Neighbours

• Perhaps you’ve experienced this sadness on reaching the last page of a book that you’d been reading for months?
• Importantly, parasocial relationships, which are connections we form with media characters or personalities, are valued, and we often take them seriously.
• Let’s consider the television series Friends, whose finale in 2004 was watched by over 52 million US viewers.

When good Neighbours become lost friends

• I decided to examine the grief and loss reactions of Neighbours fans and what factors were associated with them feeling this loss more acutely.
• They also described the level of their grief and loss, similar to the survey Friends fans had completed almost 20 years earlier.
• Importantly, at the time of completing the survey, fans had no indication that the series would be revived in late 2023.

You’re breaking up with me?

• When Molly Jones passed away from cancer on the Australian series A Country Practice in 1985, the nation almost entered a state of collective mourning.
• Similarly, exits like Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers and Dr Patrick Reid in Offspring had Australian viewers reaching for their tissue boxes.
• The deaths of many key characters, including Robb Stark, at the wedding of in Game of Thrones shocked viewers.

Grief, gratitude and viewer motives

• Not surprisingly, given the series had only just concluded, they did not report feeling a sense of closure to their grief.
• However, they were very grateful for the role Neighbours had played in their lives and what it had given them.
• Fans who experienced greater grief and loss reactions had formed strong relationships with their favourite character, involving empathy and understanding.

Finding the perfect blend

• The sadness we feel when a character or series leaves the parasocial world makes sense from a relationships perspective.
• Indeed, other studies have found that we react to the deaths of celebrities in some ways as if we knew them.
• Parasocial relationships do not allow us to experience the satisfaction that reciprocation in feelings, connection or bonds from a relationship partner affords us.

• Twenty-two years after the original UK television series The Office was released, and 18 years after the highly successful US remake (2005-2013), Australia is getting its own version of The Office.
• This will be the 14th remake of the concept by Ricky Gervais, which has included adaptations in Chile, France, Finland, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Germany and other countries.

A history of remakes

• There has been a long history of remakes on television.
• Originally a Colombian telenovela, Yo Soy Betty, la Fea (1999-2001), the concept has been remade in other languages around 20 times to date.
• Other versions include Na Daj Se, Nina (Croatia, 2007-2008) and Lotte (The Netherlands, 2006-2007), both of which I worked on adapting from the Colombian original.
• Audiences are savvy and want nuance, history, politics, issues.

Mistakes and flops

• Perhaps their Australian contexts, social mores and comedy did not translate – or were not translated well.
• Reviewers said of the American Kath and Kim that the humour was unfunny, the characters unlikeable and unrelatable.
• Variety’s Brian Lowry said, “If this was a major hit in Australia,” he said, “then something has been seriously lost in translation.” Ironically, one of the greatest mistakes screenwriters make is sticking too closely to the original.

An Office in Australia?

• The Office Australia might seem a simple prospect, given there have been two preceding series in English.
• Also when The Office came out, mockumentary felt fresh to television, now we’ve had Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, and our own The Games and Utopia.
• Plus, of course, we’ve had reality TV shows where things quickly spiral beyond any inappropriate awkwardness The Office ever came up with – think about Vanderpump Rules or Selling Sunset.
• The Office Australia is making one major change from the UK and US versions: the office boss is a woman, Hannah Howard (played by Felicity Ward).

• Rogers Sports & Media received more than 550 submissions for the 2021 All IN program.
• These features will highlight the charities and small businesses, along with work being done in the community, all throughout February during Black History Month.
• Rogers is committed to working in partnership with communities to help meet critical needs of our residents and neighbours.
• Rogers Sports & Media is a diverse sports and content company that connects with more than 30 million Canadians each week.