East of Everything

I loved the first series of this show. I've watched it twice as I love the tone, the drift between humour and melancholy. The characters are well-drawn, well-acted and the location is stunning. I really believed that Eve and Art were still in love after all this time and that Art and Vance were brothers. Plus all the supporting roles were beautifully cast. The second series seemed to lose it's way a little but it's still worth watching.

I lived in the Nimbin hills for two years and then moved here to Byron Bay in 2009. To live for fifteen years in this beautiful part of Australia is wonderful but to come across "East of Everything " on ABCiview and binge watch it, has been absolutely fantastic ! Anyone who has ever been to or lived in Nimbin, Mullimbimby, Bangalow, Brunswick Heads, Byron Bay and the hinterland area will absolutely adore this series. And if you haven't, then you'll want to come here. Loved the story line and cast, Richard Roxburgh is brilliant. Loved him in Rake too.

Coming home after working overseas for 20 years, I was delighted to binge watch Sea Change in 2001 and loved every minute of it, having been raised on the Bellarine peninsula, Portarlington and Drysdale, I knew all of the set locations and found it entertaining, quirky and fun to watch. Great story line and cast.

Any reviewers who were not swept along with these two great series are morons and should be slow cooked!

Enjoy! And a big congratulations to all involved in the making, MORE PLEASE !

"The formula is to find an interesting location. That little seaside place near Melbourne worked for "Seachange" but we had better pick somewhere in NSW for balance. How about Byron Bay? It has a nice lighthouse, beautiful beach, pretty bushland. Now, what about a cast? Some big names, regardless of whether they suit the parts, will get the viewers in. Now, we've done the 7:30 time slot. Let's throw in some sex and load the plot with angst to make it suitable for the 8:30 slot. Music: there are lots of unknown country and western singers writing songs out there who need the money. We could hire them for next to nothing." The result is a disaster, boring, depressing. I agree with those on the message board who say they don't care what happens to the characters. They are all self-made losers. The writers obviously don't like real estate agents as we now have a female version of Bob Jelly. Richard Roxybaby is supposed to be the heart-throb like William McInnes and David Wenham were in "Seachange" but his character is unlikeable. Tom Long's flat delivery mimics his "Seachange" role, showing him to have a very limited range. The acting otherwise is generally very good but nothing could save this hopeless writing.

I wish I could find more shows like this (besides the ones I know - Detectorists comes to mind). A real bummer sometimes, a real hoot other times. A real slice-of-life feeling. I loved the subdued, very real differentiation of the characters, and although I didn't like some of them in the beginning I came to like all of them very much. Some viewers might call the love that develops left and right in this show sappy. I don't. It's the way I think and hope all of us pull together and push through things as honestly as we can. It also has a bit of a commune thing going on, which I like.

I enjoyed the show on the whole, but the side characters were definitely more interesting and appealing than the leads. In particular, Kathryn Beck was luminous and captivating as Lizzy. Loved this character/performance immensely.