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The Big Breakfast

Where life used to start at 7. (January 2014)

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IS
Inspector Sands
I was the same when I watched the relaunch show. sharron is ok, how the hell did rick get the main presenters job?

On paper he's a good choice, had the right sort of persona and experience for the show
WH
Whataday Founding member
On paper he was a very good choice. You have to remember that we hadn't had Johnny at that point. Chris Evans was the template, and Rick appeared to be created from a Chris Evans knitting pattern.

Coupled with the mumsy Sharron (Gaby), it could have been a match made in TV heaven. It didn't work and as usually the case with these things, the content let them down dreadfully too.
FA
fanoftv
Did the content change that much to what it was before? Again Johnny & Denise changed the show somewhat. I suppose having the pit taking up the whole of the living room meant less room for the crew.

How did they film the sofa pit? A camera operator sat on the opposite end?
BR
Brekkie
The content seems much dryer and things like the daily competitions were taken out - even The Crunch seemed curtailed some what. There were bits which were perhaps good ideas on paper - The Telecopter, revamping Family of the Week to be on the road, giving Snap presenters and even adding the lifestyle segment to Vanessa's role, but ultimately it fell apart.

Whether the 1996 format would have worked with Johnny and Denise in charge is up for debate - the changes made when Johnny joined in 1997 were arguably much more significant and gave the show a few appointment to view slots within the two hours with Vital Statistics, the Paper Review and the competition.

I think Johnny was considered for the 1996 revamp but turned it down IIRC - I know he auditioned with Gaby and I'm sure he'd been approached once more before joining in 1997. Of course to the expectation was that Zoe was staying and it's a shame she didn't. I think she was a very good replacement for Gaby - someone just as capable but quite different, and she ended up with a bigger role (doing the competitions for example) - she was much more in the Denise mould than the Gaby mould, and might just have worked well with Rick (who I think had also auditioned for Live and Kicking). Wonder if Jamie Theakston was ever in consideration for The Big Breakfast.
WH
Whataday Founding member
I'm sure we've had this discussion before but the actual 1996 lifestyle format persisted throughout the Johnny/Denise/Lisa era. Things like Wayne Hemmingway, Mark Bright, experts etc. It wasn't really until 2001 that the format had a proper reboot.

22 days later

JB
JasonB
Incognito - the game show Peter Smith hosted for a while:

19 days later

JC
JCB
Broadcast's 'Talking TV' Podcast this week is a 40 minute discussion about the Big Breakfast with Charlie Parsons and a few other producers who were there from the beginning. It mostly focuses on the journey from pitch, to pilot to launch but does briefly touch on the "bitter" end...which apparently started when Ch4 wouldn't increase Johnny's pay.
MA
mannewskev
Have a cheeky listen... https://player.fm/series/broadcast-talking-tv/talking-tv-101-how-the-big-breakfast-was-made
BR
Brekkie
Well worth a listen - they could easily do another half dozen eps on it

And googling it sent me back to page 53 but fascinating how Danielle Lux, a production assistant who stepped in to co-host the pilot ended up as Head if Entertainment at C4 when the show was axed.
WH
Whataday Founding member


JB
JasonB
Well worth a listen - they could easily do another half dozen eps on it

And googling it sent me back to page 53 but fascinating how Danielle Lux, a production assistant who stepped in to co-host the pilot ended up as Head if Entertainment at C4 when the show was axed.



I Had a listen earlier and it was worth a listen. I felt he could have got an hour out of them instead of 30 minutes though. They sound like they have much more to say!
WH
Whataday Founding member
When I interviewed Richard Bacon not long after the show finished he said most of the Planet 24 stories couldn't be published! He said it was a different culture to any other company he worked for.

There is a story that has been published though, about an office junior being called in on his day off to pick up some files an executive had dropped on the floor.

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