15-09-2021, 01:55 PM
Transmission post_id=39964 time= user_id=1522 Wrote:I do get what you mean, this sort of thing can always seem a bit self-indulgent, but there'll be a lot of viewers out there for whom Louise has been regular company in the mornings for many years and I'm sure lots of them will have appreciated the send-off.
I would agree with this, even when Breakfast Time/News was at its most serious and relentless they always marked the departures of the presenters in suitable fashion, and because of the time it's on, the Breakfast presenters do become part of the audience's lives in a way that other news presenters don't, and especially so after the last eighteen months. I'm sure today's programme was hugely appreciated by the vast majority of the audience, and I didn't find any of it "forced" at all. Besides, the news, regional news, sport and weather all got on in that last 45 minutes so it wasn't like it was riding roughshod over the running order.
There have been examples of people not wanting a send-off, or even a big send-off, when they leave, but it's like when Jimmy Hill left the Beeb in 1998 and said he didn't want them to make any reference to that on his last show because he wasn't retiring and intended to appear elsewhere (which he did, on Sky) and Des Lynam said he got loads of complaints that they hadn't done anything. David Coleman was another one.
I was talking about this to Richard Marson on Twitter a few months back, when I said that one thing I was always very impressed by was how adult Blue Peter was regarding the departure of Richard Bacon, in that they mentioned it on air (not just Lorraine Heggessey's message, but by the team themselves on the following show) and after that they continued to refer to him and show clips of him where relevant, like any presenter, and indeed every presenter has had a decent send-off, even in the case of people like Michael Sundin and Joel Defries where it was the programme's decision to drop them. Richard Marson said he thought that was very important, because even if there are issues and disagreements behind the scenes, the audience aren't aware of any of that, and that the arrival and departure of a presenter should be a big deal. Compare that to something like The Big Breakfast and SMTV where presenters abruptly disappeared and were never mentioned again, no matter how stupid it looked. I know people aren't suggesting Louise should have just finished her shift as normal and made no reference to it, but the presenters are the face of the show and the audience know and like them, and this is big news.
I'm just surprised nobody's mentioned all the exciting shots they did of the plaza and that they should do them every day or even move out into the plaza permanently.