Neighbours D̶E̶A̶D̶ ALIVE!

VoR said:
I don't mean this in any way as shade, and I can totally see the appeal of revisiting this one now that it's ending, but it has always surprised me how many Moopy posters still appear to follow Eastenders and/or to a lesser extent Coronation Street regularly. If not for Moopy I would exclusively associate regular soap watching with my parents generation and up.
Click to expand...
I think a big part of it for me is that I grew up with EE so find it comforting to check in with familiar characters, but I do also love how I find I engage with the characters in a soap - I can't quite put it into words but it's definitely a different thing to either film or non-soap TV shows. You just feel like you get to know everyone when they're on your screen four times a week, I suppose...

Another thing that appeals to me in particular is the way that soaps have specific eras under different showrunners and writers as they're so long-running, and the various successes and failures that come with that - it's actually quite similar to being a fan of a legacy pop star who's had multiple campaigns and reinventions, so I think that appeals to me quite a bit (for whatever mysterious reasons gays seem to like that sort of thing :D). This is also part of why I love Doctor Who, which is the only real non-soap I can think of that has a similar thing (where you can compare different eras and approaches etc).
 
Last edited:
COB said:
I think a big part of it for me it that I grew up with EE so find it comforting to check in with familiar characters, but I do also love how I find I engage with the characters in a soap - I can't quite put it into words but it's definitely a different thing to either film or non-soap TV shows. You just feel like you get to know everyone when they're on your screen four times a week, I suppose...
Click to expand...
Yup. Ongoing character and family narratives, hold a special appeal. If the cast was totally new with no connection to the past, I likely wouldn't care. Sharon has literally been with us for nearly 40 years, the Mitchell clan for 30 and Martin Fowler and Ben Mitchell have both been born and reached adulthood on the show. To be basic it's comfort food.
 
Last edited:
It takes some dedication to be committed to watching a soap week in, week out for over 30 years irrespective of the quality of writing. I don't think I could do it. I might drop in occasionally, notice the storylines are shit and quickly lose interest.

When soaps capture the zeitgeist is when they are at their most enticing but nothing can keep that up for a prolonged period, particularly a daily (or almost daily) one.
 
I agree about the comfort blanket element however - that's certainly what I felt about Neighbours, despite not watching it for decades at a stretch.
 
I get bored too easily to be able to sustain a programme on multiple times, all the time. I only managed Neighbours the last 8 months or whatever it was because Mr L recorded it and would wait for me to watch it. Left to my own devices I wouldn't bother - I'd be missing episodes and then inevitably give up on it.

I totally get the comfort TV thing though. For me that's endlessly rewatching programmes (nearly always comedies) from the 80s, 90s and 00s.
 
Unless there’s an ongoing essential plot-line, I tend to catch up on Eastenders on iPlayer just as I go to bed, or sometimes early weekend mornings. If you only watch one soap it’s not too much of a chore.
 
I have strong emotional attachments to sitcoms like Frasier, Cheers and Seinfeld (the latter two which I originally caught in reruns, apart from the last two seasons of Cheers). It's easier for shows like that to make a mark because they had limited runs.

The difference for me with Neighbours is that for a soap it felt very specifically targeted to a younger generation (my generation, at the time). I certainly must have watched Eastenders from time to time in the mid to late 80s but the difference was that always felt like TV for grown-ups so as a result I don't hold it with nearly the same amount of affection as Neighbours.
 
Ellie said:
Unless there’s an ongoing essential plot-line, I tend to catch up on Eastenders on iPlayer just as I go to bed, or sometimes early weekend mornings. If you only watch one soap it’s not too much of a chore.
Click to expand...

The writing on Eastenders seems very juvenile for a show that clearly aspires to being serious drama. I watched a little when Janine returned and though I quite like Danny Dyer as a personality, I couldn't stick the terrible scripts and storylines (and largely terrible acting).
 
Who was it that mentioned Neighbours' incidental music?

This brings back so many memories:

 
Speaking about Neighbours music, I've literally only just found out about the existence of this 1989 album:

61+vTR42ppL._AC_SX425_.jpg
 
Eddie said:
Who was it that mentioned Neighbours' incidental music?

This brings back so many memories:

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for this!

Incidental music revived to wonderful tongue-in-cheek effect in the ‘Bogan’s Tipped Hair’ :D



Neighbours was so good at laughing at itself
 
Anne Charleston was younger then than I currently am now. Gosh I feel old.
 
Raining On Me said:
I'm really happy they leaned in on the feel good vibe of Neighbours. No major drama just a celebration. I fully expect when Home & Away ends for a mile high tsunami to instantaneously crush the cast, but Neighbours was never that (which actually made the dramatic moments more powerful in a way).
Click to expand...
Home and Away must never end 😭
 
It's a shame they didn't use some of that music in the finale for us oldies. I'd have loved "Tender Moments" to have been playing when Mike professed his love for Jane for instance.
 
Oh Moopy, this was really fucking awful but I enjoyed it.

Why was Toadie marrying a woman who looked old enough to be his mother?

Has Karl had cancer? Where have his hair and eyebrows gone?

Where were Gayle and Gillian??
 
Whatevar said:
Oh Moopy, this was really fucking awful but I enjoyed it.

Why was Toadie marrying a woman who looked old enough to be his mother?

Has Karl had cancer? Where have his hair and eyebrows gone?

Where were Gayle and Gillian??
Click to expand...
Toadie was marrying MELANIE MANGEL

CE06A7ED-025F-40AE-A2DE-FA51AEB1996E.jpeg


The actor who plays Karl has alopecia and is just owning it.
 
VoR said:
I don't mean this in any way as shade, and I can totally see the appeal of revisiting this one now that it's ending, but it has always surprised me how many Moopy posters still appear to follow Eastenders and/or to a lesser extent Coronation Street regularly. If not for Moopy I would exclusively associate regular soap watching with my parents generation and up.
Click to expand...
I only watch Home & Away, and for me it's just a nice escape from reality, something I can watch bit not have to concentrate too hard on, there's nice scenery and pretty men.
 
Whatevar said:
Why was Toadie marrying a woman who looked old enough to be his mother?
Click to expand...

I'm confused that people on moopy of all places seem to be constantly questioning age gap relationships where the woman is older. There's a 15 year gap apparently. What of it?

Also I'm really not sure what else people expect of Neighbours. It was light hearted nostalgic fun.
 
Get me defending the soap like I was an avid viewer all these years!
 
Eddie said:
I'm confused that people on moopy of all places seem to be constantly questioning age gap relationships where the woman is older. There's a 15 year gap apparently. What of it?

Also I'm really not sure what else people expect of Neighbours. It was light hearted nostalgic fun.
Click to expand...
Like I said, I imagine very similar to the Paul/Therese age gap.
 
Pingu said:
Also I think people questioning the age gap still think Toadie is 20 like when they last watched.
Click to expand...

Exactly. He is a 40-something with a beer belly.

Anyway, this article is SO on the ball:

www.theguardian.com

Guy Pearce was the ‘MVP of the Neighbours finale’: we all just fell in love with him again, right?

Gracious, generous and energetically invested in his role, the Hollywood actor stole the last episodes – and invited us to reflect on the passage of time
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

For those just interested in the Mike/Jane stuff, their scenes practically make up an episode of its own:

 
Finally caught it tonight. I thought that was a really good send off. It spent most of the time wrapping up the stuff recent watchers have been following, as it should, but with a huge trip down memory lane for the rest of us. Did I spot an older Philip Martin towards the end?

The short intros still piss me off. They did it for the ending but should have had the 1985 theme and transitioning to the present day one as a full length intro IMO, instead they had that weird transition that lasted for about 3 seconds.

Scott and Charlene were before my time, but obviously knowing the history it was cool to see them.

I'm glad Madge was just a vision and not "a ghost" like they described. Neighbours has done stuff like that before but it's a bit silly.

Don't know the full history of the characters but I loved seeing Mike and Jane get (back) together (before my time but I looked up some clips of her, crazy that she was a kid first time she was in it), Paul and Wotsherface was a nice forgiveness story and I teared up when she turned her card around and it said "acceptance". Kind of a theme really.

The obvious longstanding Izzy+Susan thing had a nice end. There was a sort of resolution and Susan almost-kinda-forgave-her-ish, but without suddenly being best buddies. Nicely done.

But yeah where the hell was Lou?!

Having Susan narrate the ending was a good choice, and had me tearing up again.

I agree that the final week / returning characters seem to have been focused on either people who watched 35 years ago or those watching now. As a 90s viewer I wanted to see more of Philip, bring back Hannah, etc.



Been watching the old intros (there's a playlist of all... 174? of them on Youtube) and come to the conclusion that the mid 90s was my era

I'm really shocked how early it was that they killed off Helen Daniels as it honestly doesn't feel that long ago to me. I remember thinking how when these actors leave the soaps if they're quite old, they die IRL not long after. The actor died in 1999... (I was 17, now 40... makes me feel so old... my BF was 1...)

One false memory: I thought Beth was the one who got shot in a raid, but watching the intros reminded me it was Cody Willis. I remember how upset I was as I had a crush on Cody and they went and gave her the most pointless death ever :(

I stopped watching before it got to Madge's death and even that, I thought it was recent, but no it was fucking 2001. Yikes.
It's quite sad when you see her disappear from the intro and Harold is on his own.
Raining On Me said:
I can't get this out of my head
Click to expand...
Boy this ending is all you think about?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)
Back
Top Bottom