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Australian Soap "Neighbours" Set To Debut In U.S. Via Hulu!
The long-running and ever popular Aussie soap opera Neighbours is coming to audiences in the U.S via a new online distribution deal via its new platform Hulu and Hulu Plus starting on Monday, July 14th. In its new home, new episodes will post Monday through Friday and will air four weeks after their initial Australian broadcast. Neighbours follows the residents of Ramsay Street in the fictional borough of Erinsborough, who deal with the challenges and issues that ordinary people face every day.
The U.S. premiere week will include a guest appearance by actress and singer Paula Abdul. In the Friday, July 18th episode, Abdul visits Ramsay Street to drop in on Doctor Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher), who admits to a crush on the former American Idol judge – much to the surprise of his wife, Susan (Jackie Woodburne).
“Neighbours provides a delicious daily dose of Australian sunshine to soap-opera fans, and thanks to Hulu, we’re coming to the U.S. at a perfect entry point for first-time viewers,” said Jeff Siegel, VP Digital Distribution and Home Entertainment at FremantleMedia. “The drama, the excitement and the intrigue are all wonderfully accessible to anyone eager to get hooked on the compelling storylines of Australia’s longest-running scripted television series.”
Neighbours was first broadcast in Australia in 1985 and has since had over 6,900 episodes produced. The series is produced by FremantleMedia Australia and distributed globally by FremantleMedia International.
Watch the new Hulu major promo teaser for Neighbours after the jump! Will Neighbours be a success five days a week, after Prospect Park’s All My Children and One Life to Live tried to do so and then pulled back on their daily episodes ? Are you excited that Hulu is adding another soap to its line-up? Have you always wanted to check out Neighbours and looking forward to checking it out? Let us know!
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Heres where soapnet made a mistake…they or another cable channel like tvgn should show these foriegn soaps…im addicted to Coronation Street…the characters are down to earth working class people who look and act just like your own family, friends and neighbors(ok, that can be a bit scarey at times…lol) but they have intelligent character driven plots we all can relate to where no one comes back from the dead or vistited by aliens or possessed by the devil…more lifelike but still fun and entertaining escapism!!!
THIS! Coronation Street is in another league from our U.S. soaps. No repetitive storylines, no absurd soap cliches, and the stories actually MOVE…what a concept! They have no qualms about major characters being killed off, or making them the “bad guy” and sending them off to prison for their crimes. It keeps the story fresh to turn over the cast this way, rather than “killing” characters on U.S. soaps only to have them return from the dead at some point, making a throwaway fringe character the culprit in murders etc., and/or never having characters pay for their crimes (Sonny, anyone?). It’s refreshing to watch quick moving character driven stories rather than an endless marathon of plot points strung together with no regard for character history, etc. Thankfully, Corrie has pretty much ruined U.S. soaps for me, so I’m looking forward to checking out Neighbours.
Coronation Street is my no.1 soap…
@Jimh(leave it to beaver)…I was joking around with you on your other post and posted what I thought about this under a GH post so now i’ll say it again. I wholeheartedly agree with you on this one. Once cable really got rolling and BBC America and PBS gave us EastEnders not long after it’s debut and gave it to us for years and years I fell in love with the realistic take on soaps from the Brits. Then came HollyOaks, Waterloo Road, Coronation Street and I haven’t stopped since. The past year into this year was block busters for Emmerdale with Cameron killing two major characters and holding the Woolpak hostage and finally Marlon,Debbie and Chas. EastEnders with the most powerful performances from Ian EVER finding out Lucy had been murdered. These shows are so addicting year after year and had Ellen Wheeler truly been allowed to work out her vision in the last years of GL I really feel it would have usurped Y&R. But people will always love cheesy sets and fake weather and over the top stories for whatever reason. That being said…Neighbors can be a bit slow and plodding at too many times so I wish they had brought of the two Aussie soaps..Home and Away. Which played here and hooked me but it was snatched off the air after a while. Still a great show. Why on earth are they giving us the show that gave us the Colleen Carlton replacement of Tammin Sursok and now the Kate character most recently killed off to be a new character on B&B?? That’s too bad because this show does NOT stack up to Corrie and HollyOaks and actually makes you WANT our more over the top shows. Down in the dumps Sue Kennedy??? For real HULU??? I don’t know.
Yes, Ellen Wheeler needed more time with GL…it slowly started to feel like those British soaps and had it been given another year or two it wouldve hit no.1 of all U.S. soaps…i started to watch again and had high hopes for it…but now i have Corrie and never miss an episode!!!
Ellen needed a good head writer. Her vision for GL would never be realized, otherwise, and it wasn’t in the time she had. I could say more, but I won’t. In the end, GL had good, even some great characters, but no really great stories IMO. If the stories had been really good (not even great), I could have looked past everything else that was a bit off. I’ll just say I believe Ellen had good intentions.
Aside from Jonathan and Tammy (esp her untimely and tragic death), there’s not one SL I remember from GL during this time, except the ending. Even when stories seemed promising, they just went nowhere . . . Sadly, I believe it could have worked if it had been written so well that it was mind-blowingly good.
I have to kick myself. I must be exhausted from work! Otalia! I did enjoy them and they will ALWAYS be memorable. I agree with Jimh and others in thinking that if GL had embraced storytelling more like Brit soaps (or Aussie), it may have had a real chance at surviving cancellation. Now I need a rest! Bye guys!
Yay! This is great news. I love Neighbours. Too bad they can’t make the entire series available. Helen Daniels and all were so much fun in the beginning. I have been watching the soap from the episode one, but I will watch concurrent with the new episodes. I hope they’ll get Home & Away, too. Sons and Daughters and Prisoner would be awesome additions as well. A Country Practice is quirky but fun. I own about 200 episodes of Number 96 (I wish there were more that survived, not sure there were). I also love Coronation Street and Hollyoaks (both on Hulu). Eastenders is also great; it appears on PBS in the States. Jimh is right. Foreign soaps are awesome. Hulu is becoming THE place for soaps! I had been waiting for this news; I have been telling others Hulu should be getting Neighbours and/or Home & Away. Just great!
Good to hear another Corrie fan…i love the humor of Steve, Norris, Mary, David, Roy,…the gang at the factor, Rovers Return, and Streetcars…i love everything about this show and the realism in its storylines…the funerals are grim and realistic they make you want to cry along with the characters…and the dead stay dead…great mix of young and old characters who are always interesting everyday i look forward to Rita, Dennis(who i hear is leaving again, Gail, David, Kylie, Nick, Fiz, Deidre…the list goes on…i know Rob and Peter are leaving at the end of the year but Ken is returning…the great stories of serial killer Richard Hillman who tried to drown wife Gail and her children by driving the car in the canal to the shows 50th anniversary with the club explosion and tram crash to Tinas murder(i will miss that character)…i cant praise this show enough…ITS THE BEST…wish American soaps took lessons from the British on how to produce and write a great soap!!!
I hated that Tina was killed. I really liked her, esp when she supported Ty and Fiz during Kirstie’s going off the rails. She was a great friend. Guess the writers had run out of SL for her. BTW I have been watching Corrie for years. I bought several of the box sets years ago and watched episodes from the beginning. My favorite era is late 1970s (considered a Golden Era) and early 1980s (although they lost greats like Pat Phoenix among many others during that time.) I loved Elsie; Hilda is one of my all-time fave soap characters; Annie Walker could shred you with just a few words; Bet Lynch was always a hoot and quite the diva. I loved when she and Lucy put on the shows at the Rovers! If you care to share, what other International soaps do you watch? Any I listed. Eastenders is amazing. I also watch New Zealand soap Shortland Street.
@MattsPlace how how how could you even not MENTION ENA SHARPLES and that iron helmet hair net. A poor Phoebe Tyler. LOL.
LMAO…Milk stout…Iron hairnet..and scathing words…Now see here Ellllseh Tannuh…LOL
Some of those characters like Bet and Hilda…i loved those too…Ena Sharples was also fun to watch as well as Curly, The Duckworths…Ashley Peackcock..i miss hearing his voice…i remember Brian and his mother and Brians shocking murder outside some club…John Stape was also an interesting character and i liked him with Fiz…hope they dont kill off Tyrone…hear he is in some sort of accident…enjoyed the Dennis, Rita and Gloria triangle…wish Stella was still around…i dont think they ran out of story for Tina…what ive heared the actress wanted to quit but i do miss her …enjoy David in scenes with Gail…David is still a brat…i watched Corrie from the 80s but briefly stopped in 1997 after my mother and so many other family members and friends passed away then during the late 99 started to watch again…and more regularly during the Richard Hillman storyline…the show helped me cope as i continue to loose so many family members and friends…didnt mean to talk about it but sometimes it helps…now i hear Rob is leaving and i hate to see him go…Rob and Tracy are soooooo perfect together…well, as for other foreign soaps, the only one i get in my area is Corrie…years ago someone showed Eastenders and i liked it before it disappeared from my viewing area…Prisoner Cell Block H is a good serialized series about a womans prison i watched back in the 80s…for the last few months ive caught episodes online of the others you mention and i liked them but n i havent really followed them as id like too at the moment…ive been writing to several cable cos to pick them up…but i guess hulu is the only place for them at the moment…i wish some cable channel would air them so others can enjoy them and see how wonderful they are!!!
@jimh, I didn’t know the actress wanted out. Too bad. I’ll miss her, too. Prisoner is fantastic. Sons and Daughters is online, too. Check it out. You may like it, if you haven’t seen it. SAD (as it’s known) is cnsidered one of the best soaps ever, it has a classic setup if families, one working class, one wealthy and both connected forever. Great stuff. I also watch Crossroads, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Corrie is the Grande Dame of Soaps, Eastenders is close behind. Pauline and Dot are classic! I’ll watch Neighbours (already watch classic episodes).
@ dav, I didn’t forget Ena Sharples. There are just too many to mention. Ena is truly unforgettable!!! Rita’s always a fave, too, loved her sparring with the very conservative (but involved with a married man) Mavis (enjoy the actress on the sitcom Dinnerladies, too.) BTW When Annie Walker gave Bet some of “her” clothes after Bet was burgled, I thought I’d split my sides laughing!
@jimh, I will forever be surprised at how Vera Duckworth grew on me over many, many episodes and I just loved watching her. No offense to the actress, but the “clown” wig (I sincerely hope that wasn’t her real hair!) was a bit off putting at first, but her personality and skill as an actress made her real and comical beyond the “wig”! Jack was a hoot, too. I really enjoyed them separately and as a couple.
Loved your replies especially about Vera…and your right about her hair…whats funny and ironic about that i just recently had a garage sale with a box of Halloween costumes and several wigs…one looked like Vera’s hair now that you mention it except for it was red…kind of wish now that i kept it!!! As, for Ena Sharples, i had always wished Coronation Street had done a spinoff period drama about Coronation Street in the early 1900s and featured Ena in her youth…i wouldve loved that!!!
You’re right about the period drama. I concur. As for Vera, she was interesting, a real character, the type of character(s) American soaps have been trying to get away from for years. Not many “realistic” characters on American soaps but lots of model types. I enjoy seeing people who look like they could be real people who live next door or down the street. BTW the way, Jimh, I’m glad you tossed that wig! LOL If you get a chance, do check out Sons and Daughters on the Y channel, it’s a rare gem. Dinnerladies is a hoot! (a younger Sunita and several Corrie actresses were in that). Great sitcom. Catch you later.
Foreign soaps are much more real. American soaps have gone way off the rails and that’s why there are only four left. Even the actors are having a hard time delivering the drivel they are forced to spout. When an actor uses the same tone of voice whether he is saying “My wife who was in a coma for 20 years is alive.” Or saying “Hi how are you?” There is a big problem.
YEP…
I’m excited about this; I like that the U.S. are getting more international soap operas. I hope this partnership works out!
Sorry, but Neighbours is awful, in the 80’s it was superb, now it’s just crap.
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