To be honest I'm surprised it is on on Monday at all, it will give the tabloids a field day. We will get stories of how low it has sunk in the ratings from this Monday to next Monday.
I think the titles would look better without the year, both in voiceover and on screen. They could possibly include the year for the first week back from the Christmas break, for example, but not all the time. It's unneccessary.
Helen Warner talked about the breakfast TV 'entrenchment' of an audience, radio versus TV, the inspiration from American morning shows, Susanna Reid, news coverage, and some viewer comments. All in all, quite an interesting listen.
What'll happen with the regional handovers if Ben's off that day?
They've already recorded his face saying good morning to every regional presenter and just CGI it over his clothes for that day. You don't think he does that all every day do you! lol
If he's not in they can use any of the previous recordings. I understand he has also recorded a bit which goes "We've also got your local news, I'm Ben, and I'll be introducing it later" for playout in the TOTH too for those occasions so his appearance doesn't scare any rota gatherers.
I think the titles would look better without the year, both in voiceover and on screen. They could possibly include the year for the first week back from the Christmas break, for example, but not all the time. It's unneccessary.
Quick mock-up:
The bigger problem with the titles, IMO, is that they voiceover is emphasising 'ITV Studios' yet the ITV logo is covering the studies in the sweeping shot, and then just after the ITV logo disappears, the GMB one comes up.
Surely if they were going to CGI part of the open, it would have made more sense for the view of the tower to pan down, rather than up, and then cross zoom in, through one of the doors as the announcer says 'This is Good Morning Britain'.
No no no, Ben doesn't exist, he's a 3D animation they play in, like they used to do with Catz for Live and Kicking.
Seriously, are we honestly talking about what happens on days when he's off, there are literally only two options, they don't do it, or someone else does? Is either option remotely interesting?
After having watched for the last two days, I can safely say that this is a good show and ITV are getting it right, by no means perfect, but it's a damn sight better than Daybreak, and also a credible alternative to BBC Breakfast, which is a safe formula, but for me it bores me back to sleep. 800,000 for the first show is pretty good, the long term is where they've got to be looking at, granted I won't be surprised if it shed 100,000 viewers for Tuesday's show, but they can't take this as a flop, they've really got to keep at it.
To be fair to ITV they didn't mess around much with Daybreak 2.0, however it wasn't anything spectacular, it was trying too much to be like GMTV and it didn't work, although no fault to Aled and Lorraine, both are talented in their field, the content was dire.
Back to GMB, fair play to ITV for capitalizing on their brand, and utilising the ITV Studios in their title sequence, it has ITV all over it, which is about time, it doesn't feel like a seperate entity like GMTV was, it feels like their show, and one that seems brash and confident.
Somethings need tweaking like the competition and the regional news introductions, aside that, a bloody good start ITV, long may it continue.
