GL Changes Look This Week

[UKBoi]

I just watched the March 7th episode and it looks like some of the early kinks are being worked out. Closeups arent as, well, close, and the shaky cam looks under control. I LOVE the set for Cassie's house and even though you can tell the courtroom/police station set is TINY, it's obvious they're doing everything they can to make it look bigger. The audio problems are improving and while it's far from perfect, if GL can maintain and improve on the quality of the 3/7 episode then this new production model really could improve.

However, I'd like to see them focus on more than one story an episode, though, as it seems like there's always one big story and a few subpots to each episode, and I'd like to see them feature more than like 8 characters per episode. Maybe with the money they're saving on production costs, GL can afford to enlarge their cast slightly (especially if they get rid of some of the dead wood). I'd like to see Jude SORAS'ed a little (maybe along with a de-SORAS'ed Leah), and maybe bring Blake's kids into the fold more (and feature Blake more)

[Vee]

I still think it looks like [!@#$%^&*]. But I'd try to meet them halfway. Bring back the original soap taping model, for one thing; go back to regular taping and sets for at least 50% of the show. Keep some of the location filming but find a way to refine it. Get proper lighting, audio, and film stock, don't use the current video they're using. Make sure the colors are enhanced. Make sure the locations are consistent with where you're supposed to be. Cut down on the scattershot, disjointed editing of time, where people zoom around constantly throughout the episode; that's happened more and more on GL and ATWT in the last few years and it's just disconcerting. While you're retooling this stuff, set aside Fridays for at least the next two months to show a classic episode on that day every week, possibly introduced by some of the longtime cast. Run them on SoapNet too, get the show on cable. Make people remember why they used to like GL and that it's safe to come back.

Then, for starters, bring back Edmund with Will at his side (same kid), adopted by him. Get Laura Wright back as Cassie to do a short-term run to write her out. Edmund joins forces with a mysterious enemy of the Spauldings to destroy Alan, and Cassie's rage gets the better of her as she agrees to be part of it and gets into a tawdry affair with Edmund. Little does she realize the bad guys behind all this will off Jeffrey and Rafe before it's over, as well as put Beth in a coma. Beth is shipped off for medical care, Daisy leaves town for school. Alan discovers a revived Alexandra (Beverlee McKinsey) is also in league with his mystery nemesis and has brought Hope Bauer (Catherine Hickland) to screw with him further, but Alex (like Cassie but unlike Edmund) is eager to sever her ties to the bad guys when the body count starts to rise.

By the end of the storyline, Alan is brought low and banished from his business, has lost everything yet has also helped stop the carnage, Bill and Lizzie are alone in the Spaulding manse with Alex and Sarah trying to figure out what to do, Cassie has been spirited out of town by Reva to avoid prosecution, Edmund is walking around scot-free in a relationship with Blake, Josh has renounced his calling after discovering his wife's duplicity and drunkenly trashes the church, and then, of course, he sleeps with Reva again. But, knowing he can't make rash choices again, he decides to take it slow and instead looks for somewhere else to live. As it happens, Harley needs a roommate! Her affair with Cyrus was outed by Marina (after which both Cyrus and Marina left town), ruining her in the public eye and costing her custody of Jude, who Rick sends to school out of state. With Daisy gone as well, Harley is alone with a SORASed Zach and feeling old, cheap and foolish. She offers Josh a room, knowing that they both are trying to rebuild their lives.

Meanwhile - a SORASed RJ tries to get revenge on his little brother and romance Leah Bauer, and jock Zach Spaulding meets James Chamberlain, the fantasy-prone son of Quint and Nola. And I haven't even gotten to Ed, Holly, Michelle, and Blake's twins...

[Chris B]

Although stories still suck and they need a cast revamp, I can actually watch full GL episodes now! Before the show just looked so cheap it was impossible for me to take it seriously with the four sets they used. Now it's not perfect, but it's improving and it does look real.

As others have mentioned, the shaky cam is gone and the close ups are improving. I think the lighting is great. It looks natural and the transition to outdoor scenes is seamless. Did you see Reva, Cassie and Josh storm out of that office/home? I thought that was an example of the seamless transition. The new sets look like real homes and have character. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cassie's condemned farmhouse.

If GL fired it's dead weight and revamped it's cast and writing I'd be back full time. I really want to love GL and I hate I missed the show when it was on fire. I'd love to see the Beverlee McKinsey days. I was just thinking of her when I saw Marj Dusay today.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I'd love to see the Beverlee McKinsey days. I was just thinking of her when I saw Marj Dusay today.

This is totally off topic, but those were the days...

Beverlee McKinsey and Michael Zaslow hooked me on GL as a kid in the early 90's, GL will never be that good again. Beverlee McKinsey will always be the best and definitive Alexandra Spaulding, as well as possibly the greatest actress to ever step foot on daytime.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

I have to agree that most of it still looks hideous. It's too unfocused and the lighting is murder on some of the actors. Most of the men look fine but some of the women look horrible. I can't imagine any of the actresses being happy about the harsh nature of the lighting, some of them just look horrible and far older than they really are. Surprisingly, the older actresses like Zimmer, Dusay, and Sloane look fine as do the really young ones like Bruno and Rylan. It's the more middle aged women who look really bad in the harsh lighting.

There's no point in asking to go back to the old way of shooting because they simply can't and won't. But what they can do is execute this format far better than they are.

The four walled indoor sets were a huge mistake. They need to rip one of the walls off to make room for the cameramen to move so everything isn't so tightly shot and claustrophobic. It's the cramped quarters of the indoor scenes that are really killing the atmosphere, not the outdoor stuff. Today's scenes in FakeCrossCreek and Cassie dilapidated farmhouse were the worst but everything was pretty bad.

When they are shooting uncomplicated indoor scenes, they need to tripod the cameras. The jiggling, shaking, and zooming of the handhelds isn't edgy, it's nauseating. There's still way too much of it.

They need to build a few decent office sets rather than use those generic, beige GL offices as everyone's place of business.

The outdoor scenes aren't too bad but they need to be used only when necessary since sound quality suffers.

And most importantly, the characters need to stop acting like vile, selfish pigs and the stories need to stop, you know, like...um...sucking!

[UKBoi]

I dont think all of the four wall sets should be scaled back to three walled ones. Ones like the courthouse (where everyone seems to be congregating these days), the Spaulding study and Towers look fine (although I dont buy Towers as some ritzy restaurant considering it has like three tables and a bar that never seems to be staffed). I do think that Main Street (which is now no longer a street, apparently, but instead a shopping mall) needs some work and Cedars could also be changed. The sets dont actually need to be big to look big, look at AMC's new hospital set, which is probably around the same size as that of GL's hospital, yet the way they film it and the design of it means it looks three or four times the size. I also dont buy the fact that Reva and Jeffrey spend all their time at Cross Creek in the study when we've already seen the spacious living room many times. I've come to the conclusion that Cassie's house is a real house (and must be the house Ellen Wheeler talked about leasing in Peapak) as it's got many rooms and many floors and stands out in comparison to the other indoor sets. This format needs some work still, but the improvements that have occured from Friday the 29th to Friday the 7th have got me thinking we might see further improvements as they get used to the new production model.

I do, however, think the writing needs serious work. So many of the characters are just blah and uninteresting (Daisy, Rafe, Natalia, Ashlee, Coop, Marina, Jeffrey) and I wouldnt mind them really shaking things up with this new format and getting rid of the dead wood and bringing in new faces if it meant better storylines. Seriously, GL has like three storylines going on right now (Bill/Lizzie/Jonathan, which has ended now. Reva/Cassie/Josh/Will and Harley/Marina/Cyrus). I'd like to see them establish some of the more urban aspects of Springfield again, and maybe establish Alan and Beth as some sort of power couple within the town) Also, the background music they're currently using is really bad and just cheapens the overall feel of the show. I would FAR rather they used actual chart music (or even music by unknowns that they could promote) than this trippy soundtrack they've got going on just now.

[Vee]

The music is just either improperly utilized or altogether wrong. Nothing seems incidental, just dropped in like a subaural rumble under/over the dialogue and it impedes the drama. Some of it is okay with me, but it's used wrong.

I thought Mandy Bruno was excellent today and that her dialogue was very good, but again, good dialogue, loathsome stories. And Harley looks/comes off incredibly old and whorish, especially in that lighting. I think BE gave a good performance with Bruno, but that was about it. That's why Harley needs a big dose of humility.

I see no point to using Beth or Alan anymore the way they have been. Alan could be salvaged with a major overhaul, but I don't see where the fans are for Beth. All she's done for years and years is make the most consistently bad, dysfunctional choices in men and in life in general. She is never happy with stability or family, she always gravitates to violence and control, like she had with her stepfather. I knew she'd go back to Alan eventually, and she will keep doing the same thing, again and again, and any decent guys dumb enough to be with her will keep falling for it, so I say write her out.

[Will_Jeffries]

I really think today's show was great in so many areas. The stories were all clicking and the camerawork has hugely improved....it was steady for the most part...so much better than the previous week's worth (I hope they can keep this up) But the Marina/Harley scenes were really well done. This was Mandy Bruno's best performance to date. Marina just laid into her, calling Harley the slutty homewrecker and the whore everyone else will soon find about. Watch it online on CBS.com if you missed it. I

[sungrey]

Not to mention all the drama it creates with Frank basically turning his back on Harley for what she did to Marina. And I got a feeling Rick's gonna chime in here shortly about custody.

Nice story.

I think the show's production values are improving a bit -- they are working the kinks outta this format, somewhat.

[MichaelGL]

Hearing Marina call Harley a slut and a homewrecker made my day. I wish I could have recorded this episode. Finally someone on this show says what we fans have been thinking all along.

[sieg82]

ALL I can say is THIS SHOW IS AWFUL and new changes made it 10 times worse.

Its like watching the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, !! terrible

NEVER watching GL AGAIN ---EVER

[JamesF]

Weighing in again. The March 7th ep was the first I watched since the revamp and I completely agree with UKBoi. The kinks are getting ironed out. There were minimal crazy edits/camera angles and it seemed to be gelling. I was surprised how good some of it actually looked.

As far as the story is concerned, I know people hate the character assassination of Harley but I like the fact that a heroine has done something questionable. It gives the viewers more credit than shows such as AMC who beat you over the head with which characters are good and which are bad. The story also has the potential to ripple into a lot of characters. Frank, Rick, Buzz, Marina -- I can't wait to see how they react. I'd also like to see Beth stick her oar in seeing as she's Jude's stepmother.

[Kwing42]

I love GL, always have and always will.

But what I hate is that everything is taking place outside.

Not that I mind the outside shots, and maybe they are just really showing the outside alot because they can now, but I really don'tlike EVERYthing being outside.

Stay inside too! ;-)

[Noel]

I watched March 7th episode and pretty much agree that it was a pretty good cliffhanger. But, one thing that I did laugh about was Reva's outdoor scene where she's at Cross Creek. She gets out of the car and then you have the camera inside of a real house with a broken window which obviously looks like it needs to be repaired. Then, Reva opens the front door (the Cross Creek Set that's actually inside a producers office) and flips on the light switch and the fluorescent bulbs did the flicker thing. I just found that humorous. Sorry- my dry sense of humor is kicking in.

[JamesF]

Cross Creek is a sham, it has to be said. Why they chose a rustic cabin to take place in a strip lit producer's office, I do not know.

Also loved Josh being all "It looks different" and Reva's just like "Yeah I did some painting."

Right, Reva. You did a great job painting that exposed wood.