21 minutes ago, Khan said:

I have a hard enough time believing 'em on shows like "The Jeffersons," lol.

I don't remember a disco on The Jeffersons, but I would imagine similar results -- as The Jeffersons was shot on videotape similar to a soap opera.

On the other hand, I believe they used a disco set a couple of times on Dallas during the first or second season. It worked reasonably well, although not completely believable. The disco worked better on Dallas because Dallas was a one camera show shot on film. And back then, film used very different audio recording than videotape.

2 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Yes, you're exactly right. They had to keep the music low, so the mics could pick-up the dialogue. But the mics would always pick up their footsteps too, which sounded ridiculous. Not to mention, most soap opera towns during that era were too small to support a disco anyway. It was later in the 80s, that nearly all the soap towns suddenly became major cities. Several soap operas (I'd say at least half of them) included discos over the course of three or four years, but I never believed any of them worked. Discos simply do not work on videotaped daytime soap operas.

I think Wired for Sound worked a little better, because by that point GL had a lot of characters I could see going to a disco/supper club, and the set didn't seem as claustrophobic.

It's difficult for me to imagine ATWT characters in 1978 going to a disco. Melinda maybe...and Lisa if she was in the right mood, but who else? I suppose Jay might go to get some ass, but that's a whole other version of Oakdale we were not going to be seeing.

Annie and Dee by this era would be more likely to drink some milk and tuck in at 8 PM than live their best life to Donna Summer and Sylvester.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DRW50

24 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

I don't remember a disco on The Jeffersons

You mean you don't remember when George caught "Disco Fever," lol?

2 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think Wired for Sound worked a little better, because by that point GL had a lot of characters I could see going to a disco/supper club, and the set didn't seem as claustrophobic.

It's difficult for me to imagine ATWT characters in 1978 going to a disco. Melinda maybe...and Lisa if she was in the right mood, but who else? I suppose Jay might go to get some ass, but that's a whole other version of Oakdale we were not going to be seeing.

Annie and Dee by this era would be more likely to drink some milk and tuck in at 8 PM than live their best life to Donna Summer and Sylvester.

And then there's Erica's ill-fated (and mercifully short-lived) disco on AMC. As if a discotheque would ever be a successful business venture in a Philadelphia Main Line town like Pine Valley, lol.

9 minutes ago, Khan said:

And then there's Erica's ill-fated (and mercifully short-lived) disco on AMC. As if a discotheque would ever be a successful business venture in a Philadelphia Main Line town like Pine Valley, lol.

I always forget about Erica's disco, although I shouldn't due to the iconic shot of her posing in the shower curtain dress.

And of course there's GH, sadly famous for one reason only, beyond Richard Simmons.

Not to mention Mitch Blake's silly disco on Another World. Terrible set, terrible music, terrible acoustics. Plus all the same technical issues I mentioned in my previous post. The concept of a disco did not work on soap operas. And I'll never forget one time Alice Frame danced with Mitch on the disco floor. Jeeze-Louise! Alice must have been pushing 40 years old by that time. It was around 1981-82, and it was both sad and laughable to watch conservative 40-ish nurse, Alice Frame being tossed around the dance floor by a bored to death William Grey Espy, along with the fake disco music. Lord, have mercy!!

I mean, it's not like these shows could pretend disco didn't exist, but they could've just had characters talk about going to one (off-screen) and I think most of the audience would've been fine with that.

13 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Not to mention Mitch Blake's silly disco on Another World. Terrible set, terrible music, terrible acoustics. Plus all the same technical issues I mentioned in my previous post. The concept of a disco did not work on soap operas. And I'll never forget one time Alice Frame danced with Mitch on the disco floor. Jeeze-Louise! Alice must have been pushing 40 years old by that time. It was around 1981-82, and it was both sad and laughable to watch conservative 40-ish nurse, Alice Frame being tossed around the dance floor by a bored to death William Grey Espy, along with the fake disco music. Lord, have mercy!!

I'll have to look for that. All I've seen of that disco/club is Tracy singing, and singing, and singing, which, nothing against Janice Lynde, probably helped drive Janice Frame into madness.

I do understand why the soaps wanted to try to change with the times - which they should probably be doing more of these days - but there could have been so many other ways to do it.