NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC affiliates and TODAY

I believe it helps to achieve a proper camera angle. So the cameras arent pointed in a downward position and you wind up shooting the floor behind the presenters and not the super expensive video wall and that expensive set that was purchased.


Also as you can see NBC News has already changed the desk and chairs from this mess they used the first few days. Just as I figured they would. Those probably were in storage somewhere, so they had to find something a bit more appropriate. Also the seating postion has changed as well. Expect to continue see more and more changes. They are no where near finished tinkering.

That's wrong. The sculpture is still there. The slide door just covers the orange room. That's the only change. Trust me, I've seen it 360

Exactly its over to the left closer the windows. Why didn you take some pictures to share.?!

newscaststudio wrote about its addtion here, its been there since Oct
https://www.newscaststudio.com/2018/10/24/today-show-new-wall/

I did. I'll upload some later. A little known fact is that the bit behind the sculpture is an entrance where the presenters walk in/upstairs and downstairs

I don't know, the studio just feels very generic and boring these days, after the addition of the huge newswall. Before it always had that cosy apartment feel with many different parts to it, now it's just the desk window area and the newswall on the other side.

As for the ever-changing line up of anchors, the show is at a low point ever since Matt Lauer was fired. With all the scandals and big name departures, everyone who's left there is there accidentally and it shows. No matter what he did, Matt was the star of it and had great banter with Savannah. He brought history and continuity to the show. Hodda is great for the fun 3. and 4. hour, but mostly out of place in the first 2. Savannah seems to be going through the motions recently, Craig Melvin has a terrible voice for tv, Al is just trolling lately, weekend girl Shannele is nice but has no personality. Not sure what Carson Daly does there anymore.... Bush daughter is annoying and brings nothing to the table. One of the remaining bright spots is Kathie Lee who should get more airtime imo.

Losing Tamron Hall was one of the biggest mistakes. She was great in her hour, could jugle both serious and fun stuff, had personality. She could have carried the 3. hour on her own, especially in a talk show Megyn Kelly Live set up.

As for Kelly, love her or hate her, she brought a different view to this one/sided program and it was great tv when she confronted NBC liberal talking heads with a different point of view, like during the Brad Cavanagh coverage. Even though she was not a good fit for morning TV, the way they dumped her and the way Al and Melvin threw her under the bus was disgusting. But that seems to be a normal thing on Today. Quite a family...

NBC News seems to be going for every demo from their millennial style Stay Tuned InstaSnap, to NBC News Signal YouTube broadcasts that seem like dressed down version of Nightly News. Now they’re doing two minute “news” broadcast for kids. It’s called NBC News for Universal Kids. It’s not really newsy per se but Thursday’s Edition covered citizenship and what makes a good one.

It's horrible to say people have no personality. Do you know them? No. Just as I thought. Everyone at TODAY are the nicest on earth, and quite frankly do a better job at giving us the news than you could ever do. Mic drop.

Being nice and having personality (on screen) are not necessarily the same thing.

Nobody can deny it has been a tough 12 months for Today and the nature of both departures have meant they have had to fill roles from within and if it isn't working ratings wise it might be best to plan a revamp and get the show on air as you want it to be long term rather than stick with the show circumstances have created now.

The personality of Shinelle off screen and on screen is the same. And it's brilliant. Sure, it takes some getting to know her style, but she's amazing

I can understand that argument if you have remote Radamec/Shotoku style panning heads and elevator systems (when rostra are often used to raise sets to counteract the extra height that the remote heads and elevators introduce) but modern, manually operated, studio peds go low enough to shoot decent eyelines at sofa height. (Of course camera operators may grumble at this - but designing a set based on operator grumbles may not be always a good idea)


Raising your hosts will probably give you scope for a wider wide shot I guess - but that style of high-table, high-chair presentation always strikes me as a bit odd.

Most US local sets are now robotic in some form either using Vincent Radamec (I think they dropped the Radamec name as it redirects to the Vinten site) or Ross Cambots and can get pretty low. Some are just using the whole robotics solution or the PTZ/height drive combo or a bolt on solution to a ancient Vinten pedestal. Almost all NBC Network side shows use manual cameras or robotics in manual mode (Nightly News seems to be an exception with a sole robotic camera in a tight space for desk shots/ the Meet The Press studios filled with CamBots that were installed for MTP Daily but are used in manual mode for the main Meet The Press). At ABC Good Morning America and The View are manual with World News Now, ATM and World News Tonight all appearing to be robotic. CBS uses robotic cameras in manual mode.

As for the heights I think the desks and all started to get higher to show off more of the set as they moved to HD. As I understand it with 16:9 vs 4:3 set design one big aspect is height change. So I assume they want to show off more of the set.

Also it appears the downstairs portion of Studio 1A is out of commission, I assume getting ready for the election. Saturday Today came from the upstairs studio. MSNBC’s studio 3A appears to be getting changes as well after Morning Joe yesterday it was not in use at all with shows coming from 4E, insert studios and the fourth floor newsroom (outside the glass studio). I’m assuming there’s election work going on in 3A and installing a LED wall on the one remaining portion that remained from the original build.

It's not like high chairs haven't been seen in the UK.