Which Soap has the best sets?

[JenC]

I don't think the sets on DAYS are that bad. There are quite a few of them I like very much, like the Brady Pub, Horton house, Bo & Hope's house, Sami's apartment, DiMera mansion, Chez Rouge, etc. Although, I effing miss the Salem Place and penthouse sets!

GL, without a doubt, has the worst sets. Between the cheap sets, and horrible lighting, it looks like that show is filming inside a cardboard shoe box - which sadly, isn't far from the truth.

[MichaelGL]

Best

OLTL-By far this show has the best sets, and alot has to do with the superb lighting the show has. They use alot of natural lighting and it works wonders. My favorites would be the diner, Viki's kitchen, actually Viki's entire house set, and Dorian's house. When I first started watching OLTL Dorian's house really stood out for me. Usually soaps don't build sets around the characters persona, but you can tell Dorian Cramer would live in such a place. The staircase, the portrait above it, all stuff I know the character would have. Also Jessica and Nash's place is simply beautiful.

For west coast soaps, I really think B&B has the best sets. Again, lighting does wonders, and it's why I like B&B's over Y&R's sets. I remember the mansion that Massimo Maroni lived in and it was astounding, really a great set.

Y&R and ATWT would tie for second. Y&R, despite the backstage drama, still has some breath taking sets. ATWT had some really good sets when CG took over. However I dunno now. That was like seven years ago when CG took over, and now it's like I'm waiting to be wowed again by CG, but he doesn't pull through. I liked Crash, but we don't see it anymore. Despite that the lighting is still good though.

Guiding Light is the worst, as is AMC, but I swear yesterday was first time ever that the Main Street set was appropriately lit. It's always so dark.

[TC]

Didn't ATWT inherit some of AW's old sets? Seems to me I read that in one of the mags.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Perhaps, when AW was canceled, P&G moved ATWT's Manhattan production over to AW's studio in Brooklyn.

Hate her or like her, Jill Farren Phelps was really good when it came to the production and sets used on the shows she oversaw. She gave AW that much needed cosmetic makeover it needed at the time and also revamped GL's sets in the early 90's.

[JenC]

ATWT has good sets for the most part, but in the last couple of years, you can really tell where the reduced budget has taken effect.

[Sylph]

The only good thing she can do - music and scenography. She's something of a crouching tiger, hidden dragon over at GH, but then again I'm not surprised - there are bigger beasts that will eat her for breakfast if she does something to p!ss them off.

[southsidegirl]

Y&R and B&B have the best sets, spacious, grand and well lit.

GL sets are pitiful, what there is of them. The lighting is awful, you have to strike a match to see if there's a light on on any of their sets.

[MichaelGL]

Speaking of Execs like JFP, what about Michael D. Laibson(sp?) and him transforming AW when he took over? John Conboy and Paul Rauch both had their hits and misses at GL. Believe it or not, Rauch had more hits than Conboy. I remember the set of Millennium under Rauch, it was pretty good.

[JenC]

Oh, GL had great sets when Rauch was EP! Springfield actually looked real, and not like an elementary school production the way it does today.

[aMLCproduction]

o yea, GL does have the worst in the history of television. What's up with that jungle looking hospital

[DaytimeFan]

Y&R and B&B have the best sets because the Bells spend a lot of money on them. I remember reading that when B&B first started the Bells actually paid for the Forrester mansion set themselves because it was so expensive (remember that the Forrester mansion set actually has a ceiling on the second floor, something unheard of in daytime). The lighting, colours, details all add up to make a glamorous look and it really helps the show. the sets look lush.

DAYS has some bad sets but on the whole its very good. SONY and Corday aren't cheap and with Ed Scott on board I can only see them improving. ATWT did in fact move to AW's Brooklyn studio and it seemed to help the show cosmetically. OLTL has the best lighting on the East Coast and I have to agree that the foyers of Viki and Dorian's mansions are wonderful.

GL has some really cheap, terrible sets...but so does GH. The hospital is looking mighty tacky as of late and the lighting on that show doesn't look so hot which is funny because Jill Farren Phelps is renowned for her good taste in sets and production values.

[JamesF]

I really don't get the love for B&B's sets, particularly the Forrester mansion.

Setting aside the faux mansion-foyer=dining room aspect of it which is laughable, it's so dated. I mean has it ever been changed in the whole time its existed? In 1987 it was relatively glamorous and represented contemporary, modern Californian chic with the decor. But it's not 1987 anymore and I refuse to believe billionaire fashion moguls would be living in a house that looks like a latter day playhouse for Jackie Collins.

[Dale]

Best: OLTL

This was not always the case. However, in the last 2 years, I have noticed a real beauty to their sets. They are very deep and detailed. Really, next time you watch, look at how far back the sets go. They look huge! And I thought that OLTL had one of the smaller NY studios.

Didn't OLTL win this year's Emmy for set design?

Grade: A

Worst: GL

How I weep for what used to be one of the most visually satisfying shows! It all looks so cheap and dark. I know that the budget at GL is always being blamed, but how does that explain ATWT, which still looks pretty good? If budget is arrived from how much money these shows make, how can ATWT (with what seems to be a more expensive cast and roughly the same advertising revenues from the 18-49 demo) get so much more money? Or is it a matter of the EP in question (Wheeler) not using the money she gets on sets?

Grade: D

[JenC]

I would imagine a large portion of GL's shoestring budget goes to the show's big name heavy hitters i.e. Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman, Justin Deas, Crystal Chappell, Beth Ehlers, etc.

[Dale]

True, but ATWT has just as many "heavy hitters": Roger Howarth, Martha Byrne, Cady McClain, Maura West, Michael Park, John Hensley....and a lot more actors who have been around longer than the average GL actor. We will never really know what the talent budget is for each show, but if one assumes they are comparable, then why does GL look like an old dish rag?