mrs Mangel, Madge and Harold, Helen, Paul 'n' Gail, Clive 'n' Susan...brilliant. Kids here used to bunk off school to see the latest from down under.

    Ahhhhh, perfection. It really can't be underestimated how huge the show was back then.
  • CreamteaCreamtea Posts: 14,682
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    I think its due to the cultural impact it made over here. It wasn't the first aussie soap we had but it was the first to smash through in to the mainstream. People will always talk about Scott and Charlene's wedding rather than the home and away equivalent which would be I dunno, Bobby and Frank?! :)

    Precisely. There is no comparison. H&A was never the smash here that Neighbours was.
  • Ash_M1Ash_M1 Posts: 18,703
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    Creamtea wrote: »
    Ahhhhh, perfection. It really can't be underestimated how huge the show was back then.

    Charlene allegedly pregnant...I remember the shock. I was like, no way...not Lennie. Then it transpired that Charlene's baby was in fact her half brother...that she had brought Sam (the result of her Father's affair with Susan) into Madge's home causing maximum impact...the ultimate in betrayal...all that raw emotion.

    Awesome stories...totally engaging...brilliantly played and portrayed by all the actors involved.
  • Soapfan678Soapfan678 Posts: 3,352
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    Creamtea wrote: »
    Precisely. There is no comparison. H&A was never the smash here that Neighbours was.

    Maybe, but I think Neighbours will get the axe before Home And Away, considering Home And Away does better rating wise in Australia. I hope both soaps last for at least another five years though
  • Ash_M1Ash_M1 Posts: 18,703
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    Soapfan678 wrote: »
    Maybe, but I think Neighbours will get the axe before Home And Away, considering Home And Away does better rating wise in Australia. I hope both soaps last for at least another five years though

    Fremantlemedia is a world wide company, a television production factory. It goes beyond countries and boundaries. All the time it is financially beneficial for Fremantlemedia to produce Neighbours, it will continue to do so whether it is shown in Australia or not. They may need to purchase the studios it is produced in however.
  • MelSingletonMelSingleton Posts: 1,894
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    Ash_M1 wrote: »
    Fremantlemedia is a world wide company, a television production factory. It goes beyond countries and boundaries. All the time it is financially beneficial for Fremantlemedia to produce Neighbours, it will continue to do so whether it is shown in Australia or not. They may need to purchase the studios it is produced in however.

    Yes Fremantle media will keep producing Neighbours for as long as they can sell it on, at some profit. Eleven don't pay a lot for the show apparently (the fee being tied to the ratings it gets on Eleven) so if it leaves Eleven that doesn't necessarily mean the show will end.

    The studios aren't owed by Ten (Eleven) and haven't been for years. They are now owned by Global Television and Fremantle media rents studio space there to tape Neighbours. The use of the studio isn't related to whether the program is on Ten or Eleven.

    There was talk of the Global studio site being sold for redevelopment but nothing seems to have come of that: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/neighbours-set-to-move/story-e6frf7kx-1111114931508. Anyway the Neighbours interiors could easily move (again) if they needed to.
  • Sorcha_27Sorcha_27 Posts: 138,480
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    Poor neighbours. I haven't watch in years but it's a shame it did so poorly in its home country. The 30th celebration stuff looked great from what I read about it
  • Sorcha_27Sorcha_27 Posts: 138,480
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    Creamtea wrote: »
    Precisely. There is no comparison. H&A was never the smash here that Neighbours was.

    H&A is huge in ireland and has been since Rte picked it up in 1988
  • ChipDouglas82ChipDouglas82 Posts: 6,700
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    Hank1234 wrote: »
    What's a Northern Irish Australlian?

    I'm just going by what it says on Wikipedia!

    I assume she's classed as a Northern Irish Australian, because she grew up in Northern Ireland, and her family emigrated to Australia.
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