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Good Morning Britain in 2020

Split from Good Morning Britain (January 2020)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
NL
Ne1L C
Same. Enjoyed GMB until COVID but Piers has turned it from an entertaining and lively watch, to a show that spends half it’s time being angry to the point it is uncomfortable to watch.


Couldn't agree more. As embarrassing as this is to admit, I feel it's relevant here. In early March, my morning routine consisted of getting up, having some breakfast while watching GMB and browsing Twitter, before heading off to work. I found that I was leaving the house in an increasingly harrassed and anxious manner over a period of about a fortnight in mid-March. I felt overwhelmed and like a feeling of impending doom that I couldn't shift. I made the decision to stop browsing Twitter, and, most importantly, vowed to stop watching GMB when Piers is presenting. It's had a tangible effect on my general mood/anxiety level. I'm not burying my head in the sand and employing the 'ignorance is bliss' model, as I am still keeping myself informed on the day's news, only now via less tabloid-esque and bombastic means. Piers' constant scaremongering and sensationalism is not just unprofessional and irritating to watch, but actually a real threat to people's mental health. Call me a 'snowflake' if you want but I'm talking from experience. Stopping watching him has helped me feel less anxious in general, and I cannot think of a much grimmer indictment of a presenter on what's supposed to be a happy 'kick off your day with us' breakfast show than that.

Apologies; this is rather more than just slightly off-topic, but I couldn't help but explain my experience after I read the above post.


David, you are certainly NOT a snowflake. We are facing a situation in this country that has no equal in recent history. The media's job in this pandemic should be to inform us and not to scare the **** out of us. Morgan et al seem to get a perverse kick out of reducing us to nervous wrecks.

A journalist's job is to ask questions and point out flaws in arguments and policies in a rational and reasonable way and to my mind Morgan is less a journalist and more a brain washer. Thankfully as I stated above there are other options.

Before anyone criticises my post it is relevant as it is about the media and the way they have handled the pandemic. Yes I have praised the news media for keeping us up to date in the past but that praise was not unqualified at all

Edit, I know that this chap has spoken a lot of **** but for once he's right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0b1duWALZ8&t=25s
Last edited by Ne1L C on 9 September 2020 2:49pm - 2 times in total
MA
Meridian AM
Sugar said it well yesterday and I agree with his response about news coverage during this interview:
(Skip to 5:25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMd0glEEi0Q&ab_channel=ThisMorning
BR
Brekkie
Sugar outed himself as an irresponsible employee and citizen in that interview.

Just out of interest, I watched this morning to see how they would handle the new restrictions that were announced late last night/overnight, and the answer was - they didn't. I switched on at 6.30am, and it was one of the headlines. Then they talked about Keeping Up with the Kardishans finishing, Captain Tom Moore on Life Stories this weekend, Andi Peters did a live competition and Laura did the weather. Then I switched off because I was off to work.

Woeful. I very much doubt I'll be watching again. There's no point if I want the top news stories of the morning, and I only have 30 minutes between 6.30 and 7.00.

You know that though - what is the point in wasting your time tuning in knowing it isn't going to give you the service you want. They're not making a show for people tuning in to point out the shows supposed flaws.
JO
Jonwo
Sugar said it well yesterday and I agree with his response about news coverage during this interview:
(Skip to 5:25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMd0glEEi0Q&ab_channel=ThisMorning

Lord Sugar made a valid point, it’s not to say the media outlets should ignore bad news but there needs to be a better balance.
JO
Josh



All the best to Kate today.
SW
Steve Williams
You know that though - what is the point in wasting your time tuning in knowing it isn't going to give you the service you want. They're not making a show for people tuning in to point out the shows supposed flaws.


Well, I will accept that it probably is fair enough to say that complaining about a show hosted by P**rs M*rg*n being filled with non-stop talking and contrived arguments is a bit like complaining a show hosted by Tommy Cooper is full of rubbish magic tricks, that is what they do. And similarly I can accept that there has to be light and shade in a programme like this and they're not in the business of just repeating the same story non-stop.

But I can't accept that it's the audience's fault for tuning in on the half hour, on the morning after a major story broke late the previous night, on an ostensible news programme, and expecting at least some information about it. It's been said before many times that it's a completely different programme on the days M*rg*n isn't there, so it's a bit much to expect the audience to have to research the rota before they tune in to see if they're actually going to get any news or not. People are not tuning in "to point out the supposed flaws", they tune in because it's not too much to ask that in half an hour they might actually deliver what they want.

I said this years ago, but one of the big problems with Good Morning Britain is that it's such a pain in the arse to navigate. There's so much crap on the screen constantly - the tickers, the captions ("NEW THIS MORNING", "DEVELOPING STORY") - and yet there's nothing to tell you what's coming up next and when you can expect what you actually want to see. This thread gets very excited about new voiceovers, new headline sequences, new backdrops, which is all very good, but none of those do anything to help the audience work out what's actually on the programme when. Which Breakfast manages to do when all that's on screen is a clock.

I'm not saying everything has to be absolutely regular as clockwork and it's clearly OK if they get to the top of the hour a minute or two late because an interview had overrun, as Breakfast do on regular occasions. But blithely sailing past the top of the hour by five minutes or more for some aimless chat with no suggestion of what might be coming up next is ridiculous. It's plain bad manners. I don't know why it's so hard to do. It's all very well getting excited on here about nice-looking top of the hour sequences, if they're showing them at eight minutes past the hour, they have failed. Run the programme properly, then you can start messing around with the lighting and music.

But sure, blame the audience for not wanting to sit through all three hours to find what they were hoping for, or rearranging their entire morning around the programme.
03
030293
You know that though - what is the point in wasting your time tuning in knowing it isn't going to give you the service you want. They're not making a show for people tuning in to point out the shows supposed flaws.


Well, I will accept that it probably is fair enough to say that complaining about a show hosted by P**rs M*rg*n being filled with non-stop talking and contrived arguments is a bit like complaining a show hosted by Tommy Cooper is full of rubbish magic tricks, that is what they do. And similarly I can accept that there has to be light and shade in a programme like this and they're not in the business of just repeating the same story non-stop.

But I can't accept that it's the audience's fault for tuning in on the half hour, on the morning after a major story broke late the previous night, on an ostensible news programme, and expecting at least some information about it. It's been said before many times that it's a completely different programme on the days M*rg*n isn't there, so it's a bit much to expect the audience to have to research the rota before they tune in to see if they're actually going to get any news or not. People are not tuning in "to point out the supposed flaws", they tune in because it's not too much to ask that in half an hour they might actually deliver what they want.

I said this years ago, but one of the big problems with Good Morning Britain is that it's such a pain in the arse to navigate. There's so much crap on the screen constantly - the tickers, the captions ("NEW THIS MORNING", "DEVELOPING STORY") - and yet there's nothing to tell you what's coming up next and when you can expect what you actually want to see. This thread gets very excited about new voiceovers, new headline sequences, new backdrops, which is all very good, but none of those do anything to help the audience work out what's actually on the programme when. Which Breakfast manages to do when all that's on screen is a clock.

I'm not saying everything has to be absolutely regular as clockwork and it's clearly OK if they get to the top of the hour a minute or two late because an interview had overrun, as Breakfast do on regular occasions. But blithely sailing past the top of the hour by five minutes or more for some aimless chat with no suggestion of what might be coming up next is ridiculous. It's plain bad manners. I don't know why it's so hard to do. It's all very well getting excited on here about nice-looking top of the hour sequences, if they're showing them at eight minutes past the hour, they have failed. Run the programme properly, then you can start messing around with the lighting and music.

But sure, blame the audience for not wanting to sit through all three hours to find what they were hoping for, or rearranging their entire morning around the programme.


Feel better now?
BR
Brekkie
But sure, blame the audience for not wanting to sit through all three hours to find what they were hoping for, or rearranging their entire morning around the programme.

If viewers want to tune in to a programme thinking that the show has now been rearranged around their expectations and morning routine then they can expect to have their morning wasted.

Like it or not it is what the show is now - the views come before the news. Personally yes I'd rather they had a clear structure and hit the top of the hour at least with the main stories, but it isn't what they've prioritised. They've also arguably decided they are more of a long form breakfast show rather than trying to ensure anyone tuning in for 20 minutes or so gets a full briefing of the days top stories - and perhaps that is a reflection of the times. Most the audience now will be getting their morning headlines via apps and social media probably before even turning on the TV - GMB with Piers (and as you say, it is a different show without him) isn't aiming to provide that service.
Last edited by Brekkie on 10 September 2020 11:49am
MA
Markymark
But sure, blame the audience for not wanting to sit through all three hours to find what they were hoping for, or rearranging their entire morning around the programme.

If viewers want to tune in to a programme thinkinh that the show has now been rearranged around their expectations and morning routine then they can expect to have their morning wasted.

Like it or not it is what the show is now - the views come before the news. Personally yes I'd rather they had a clear structure and hit the top of the hour at least with the main stories, but it isn't what they've prioritised. They've also arguably decided they are more of a long form breakfast show rather than trying to ensure anyone tuning in for 20 minutes or so gets a full briefing of the days top stories - and perhaps that is a reflection of the times. Most the audience now will be getting their morning headlines via apps and social media probably before even turning on the TV - GMB with Piers (and as you say, it is a different show without him) isn't aiming to provide that service.


I can only speak for Mrs Markymark, because I leave normally the house at bang on 06:00, but having only watched the BBC 10pm news 8 hours earlier, there's really no need to 'go through it all again' with BBC Breakfast.

She finds GMB to be the right mixture of fluff, schadenfreude, and aimless chit chat, before she knuckles down, fires up a VPN, and has another day working from home.

Oh, and Dr Hilary lives round the corner from us, so he's always a popular watch
Last edited by Markymark on 10 September 2020 11:36am
PI
pip2
Changing channels is really easy. If I want a news update and one hasn’t been forthcoming due to ranting... I’ll flick to BBC 1 on the hour or half hour, when I start to nod off again, I’ll flick back to ITV. It’s really no hardship. I actively avoid Kay Burley at all costs.
NL
Ne1L C
You know that though - what is the point in wasting your time tuning in knowing it isn't going to give you the service you want. They're not making a show for people tuning in to point out the shows supposed flaws.


Well, I will accept that it probably is fair enough to say that complaining about a show hosted by P**rs M*rg*n being filled with non-stop talking and contrived arguments is a bit like complaining a show hosted by Tommy Cooper is full of rubbish magic tricks, that is what they do. And similarly I can accept that there has to be light and shade in a programme like this and they're not in the business of just repeating the same story non-stop.

But I can't accept that it's the audience's fault for tuning in on the half hour, on the morning after a major story broke late the previous night, on an ostensible news programme, and expecting at least some information about it. It's been said before many times that it's a completely different programme on the days M*rg*n isn't there, so it's a bit much to expect the audience to have to research the rota before they tune in to see if they're actually going to get any news or not. People are not tuning in "to point out the supposed flaws", they tune in because it's not too much to ask that in half an hour they might actually deliver what they want.

I said this years ago, but one of the big problems with Good Morning Britain is that it's such a pain in the arse to navigate. There's so much crap on the screen constantly - the tickers, the captions ("NEW THIS MORNING", "DEVELOPING STORY") - and yet there's nothing to tell you what's coming up next and when you can expect what you actually want to see. This thread gets very excited about new voiceovers, new headline sequences, new backdrops, which is all very good, but none of those do anything to help the audience work out what's actually on the programme when. Which Breakfast manages to do when all that's on screen is a clock.

I'm not saying everything has to be absolutely regular as clockwork and it's clearly OK if they get to the top of the hour a minute or two late because an interview had overrun, as Breakfast do on regular occasions. But blithely sailing past the top of the hour by five minutes or more for some aimless chat with no suggestion of what might be coming up next is ridiculous. It's plain bad manners. I don't know why it's so hard to do. It's all very well getting excited on here about nice-looking top of the hour sequences, if they're showing them at eight minutes past the hour, they have failed. Run the programme properly, then you can start messing around with the lighting and music.

But sure, blame the audience for not wanting to sit through all three hours to find what they were hoping for, or rearranging their entire morning around the programme.



That is one of the best posts yet. GMB like most of the UK news channels/programmes are style over substance. All the flashy graphics and dramatic music are not a replacement for solid, professional news reports. I grew up in the 1980's when News At Ten was )arguably at its height. You had professional journalists such as Alastair Burnett and Sandy Gall (IMHO the quintessential duo presenting the bulletins as facts and figures with well crafted reports with no histrionics (the theme tune was epic though).

Call me old fashioned if you will but the news nowadays is just light entertainment.
Cusack and Meridian AM gave kudos
SO
Soupnzi
I think GMB is more like the AMERICAN news channels tbh. I don’t think the British news channels are overly-bombastic in that way anymore (BBC never was; Sky obvs pulled back from all that about 10 years ago).

Either you love the Morgan show or you don’t. And it’s working for them much more than the other iterations of post-Eamonn ITV breakfasts. The issue is when they try to replicate it unsuccessfully on the non-Morgan days.
Alfie Mulcahy, Jory and Meridian AM gave kudos

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