Whilst I agree to some extent, you could kind of tell that things weren’t going to work from the start when Jessica Rowe was there (I don’t know maybe that was just me). But obviously a lot has changed since then, but we’ll see how this new team goes.
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But it hasn’t just been one month of the Today team not “gelling” - it has been more than 18 months! In such a competitive slot, I don’t know if that is sustainable.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Today (I have watched it nearly every day for 10 years) and I love the new team (they got rid of EVERY member I didn’t like). And no one expected them to be no.1 from day 1. But this new team needed to hit the ground running. Frankly, I don’t think the new team would be rating any better than the Sylvia, Karl and Georgie one (possibly even worse).
Ten’s Breakfast and Wake Up were given less than a year to work and they didn’t have the loyalty or branding that Today has. Like Wake Up, senior executives have pubically outed the show- saying Karl, Calvert and Today needed to pick up their game. Now it is only left to the show.
I see what you mean, but on the other hand, I think it would be unfair to not give the current team some chance at succeeding. Today would only have egg on it’s face if it were to make changes so soon after introducing it’s new-look team. It would be a disaster. Not only would the tabloids feed off of it, but such a move would do nothing to establish viewer confidence. The Today show would only be digging itself into a much bigger hole. It needs stability.
I’m not sure if any group of presenters would have been capable of hitting the ground running from day one, to be honest. It was always going to be unrealistic. The changes that have been made over the past few months have been significant to say the least and viewers are always going to find fault with something. You’re not going to please everyone, unfortunately.
Also, there are still some faults with the show that haven’t been addressed since the relaunch. The content is a huge factor in this. If Nine went to the effort of actually improving the content on the show, I think there’s a good chance that ratings will improve over the next few months. That’s just my opinion anyway. 
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I wonder if things might look different now if Deb had replaced Lisa last year. It’s easy to point the finger at Karl but Georgie has played a significant role in the shows decline as well.
Or a Karl, Georgie, Deb trio in 2018 could have been interesting. Georgie and Deb are both great but it’s proving to be a very flat pairing as I suspected it would be.
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That will never happen. Producing 5 local Today shows around Australia is not sustainable for the network. It’s far to expensive.
They could possibly isolate the Melbourne market from the network and produce a local version, but even that would be difficult and expensive. Adam Boland thought about doing this with Sunrise around 2007.
It all comes down to the numbers and profits.
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The best way to go locally is to have a North (NSW/QLD/NT/ACT) and South (everyone else) edition.
But I wouldn’t change the team now because it’s a good team and needs stability. Georgie and Deb are both likeable hosts, Brooke is fantastic and Tom is fine. They need to have a consistent sports presenter though (I’d put Rebecca Maddern or Julie Snook in the role).
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If Today can’t ever be localised, then what do you think Nine should do with their struggling breakfast program? Attempt to poach Michael Pell and/or presenters from Sunrise (even if only the Weekend version, where Lisa Wilkinson was pre-Today)?
Even though I could imagine this being a dream of some gossip columnists, what I think Nine absolutely would not do unless the survival of the network depended on it, is exit the breakfast TV market entirely.
Right here and now, I think Nine should stick with the current team. The idea of making changes before the 2019 ratings year begins is far from a good idea.
However, the main issues right now are whether a national audience will warm to this mostly Sydney-centric team of presenters (compared to Sunrise’s which seems to work better nationally due to having different members of the team most states can truly connect with) and if Nine is actually willing to wait for the audience for Today’s current team to grow on viewers in 2019.
We all saw how quick they were to get rid of Calvert, the Stefanovics, Tim & Sylvia at the end of last year so I wouldn’t put it past them to do something similar again if GG, Deb, Tom & Brooke all fail to click with viewers!
Erin Molan? I could imagine her wanting a bit more to present at the network this year since The NRL Footy Show (thankfully - due to the low quality content of that program, not Erin’s presenting) will not be returning to our screens this year.
All currently Sydney based …perfect to make Today even more Sydney centric.
Every state would have talented sports reporters who are deserving of being seen by a national audience.
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They’ve been in this position before. 2003-2007. They just need to rebuild and produce a better national based product within the network. It might take a few years and numerous presenters and producers to gain back viewers, but something will eventually click.
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They could and probably attempted to, but when they poached Lisa it didn’t really swing in their favour. I can’t see Michael Pell and in fact the whole team moving to Nine on a breakfast TV platform in the near future. In fact the last thing TODAY needs right now is another presenter shakeup.
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Nine have put all the pressure on the presenters to perform, leaving the content largely unchanged. Sure, keep the basic elements that their loyal viewers are looking for, but add element/s to stand out.
What that content is, is up to the producers but it needs to say to the audience that things are new and exciting and this is the breakfast show to watch.
Just a random thought could be a competition to find Australia’s favourite breakfast; it’s probably been done before but something like that is a way to get viewers involved and perhaps a few breakfast places might turn their TV’s to Today 
Nominate a cafe or perhaps your parent or partner; live crosses across the weeks, weather from various cafes. The idea would be content that has water cooler potential. And the prize is live broadcast/s from the winners - perhaps one per metro and regional area.
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You need to get past this whole “she has a child” thing when talking about female presenters. Lisa, Georgie, Deb, Mel, Nat, Monique, and I’m sure many others, have all worked that shift with young children (including newborn babies in some cases).
Plenty of men have young children as well yet you wouldn’t give a second though to them working a breakfast shift.
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Congratulations to Natalia and husband Carl on the birth of son, Ezra on Monday night.
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Of course.
The point I’m making is that she might have made the choice to not do it (even though we’re only guessing, what happened could be anyone’s guess), unlike Monique, Georgie, Deb, Mel, Nat etc.
Erin would’ve been a good choice though.
Content changes are coming as existing inexperienced producers are gradually replaced with more senior staff.
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Huge thumbs down to everyone who keeps suggesting Today and Nine to be a carbon copy of Sunrise. Did everyone forget that it took Sunrise several years before they found their footing? Yes content changes are in dire need at Today, but those will come and with time viewers will come too if the product is good.
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I think this is a common misconception.
Markets in Canada as small as 1 million people support 2 sometimes 3 local morning shows running 2-3 hours. And that’s in a far more competitive market than Australia where cable penetration is much higher and fragmentation of the market much higher
Now something like 5 full blown Today shows with all the resources and production behind it - no - but something more along the lines of local news like Today Perth or even the 4pm news is entirely so-able and affordable.
Today and Nine needs a real point of difference
Something like local news shows (today Perth style) from 530-7, then the national today show at 7
530 “Today in Sydney”, “Today in Melbourne”, “Today in the SouthEast”, “Today in Perth”, “Today in Adelaide”
7am “Today” (national show with local inserts)
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And a fill in will probably present the “rest of the days news” from the studio. AND Tony will be in Melbourne.
They have no idea.
Only one week together and they’ve separated them…
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