GL: Bloggers invited to see how things work in Peapack, NJ

[Vee]

Next year, I'd like Ellen to try and finish an interview without crying. This is at least the third or fourth interview this has happened in. There's no crying in executive producing! Ellen? Can we try it?

Nice lady, wonderful actress, I'm sure she means well, but Jesus, she destroyed this show. And we know for a fact her "new production model" cost more than what they were doing before.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

Seriously. She needs to grow up or step down. She's already proven herself to be monumentally incompetent as an executive producer, now she's teetering on mentally unstable and/or mindbogglingly naive as well. If she can't cut it, she needs to quit, for the good of the show if she really loves it that much. Simple as that.

I don't know if the new model still costs more or not but if it does, that's downright pathetic given how horrible it still looks even though it's improved since it's debut.

[Paul Raven]

Yes,it's wonderful that love is in the air at GL.

However,she is producing a tv show,not leading a support group.

Watching just one episode should be enough to see that the wavering cameras,bad lighting,meandering stories,cramped sets and weird location filming needs to be fixed.

Why is Dinah in a gazebo,in the snow,in the middle of nowhere ,on a cell phone?

[jfung79]

The blog posts from the people who visited have all been informative so far, with more promised to come. They have given me even more appreciation for Guiding Light and the people who work on it.

I love how the bloggers witnessed firsthand the reunion of Grant Aleksander with his on-screen family. It was also good to finally get a description of how the 4 co-headwriters work together.

Ellen Wheeler IS tough, to deal with all this fan negativity and the declining budgets and still stick it out to deliver quality drama as she has done for the past several years. But she also listens, and that is a strength, not a weakness.

[allatwitter]

More Michael Fairman

Day Two -"Inside Guiding Light" & Kim Zimmer chat!

Lunching w/ the Spauldings -"Inside Guiding Light"

[MarkH]

The blogger experiment is fun and interesting. If I had any criticism, it is that they kept the bloggers all together. That means that the ability of the bloggers to write UNIQUE stories, and get UNIQUE quotes was harmed. So far, therefore, I get a very holistic picture across the bloggers. Perhaps they will better individuate themselves in their REACTIONS and INTERPRETATIONS. I'm already beginning to see that, especially with Patrick Erwin.

On another, note, I am left with a lingering concern...and it is the one expressed here, expressed by Kim Zimmer, and expressed by Sara Bibel in her first piece: SO MUCH emphasis is on the production model, and SO LITTLE emphasis is on how to tell stories now that still provoke "ooohs" and "aaaaaaahs", while remaining true to the show's distant or recent history. Indeed, several bloggers noted that GL seems to intentionally eschew larger sets in NY in favor of scenes that use Peapack and repurposed offices.

In other words, they seek to revise the storytelling, building it AROUND the new locations and production model. That is function following form...and it is seldom a great idea in any domain.

I already wrote this somewhere, but you know how Y&R smartly separated the writing (MAB + Hogan Sheffer) from the production (Paul Rauch), and made the production subservient to the story? That is how it should be at GL.

In other words, I think Peapack and these sets could work...if the writing compensated for it. I feel this is what Kim Zimmer is saying too.

I know the show is without money, but my one wish is that a genuine auteur could come in and write the show to better develop long-arc stories with climactic beats. But Kim Zimmer is on the money about the money too: P&G has the coffers to re-invest in this show (through TeleNext or whatever), and they CHOOSE not too. That is because they clearly see it as a dying brand (like Prell).

Well, even with Prell, they eventually sold it off, and let others do what they could with it. I wish that P&G would sell its soap properties (assuming someone would buy them). I liked the idea, a few weeks ago, of having the Bell family try to reinvent. Alternatively, CBS could purchase the shows so as to "eliminate the middleman". But, honestly, I don't think anyone cares enough any more.

[R Sinclair]

I'm just tired of the phrase "production model."

[MarkH]

What would you call it, though? I'd love a different term...but what could that term be?

[DaytimeFan]

The Bells won't ever buy the shows. They're East Coast soaps and the Bells are West Coast people. They're very hands on...it just wouldn't work and it doesn't fit into future vision of the Bells.

CBS on the other hand...perhaps.

[R Sinclair]

Nothing. I'm just saying it's a term that, for me, doesn't rest well in the ear canal or on the eye balls.

[R Sinclair]

Totally random, but I've often wondered why the Bell soaps wouldn't move out to CBS Studio Center instead of being at CBS Television City. Passions was taped at CBS Studio Center and it was an NBC show. I was surprised, because I assumed it was taped at NBC along with Days.

[JONNYSBRO]

The Bells are hands on but they do not have anywhere near the power they used to have. Brad Bell has creative control but he does have to change things here and there. Bloom putting LML at Y&R really shook it up in a bad way. First time Y&R ever really hired from the outside and CBS was micromanging the show leading to it's downfall. When Bill Bell was Y&R, his agreement in contract with CBS they could never tell him to do anything. They had to take a complete hands off aproach and whatever Bell said went. He brought them to number 1 and high ratings, they never even used to do anything with Y&R. Network was not allowed to touch it, it was Bill Bell 100% control always. Now it is not like that at all, Bloom is very involved and they have to approve stuff.

[DaytimeFan]

You're right about Bill Bell's contract.

You're dead wrong about CBS' involvement in either show. Bloom did not put LML on Y&R. Sony did. Bloom simply supported the decision because she knew LML from her days at ABC. Bloom can give input and made demands. But the Bells and Sony do not answer to her, CBS has no ownership stake in the show.

And I think the Bells stay at Television City because it's the original studio and it's now named after Bill Bell.