FTA-TV Failed Australian Soap Operas

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Channel 10 had a bucket load in the 90s.

Sweat
Big Sky
Above The Law
Medivac
Some other short lived ambulance drama (might have been ch 9)

Wasn't Henderson kids more like a serial with an ending? The 2nd season was called Henderson Kids 2 which makes me think so.
Second season of Henderson kids was filmed in Williamstown unsure if it a ending tho.
 
Aug 27, 2014
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There was a genuine piece of crap from 9 in the mid 90s called Pacific Drive.

It was all crap from most decades.

The Sullivans, A Country Practice, Flying Doctors and Cop Shop are about the only things from 3 decades that think were genuinely good shows for their time. You had to watch comedies like Dave Allen show from Ireland and Paul Hogan Show here to find any entertainment back then. Thank god for sports , sci-fi and docos.
 
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nobbyiscool

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I'm pretty sure both Paradise Beach and Pacific Drive were run as repeats on morning television maybe 15 years ago - it was when I would've been at uni. Repeats of A Country Practice were also shown at the same time. Molly's death was just as tragic and heartbreaking in the early 00s as it was when I was a kid watching it the first time - possibly even moreso given I was a bit older!

This is before networks realised that the current era of morning shows could be made cheaply, and paid for by constant advertorials.
 
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nobbyiscool

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This was a strange "soap" - in Tassie it was shown at around 5pm, which at the time was still considered a time for kids programming, not for soaps. Even stranger was the fact that Snowy (aka Heath Ledger) was a gay character which, to my young ears and eyes at the time, was unheard of. (I used to watch it in secret because the gay character was enough for my terrible mother to not want me watching it.)

20 years later, I can't believe they left series 1 on a great cliffhanger that we never got a resolution to. Was Snowy on drugs? How did he test positive to PEDs?
 
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I reckon that would have been relatively successful though. Im thinking with ch10 picking up Neighbours in '86, they decided to axe Henderson Kids as both were filmed in Victoria/Melbourne. Probably the reason Prisoner didnt continue much longer either.
Henderson Kids wasn’t a conventional soap, in that it had more a story arc across each season, rather than a set of short plot lines one after the other. And the casts were fairly fixed for each season. I’d say aimed at a slightly younger audience as well, 10-14, rather than 15+ as most of those soaps were. I remember liking it as a kid growing up in the 80’s and wouldn’t lump it in with those other ones.
 
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I'm pretty sure both Paradise Beach and Pacific Drive were run as repeats on morning television maybe 15 years ago - it was when I would've been at uni. Repeats of A Country Practice were also shown at the same time. Molly's death was just as tragic and heartbreaking in the early 00s as it was when I was a kid watching it the first time - possibly even moreso given I was a bit older!

This is before networks realised that the current era of morning shows could be made cheaply, and paid for by constant advertorials.
Molly's death was one of the saddest moments I have ever seen on TV. I can still see in my mind the picture fading to nothing. Tearjerker for sure.
 
How many years did the Secret Life of Us last ?
Took me a little while watching Fringe to work out the actress playing Olivia Denham was from here.

4. First 2 were good, third was ok, fourth was god awful most of the original cast were gone by then.
 
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4. First 2 were good, third was ok, fourth was god awful most of the original cast were gone by then.

I must have seen about 2. I enjoyed seeing suburbs i could recognize. So many nights I been to pubs around those regions and seen live bands. I think that got me into watching it. Turned over a lot of new young talent in time it was on. Probably about last Aussie type drama I can remember giving a go. Hang on, I did watch first season of A Place to Call Home but lost track of it and never got back.
 
I must have seen about 2. I enjoyed seeing suburbs i could recognize. So many nights I been to pubs around those regions and seen live bands. I think that got me into watching it. Turned over a lot of new young talent in time it was on. Probably about last Aussie type drama I can remember giving a go. Hang on, I did watch first season of A Place to Call Home but lost track of it and never got back.

I'm assuming the first two- yeah don't bother with the other seasons. They really should have finished after 3 for sure.
 
me too

didnt one of the main characters end up killing half the cast?

pacificdrive.jpg


IIRC the blonde second from left, back row, was the most evil- maybe her?
 
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