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Yes, it’s time to wrap Offspring.

Asher Keddie would be content if Offspring ended this week. Here's why it should.

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I’m pleased to see Asher Keddie has signalled she would be happy for Offspring to wrap this week at Season 7 because, with a few exceptions, I have been feeling much the same this year.

Losing key cast members, introducing new ones, and splitting up couple after couple…. it all feels like we are stretching things too much.

But then there have been flashes of brilliance too, notably the recent still-born baby storyline. The romance with Harry (Alexander England) has been comforting, particularly as so many others in the Offspring universe have been falling apart at the seams.

Officially TEN says “We love the show but it is too soon to have made a decision.” Fair point. Most shows need to see the 28 Day Consolidated figures to assess a true performance, and given the network’s current situation this is doubly understandable.

“I’m happy for the show to come to a natural close but I still feel seven series in that it is challenging and that the writing has really taken a big leap this year,” Keddie told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“There are different possibilities if we were to go again (eighth season) but I also feel like all the siblings in particular have gotten to quite a solid place in their emotional lives,” Keddie said.

“It is quite satisfying at the end. There is a lovely note of ambiguity.”

Dramas have to evolve to survive, it comes with the territory to lose characters. When the show started Nina’s ex-husband was blowing stuff up to get her attention. Then she met Dr Chris (Don Hany) before falling for Patrick (Matt Le Nevez) until THAT episode broke our hearts. Dalliances with Patrick Brammall & Dan Wyllie were hard to take, but Alexander England would make for a happy ending.

Also missed are Eddie Perfect, Lachy Hulme & Garry McDonald. Returning for 2 seasons after the show (and its creator) bid goodbye achieved what many thought impossible. Blessed with the Asher Keddie – Kat Stewart chemistry and a luminous ensemble, Offspring has proven the nay-sayers wrong.

But when we have storylines about Harry’s desire to fix his father’s workplace, it’s probably time to take a final bow (sorry, I couldn’t care less about that universe).

While TEN has another show with a young woman’s complicated love life (The Wrong Girl) and the equally Melbourne-based Sisters on the way, Offspring should not further dilute its brand. It’s also incredibly important for networks (even those in precarious positions) to take risks on new work, new writers, new faces…..

Now that Nina is pregnant and resigning from St. Francis, we have a natural exit. There is hope, resolve, and a sense of home, all buffeted by that messy Proudman family.

Offspring Season 7 finale airs 8:40pm Wednesday on TEN.

13 Responses

  1. While I agree that all good things must come to an end, Offspring included, I really think the ending was abrupt, perhaps a little rushed. In some ways it feels more like a cliffhanger than the show’s finale.

  2. It’s been patchy for me for the past two seasons. Every once in awhile they would show the spark that made Offspring great and then have some silly plot device to create drama.

    The chemistry between Harry and Nina never felt right. He’s too perfect. The introduction of his unlikable family was ok from a dramatic point of view, but they forgot to give them redeeming qualities to care. I would have preferred Patrick Brummel’s character would have stayed!

    To me the missing characters have hurt the show as they’ve spent too long writing it into the plot . It felt especially contrived breaking up Billie and Mick (I remember a writer last season saying they could not break them up after all they had been through). They couldn’t even do a proper breakup scene without the Mick so it felt emotionless and Billie got over it too quickly.

    And don’t get me started about the bogan…

  4. I agree that with absence of key characters with their on screen partners trying to cover up why they are not on and hence keeping them in the story line. The repeated scenarios eg family dinner disasters. With the exception of Still born baby episode the story lines are just worn out. Found the same with House Husbands. Due you blame the writers or was it that too many core actors left to base new stories around.

  5. Offspring used to be one of my favorite Australian shows. But agree with others, this season is lame. For some reason both Asher and Kat seem to have lost ‘the spark’. The stories are either boring (Harry’s family problems) or desperate attention seekers (Geraldine’s love life). One exception was the still birth.

  6. I’ve really enjoyed this season and felt it ironed out some of the kinks from Season 6.

    I’ve enjoyed seeing Nina in a stable relationship with Harry; if you look at Offspring’s official facebook page, so many viewers are still stuck on Patrick, which is ridiculous three seasons on. I’ve enjoyed seeing their relationship develop.

    I’ve also enjoyed other storylines like seeing Nina look more at what she’s doing in her career and how to balance that with a new relationship and a child. When you look back at where Nina was in the first season, she’s had a huge progression in development, as have a lot of the characters.

    You can’t please everyone any of the time, especially not with Offspring. A lot of people who pleaded it to come back for season 6 then derided it when season 6 did air and it wasn’t what they wanted and then they go back to wishing the show stopped at…

  8. I love Offspring too …I always try and support aussie dramas and watch them all ….But I am the same it was a great ending in season 5 they wrapped everything up …they should have stop at season 5
    because the last two have been all over the place

  10. I’ve always loved Offspring and was happy to see it back, but I haven’t loved this season. Too many missing characters and boring or silly story lines. Let it go.

  11. I’m sorry but I hated this current series and found most of it to be extremely boring. I wish they stopped at series 6. I would be happy for them to finish with the current series too.

  12. Great offering, David; I always enjoy reading your take on the state of play of shows and especially one as iconic as this one. I am in two minds on this. I just love Offspring; it has really spoken to me since 2010 and yet i have no children of my own! The largely female ensemble has been the main strength; i too was recently reflecting how the show has lost its core male characters – John Waters, Lachy Hulme, Garry McDonald and Eddie Perfect. For me the women are so strong on this show that I don’t really miss the aforementioned actors from the piece. But Series 7; like the one before it has been patchy. Like you mentioned the storyline with the still born baby (so beautifully played by Caroline Brazier – somebody give her a major role please); shows how relevant and cogent a drama that Offspring can still be,

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