Daybreak

Not just that sofa area, there'll be 5 presentation areas in the studio.

The pictures released so far don't really give very much away. Perhaps I should say that I hope there is a lot more to see come next Monday: the rest of the set and all of it properly lit.

At the moment we've just seen a couple of designer sofas and a table in front of a floor-to-ceiling window. It's the sort of display you can see by wandering round any branch of DFS.

If it doesn't appear any better on screen, or their isn't anything more impressive to see, then I will wonder what all the fuss was about.

If they're relying on the view out of the window to keep the attention of people while they're getting ready for work, then they've missed the whole concept of using in-vision presenters.

As Standby mentioned, the balcony in that pic and YouTube clip isn't connected to the new Daybreak studio, it's on the other side of the building. I haven't seen it used on air for a long while so it might not even be available for use any more

Surely it just makes for a nice backdrop, not much happens out there to distract the viewers

Not overly exciting but Steve Hargrave suggesting on Twitter their are lots of screens on the new set. Perhaps touchscreens?



http://twitter.com/SteveHargrave

Whether it's 'nice' or not is a matter of taste, surely?

However, a backdrop can be provided by means other than an actual window. The studio seems to be no less minimalist than BBC Breakfast, so far.

Yes, we get it. You don't like views, especially if of the capital city and you don't like windows. You don't think that TV should be visually stimulating in any way. You think that Daybreak would be better surrounded by barco screens, or a non-descript picture that should not resemble any actual real place, a la GMTV.

The sofa presentation area is only one of five. There's an embargo on the press shots until midnight tonight - we should see lots more of the studio tomorrow.

To be fair it's fairly obvious that the GMTV is London.

http://www.tv-live.org.uk/wb/media/gmtv/august2009/0054.jpg
Picture from TV Live.

Yes, you can have all sorts of things in the background of a TV programme - screens, wallpaper, hessian, windows... whatever you want. And whatever you have some people will think it's nice and others won't - that's human nature.

But in no case does a programme have a background that's designed to keep the viewers attention. I'm sure even the makers of The Word didn't intend that with theirs.

The only time that view ever drew the attention away from the presenters was when there was something going on in the background - I remember one episode of London Tonight where there was a building fire on the other side of the river for example

I don't think I said that, no!

The Inspector says the background shouldn't be distracting, you're saying it should be stimulating. They are opposing views, so obviously many exist on the subject.

I simply meant the backgroud shouldn't be the focal point. From a personal perspective, I don't like 'real vistas' on TV. As someone who has been interested in TV set design most of my life, I just think it's a lazy way around the issue.

I'm sure it's technically challenging to achieve, as Gav and noggin have explaiend, and I respect that: but it doesn't mean I like the result.

I don't necessarily like the 'shoebox' Barco screen approach either, unless something else is added (à la 'Andrew Marr Show'). I'm not a particular fan of BBC Breakfast's current set layout, but at least someone had to design the background and put in some thought as to how it would work/look on screen.

Any pictures yet?