BBC North West Tonight

Exactly. To my expense, it's shown me how this forum is and how it could be with more debates and fewer vacuous commentaries on the most banal of matters like those you mention so perfectly!

Haha, you're right there, Chris. I have to say I was impressed by Andrew this evening. I was always under the impression that he was more interested in the presenters/rotas than anything else, but he certainly held his own in our debate. I really did have to push myself to come up with some counter-arguments.

In truth, I think both Andrew and I are right in some ways. There is a chance it could go either way for Ranvir. If the new Daybreak is a success then I see no problem. If not, then she could go down with it and disappear for a while, or she could bounce back and move on to something else. I guess that will depend on how she performs in her new role. I really don't foresee a problem for her in that regard. She comes across as warm and down-to-earth so I think she's suitable for breakfast television. I guess my point is that it might not be as cut and dried as it first appears.

Right, I'd better get baking some humble pie just in case...

Ranvir gone..... Roger to go next, please!

I am not surprised - ok it's a promotion which I would not have expected - I would have thought more of a sideline move to another region.

For me I couldn't get used to Ranvir - her "banter" with Gordon often seemed a bit forced as though she had to say something, and this became more excrutiating when she was paired with Roger.

Now if we can just have Annabel full time and get Stuart to replace Roger, and get the "ugly sister" make-up off Heather and I will probably start watching it again!

I really like Roger! I think he's down to earth and get's the job done in a non-autocue reading way. He delivers the regional news as a magazine programme rather than a bulletin, as though he was in conversation with the viewer. It's like a cross between the One Show and the 6 news. I liked him when he was relief presenter on NC at the weekends occasionally.
Stuart Flinders is horrendous IMO. He seems totally incapable of doing anything but read a script and is very wooden and boring. He did a trial on the NC a couple of years ago which failed. He was pants at delivering breaking news that had no set script to read.

Well at least BBC Salford are pulling out all the stops for my arrival in Bolton tomorrow! Even Roger is going to be there

To be honest, I'm with you on this. Roger comes under a lot of unnecessary criticism. Ok... so he lacks the 'cheeky chappy' persona of of Tony Livesey and perhaps lacks the authority Gordon had with the viewers, but that will come with time. He does come across as being down to earth and reads in quite a natural flow - unlike Gordon who was always quite static and wooden (yes he's a legend, but lacked that ability to ad-lib). He was great on the live at Chester the other day.

I think they're going to have to look look elsewhere for a new female anchor. Annabel is great, Kate is OK, but then who are we left with? Naomi needs time to develop her presenting role, Nazia is too young to lead the main programme (I can imagine her moving on to Three's 60 Seconds as a natural progression?) and whenever Dianne covers (I assume the plan is for her to cover more often) she comes across as being quite dominant and aggressive when she's co-presenting. Going to be hard to fill Ranvir's shoes - she really grew into her role at NWT. The other overarching theme is - could you see any of this lot on Breakfast? It kind of goes hand in hand with the anchor role at NWT that an occasional cover shift on BBC Breakfast would be likely in the future? Would make sense to recruit someone with both national and regional experience.

I think this is ultimately where disputes over regional programmes occur. In my eyes regional news is just that - news. It should be delivered as a bulletin in the same style as the main national programme. That is why I favour single headed presentation and a desk. However, if you want a local magazine programme, more akin to the One Show then you are looking at a quite different format. Of course, those editing the regions would say they aim to do both. But often that doesn't work. I think it depends where your starting point is on this debate as to where you will sit on all other issues relating to regional news.

I can see Nazia moving to 60 Seconds as cover initially. They already use cover from the regions, Geeta Pendse from EMT and Amy Garcia from Look North Leeds have covered the bulletin during Claudia-Liza's maternity leave.

Who came from BBC Look East herself

Agreed.

All the Roger-bashing around here rather bemuses me.

Sure, I never thought he was particularly "anything special" on South Today, but he was likeable enough. Actually, far preferable to Sally Taylor IMHO, whom I find seems to project something of a "cold" aura.

I guess I can *sort-of* see where the perception of him that many Forumers have might be coming from... The best way I can think to describe it, is that the particular style of "screen persona" (hopefully you know what I'm trying to get at there!) that he's going for can feel a little stilted in the way it comes across, I suppose.

But I fail to see that he is the "total charisma vacuum" that many here seem to think he is. Have any of you people ever *seen*, say, Sangeeta Bhabra (Meridian Tonight) or Sameena Ali-Khan (Central Tonight), for example?

Roger Johnson is hardly *that* kind of a "wooden autocue zombie", now is he? Really?

It would of course be a boring world if we all had the same opinion, but I feel the sheer ferocity of the dislike that he attracts from many Forumers is something of a melodramatic overreaction, IMHO.

I think it's more to do with the fact that he's replaced Gordon than a reflection on his own skills. To be fair to Roger, I don't think it's all to do with his style. I think it has more to do with the fact that Gordon had been the face of NWT for over a decade and viewers liked him so much. Gordon was a tough act to follow.

For those of us old enough to remember, Stuart Hall was an even tougher act to follow

Things constantly evolve.