Ratings were slipping. There was a presumption that the bulletin looked too national and didn’t reflect that it was ‘Melbourne’.
It was the quickest and cheapest option to bring back the Melbourne branding.
GTV did the same - ditching the east coast blue wrap set, which looked incredibly generic, in favour of a photoshopped chroma key skyline.
The newsroom worked well on national bulletins (4.30 and Mornings)
But didn’t really translate well for Melbourne’s local news. As previously said, ratings were terrible from 2002-2005. Hence why we saw a number of set and presenter changes.
Should also note, the Sydney set at the time (with the buildings background and blue wall with the small TV’s) was also used for the national morning and late news, as well as Sunrise and Sunday Sunrise (until they both received dedicated sets in mid-2003).
The only difference was that the background would turn dark for the Late News (and the 3-5 min late night updates that began airing in 2004 (?) after it was axed at the end of 2003).
Courtesy: WhatIFindOnVHS
Brisbane also had a replica set similar to Sydney’s at the time, though its buildings were structured differently, and was in use until early 2006.
Courtesy: Dan Martin
Adelaide too had the same sort of set which lasted from roughly 2003-2006 when the twisted metal set was introduced. However I can’t seem to find any evidence that they ever had the video wall to the right hand side of the screen like the other cities had.
Video courtesy of AM News Videos
Even Perth got the video wall part of that era of sets.
Video courtesy of AM News Videos
they didn’t, had the frosted panels on both sides. only ever showed the set front on.
I thought that was the case
Sneaky foreshadowing for what would come in 2014!
I found this small clip from @WAtvVideos, you can see a snippet of a wideshot that confirms SA_TV’s theory:
Still:
Theory? No no I was just explaining the history of that set.
Sorry, wrong choice of word
Interesting though that Adelaide chose to modify the look compared to what everyone else was doing
So Melbourne never had a variation of this set? Even the regional bulletins in Qld had this look.
The same ones they have now/recently??? lol
Doubt they are the same one’s since they moved studios, and even before the move they switched to the twisted metal set.
Funny how 7 QLD still have the Skelton remains of this set.
their original docklands set was a similar style wasn’t it? just with an open newsroom rather than a picture of the city?
I’d say so!! They’ve been lugging them around and using them in bits and pieces for years. Adelaide’s never really had a big clean out and fresh start, always bits getting recycled and reused.
Correct. Melbourne had the same desk and back area to the others. But it opened up onto the newsroom.
Found the episode of The Morning Show from September 2009 when Naomi Robson filled in for Kylie Gillies.
Courtesy: For the Love of Broadcast
She was also on the same season of Dancing With the Stars as tennis player-turned-commentator Todd Woodbridge, now at Nine.
Unfortunately, I cannot find any footage of Craig David hosting The Morning Show when he filled in for Larry Emdur in 2010.
She was a great asset for commercial television. Unfortunately, I don’t think Naomi was given the full support by the network in 2006. She was heavily scrutinized my the Sydney media at the time. Not sure if that was because she was seen as a Melbourne based talent.
She literally helped turn Today Tonight to number 1 (on the East Coast) against the dominate ACA.
Eddie Maguire said at the time he would pick her up in a heartbeat is she wasn’t under contract.
She was the presenter of the local Melbourne edition before receiving a national profile when it was merged with the Sydney edition at the end of 2001; Brisbane would later pick up that merged edition to create a combined East Coast bulletin from 2003, while Adelaide and Perth retained their respective local editions until 2019.
The Sydney edition of TT was once hosted by Melissa Doyle, who then moved to Sunrise; from what I know she had replaced Stan Grant who was controversially dismissed due to having a relationship with another Seven employee, Tracey Holmes.
Anna Coren did well to hold TT’s ratings when Naomi left, with the show moving to Martin Place in Sydney. However tbh I found it quite odd when then-Sydney sports presenter Matthew White was appointed to replace her in 2008; nonetheless TT was never the same after the Naomi Robson era.
Matt White was good… but numbers started to fall under him. Especially in Melbourne where production and Helen took over in 2013.
Also the case in Sydney after Ian Ross retired at the end of 2009, after which most of his audience slowly started migrating back to Nine News whose then-new anchor Peter Overton had rather controversially taken over from Mark Ferguson in January 2009.
I think Helen Kapalos was a good appointment for TT in 2013 when the show moved back to Melbourne (with Brisbane getting a local edition presented by Sharyn Ghidella), but it didn’t work out as they’d hoped.
