Central West and BBC Midlands Thread

its very exciting to be watching midlands breakfast this morning, and what a midlands breakfast! (notice the deliberate beverly avis dakin-ism there).

love the new studio - its very relaxed and very neat. like the window - although we haven't had a good view of it yet. sofa looks amazing and like the plasmas on the wall!

i think letting kay debut the new studio at 6.25 was inspired - because she added a much needed air of experience and occasion to the whole event. i had to laugh when kay mentioned the hedge on fire on the B4176 in sutton maddock - she tutted.

new name caption is fab - you cant have too much branding - but i think the design will be altered as soon as poss. because the midlands today bit ought to be larger - like in the old orange name astons.

and i hope all you non midlanders watching on DSAT felt honoured when kay SPECIALLY welcomed you at 6.55 "and a welcome too to our digital satellite viewers, they're on channel 101, you can see us on that!" - and then of course she welcomed us all to her new studio.

and MAJOR changes to the midlands breakfast system - the bbc local radio frequencies are now displayed in black instead of red.

overall i think the whole thing is fab- cant wait for 1.30!

ooooh yes - the set is beautiful, and it looks much more friendly and warm! Kay seems just at home - and her travel reports have also been bolstered up because shes so happy, "woe betide you" and "your'e not to laugh because a hedge is on fire" are some classica examples. The window looks a lot more clean and clear - a better view of the midlands!

Can't wait till Nick and Suzanne on the 6.30 programe.

Oh yes, Kay's travel snippets this morning have been very useful. I'm not far from Hinckley and I planned a trip into there, then without Kay alerting me all the traffic lights were stuck on red - what would I have done?!

Really love the new set - certainly fits in well with breakfast, and looks like it has the power to carry off a 6.30 show too. Still can't see where Shefali is going to stand though!

Yeah its good. Much better than the old one. Kays back at 1.30 too!

Erm, they're always stuck on red...

Sofa, so good!! (sorry, couldn't resist..)

The new set looks fabulous indeed. Praise Kay we had our first cock up of the day in the form of the aston/clock overlap, I would have been disappointed if it had run 100% smoothly!

Sadly my TV card was playing up so I basically missed the whole of the lunchtime Midlands Today!! But here's what I got - we didn't see much more other than the new yellow live and location astons. Anyway, here's Kay:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jamesison/caps-2/caps005/cap025.jpg

Kay hands over to the weather with Shefali, coming out of the report about the charity prison event - participants including *TOP* celebrities Terry Whaite, Peter Wilson, Jo Malin and Steph from Big Brother. Kay says "Prison our new set isn't...and Shefali has even got the red carpet treatment!!" and Shefali laughs and replies that she feels so far away over there:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jamesison/caps-2/caps005/cap030.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jamesison/caps-2/caps005/cap034.jpg

Not being able to take the distance anymore, Shefali decides to join Kay at the end of the programme:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jamesison/caps-2/caps005/cap045.jpg

Kay pats the sofa and welcomes Shefali with open arms - there are 8 seats you know, plenty of room:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jamesison/caps-2/caps005/cap046.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jamesison/caps-2/caps005/cap048.jpg

VERY East Midlands Today! (the walking over at the end bit...)

kay didn't disappoint at 1.30 did she!!

right - well we have new yellow live/location straps:
http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/080903-midlandstodaynewlook-kaylunch01.jpg

and a new full screen graphic style - although as we know - these change daily anyway
http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/080903-midlandstodaynewlook-kaylunch02.jpg

kay talks LIVE to peter on her plasma
http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/080903-midlandstodaynewlook-kaylunch03.jpg

and, although ison provided full coverage of shefali's amazing walk - well you cant get too much of a good thing - so here's another shot.
http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/080903-midlandstodaynewlook-kaylunch04.jpg

studio is FANTASTIC - at last they've sorted out the CSO reflecting on the desk ... by getting rid of the desk and notice the lack of window captions - all well and good - but they cant end the tradition of having NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS on the window captions - so they ought to put it on the plasmas IMO.

*ERR REALITY CHECK*

At the end of the day, it's a sofa, a painted wall or two, coffee table and a new window. Yes, looks nice and open, but rather limits them some what. I don't mind sofa's as a rule, but I always prefer them as a secondary soft area. The plasmas are a nice touch but there is nothing *really* new here. It's just more china red and beige from the BBC, same titles, same theme. Which is fine, but it's all still so............ corporate. From the way some people were talking, I thought Midlands Today was going to be breaking away and setting the new standard.

So overall, it's nothing that hasn't been seen before and regardless of what you currently think of Central News, it's something they've now been doing for some time.

So, not to say it doesn't look nice, but I think it's time for some people to be grounded for moment and realise that this is not a revolution in broadcasting, it's a sofa. And if a sofa encapsulates the energy and enthusiasm in the region at the moment, what a dull place it must be to live !!!

SE'S RELAUNCH RATING - 5 out of 10

Please start the backlash here >>>>>>>

What were you expecting? A mock Neo-Georgian Hellraiser backdrop with Retro-Antarctic Thora Hird Country Rambling Rose-style upholstery and a small infusion of Japanese-effect artwork for garnish? Laminate floor straight from Linda Barker's new range of products?

Faux -Japanese, dearest, faux -Japanese.

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