“Home and Away” is now in its 34th season, despite the arrival of new circuit series.
When returning students dumped on the couch in 1995, TVs around the country were turned on. “Helene and the boys” was the title of TV 2’s afternoon show. «Home and Away» is a television series set in the United States. «Everyday life» is a phrase that can be used to describe a variety of situations. The media market has totally changed in the last 27 years. The internet is now available. On running bands, HBO and Netflix spit out quality and rubbish. Still, there’s one thing that holds up: Summer Bay, the mythical tiny town. How did “Home and Away” end up with tens of thousands of episodes in the far north?
Australian soap
“Home and Away” is an Australian television show. Alf Stewart, a slightly strict but kind-hearted fish who welcomes foster children, is at the center. Ray Meagher, who has the record for the most sailing time in an Australian series with 34 years, plays him. The first episode of “Home and Away” aired in 1988, a few years before the series was broadcast in Norway.
“Home and Away” is the faithful dog who greets you at the door every day for fans.
Cathrine Aaser Wiborg (39) has been a fan of “Home and Away” since she was a child.
I think being a fly on the wall in other people’s life is a fun series. After such a long time, one feels as if one knows the characters. Many people believe the series is monotonous and worn out after so many years, but for me, it is a part of every day, without being utterly ridiculous, she explains from her Kristiansand sofa.
They are aware of the strain on TV 2’s customer service center if the transmission of “Home and Away” is interrupted for any reason. The supporters are tenacious.
It was for the opening song of “Home and Away” that Cathrine got married. That is, the original. «You know we’re meant to be together. Forever and ever, you and I. While Cathrine and her husband walked down the beach in Kristiansand, Denmark, a lovely female voice and male voice in a duet erupted out of the speaker, and Cathrine was a bit upset that the music was not screwed even a little higher up.
It was a classic Summer Bay wedding, with the exception of a moderate headwind from the Skagerrak.
How do you feel when you sit on the sofa and watch?
Then I relax. Everything around me disappears.
See what happens
According to Anette With, the woman who is responsible for at least one generation of Norwegians growing up with the series.
In 1994, “Home and Away” made its way to Norway, where it flopped after one season on TV3. The series, on the other hand, fits in particularly well with another, new channel’s agenda.
In fact, TV 2 was putting the finishing touches on its afternoon surface. They wanted to instill routines in everyday life for a new generation, and they’d had success with another Australian family series, “Everyday Life,” previously. With was a buyer for TV 2 films and series. She was tasked with finding the next successful series with the help of John Ranelagh, the buying manager at the time.
Today, she can not recall exactly when she first saw “Home and Away,” but she believes it was during the Cannes Television Festival. Then a VHS cassette arrived in the mail. The flavor of the stuff was superior.
We are drawn to the series because it features sun and summer, young people, and intergenerational interactions. According to With, “Home and Away” had a wide appeal.
As a result, in 1995, the series was added to the TV 2 schedule at 15.50 p.m.
The plan was to keep the sailors glued to the sofa for the entire afternoon. “Home and Away” became a crucial part of that strategy. “TV as a company is only about one thing, and there are buttocks in the seats and eyeballs on the screen,” Purchasing Manager Ranelagh later claimed in the book “See What Happened – the Story of TV 2.”
The series was a success because he was able to get a flat in the afternoon. It was the type of binge-watching that was popular at the time, complete with comments.
Unique position
Today, After new episodes of the series were seized by linear TV, an average of 50,000 episodes are presented on TV 2’s streaming service.
“Home and Away” may not be able to compete in terms of ratings with primetime shows like “Exit” and “Kompani Lauritzen,” but it is of higher quality. Time is spent where “Home and Away” outperforms practically everyone else. It becomes a part after 27 years of five episodes every week, all of which are 21 minutes long.
The series is very important for TV 2, Trygve Rønningen states.
The TV 2 channel director is a veteran of the business; he is most known for hosting “Jeopardy” and “Now or Never” in the 1990s.
It’s nearly impossible to compare “Home and Away” to anything else, yet I did so based on the volume, all of the years, and all of the episodes. He claims that this is a very rare occurrence in the television industry.
Rnningen believes the series has thrived because he is constantly evolving. It’s evident if you look at the list of themes that “Home and Away” has addressed.
The radical genre
Alan Bateman, the show’s creator, came up with the concept for “Home and Away” while on vacation in a tiny village. He spoke with people who were opposed to the building of a foster home in the area. They were terrified that the idyll would be ruined by noisy problem youngsters from the big city.
Since its beginning, the show has tackled a slew of contentious social issues, including:
According to TV researcher Gry Cecilie Rustad of Innlandet University College, a soap opera airing early to address contentious issues is not as unusual as one might expect.
Soap operas are able to do so because their audience is predominantly female, and women have generally been more liberal in political concerns than men. The soap opera, in this respect, is a more radical genre than, say, a crime drama.
Despite this, shows like “Home and Away” receive minimal coverage in the media. They continue to exist in the shadow of the most recent HBO or NRK circuit series. Gry Cecilie Rustad appears to be attractive and intriguing.
The soap opera has been very crucial for how one watches television and how it is told in television shows, while also being politically and socially subversive. Nonetheless, it is the most disparaged and undervalued genre we have, according to the study, because women are the ones who watch.
Women account for 74% of the new season’s sailors, with an average age of 41.
Formal Success
Despite little media attention, “Home and Away” is now in its 34th season, while shows like “Friends,” “Ally McBeal,” and “Beverly Hills 90210” have ended their run.
The series has a special advantage.
According to TV expert Rustad, a series should avoid replacing too many characters or shifting the city. The advantage of “Home and Away” is that Summer Bay, the small town, is the main character in many respects.
Where replacing one of the six main characters on “Friends” would be unimaginable, the Australian soap is ideal for replacement. People can come and go as long as Summer Bay exists; a grasp ideally adapted to hungry shooter sprouts.
According to the movie database IMDB, just one bad season (1994) went by without at least one character dying. When shooters progress in their careers, there is usually a catch-up heat at the conclusion of each season, a murder here, a plane tragedy there.
However, there is one exception. Perhaps the series might have done so because one essential character has been present throughout?
Is it true that «Home and Away» is getting closer by the day?
Summer Bay is devoted to Alf Stewart, or Ray Meagher, as the shooter behind his real name. He is the only one who has managed to stay alive for 34 years. Is it possible that he holds the fate of “Home and Away” in his hands?
When Meagher was about to give up a few years ago, admirers shoved coffee down their throats. He has, after all, reached the age of 77.
Cathrine Aaser Wiborg adds, “Then I got a little panicky inside me.”
The fact that Meagher is past retirement age isn’t the only red flag.
Daytime shows like “Home and Away,” according to TV researcher Gry Cecilie Rustad, may struggle to acquire new audiences in the future. Whereas earlier he could hook you on a series just by appearing on TV when you turned it on, nowadays you have to go out of your way to locate him.
.- It takes some time to sit down and start watching a 35-year-old soap drama on TV 2 Play, she comments.
Furthermore, the soap opera as a genre has faced competition, both from series that mold the soap opera’s form (Think about it.) and from series that compete with it. Isn’t “Succession” a family drama like to “Dallas”? ), as well as reality shows and social media, where one may follow life and intrigue in real time.
So far, Alf Stewart has come to the rescue. Ray Meagher, the shooter, has changed his mind and is now on his way. This is how fans may relax and enjoy themselves in a world where everything remains the same in Summer Bay.
Except for a kidnapping and a criminal case that has yet to be solved.
You know, everyday life in a tiny town.
PS: Trygve Rnningen will not divulge the length of TV 2’s contract with the series, but claims there is no danger of his disappearing.
