AMC: Week Of July 1, 2013 Discussion

[Cheap21]

LOL...he could have been a Del recast

[LindaTNo1]

DT.

Angie and Jesse forever.

[DramatistDreamer]

I think this is one of my favorite aspects about these new online versions. It's something daytime soaps used to do but it seems like they avoid it maybe out of budgetary constraints.

At the risk of making folks weary with my ATWTs references, ATWT used to do this masterfully in the 80s.

I LOVED when they had that continuous roving camera sequence when characters would be at The Mona Lisa or some public place and the camera would move from one couple's dialogue at one table to a group talking at another then perhaps shift to some people talking at the bar before maybe ending the sequence at the stage when maybe Lila would perform her cabaret set and then cut somewhere when the song begins or let the performance play to its conclusion. Live piano music would usually play in the background at The Mona Lisa.

It gave you the feeling as if you were eavesdropping on overheard conversations, sometimes snippets but you'd always get the nitty gritty. Sometimes you'd see characters at different tables exchange glances that none of the other characters, but you the viewer would see. Those sequences had an incredibly intimate feel to them. You feel the fact that Oakdale really was a small town and you were seeing half of the residents in that one scene.

I wish someone would bring that technique back. I know it probably takes expert camera work (although editing with today's digital tools is probably easier) and it takes a lot to get all those people in one room but it's stunning when it's done successfully.

Back on Topic though, AMC and OLTL has done really well so far at including diverse groups of actors in one scene. The Tempo interview scenes were well executed, in between the dynamics of the interview between Brooke and David, you had Dmitry urging Brooke to go for the jugular, Pete anxiously watching from the sidelines and then you had Celia and Colby obviously trying to read each other while keeping the other at arms length (and away from Pete, in Colby's case). Lots of little stuff going on.

OLTL, I already mentioned in OLTL's thread how much I loved those scenes where Nora was giving advice to that one woman on her Podcast intercut with Matthew, Michelle, Destiny and Jeffrey at the table.

Just seems like proper scheduling could make these group scenes happen every once and awhile.

[ThisIsHeavy]

Did I miss something about Griffin? Cause he's the one character I haven't heard boo about in a while. Maybe he's the mystery person Jane was calling...

[greens_dupres]

I really liked the interview scenes too for the exact same reason. It seemed like OLTL had done more of this initially so I'm glad we're getting it now on AMC too- while I've enjoyed AMC stories, some eps (not all) have felt a little bit like a series of loosely strung together vignettes. I know Jeff K said on that interview with Michael Fairman that his favorite scenes are ones with 8-10 characters from different ages, storylines all in the same place for a common reason so it seems like that's something they're committed to working out.

[EricMontreal22]

I think this may be to the advantage of how they are taping these shows. It seems to me that for much of the 5 or whatever week taping many of the actors are in town or close by--I know they tape out of sequence, but it seems like it should be easier to arrange. But yeah those party sequences in the old soaps are masterful (I put on youtube Palmer's 1980 Masquerade which must have been a huge ordeal to film--all shot on location, with nearly every character, live music, and three days of virtually continuously doing that.) Anyway I like that these soaps are at least kinda doing that more.

ANyway--caught up on the episode. I loved it, but don't havemuch to add. It just felt like a great mix of scenes and characters. AMC is now at a point where they have enough smaller stories going on that they can manage to alternate and have different stories going at different speeds and on different days--which I LOVE. Frankly in the Frons era AMC often seemed to just have one story going on constantly.

[AMCFan2]

[cassadine1991]

well that characters DO YOU want to see??

[AMCFan2]

[AMCFan2]

Love Adam.. Hate Brooke. Love Kendall..Hate Zendall. Love Tad, Jack, Erica, Bianca. I can not believe Bianca suddenly has a 15 year old. Stupid move on AMC's part, IMO. Opal is worthless and a waste of airtime. They should have brought The Montgomery kids back ? Molly, Sean, and I can't remember the other one, going head to head with Reggie, Lily, Etc, would make more sense for me. I don't care about AJ and Pete the same way and I could accept the Montgomery kids being older than I can Miranda and that crew.I also liked the Dillons and Fryes.

[greens_dupres]

But the Montgomery kids, Reggie/Lily wouldn't be kids at all anymore- Barbara's kids were born shortly after Bianca so with a time jump they'd be more like 30ish and Reggie and Lily were teens in 2004-2005- they'd be at least 26 in real time, thirty-ish as well with time jump. I know age can be somewhat fluid on soaps but they couldn't work as a teen/college set because the time for that was almost a decade ago. The show wanted a high school set- Miranda and AJ would be 9-10 in real time so with the time jump, its not even a major aging. And if you're going to age up some kids for a teen set, I think the grandchildren of Erica & Adam were the way to go. I liked the Fryes and LOVED the Dillons too but I had no expectations of seeing them as they hadn't been relevant to the show (I know Amanda was major but the family as a whole) in 10 plus years- I also loved the Marricks and like the Santoses but same thing. A Chandler/Kane-Montgomery/Cortlandt/Hubbard presence feels more true to the fabric of Pine Valley (especially with only a few half hour eps a week) than those more peripheral 90s families even if I liked them personally. The fact that we've had classics like Dimitri and Billy Clyde are a nice bonus.

I've read about a lot of fans throwing in the towel on these reboots after just a few eps, which I don't really understand if you stuck with the show for years on ABC. They came out of the gate way stronger than I expected but expecting awesome 1-2 weeks (or even 1-2 months where we are now--- though I do think both shows have improved a good bit in June) is a tall order.

[cassadine1991]

I think some viewers expect TOO much from these reboots.. I think they have been great so far, of course there are going to be kinks in them but it's better than what we saw the last 10 years on ABC

[greens_dupres]

I am amazed at how this largely seems to be forgotten/whitewashed by most people who comment on Facebook, Hulu and other boards. I have no idea what they were watching but it wasn't what we saw

[cassadine1991]

I guess they must have liked what was going on those years, I do know that around 2003-2004 was when SOME of those fans started watching AMC and OLTL, even GH... I guess it was when the actor they liked jumped ship

[EricMontreal22]

You do not deserve your screen name.