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Steph's Packed Lunch

Weekdays at 12.30 (September 2020)

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FL
Flux
It's not really that bad of a show, it just doesn't stand out against the already established offerings elsewhere. And being on Channel 4, you go in expecting it to be an alternative to those shows.


Even on paper when it was first announced, that’s always been the problem with it. Initial reaction to the announcement was lukewarm, ratings and feedback to the rushed “pilot” run were average at best... they’ve had plenty of time to adapt their approach but they seem to have just pushed ahead without much thought.

I wonder if it would have stood a better chance in the breakfast slot? It wouldn’t have troubled BBC Breakfast or GMB but could at least have been seen as an alternate offering at that time of day.
OM
Omnipresent
Channel 4 have done well in the past with something alternative at lunchtime, like "Light Lunch" with Mel & Sue which I remember being a cult hit in my student days.

Last edited by Omnipresent on 20 September 2020 1:00pm
FL
Flux
Channel 4 have done well in the past with some alternative at lunchtime, like "Light Lunch" with Mel & Sue which I remember being a cult hit in my student days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eRHPKAHrMU


The key word there being “alternative”. Sure the ingredients of Light Lunch were mostly typical daytime, but the presenters and presentation gave it an edge. Steph was never going to do that in the same way Mel and Sue did. They were quite quirky comedians, and with all due respect, Steph (whilst a very capable and safe presenter) is not. The show still could have been an alternative offering if Steph had been balanced with a distinctive format, but the producers seem to have approached it like a generic and safe daytime show and together it’s made for a bland - and certainly not “alternative” - show.
SC
scottishtv Founding member
This is a very visibly Northern TV show/set with a very obviously Northern host. Is zero viewers the price C4 is willing to pay to keep politicians off their case for being too London-centric? (See also: the BBC Scotland channel).

That's the only reason I can think of why they'd do this.
BR
Brekkie
Light Lunch was great back in the day - but if we knew then that 20 years later virtually every bloody interview show would involve cookery I'd almost wish it never happened.
SO
Soupnzi
Original as Light Lunch was, there were so many more ways to be ‘alternative’ in the 90s. Daytime TV was incredibly staid- the likes of Pebble Mill and Good Morning with Anne and Nick.....and This Morning wasn’t the light ent show is it now. It’s harder for the Steph team to break new ground when you now have the likes of Loose Women on the mainstream channels.

It’s a bit like with news. 5 News seemed incredibly bold and trend-setting (in the same era of Light Lunch), but then the quite traditional-looking BBC/ITV gradually loosened-up their presentation and suddenly standing-up or ‘perching’ to read the news wasn’t a big deal. Being distinctive is much harder in 2020.
BR
Brekkie
I get what you're saying and somewhat agree, but on the otherhand now the alternative has become the norm there surely is room for a new alternative - that's just how culture moves on.
KK
KolonelKlink
Which three segments got the zero rating - was it the early half or the latter half?


1245-1300
1315-1330
1330-1345
BR
Brekkie
Which three segments got the zero rating - was it the early half or the latter half?


1245-1300
1315-1330
1330-1345

So pretty much the middle hour of the show then. It's just crap from beginning to end then.
AA
Aaron_2015
It’s hard to see where Channel 4 go from here - let the current series run it’s course and then bin it, or stick with it and hope it grows.

With such low numbers from the off, I just don’t see its viewing figures growing into an audience that makes the channel a profit.

Steph is a perfectly good host, but it’s a tough market and sadly I don’t think she’s the big draw Channel 4 thought she was.

If not a business format, why not try a show aimed at the LGBT audience?
JO
Johnr
The viewing figures certainly will not grow when one of the topics from last week that lasted the ENTIRE SHOW was 'what is the oldest item you've got in your freezer?!'

Riveting...
JO
Jonwo
It’s hard to see where Channel 4 go from here - let the current series run it’s course and then bin it, or stick with it and hope it grows.

With such low numbers from the off, I just don’t see its viewing figures growing into an audience that makes the channel a profit.

Steph is a perfectly good host, but it’s a tough market and sadly I don’t think she’s the big draw Channel 4 thought she was.

If not a business format, why not try a show aimed at the LGBT audience?

I think making a show aimed solely at LGBT audiences would cause figures to drop even further!
Matthew_Fieldhouse and Brekkie gave kudos

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