GL: Lights Out?-TV Guide Article

[Sylph]

Bzilch.

[bellcurve]

*Kisses*

[Chris B]

The problem isn't that they jumped into the new model heads first. The problem was that there was no story to keep viewers investing while they work out the kinks. Just like when a show switches networks, you need big story to get viewers to stick around. GL has NO story for months. Just random moments meant more to showcase the new production model. If GL is cancelled, don't blame nostalgia, blame that crappy writing team and Ellen Wheeler.

Now that the show has reduced Kriezman's power, the new HWs are doing a MUCH better job and it's a much more watchable show. The production model has worked out most kinks and is very well done, IMO. Then again, I only watch online and people say it looks better on a computer.

Another thing that I would say has hurt nuGL is the production design. Those set designers need to be barred from the profession. Some of the color choices are so bland and cheap. Look at the gym, look at the hospital. WTF were they thinking? And all that cheap looking faux-wood. The design makes it seem worse.

[TheDSA]

The funny thing is that I do believe that the cameras they use, Canon XH G1, have HD capabilites.

They should have shelled out a couple grand more and gotten cameras that they use on The Hills. Even though I hate the Hills, what I do love is how its beautifully shot. As a film student, the production really jumps at me. The camerawork, the lighting, the editing, the composition, the mis-en-scene, the music baffles me. There is no artistry. How can they have directors, editors, light technicians, music directors, CAMERAMEN who have absolutely no idea what they are doing? Its like they fired everyone with experience and aesthetic and replaced them with Joe Shmo who's previous work experience was selling hot dogs on the street corner.

Just because a show is cheap doesn't mean it has to look cheap.

[Khan]

Word.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Sad thing is, GL used to have a stellar directing team, for years I believed it was the best directred soap on the East Coast. Once Wheeler fired the great Bruce S. Barry (one of the greatest soap directors EVER) the directing team lost its heart.

Brian Mertes, Matthew Lagle, and Jo Anne Sedwick (who used to do GL's location shoots before this production change) were all very good under the old model. Now? Not so much...

[juppiter]

Just like Santa Barbara.... and the two shows were even on at the same amount of time.

[Khan]

More than that, GL offered nothing, story-wise, to keep even those who, intrigued by the production changes, tuned in for the first time from tuning out. Those first couple shows, in fact, were just random close-ups of inanimate objects, and montages set to crap-sounding college-rock. As Chris B said upthread, GL needed big story to keep us around. If anything, Ellen Wheeler and David Kreizman should've worked together and crafted the sort of provocative, envelope-pushing story that could only have been worked in the new production scheme.

[Khan]

Thank you for saying that, b/c I could not agree with you more. As far as soap directors go, I put BSB in the same class as Larry Auerbach (AMC, ATWT, LOVE OF LIFE), Ira Cirker (ANOTHER WORLD), Peter Miner and David Pressman (both OLTL).

I don't know, is JoAnne Sedwick even working at GL anymore? These days, whenever I catch the closing credits, the only names I see are Brian Mertes, Matt Lagle (who sucked under the old regime, and does so even more now), and Tracey Bryggman.

[DRW50]

Passions was resented by many long-term soap fans because it replaced AW and because there was such emphasis on Passions having a younger cast, but the first few years of the show were still well-received in many places. Tabitha and Timmy even seemed to be big pop culture names for a while. I think Passions only lost the public interest after a few years passed and people started to sense that under the supposedly unique atmosphere was really just a lot of generic stories going nowhere and increasingly pointless gimmicks.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

GL did buy cameras capable of HD shooting, they're using Canon-XH-G1 HDVs. CBS is still broadcasting GL in SD but all of GL's new equipment is HD-ready and they can shoot in 1080i with a flip of the switch. The cameras GL bought were professional grade but are generally considered "entry-level professional" and are usually used by independent or documentary filmmakers. They probably went with them because of cost. They go for about $6,000 and to pull off the model they needed several, so they couldn't afford to go with the higher-end $20,000 models. They ended up with 18 G1s and 1 Canon XLH1, a $9,000 16:9 native HD camera that's used for wide angle establishing shots.

[jfung79]

Remember the format change happened at the same time as the writers strike. Don't blame the show or the writers for that.

[Dan]

But all the other shows at least HAD story despite the fact that there was a writer's strike going on. It might not have been brilliant (with the possible exception of Y&R), but it was a continuous story. GL just had a bunch of disconnected scenes punctuated by lame-ass music montages with not even a story to be found. Let's also not forget how long that took to change. Meaning: Months after the strike ended.

By the way, I think a writer's strike would have been a perfect reason to, I don't know, postpone the revamp until afterwards. I know GL is running on borrowed time, but I would have thought that PGP/CBS would have wanted to change over with some hope of succeeding instead of waiting another year to address its creative side.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The writers SHOULD be blamed for that. GL had written so much material in advance of the strike that during all of the actual strike, they WERE NOT airing strike episodes.

The strike started in November 2007 and ended in February 2008. Kreizman and company's work aired though February 29, 2009 and then they reappeared in the credits LESS than a month and a half on April 14, 2008. How can the writers not have some blame?

[jfung79]

The format change was 2/29/08, exactly when all the material the writers had already written out months in advance ended. So what you are saying is that the writers already did more than their duty to keep the show afloat during the strike since they wrote so in advance, unlike some other shows -- and that still wasn't enough