Watched Weekend Today on Sunday for the first time in a while, and while the presenters are good (except for Pete) and the consistency is better than last year, I can’t help but feel that the team is really incomplete and awkward with the three people. If the format was a bit different compared to weekdays then three presenters is fine but it just seems weird with only three presenters available for what’s supposed to be a four presenter formatted show.
If I was Mark Calvert, I would change the format of the weekend edition (which IMO, is inferior to the weekday edition) and dispense of the news/sport segments (have all three presenters do the news/sports/weather) and let it spread and fill out each hour (something like Good Morning America). Start off with the most serious news of the day (breaking/big news) and become lighter and fluffier in content as the hours go by. Finally, get a new friggin set please Today. Both Studio 22 and 23 look miserable for a morning program and need a massive refresh (Studio 21 would be great for Weekend Today).
Of course that’s my two cents but keen to hear what others think.
Seven obviously thinks things would disjointed if their newsreader didn’t come with them, Nine sees benefits in keeping them in studio, perhaps if big news breaks or for technical reasons.
As well as the chance of technical difficulties, live OBs can have distractions behind the news reader (like Sunrise’s protest situation). They can be loud, wave/pull faces when serious news is being discussed (it is why Sunrise don’t do their news in front of the Brekky Central windows).
There is also the time delay when the presenter crosses to a reporter.
Today have done this for a long time though. During the infamous drunk Logies’, Mark Ferguson read the news with Karl and Lisa at the casino.
Georgie has read the news on-location but it is more rare these days.
I don’t presume to speak for anyone else but I couldn’t care less what Sunrise does. If I did, I’d watch it (except I wouldn’t because I detest Koch even more than I dislike Stefanovic, and I can’t stand Armytage either).
What would be the point of these shows doing the same things? If they did, people would complain about one copying the other, just as they do when one does something different. It’s absurd, but there it is.
My original question was generally just that - why don’t they? I wasn’t implying they should do what Sunrise do, I just noted they are able to do it against others mentioning technical issues.
Although Today deserves to be criticised for this and I hope the ABC’s Media Watch program also has something to say about it next week, I do wonder if there’s anything in the ACMA Commercial TV Code of Practice about on-air usage use of the word/acronym “ANZAC”?
I think the protection of the ANZAC name and symbols legislation would have more power than anything ACMA could do. DVA may be writing a brief to the DPP, if they think Nine broke the law.
