I've mentioned this somewhere else, but can't remember where.
There was something about it in the Manchester Evening News last week - apparently the BBC didn't want Tony starting GR on the night that his final Inside Out went out, so protracted negotiations led to him starting Tuesday, although he did make an appearance with Fred (the weatherman) at the end.
I too can only see it from the images here, but it looks kind of nice. It seems as if solid blocks of vivid colour are the fashion at the moment, firstly Calendar now Granada Reports.
The desk looks interesting, and the screen behind the presenter is put to good use. But it just looks a bit pokey, is there room for anybody else behind that desk ? Do they only present bulletins with a single anchor, or are they doing a Calendar and sending the other one out on location. I'm disappointed with the music though, it's not nearly as grand as it sounded previously.
Overall, not bad, but I'm sure these grabs don't really do it justice.
I was waiting for you to say that, and I agree. The blocked colours on the 6pm news made me think of Calendar straight away, with a bit of ITV News in the desk, and the big screen to link to reporters.
No more signposts in the full titles, or any other landmarks either. Just dragged out longer over the getting-poorer-the-more-I-hear-it reoworking of the old music to comic style titles. I don't think the journalistic coverage is *that* bad.
GR don't present Calendar style, both presenters are at the desk throughout, at least they did with Wilson. They had Tony Morris and Fred Talbot at Winter Hill, 'the heart of Granadaland' as Tony pointed to the four extremities of his new patch. As Neil said in another thread, he's on Inside Out tonight, so the BBC won't let him present until tomorrow.
The bulletin studio really is a travesty, it was so nice before. If Granada had gone from the awful purple look to this one I'd say it was an improvement, but from the blue/yellow one, it really isn't. It's also something HTV would probably do.
They do have a long desk for many guests. But they're ever so far away to talk to. And is it better?
the old desk looks far better. i like the desks bearing the title of the programme. i'm sick of seeing plasmas everywhere though, so maybe thats one point for the new look
I have to say that I do prefer the new desk, it makes it look more newsy and more watchable IMO, the new On Screen graphics are very good and are an improvement, I also like how they do the new Live aston, same with the big screens behind them, for some reason it reminds me of Sky News, it was also nice to see Tony Morris.
They also had a welcoming comment from William Roache (Ken Barlow in plain English) and he said that he like the new set, and frankly I have to agree with him, so to sum it up this is IMO....
Likes
New Desk
Astons
Music, especially headline bed, it sounded very different
The overview at the beginning and end, makes it look better
Dislikes
Titles
The CGI studio, looks horrible
The Logo (The arrow looks better, I can't stand the Granada Reports font)
But the 6pm show was an improvement on what we had seen in the daytime today and the addition of Tony Morris looks promising.
I don't like the look of that studio, it looks just like they've got 5 of those walls and just put them there, you can imagine wooden supports behind it holding each one up!.
The desk is a bit poor as well, the long flat edge to the viewer isn't very welcoming
Not sure about the music, its like GMTV all over again, jazzing up a good theme for no reason
The new Granada Reports title looks like sombody has vomitted all over it.
As for the studio layout, it looks like somebody has been down to MFI, got some off cuts of wood and chipboard, painted them up, and stuck some slats on to stop them falling over.
Are the plasma screens still in use, or have management had to pawn these off?
Does Granada believe that this type of set will appeal more to the lower socio-economic orders?
The overall image which Granada is projecting with this new style is that the company has fallen on very hard times and that there is no money available for even the "flagship" evening regional news magazine.
It is very odd how smaller stations like HTV Wales can project a much more professional tone to their news programs.
There also seemed to a problem when crossing to the OB with Fred, the live feed in the screen seemed to be from the football ground from a previous sports item.
I thought Tony did very well, and I'll think they'll be a very good pairing.
