All Soaps: The Budget

[Bright Eyes]

Frances Reid played Grace Baker, Jeff's mother. From what I've heard, she was kind of an uptight bitch.

[Paul Raven]

I recall a 60's Edge episode that had some characters talking in a night club. All we saw was a corner banquette and background of voices,music etc. and some extras passing thru.Yet it gave the impression of a much larger space.

Production needs to be more creative. Surely they could come up with sets that could be multi purpose-say doors on each side.When its Fred's office the left hand door is used and the opposite door is covered by a bookcase and vice versa...or sliding wall panels that can cover each other, a staircase that can be wheeled away etc

[Michael]

Totally agree. Days could definitely, definitely up their production values these days, but honestly? I don't mind THAT much. It's an annoyance, not a deterrent. I can totally handle a show set in six living rooms/kitchens, a few restaurants, and two crappy outdoor sets... if the writing's good. Desperate Housewives is a great example. We don't see that many distinctive sets outside of the typical Wisteria Lane haunts, nor do I feel we need to. Granted, they have a lot more freedom in terms of number of sets and flexibility and location shoots, but I still watch the show for the characters and the stories, not the ~*~beautiful + stunning~*~ backdrops.

[quartermainefan]

But that is almost a totally different topic. Whether or not the show is underbudget or not has nothing to do with whether the conversations are interesting or wring emotion out of a scene. There were compelling radio dramas in the 1940s that had no sets, just a foley artist, but does that mean that a show in 2010 cannot be underfinanced?

Back to the first soap I mentioned, GH is trying to tell a story with Brenda who is miserable because she is not in love while living in the Eternal City, one of the most romantic spots on earth. That would have been a great location shoot for sweeps with Sonny and/or Jason and Brenda on the run from the badguys stopping to throw three coins in a fountain while they have to hide out by the basilica and whatever. Even if the story wasn't great, the locations alone would have had the entire audience just enjoying the eye candy.

[DRW50]

Yes, but if a soap does not have the money to tell these stories, then why tell them? There are other ways to tell a story and draw audience interest.

I think back to the show's Puerto Rico remote in 1994, which was highly praised, and I believe ratings actually dropped during that time.

[Gray Bunny]

You are correct. According to the 1/3/1995 Digest for the week of November 21st, 1994: "November sweeps and Thanksgiving pre-emptions shook up the Nielsen rankings. While most soaps increased ratings during this period, GENERAL HOSPITAL (which spotlighted an enchanting Puerto Rican remote) showed a decline. The ABC show dropped an entire ratings point."

(Keep in mind that they covered ratings every other week since it was still published every 2 weeks back then, so their full rating point decline was over the course of 2 weeks. Nonetheless, that's a terrible drop!)

Y&R 7.7

AMC 6.1

B&B 5.8

OLTL 5.4

ATWT 5.2

DAYS 5.2

GH 5.1

GL 4.8

AW 3.1

LOV 2.2

(Boy did 1995 bring about huge changes in the rankings/ratings for these shows!)

[Khan]

Not even!

[Khan]

This!

[Khan]

As trashy as talk shows such as "Jerry Springer" and "Maury" were and still are, they still draw an audience w/ little-to-no production values (just the set and the audience). Why? Because, even sleazy producers know people (or in soaps' case, characters) bring and keep eyeballs to the show, not the sets or the lighting.