GMTV (1993 - 2010)

All this business about 'the graphics aren't working properly because the equipment hasn't arrived', 'the music wasnt right so was pulled at the 11th hour but might be back at easter', 'the set was lit badly, that's why it didnt look good'...

To GMTV staff and management....

You are paid to run a broadcaster, which is a pretty basic operation compared to the average station. When you want to relaunch, relaunch. Order the equipment in time for enough practise to ensure it is operational by your launch date. Make sure the set is built at the earliest possible opportunity so that you can rehearse to ensure it can be lit correctly. Take time to produce a 5 second sting that you can all agree on, once again in time for the date of the first new look programme.

These are basic principles of not only relaunching your brand, but broadcasting in general. It's all about timing, timing and timing. Anything different is sheer incompetance, regardless of whether the set looks like it's been bought at an MFI clearance.

Sky 682 - The Entrepreneur Channel. Home of Paul Lavers, of Anglia 'fame'

The GMTV set has a stong feel of the Eyecatching design stuff. More so now I have seen the colour LED backlit perspex at the top of the news set.

OK so I've watched GMTV for the past 3 days in the 6.00 to 7.00am slot and I have to say - they have ruined GMTV.

I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT GAZA EVERY 2 MINUTES. It's literally on a cycle of News bulletin, Gaza, Weather update, News bulletin, Gaza, News update, Weather, Front pages, Gaza, Gaza.

OK, so it's quite big news but it's as if nothing else is happening in the World.

I'll be turning off if it carries on like this (i.e. talking endlessly about the main news story of the day and nothing else).

I think the graphics are quite harsh too, especially for that time in the morning.

It feels repetitive cos there's zero depth to the coverage.

Note to GMTV: Repeating the same news does not make your programme more "newsy". It just makes it more repetitive.

I've never understood GMTV - almost as much as it doesn't seem to understand where it should be pitching itself on the light/news spectrum.
Breakfast TV is always going to be, to an extent, background noise. If I want actual news I'd rather have the Today programme on as I'm sorting myself out. If I wanted light fluffiness, something more akin to GMTV sans news might work. Does it really need to justify its existence with a token amount of news, or even worse, a lot of token news?

GMTV have always recapped the top stories as ive said before, but this time because it seems more formal, i guess its more notable. If you take these away, it does seem from what i have seen to be the same stuff as before the relaunch, which i was ok with. I personally would have made the Newshour stronger in news, and Today kept the same with consumer, social issues being discussed.

I'm liking the new graphics - they do seem quite fresh. Not sure about the titles; seem a bit cheap. I think the set could be slightly improved if the presenters sat in the middle of the sofa (i.e. at the corner) so one of them doesn't appear to be sitting on a crack and there's no need to constantly swap sides, but may look a bit too BBC Breakfast.

Yep - they look like PBUs (Photo Blow Ups) to me - hence me discussing PBUs and Projectors (different tech but similar end result - 3D scene projected onto 2D surface)

Duratrans lightboxes can be a bit more effective than PBUs because they have backlighting - so appear to be generating light (like windows) rather than reflecting light (like photos)

But who honestly makes a point of watching GMTV for the news and for longer than half an hour to an hour or is it just on in the background whilst you're getting ready in the morning? For the vast majority I expect it to be the latter which is why it feels like it is on a cycle- it isn't supposed to be watched over a long period of time! With news stories which are not in depth, it lets the audience hear the main part without too many details, but enough so that they know what is going on.

I've not actually managed to watch it properly but from what I can gather on here the bulletins are every 15 minutes so instead of bulletins at .00, .15, .30 and .45, they could perhaps benefit from scaling these back to .00, .20 and .40 if they are intent on having more than 2 per hour.

You sure you aint tuned into News, Sport and Weather on Sky News?!

So, Emma starts tomorrow, along with Andrew. The two seem a good pair but it will be interesting to see how she presents. Either relaxed or formal as her Sky News style.

I'm looking forward to it though.

New Theme Music??

http://tvnewsroom.co.uk/blog/gmtv-theme-music