Daybreak - the launch onwards

I've caught the first fifteen minutes of Daybreak for the last two days and I think the first 15 minutes seem to be the most Newsy from what I've seen, there's a News bulletin and a brief look at the papers, which is probably better for the banter than actual News content.

It's not very Newsy, but for me it's more watchable than GMTV anyday.

To be fair to Ginocat, you're no better than him...

*****

The lack of news output is certainly irritating. I mean, I don't expect wall to wall news 6 - 8:30, but maybe more detailed bulletins at :15 and :45 past the hour? GMTV had no problems doing that.

But Mike, this isn't GMTV. It's also not BBC Breakfast. Why can't people just accept that it's a great completely flawless show and that Adrian Chiles is Paxman's mentor?

I was looking forward to seeing a re-union with Four Poofs and a Piano and Jonathan Ross today but they weren't around.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1344307/Adrian-Chiles-Since-Daybreak-people-stop-street-look-pity.html

Change at Daybreak for Adrian?

Before anyone barks i know this is Daybreak, but i've just found this clip of GMTV from 12th Sept 2001 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcfyUBlrPt0&feature=related

A good example that GMTV could do good coverage when they put their heads together. I do wonder how Daybreak will be if something so big is to happen again.

I only watched the first few minutes but Fiona Phillips being Fiona Phillips, Eamonn Holmes using phrases such as "while you were sleeping..." and having entertainment correspondent Jackie Brambles reporting just means that it was difficult to take this seriously. Channel 4 had better coverage that day, The Big Breakfast was cancelled and Channel 4 News took up the slot with a serious news programme. GMTV needed to do the same, they should have phoned Holmes, Phillips and Brambles and told them to stay at home.

Well I can set aside their usual beings and I think they did pretty well from that clip.

Wasn't the issue that GMTV didn't have a contract with ITN for this - unlike C4 who did. (It would have required ITV, GMTV and ITN to have worked together...)

I don't like how they totally closed the windows, what's the point of them, even in the winter the view was nice.

I have to agree, the introduction of this backdrop is a terrible idea IMO. The combination of cold lighting, purple sofa and night time backdrop introduced in September was awful and offputting but the gradual warming up of the set seems to have gone too far now.

The yellow panels and yellow lighting on the wooden backdrop contrasted nicely with the darkness outside the studio and IMO this contrast made the studio seem almost cosy (admittedly just almost). And the shots used meant that we barely got to see out the window in any case, the only times we did generally being wide shots of presenters and guests.

Although maybe not perfect, they were taking decent steps towards incorporating a view of the cold morning darkness outside into a warm inviting set. Now their windowed studio has been boarded up. It just makes no sense.

I have to say that, given GMTV's limited resources for covering an international story on that scale, I think they did pretty well from what I can see there - and hit just the right tone. I think we have to remember that it's easy to watch something like that 10 years later and suggest that it could have been done better - but, at the time, it can't have been an easy programme to produce, and I doubt anyone would have been very critical.

Obviously things would be different with Daybreak. Am I right in thinking that, even though Daybreak is still effectively a separate franchise, ITV could replace it with news from ITN any time they needed to?