Set designer to the daytime stars: It's all about the couch

Ricki Lake, who next week begins her second go-round as a daytime talk-show host with "The Ricki Lake Show," lives in a house that's beautiful but "not too precious," likes the color purple and follows "a somewhat green lifestyle." She also wanted her new set to feel less like a stage and more "like someone's living room, where everyone's opinion is heard."

These were some of the directives that Lake provided to Anton Goss, 41, a Los Angeles-based set designer who's carved out a niche designing sets for single-named daytime talk-show hosts, including Oprah, Tyra, Ellen and now Ricki.

He recently spoke about the curious world of daytime talk-show design.

What's the key to designing a daytime talk-show set?

You start with the seating and build out from there. Stylistically, you're making a home for the host. They're going to live in this thing for hopefully a long, long time. To get their best performance they have to feel comfortable. You create an environment that's conducive to a good sit-down.

Do you have a favorite seating style or maker?

I've gotten into custom-making the furniture for these shows because a TV couch is different than a regular couch. When I did "The Tyra Banks Show," Tyra was on a couch that had a TV-friendly bend in it: a 30-degree wedge that gets the host and guest in a V-shape so they're making eye contact.

I use a marine-grade vinyl. If you get leather, it takes a huge amount of time and money, and you can't ever match it exactly if you have trouble with it. I didn't use marine-grade on "The Ricki Lake Show," though. She's really earthy and real. I don't mean to say others aren't, but there wasn't a need to be slick or super high-end.

The set you built for Oprah was certainly slick.

With Oprah, it was definitely a studio. We had a stage that had nine lifts, so you could stage a choir. They liked neon and edge lighting. This was the last iteration of her set, so they really wanted to make a modern theater for her.

You have to hype everything up in TV. Otherwise it looks like a dollhouse. Doorways, windows, architectural features all should be exaggerated in size. It's mixing all those elements of home with the grandeur and amplification that you need for TV.

What about Ellen DeGeneres? Did she have design ideas?