Julian is part of the Culture that makes UTV unique in the ITV family, so why knock that?
That is so very true!! Do NOT knock this........I think it is fantastic that UTV still have IVC. We have bland "that was this is" over well past their sell buy date celeb idents on SMG.....it is so naff!! Let us see the announcers!!!!
If anyone from UTV reads this forum, could they please tell Julian that David
Walliams
is not called David
Williams
. It's getting embarrassing. He says it on the Parkinson trail, and has just said it again on the ECP at the end of Play Your Cards Right.
And could someone please ask the engineers to boost the gain on his mic. Thank you.
** too late! He's just managed to say it again.
** even better! Just as they cut to him for the intro to Afterlife you could hear his mobile phone interfering with the mic. I think he was receiving a text; he seemed to be startled by the fact he was on-air, and could be seen trying to move his phone out of the way while stumbling through his script.
Maybe it was a friend of his sending him a text to let him know it was David Walliams and NOT Williams!!
Do NOT knock them though........watch our presentation in Grampian......I would love to have a Jullian up here!!!
Trust me....you're welcome to him ....take him, please!!!
Is is possible to have IVC these days that doesn' t look dated? T4 manages it, but I don't think that sort of IVC would work on prime time ITV. Or maybe it would with the right announcers. If you watch Colin Weston announcing in-vison in the early 90s now, it doesn't look too dated - but a lot of his contemporaries look very dated. If ITV brought back IVC, they'd have to pick new announcers to make it work IMHO.
Is is possible to have IVC these days that doesn' t look dated? T4 manages it, but I don't think that sort of IVC would work on prime time ITV. Or maybe it would with the right announcers. If you watch Colin Weston announcing in-vison in the early 90s now, it doesn't look too dated - but a lot of his contemporaries look very dated. If ITV brought back IVC, they'd have to pick new announcers to make it work IMHO.
No - I think with the right person and a good up to date set it would work very well!! It looked very good on Grampian right up to the time SMG took over in 97/98 and I would say it is still missed here today!
It looked very good on Grampian right up to the time SMG took over in 97/98 and I would say it is still missed here today!
I didn't realise Grampian had IVC until 98! I think IVC will return on one of the channels at some point, personally. It's due for a revival. And a good IVC announcer always makes TV feel a lot more 'live', which is always good for keeping viewers watching - and watching the ads!
It looked very good on Grampian right up to the time SMG took over in 97/98 and I would say it is still missed here today!
I didn't realise Grampian had IVC until 98! I think IVC will return on one of the channels at some point, personally. It's due for a revival. And a good IVC announcer always makes TV feel a lot more 'live', which is always good for keeping viewers watching - and watching the ads!
I have always said the same....it is called teleVISION.....you should see your host not just hear them over some crap ident!!
I have no problem with the concept of IVC; just with UTV's execution of it, and their continuity in general.
An announcing team that, with one addition, has not changed in approx' 12 years!
Announcers who don't know how to pronounce the names of celebrities.
No announcements outside of prime-time. Idents that frequently rattle away for up to 20 seconds with no v/o, before freezing, falling to black, and cutting to the ITV1 idents.
Anno-less ITV1 idents overnight.
Announcements that are either toe curling parochial (I'm not against scripts that are aimed at the audience, just ones that make your cringe), or announcements that sound like they've been plucked from the archive.
It's a shame that UTV's continuity hasn't evolved with the rest of ITV1 - I'm sure all of their announcers are aged over 30, most of them probably over 40 (I know Gillian Porter is 40 and Julian is in his mid 40s), and since Audra Cunningham/Thomas joined the team in 1997 they haven't taken on any new announcers. If UTV were willing to spend the cash on recruiting new, young announcers to complement the existing team, it would breathe a new lease of life to Havelock House.
Or, controversially, to act as a transition to gradually replace the current UTV team. I would keep Gilly and Julian on as full-time announcers, and have Robin Taylor and Aidan Browne as relief announcers (sorry Audra fans!), but bring in new announcers who can work day shifts
I remember when Gilly, Robin and Aidan arrived shortly before it changed from Ulster Television to UTV, and on-screen presentation was generally a lot better. Most of the links in prime-time were IVC, there was daytime continuity and you had a team of seven different announcers (at the time Keith Burnside, Tracey Anne Griffiths and even Frank Mitchell were still on announcing duties) to offer a variety of different faces from Studio 3.
Another problem is that only one of the UTV team is a full-time announcer (I assume that's Gilly?) while the other are freelance/part-timers, three of them have other daytime jobs which makes it hard for them to cover daytime shifts, and I'm sure UTV wouldn't have Gillian and Julian on day shifts all week and expect Robin, Aidan and Audra to cover all the weekday evening shifts. And as Gilly has a young daughter, and Julian probably does a lot of promo work during the day, they might not always be available to cover daytime shifts.
As for IVC - it shouldn't be held as just for Julian's shifts only, the other announcers are capable of doing great IVC links when they are given the chance, especially Robin who I think is quite underrated.
But I should get a chance to see whether things have improved, deteriorated or just stayed as they are on UTV for myself later tonight as I'm back in Norn Irn for the next two weeks for a break...
Funky Guy:
"Can anyone please tell me what the background on the set is all about ."
The Hall of Mirrors?
It's a CSO backdrop, first seen in March 2002 when UTV moved their transmission facilities from "Studio 3" (the old continuity studio) to their new Central Transmission Area. It represents the programmes shown on UTV; networked programmes on the top level and regional programmes on the bottom such as Kelly, UTV Live and Barney and Busker.
There have been two versions of the Hall of Mirrors backdrop, an altered one was seen earlier this year including the logo for the Football Show, but from recent clips on the UTV Today site they have reverted to the original 2002 backdrop, which includes a picture of Frank and Pamela on the old UTV Life set!
Agreed about IVC being a very worthwhile concept, just as has been said as long as it's not done badly. It's especially effective nowadays - it generates an identity for a station, making it stand out in what is a sea of 'images' and corporate looks being thrown at us.
Good on you marski for following that up about Coronation St - it really does show UTV's backward culture at its worst. Charming and fun for the most part, but a television station having an outlook like that in 2005 is just pathetic.
UTV have got slightly better in its broadcasting standards - so far no late starting ad breaks, have yet to see any brief glimpses of ITV1 idents, they seem to have eradicated the problem of some of their ads still having black break fillers as well.
In terms of continuity, is it just me or does Julian look younger than when I last saw him? And his links seem to have improved of late, they tend to finish on time, not crashing into the start of the programme on the rest of the network, and he doesn't stumble as much as he did. Also great to see Robin Taylor doing the weather over the weekend, he's the only person I've seen forecasting on UTV who doesn't look straight into the camera or just look at the map for a few seconds before turning back, at least he moves his hands around and points out places on the map. But shame Gillian Porter has gone back to her old haircut again...
."
UTV have got slightly better in its broadcasting standards - so far no late starting ad breaks, have yet to see any brief glimpses of ITV1 idents, they seem to have eradicated the problem of some of their ads still having black break fillers as well.
