JW
As you're all already bored of hearing, I've lived outside the UK for the last twenty odd years. I used to go back regularly for family visits and business trips. For one reason or the other, I haven't been back for eight years. All my experiences of UK television news during that period have been courtesy of Youtube, TV Forum or satellite simulcasts.
However, I was pleasantly surprised during a recent visit and thought I'd log some of my comments here collectively, as opposed to burying them in the individual threads. In no particular order and completely at random:
- Catriona Shearer the Breakfast lady on BBC Scotland News must be the jolliest lady ever to appear on tv. She has that big hello and goodbye almost like the Balamory program. I loved it. Very Scottish,
- John MacKay and the STV news at six was good. First time I saw a full edition. Sean Batty has an almost indecipherable Hollywood accent, though. Anyone else noticed?
- sky News in general was rather good. Covered stories in-depth and in an interesting manner. Had correspondents, reporters and cameras everywhere where something was happening. Editorially, rather good I thought. Jeremy Thompson was out on location and that somehow added to the anchorman scenario
- BBC Breakfast: had Bill and Susanna on the first day, and then Charlie and someone for every other day. Actually found it very watchable. The new set is actually rather nice, even Marti Pellow said so, and the program flows quite nicely. Contrary to what some have noted, I really liked Sally Sports and Steph Biz. They both ride well with the format. Susanna too was rather better than I anticipated and clearly my short snippets of her on Youtube didn't do her justice,
- Dare I say it, but the biggest let down was Bill Turnbull. For what could have been a million reasons, he was very flat and rather naff on the day I saw him, to be very honest. Almost as though he didn't want to be there at all. Bill fans will now start shouting at me.
- BBC News Channel: my Dad watches this all the time, so it was on in the background most of the time, when there was nothing else to watch. Good to see Juliette on Business. Good to see Carrie and Simon together. The Five Oclock Hour was quite good. Clive Myrie suited that one well. Otherwise, I found Willcox in the mornings. Willcox in the afternoons. Willcox in the evening. And Willcox at the weekend!! Geez. Was he following me?
- One, Six and Ten: nothing to say really, apart from George had no auto cue on one day. Otherwise, all the same. They appear to stand up for one story on both the Six and Ten somewhere midway through the bulletin? Not sure why.
- Channel 4 News: thoroughly good. Great in depth digest of the big stories. Wish we could see it in the Gulf. Still not a fan of the low desk, but love the content of the program. Good presenters. Krishnan: your beer belly is mow bigger than mine. LOL.
- Question Time: caught it on a dull day. Not too sensational. The return of the O and A Levels dominated the program. I wonder who will take over from Dimbleby???
- The true revelation of the trip: ITN News on ITV. I seriously dislike that virtual reality background, but loved every other aspect of the brand. From the voiced name check at the beginning, to the accuracy and professionalism of the correspondents, to the extreme professionalism and experience of the newsreaders. I found all of them to be very good indeed ( those I saw were Messrs Stewart, Austin, Kaplinsky and Etchingham). Despite the vile backdrop, they all possessed some of the old magical ITN manner, if that makes sense. The bulletins, whilst quite pacey, also didn't have too many of those awful two head shots. Astons a bit clunky for my liking too, but otherwise, ITN was joy to watch. May just have been my luck, but didn't experience some of the tabloid sensationalism that some of you have mentioned on ITV News before.
- For the first time was able to watch Mark Austin properly. I can now see in him some of the credentials that made Burnet and Gall big names in their day. The way Mark interviews. His superb pronunciation and eloquence. (I was perpetually amazed at his pronunciation of the word "goal" during the Euro2012 reads). His manner of delivery which oozes poshness and professionalism. Great on location too. Sadly, Mary wasn't on whilst I was there so didn't get to see and comment. I found the ITN content to be extremely good in consideration of the tight timeframes available.
- Reporting Scotland: see the comment I made about Sally Magnusson on the other thread. It was the only significant thing I could comment on about the entire program. Didn't really like RS this time. Not quite sure why though,
- BBC London News: saw a few bulletins inbound and outbound from the UK: why do they need a separate lady in the mornings to deliver twenty seconds of traffic news? A waste of money, surely? All other bulletins I saw were coincidentally presented by Asad Ahmad. He looks different, somehow. Nothing else to say rather.
Let's see how it all looks in another 8 years........the above is intended as a wee bit of a change from the usual perspective. Apologies if i've broken any rules by posting in this manner. Och aye.
However, I was pleasantly surprised during a recent visit and thought I'd log some of my comments here collectively, as opposed to burying them in the individual threads. In no particular order and completely at random:
- Catriona Shearer the Breakfast lady on BBC Scotland News must be the jolliest lady ever to appear on tv. She has that big hello and goodbye almost like the Balamory program. I loved it. Very Scottish,
- John MacKay and the STV news at six was good. First time I saw a full edition. Sean Batty has an almost indecipherable Hollywood accent, though. Anyone else noticed?
- sky News in general was rather good. Covered stories in-depth and in an interesting manner. Had correspondents, reporters and cameras everywhere where something was happening. Editorially, rather good I thought. Jeremy Thompson was out on location and that somehow added to the anchorman scenario
- BBC Breakfast: had Bill and Susanna on the first day, and then Charlie and someone for every other day. Actually found it very watchable. The new set is actually rather nice, even Marti Pellow said so, and the program flows quite nicely. Contrary to what some have noted, I really liked Sally Sports and Steph Biz. They both ride well with the format. Susanna too was rather better than I anticipated and clearly my short snippets of her on Youtube didn't do her justice,
- Dare I say it, but the biggest let down was Bill Turnbull. For what could have been a million reasons, he was very flat and rather naff on the day I saw him, to be very honest. Almost as though he didn't want to be there at all. Bill fans will now start shouting at me.
- BBC News Channel: my Dad watches this all the time, so it was on in the background most of the time, when there was nothing else to watch. Good to see Juliette on Business. Good to see Carrie and Simon together. The Five Oclock Hour was quite good. Clive Myrie suited that one well. Otherwise, I found Willcox in the mornings. Willcox in the afternoons. Willcox in the evening. And Willcox at the weekend!! Geez. Was he following me?
- One, Six and Ten: nothing to say really, apart from George had no auto cue on one day. Otherwise, all the same. They appear to stand up for one story on both the Six and Ten somewhere midway through the bulletin? Not sure why.
- Channel 4 News: thoroughly good. Great in depth digest of the big stories. Wish we could see it in the Gulf. Still not a fan of the low desk, but love the content of the program. Good presenters. Krishnan: your beer belly is mow bigger than mine. LOL.
- Question Time: caught it on a dull day. Not too sensational. The return of the O and A Levels dominated the program. I wonder who will take over from Dimbleby???
- The true revelation of the trip: ITN News on ITV. I seriously dislike that virtual reality background, but loved every other aspect of the brand. From the voiced name check at the beginning, to the accuracy and professionalism of the correspondents, to the extreme professionalism and experience of the newsreaders. I found all of them to be very good indeed ( those I saw were Messrs Stewart, Austin, Kaplinsky and Etchingham). Despite the vile backdrop, they all possessed some of the old magical ITN manner, if that makes sense. The bulletins, whilst quite pacey, also didn't have too many of those awful two head shots. Astons a bit clunky for my liking too, but otherwise, ITN was joy to watch. May just have been my luck, but didn't experience some of the tabloid sensationalism that some of you have mentioned on ITV News before.
- For the first time was able to watch Mark Austin properly. I can now see in him some of the credentials that made Burnet and Gall big names in their day. The way Mark interviews. His superb pronunciation and eloquence. (I was perpetually amazed at his pronunciation of the word "goal" during the Euro2012 reads). His manner of delivery which oozes poshness and professionalism. Great on location too. Sadly, Mary wasn't on whilst I was there so didn't get to see and comment. I found the ITN content to be extremely good in consideration of the tight timeframes available.
- Reporting Scotland: see the comment I made about Sally Magnusson on the other thread. It was the only significant thing I could comment on about the entire program. Didn't really like RS this time. Not quite sure why though,
- BBC London News: saw a few bulletins inbound and outbound from the UK: why do they need a separate lady in the mornings to deliver twenty seconds of traffic news? A waste of money, surely? All other bulletins I saw were coincidentally presented by Asad Ahmad. He looks different, somehow. Nothing else to say rather.
Let's see how it all looks in another 8 years........the above is intended as a wee bit of a change from the usual perspective. Apologies if i've broken any rules by posting in this manner. Och aye.