Ellen Wheeler hopes to save the daytime soap....

[sungrey]

Not to mention that would have been rooted in some sort of reality and history -- but we can't have everything now, can we?

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, I'm delighted to agree on something, Dan! But, with the fiddling around they have done with A-M's age, I just ignored that, even though it was hard to to at first. Oh, okay, it was always hard to. But, I mean, who wouldn't sizzle with the grossly under-used Keifer!! Even the somewhat ungraceful Dempsey could have learned! It just all makes me think what a waste it was that Rauch/B&E didn't see to cast Paul Anthony Stewart as A-M!

[MichaelGL]

Psshh Dan, but Blake and Jeffrey proved to be an even hotter couple.

A-M is the only man, other than Ross, that I could imagine Blake staying with long term. The show missed the boat with the pairing and potential that came with it. They teased us with a Dinah/AM pairing(which also has history), but it would have been juicy to see the two women fight over A-M.

However DK missed the boat with Alan-Michael entirely, the character has history with about 90% of the canvas!

[Contessa Donatella]

I couldn't stand Jeffrey ever for one minute with anyone but Reva.

Speaking of Reva, her earrings yesterday made her eyes just pop. Great colors for her, that particular aqua & brown.

[brimike]

Never mind everything else he's screwed up, as far as I'm concerned, if you remove Alan-Michael Spaulding from the canvas due to "lack of story"?! That's instant grounds for dismissal. There is no second chance after that. Period. Come on now.

[Khan]

^^^^ Word.

[Contessa Donatella]

I think they actually removed him because he wasn't working out as an A-M. And, I do think he was miscast. And, I never thought of him as A-M. I had to think of him as this other character who also went by A-M.

[Mitch]

I have to agree that the location shots, for the most part, arent working out. I think the sound and picture quality is much better, and when they use it judiciously like say for the Reva movie, or when Bill was upset and walked out of the hospital and Lizzie followed, they make perfect sense and do indeed "open," up the show.

However, for the most part, they dont work, and for all of the reasons that we have said. Word is that Wheeler is over budget, and it is all the location shooting that is to blame (she didnt figure in the price of gas going up, though that was a forgone conclusion back in Feb, and having some problems with the places they do the exterior shots, which is why the facades change.) So why doesnt little Ms. IAMGOINGTOSAVETHESOAPS cut down on them, and just use them as ATWT does, a little at a time, and when it makes sense.

I disagree with some other posters and say that some of the indoor sets look GREAT..the Spaulding Study, the Towers Club, Company (it now looks like a real little neighborhood pub.) She really needs to make use of these sets, and to "pretty," up some of the other, "public," sets, like Cedars, and make use of them more. Cut down on the scenes of Alan in a baseball diamond, (for cripe's sake he could be answering his phone at Company) and use some of that money to make the sets "look," better and to expand them. For example, why the hell do we need a police station and a courhouse???This isnt Edge of Night, and each time Dim Davey and Wheelie attempt at legal storyline it fails. Incorporate the station to be part of Cedars (oops,I know, Cop Shop equal Super Duper Coopers, Cedars equals Bauers, therefore Cedars BAD) and use the courhouse to expand/make Spaulding Offices. Hell, in the old days we had like a few private sets (Bert's kitchen, somebody;s living room) and the rest were public sets where everone would gather. Marland on both GL and ATWT would use mostly public sets (Mona Lisa, Cedars) and his few private sets (Kim and Bob's living room) would be quasi public sets as everyone in town would traipse through them, but somehow he made it all make sense and Oakdale seemed like a real town, even though complete strangers would appear in Bob and Kim's house and chatter on about their pending murder charges.

Long post short (sorry, too late) Wheeler should save money by cutting down on the silly remotes and spend some money on creating inside sets which would make sense for the characters to run into each other and to gather. As of now it just doenst play well on screen.

[Contessa Donatella]

Ya know, many things are alleged & have been alleged at times over the years & some turn out to be true & some not true, but we know that it's true that they have no more space for interiors than what we see.

And, prior to this, when there were open areas being used as sets that could be for anyone & everyone, fans complained & complained & complained.

[Mitch]

Ya know, many things are alleged & have been alleged at times over the years & some turn out to be true & some not true, but we know that it's true that they have no more space for interiors than what we see.

And, prior to this, when there were open areas being used as sets that could be for anyone & everyone, fans complained & complained & complained.

Oh Ms.WheelerApologist : )

Look, I had no problem with the public sets...I think the complaints were that the sets used werent really very homey ( the Beacon Lobby) or it was odd that everyone would be there (uh, the Beacon Lobby) That could have been easily fixed by expanding the lobby and making it a bit nicer, (i.e not having the wretched looking Main Street) and explaining that the Beacon had gone condo...so it would make sense people actaully lived there( of course they would have had to had a generic Beacon set, which they could have simply changed the furniture in and moved a window to make it look like it was someone else's) I remember back in the old days when I was a kid and my mom was watching ATWT, I would think all the houses looked the same...but thats okay, as I could tell Lisa's apartment from Susan's etc. even if they had the same floorplan.

I know they dont have any more room, so use your space and your money wisely. And I never want to see the wretched Nail Salon or Remy or Mallet's crack den of a room again.

[Dan]

I think they actually removed him because he wasn't working out as an A-M. And, I do think he was miscast. And, I never thought of him as A-M. I had to think of him as this other character who also went by A-M.

I always hated the fact that he looked so much like Grant Aleksander, which biologically shouldn't be possible.

I dunno. I think PAS actually looks less like A-M than Dempsey did.

True. True.

[Vee]

It's not just Remy's crack den. Virtually every building on the show has at least one "crack den"-esque room. The exterior of Cassie's farmhouse looks like a condemned site. It probably is.

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, Carl T. Evans & Ric Hearst don't look much alike except for being brunettes. And, PAS is an actor who climbs into a part & inhabits it. He's just such a good actor that to me it would have made a huge difference rather than wasting him on trying to make Mob Boy fit.

[Contessa Donatella]

Hey, now, I am not an apologist. I am a fan. But, maybe we read totally different complaints about the sets. And, of course, it becomes moot at some point because Bloom mandated more sets. And, the Beacon Lobby & the rooms & that great revolving set they had, weren't supposed to be homey. They were supposed to be rather formal & rich.

You're assuming more space. And, you're assuming they could afford to keep paying to schlock sets back & forth.

There you go! The complaint that would not die. So, you have a nice public homey downtown walking area. Oops. What was that about wanting homey?

Yeah, we just disagree. And, on more than just the fact that I don't see anything on there that looks like a crack den. However, I am all for colorful hyperbole!! So there.