Yeah i heard Kreizman did that over on GL. I think it is a great idea, and I'm glad he's utilizing it now on AMC. I wouldn't mind it becoming a weekly thing, but i also kind of like how they come at random times and are unexpected.

I'm watching it now and I noticed it was a standalone episode. Did Kate Hall write the Angie one also? I don't mind the transitions. In fact, they are needed. I noticed that the last standalone episode didn't have them and it was jarring to see Angie in the park in one scene and the very next scene she was in the hospital.

Yep Kate Hall wrote the Angie episode (6-25-10), and it was also directed by Angela Tessinari, to. I agree that the transitions were needed. They helped the episode flow a lot better. I would have been highly annoyed if the show didn't have them in this ep, lol..

OMG...I totaly forgot about those "Inside the Light" episodes. They were good when your favorite character got one, but if it was someone you hated..than you were [!@#$%^&*] out of luck for an hour

Those would never work on AMC, to many lackluster characters. Can you imagine having to suffer through a MARISSA episode, or even worse Randi...oh God even Ryan, and OH LORD JESSIE

I think I almost had a panic attack haha.

Yeah i heard Kreizman did that over on GL. I think it is a great idea, and I'm glad he's utilizing it now on AMC. I wouldn't mind it becoming a weekly thing, but i also kind of like how they come at random times and are unexpected.

Yep Kate Hall wrote the Angie episode (6-25-10), and it was also directed by Angela Tessinari, to. I agree that the transitions were needed. They helped the episode flow a lot better. I would have been highly annoyed if the show didn't have them in this ep, lol..

Oh, no. I don't want this to be a weekly thing. Monthly ok. Weekly, no thank you.

Those would never work on AMC, to many lackluster characters. Can you imagine having to suffer through a MARISSA episode, or even worse Randi...oh God even Ryan, and OH LORD JESSIE

I think I almost had a panic attack haha.

AMC definitely can't do this with a lot of the characters on the canvas, LOL..especially the ones you mentioned.

But I wouldn't mind these episodes happening with characters like Erica, Annie, or Tad.

I think the only people I could sit through would be Annie, JR, and Erica...and MAYBE Angie (If Jessie wasn't heavily involved...it's not that I hate him, but he just hasn't been enjoyable since he became the Chief of Police).

No Tad or Ryan episodes. The entire show revolves around them enough as it is. We're on Tad's 8th kid and Ryan's, what, 5th relationship in a mere 18 months?

Yeah i heard Kreizman did that over on GL. I think it is a great idea, and I'm glad he's utilizing it now on AMC. I wouldn't mind it becoming a weekly thing, but i also kind of like how they come at random times and are unexpected.

Yep Kate Hall wrote the Angie episode (6-25-10), and it was also directed by Angela Tessinari, to. I agree that the transitions were needed. They helped the episode flow a lot better. I would have been highly annoyed if the show didn't have them in this ep, lol..

Oh no...I don't want this to be a weekly thing. But what I sense is they will do this w/ some main characters. Namely the ones in the Rediscover AMC promos. This is basically about the explainations of who they are and why they are who they are. I sense we will be getting one w/ JR maybe next mth. that would be awesome to listen to, since the Chandlers are a staple on this show and hearing the inner mind of JR would be incredible stuff. His will to be his father, what he feels about Annie, his sister etc.

I got to be honest the character that would need it most would be Ryan, b/c he's a confuzzling fellow at times.

I didn't mind the transistions, I actually liked it, we got 3 days of material in one day. And it was all needed.

LOL yeah ok maybe not weekly, haha.

I agree that a JR episode would be great. I also wouldn't mind a full fledged Annie stand alone episode . I don't think people would be to happy with a Ryan episode, but thinking about it, it could be good for the character if AMC did it right.

I hated the transitions but that's because they reminded me way too much of most sci-fi cartoons I used to watch. The only thing they were missing was the "Meanwhile back at the Batcave..." voiceover, but I agree they were necessary considering the volume of material.

Greenlee/Angie in the park. Intelligent, women-centered, character-based conversation. No sniping, no OTT bitchery.

Angie and Mayor Blanco at the station: two strong, professional, minority women in a single scene. I feel like I'm hallucinating. It's a shame they used that scene to pimp Jesse as the "best chief of police Pine Valley has ever had" because he really isn't.

Nice to see Cornelius was able to fit in a scene between his gigs at Starbucks and The Gap.

I'm turning into a bit of a Kate Hall fangirl. Her scripts include little things that I love, things you might hear in real conversation.

Ryan to Greenlee: Did you really hurt yourself?

David: No Ryan. I shanked her in the shower.

Angie to David: You better back the hell up.

Jesse to Ryan: Are you high?

This "Inside the Light" format could get tired really fast but used sparingly and with the right characters and scripts I'm giving it a thumbs up.

Edited August 4, 201015 yr by marceline

Overall, this wasn't a bad episode.

My only gripe, and I've said it before, is I am TIRED of characters describing themselves (or others) in their dialogue. Actions speak louder than words. I don't need Greenlee telling us every five seconds how strong, independent, determined and how much of a fighter she is. Let her actions and choices (and actor's performance) speak for themselves. Because, if that's all you need to do to define a character -- having them or others constantly tell us who/what they are -- then all they have to do is have Marissa say "I'm sexy, vibrant, full of life and make men weak in the knees! "

Yeah, you see where I'm headed?

So, this is the writers not trusting their writing (or, to a broader extent, an actor) enough to think the viewers can pick up on who this character is supposed to be, and comes off rather insulting. A character constantly describing themselves doesn't come off as self-aware -- it comes of as fake. Trying to convince themselves as well as others that this is who they are.

Greenlee/Angie in the park. Intelligent, women-centered, character-based conversation.

And it was the best scene.

Even if ABC suddenly became a Nora Ephron movie.

Just want to say so we're clear on something... b/c I went back to read a past post. I understand when people sub character names for nicknames not to take it literally, yes I'm one of those, but when I call David 'chubster' know that I will continue to call him that until I feel so. We call Ryan 'Ryass' and David is not the only one who I have called anything alluding to his weight. I dissed Tad, I dissed Jake, even 'Up on that mountain' guy when it comes to thier round shape, so just so we're clear on something... it's all fair game when I call anybody chubby, chubster, etc. Thank you for your opinion, and you know who you are, but it will continue.

FYI: David Kreizman did a similar thing at GUIDING LIGHT, taking an episode each week to focus exclusively on one storyline, speeding up the storytelling by employing transitions and other tactics borrowed from primetime shows. On one such "Inside the Light," Springfield mourned the loss of Ross Marler, played by Jerry verDorn, who'd been a fixture on the show since 1979 and, by that point, was GL's longest-running performer. Most soaps get at least a week to mourn a character's death; GL gave it's audience one Wednesday. Then, it was "Back to the show."

Needless to say, the ITL's weren't always successful. People complained it seriously disrupted the timing and synchronisation of storylines (...among other things).

Just thought you'd like to know. ;-)

I'm like this as well. If Adam Chandler was still on then I would love to see the same thing they did for Greenlee.

And it was the best scene.

Even if ABC suddenly became a Nora Ephron movie.

I'll take a Nora Ephron movie over the Sex and the City ripoff that Fusion used to be.

Edited August 4, 201015 yr by marceline

R., ITA, though I think it's almost entirely a writer problem, not an actor problem, because imo all of the actors have a pretty good grasp of their characters regardless of uneven writing. But it's the old adage our language arts teachers taught us in the third grade, "Show, don't tell." The *only* inch I'll give them as far as that's concerned is if they're making somewhat of an effort to "catch up" newer fans who aren't as familiar with the characters as we are, and perhaps that should be reserved for these one character-centric episodes.