All My Children AMC: The Prospect Park Era (old production thread)

[Errol]

I'll also admit the set does look like the Horton Town Square. I thought it was at first too.

Ironically...Marlene McPherson is the HW and when at DAYS the Horton Town Square was her and Darrell's idea, so maybe it was her idea on AMC?

[KMan101]

Hmm. Probably.

I like it for the most part, I think it's just the brick and pillars/columns that are bugging me the most for some reason LOL. It's a silly concern. I like it otherwise. I just don't want to see it on both soaps and KNOW it's the same, but like I said, just a silly concern and not a big deal.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

I'm going to miss the old hospital set!

[LeClerc]

The park, being in California, was of course all wrong for a Pine Valley feel, but I thought many of the scenes shot there were some of the most visually-appealing stuff AMC ever turned out.

I'm looking forward to what they are able to do with Cannan Connecticut, which is perfect for Pine Valley.

[John]

the park was beautiful but never looked right to me. It was a CA Patk & there is no way for winter scenes to look real there

[jfung79]

The set looks more like a Harry Potter European-style street to me, but LOL at everyone saying it reminds them of the Horton Town Square.

AMC would be so lucky as to have a set that looks as realistic to gather in and shop, and is as well used, as the Horton Town Square. (The set I'm sick of from Days is the little park bench thing.)

Soaps need central gathering places ... The problem with Guiding Light was that it thought going outside meant more freedom, but instead if it just had a few sets and kept reusing them it would probably have been better off. The show felt so diffuse with settings changing all the time. Even at the end, GL did have sets -- the Spaulding mansion, the Beacon hotel rooms, the hospital, Towers, Company -- and the show looked better on these sets than in the "real world." I missed the Main Street set a lot during the Peapack era. It'd have been one thing if they'd been able to shoot in a bustling city, but they couldn't; they were shooting outside in the middle of nowhere.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

They only shot at the park during the Summer months if I'm remembering right.

I didn't mind the park at all!

[Vee]

As long as there's walls and indoor restroom and changing facilities, Kim Zimmer is there.

I hated that park [!@#$%^&*]. The filming was generally fine, but a little went a long way. It was clearly the only place they could film, and it grew extremely repetitious and brought the whole show down for me because of how cheap it felt.

I think the problem with the Horton Square is less the place but how they utilize it and most importantly, shoot it. But then everything on DAYS has looked, sounded and been produced super-cheap for years.

[jfung79]

I don't get that feeling from Days at all. It doesn't look at all like a show that has suffered huge budget cuts. The difference between it and AMC/ATWT/GL in their final years is stark. ATWT and GL would never have managed at the end to pay to have practically the whole cast at Nick and Gabi's wedding and the big reveal of Will's parternity of Gabi's baby in January.

[Vee]

We'll have to disagree. No, it's definitely not at that wretched GL/ATWT level, but DAYS has had its own unique tone of mediocrity and Wal-Mart-esque mise en scene for years, IMO.

[KMan101]

DAYS uses the same damn blue room for everyone's office. Hope's, Marlena's, Jennifer's ... lol. The lighting is probably my biggest DAYS gripe. The sets are OK but I think better/darker lighting would help.

[EnglishTea]

RN is only a year younger than MEK, so if the character was based on real age of the actor, he would be best suited as a recast for Tad rather than a Jeff/Ross/Dan K return.

IMO, RN could easily play older, and Ross is a character that is well connected, and could be paired up with Brooke (although I want her to remain with Adam), Erica or Opal whereas I kinda never want to see the character of Jeff again. Dan K. could be interesting, I suppose.

I think the Chandler Parlor isn't part of the street set, it is just pushed back rather than completely torn down.

Loved Cady's blog.

[John]

Has anyone heard if The Chandler set will also be used as the Buchanan Mansion or do u think they will get individual sets?

[allmc2008]

Dan K? Like Dan Kenacote? Brookes old love?

[R Sinclair]

Kennicott.