Let's Talk Production Values

[Sindacco]

I don't like Chez Rouge at all. Give me Penthouse Grill, Tuscany and the Blue Note back.

[DrewH]

I like Chez Rouge better than Tuscany, definitely. I would love to have the Blue Note club back though. Screw Club Dune.

[SFK]

AMC's sets don't necessarily look cheap to me, they just look very new and unlived in. They remind me of the countless emails I get for new condo communities sprouting up all over the place. It looks like everyone lives in a partially furnished model unit. They lack the warmth and touches of a real home.

You may remember Erica's home Linden in its last incarnation. It was pretty drab and lack-lustre when it first appeared, the ep where Erica found Mona who had passed away in her sleep. I loved the '80s mauve postmodern version so I was biased to begin with. But they did something very interesting with the new Linden, they gradually decorated it. It didn't just appear "done" from day one. One week they added a screen in front of the fireplace, another week, a painting over it, weeks later drapes, new chairs, new sofa et cetera, it all came together and ended up looking great.

Something I love about the Abbott's home is that it will always be the Abbott home. The changes are subtle but you know there will always be that horse wall hanging above the stairs and those two candle lamps on the mantle.

[DrewH]

I love the Abbott house for its dining room. There's nothing like an episode of Y&R that opens with a good ole fashion Abbott family breakfast.

[DaytimeFan]

Ahh yes the Penthouse Grille set on DAYS, that's a great one. It must be expensive to set up because I don't see why they don't just give Chez Rouge a rest.

[DrewH]

^ It probably is. I remember for a while there, we never got to see it. It suddenly started showing up in October 2006, right after Hogan Sheffer started writing the show. Before that, I don't think we had seen that set since 2004 when Lucas proposed to Sami in front of everyone during the Captive Island storyline. That was the last time. And since probably April of 2007, we haven't seen it since.

[NYC123]

AMC: The production value here has gone way down thanks to Julie. The lighting is HORRIBLE. Also i didn't think it was needed to reamp the Chandler Mansion. I loved the Mansion during the 1900's with the two staircases....JHC sucks at these stuff. But since Pratt came aboard AMC's production has been slightly better. The only realist set is the hospital.

ATWT: Cheap, Cheap, Cheap. I think some of the sets are okay but really it sucks.

B&B: I think there sets are decent. I would like a little more lighting.

GL: Must I explain

GH: Horrible lighting...........and the sets look cheap as hell also.

OLTL: I think the sets are decent.

Y&R: The best of daytime HANDS DOWN!

[All My Shadows]

AMC's sets look sparse to me, as if there needs to be more stuff there. Completely lacks decorations and such. I still loathe the Chandler mansion and I loved the one before it, with the big silver double-staircase (well, I call it a double-staircase...it was two sets of stairs going up in opposite directions). I also loved Erica's last house, the one that burned down in '02. ConFusion is quite possibly the worst non-DAYS set in daytime. Two much white light, too much (faux) glass. I'd be afraid to go on that set...everything looks easily breakable.

GL is disgusting. Obviously, they know that the outside stuff does look good, and so they do every single thing outside. The inside sets suck so much...it always looks like "Finders Keepers" because the people seem cramped, there seems to be too much [!@#$%^&*] strewn around. It's atrocious and so un-GL.

[Soapsuds]

Gawd..I love your posts...LOL and agree. Except I am so sick of seeing the outside stuff. It use to be a treat to see remotes. Now it is just blah for GL.

[DeeeDee]

Yep!

[EricMontreal22]

I think the diff between AMC and OLTL is the lighting--the sunlight through windows, etc effects on OLTL are wonderful. the two shows share a production designer (Roger Moony I think) but not lighting.

When Julie came on as EP for AMC she said she'd fix the lighting in particular--if anything it just looks slightly worse. Sigh. I'm sorta sick of the super new looking condos (like the one Taylor just moved into just when I thought we were done with them) forAMC--they feel so anti Pine Valley to me.

But people complaining about the Angel Square Hotel on OLTL looking bad... isn't it meant to? OLTL is one of the few soaps that actually shows SOME sorta middle class or even sorta "poor" people still...

[rangethatrover]

Its Roger's job to carry out the aesthetic vision of the executive producer. So you can blame Carruthers for AMC.

Re: Angel Square Hotel- Its just so incredibly tacky, and Michael's and Marcie's place is digusting. He is a Doctor, why to they live in that brown, ugly place?

[EricMontreal22]

YEah but the EP greenlights ideas he presents her, no?

[rsmith2k2]

I still hate AMC's film look format or whatever the hell it is. It is too dark and I think it's dramatically reduced details in the actor's eyes which in a closeup medium like TV and especially soaps is not a good thing, imo. It creates another layer of emotional distance. I don't know maybe that makes me an old fuddy duddy. I don't mind high tech, I just like to see IMPROVEMENTS in picture quality from it.

Maybe if they had decent lighting it would be better.

The lighting is my other complaint. All that godforsaken ice cold washed out white of Fusion and ConFusion with the lights shining up horror movie style in the actor's faces at ConFusion. Ugh.

If I had to choose sets over lighting, though...I would just like some good lighting.

Y&R looks good. I think OLTL looks better than AMC, imo.

[All My Shadows]

I totally agree about Michael and Marcie's place. Their apartment reminds me of a set that you'd see on a 50s soap, without walls (pictures and other wall-hangings just hanging against a black background), and the lighting is just weird in there too.