Good Morning Britain - 2015 Refresh/Tweaks

And there you have your newspaper story. That will be in the Daily Mail / Evening Standard at least tomorrow / later today then. Screen shot of gaggling Piers and demure Susanna and the headline: "Susanna tries to keep her cool as Piers collapses over foul-mouthed guest". Given how the press are in love with Susanna Reid and the interest in Piers on the itv sofa.

Edit: the swearing made the London Evening Standard, as predicted. Alas there was no picture spread but it got a small paragraph, given how newsworthy this is. No mention of Piers Morgan, just the calm and measured way that Ms Reid dealt with the incident.

Watched 30 mins this morning and Piers is such a turn-off. His ego is through the roof (we knew this anyway), Susanna clearly dislikes him, her face says it all when he makes comments like, "you'd make a good puppet", "you're flirting with me", etc. He does not have the ability to have a genuine conversation with Susanna and Ranvir, other than to make sexist remarks and talk about himself.

Hmm. Saw a decent portion of today's show. I found it... just really rather sub-par and strange. Bar Piers really grilling Ed Balls and trying to delve into whether negotiations are taking place regarding a coalition government, I found pretty much everything to be either really awkward or just shoddy. The interview with the elderly man who works in McDonalds seemed pretty pointless, for example, particularly bearing in mind his answers were fairly succinct and seemed only to be able to hear half of the questions in the first place. The show was all over the place time-keeping-wise - the 6:56/6:57ish weather didn't begin until 7:00am, for example, throwing everything off course into the 7:00am hour, and they said the 'Spiderman' interview was "coming up next" at about 7:20 and it didn't air for about another twenty minutes. I genuinely think that both Ranvir and Susanna really dislike Piers and even though the jokes/taunts were done 'in jest', I think it may have been mock jest and I found it really awkward - certainly the opposite of the family-esque chemistry the original foursome were said to have. The Frenchman saying 'f***' at least twice (to horror from Susanna and amusement to Piers) didn't help. I really can't understand (bearing in mind they have Susanna, Ranvir and Sean in all week), why they needed to bring Piers in at all. Sean's in the studio all morning to be on air for two minutes at 6:30 - surely he could have fulfilled the role of newsreader this week and had Ranvir and Susanna host? Having given it a fair watch today, I can definitely say I'll be glad when it's back to normal. I really can't see how four more shows like today will make people more likely to want to watch GMB, which is surely the intention behind all this. Certainly judging by the comments on Facebook and Twitter, this is all a reason to switch off, not on.

Here is this mornings 6am open:


Also, here is the moment the Frenchman Alain Robert drops the f-word to Piers Amusement (very unprofessional in my opinion):

Good Morning Britain has just won NewscastStudio International Set Design of the Year.

Wonderful news. It is a very good set that uses all potential studio space to good use. I myself preferred the set before the January changes, but it still works very well.

i preferred the set and music before the tweaking started. Buts a great set and dynamic IMO. And makes the program different from the " primary-colour-circular-sets-with-a-sofa" you see on the other channels.

Have to agree with others - the set as it appeared on day one of GMB was, in my opinion, it at its best. But it's a great set on the whole, and I'm glad they have won.

Glad they've won although I think it would look better with out that big orange mat. Also, I personally would like to see Laura doing her pre-sting piece near the plasma like last year rather than using the portrait screen. I think it seems odd and cluttered having two screens so close.

Says it all..

Well....that was different. When are you back @benshephard?

— Susanna Reid (@susannareid100) April 13, 2015

Sarcastic?

Loving every moment...😉 https://t.co/gyisbKQsal

— Susanna Reid (@susannareid100) April 14, 2015

The wink would suggest such, I'd say.
I found Piers less intolerable today... there was a bit less awkward flirting/sniping... Some people on Twitter even saying GMB should employ him full-time!
You know that little sharp exhalation you make through your nose when you see/hear something mildly comical, (though not comical enough to laugh out loud) - well, Piers actually made me do that (TWICE!) this morning.
It's getting headlines, and probably more viewers (albeit almost certainly only temporarily), so, in the long run, I think this escapade with Piers can only be a good thing.
Also, (as mentioned on today's show), Piers will be with Kate on Friday, rather than with Susanna all week as I had thought.