I agree with a lot of points raised so far, including taking a presenter which is the favourite part of 'soup' and isolating it...it's just not always a success. Pasta is almost certainly the best part of minestrone soup. Take it out of the soup though, and it's just soggy pasta. (Chiles and Bleakley going to Daybreak was really removing the pasta from the soup and thinking...this'll work in stew?...to dramatically over-extend the metaphor.)
Having said that, I think Steph is a talent worth poaching and AFAIK, she rates really well with the kind of people that would watch this show and that Channel 4 would want to attract (working and stay-at-home women, low to middle income - great for advertisers). She was successful on Breakfast because she lit up grey business news and makes it accessible, all whilst having an accent that audiences appreciate hearing (despite those that constantly moaned about it) and being warm on air, in contrast to others.
I do wonder about the strategy of just becoming This Morning+2hrs though, mainly because it's a bit unfocused. This Morning can get away with it because they are established, with very successful presenters (who attract the audience regardless of content) and have probably done everything at least once! Interesting to see the press release for 'Morning Live', which has an 8-week run on BBC One at 9:15am coming up (Kym Marsh and Gethin Jones) - it has an immediate reason to be on: a bumper variety pack of the 9:15 popular factuals that have that slot throughout the year...experts + topical chat = (loosely) daily consumer affairs.
What's the drive for Packed Lunch? Other than Steph's a great, capable presenter...C4 have no live programming until 7pm on weekday, and there's a brand new Leeds office that needs to not look like just an empty office.
What would have been a really ballsy commission for C4 would be to do Packed Lunch at 8am. Start off with an hour, and maybe stretch it to 10am (or start at 7am). There's a massive open goal for a live breakfast show without a news or debate agenda - essentially the Radio 2 Breakfast show on TV. You can read the news before your head leaves the pillow on your phone, so have a show that's focused on lifestyle, interior design, life hacks, personal finance, health, 'what to have for tea', 'where to go on holiday', 'dance routines your kids are looking at on TikTok'. This Morning, but without the celeb/promotional circuit bits - and allow Steph to make each section speak to the kind of audience I mentioned. Channel 4 doesn't have shows you can easily plug on a chat show - they are usually too gritty. Even 60 seconds of Yorkshire countryside shots set to music would be an excellent top of the hour antidote to the others available!
Think sort of Big Breakfast, but for those who watched Big Breakfast in the 90s, and are now knackered by three kids and want a pleasant twenty mins watching TV before going upstairs and working from home all day. The audience is ripe for the taking!!
Last edited by w1a on 14 October 2020 7:03pm - 2 times in total