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I thought the cameraman could have wiped his lens occasionally. A lot of the shots of the guys round the table were out of focus. Add to that soggy race cards and wet tablets it was a bad start to day 1.
Having watched Racing UK free to air yesterday I think I’ll be signing up.As a team they don’t gel. No need for a weather girl when the Clerk of the Course is always available. Oh and Matt Chapman must stop glancing to camera at every opportunity.
The jury’s out for a while I hope it improves but apart from Alice and Oli Bell they fell at the first hurdle..Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Not an improvement on C4, but not worse either for me.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysOnly saw half of it as we had visitors, but enjoyed what I did see. Apart from the betting bloke who I didn’t like at all.
ITV got off to a really bad start by having the lacklustre team blurred and in soft focus because the opening shots were from cameras that had lots of rain drops on them.
Even Anneka Rice’s cameraman used to use a cloth to wipe the camera during the old Treasure Hunt programmes when it rained. Not doing so created an appalling impression when the three of them were in camera shot and all bleary.
A quick wipe with the cloth a second before they returned to Ed would have done the trick but no! Leave the bleary-eyed shots running.
An absolute waste of time having the grinning weather woman on, holding her hat. Even Mick Fitzgerald, the king of the inane, seemed embarrassed at the pointlessness of it.
And as for Matt Chapman, making a joke about a horse that was a non-runner and having some ridiculous banter about whether a bookmaker was bald underneath his hat was just cringemaking.
Inspired by McCririck but it just didn’t work.The graphics were clear and good. But if this programme is supposed to appeal to a new audience, especially young, easily bored viewers, it will have failed dismally.
In-jokes and weak banter about presenters many people will never have heard of and will care even less about will have cut no ice at all.
And anybody who was so transfixed that they want to hear the smug jokes next week will get a shock if they tune in to the ITV main channel next time. It won’t be there so they will have to know to search it out on the minority sister channel until the Cheltenham Festival.
Richard Hoiles was the saving grace from the presentation team and Oli Bell was superior to Chamberlin.
There has indeed been been observational comment from the likes of Oaksey and Francombe but it is a trend which seemed to have died a death. I have to admit I just personally don’t like or see the point of such interventions and for me it detracts but I also appreciate others do find it useful.
I think the podium will be there to sty as it seems to be part of the corporate ITV identity.
Hopefully when it moves to what some perceive to be the backwater of ITV4 it may try to be less popularist than when on the supposed “main” channel.
Also agree the graphics are an improvement.
It is the only the first day but I don’t particularly swallow the first day nerves line as they were supposed to have carried out a full run through at Cheltenham last month. Also they are supposed to be professionals so nerves shouldn’t play a part.
Maybe they were trying too hard time will tell, it can only get better.
I thought Ed Chamberlin was excellent. I’m not a Sky subscriber nor a football fan so it was the first time I’ve seen him. I think he has plenty charisma, along with humility and empathy and that he’ll end up a solid anchor. The basics of keeping presenters warm and dry somehow should have been provided: it’s January in Britain – excess foresight not required.
AP smiled much more than he normally does but always looks to me as though he’d rather be elsewhere. He has a keen wit, but perhaps a carryover from the changing room’s sharp edge with that will see him inflict a wound on himself which might prove terminal for his broadcasting career. He’ll need to think twice, especially as Luke has often been the butt of his ‘jokes’ in the past.
Luke might turn out to be the favourite with the uninitiated looking for an insider’s input. Matt was trying too hard and needs to balance stuff like “This means £4 wins you £6” with “and for those looking antepost” – no point explaining the basics of odds and not telling newbies what “antepost” means.
Fitzy’s become highly professional and confident imo, though he seems to polarise opinion.
The Jonjo feature was excellent and all in all I think they did well. The post-show “washup” will have been interesting and I think they’ll all come on a ton. Good luck to the whole team.
Alice plunkett and Victoria Pendleton are examples of token women there just to create a gender balance. Contributed nothing to the programme.
I quite liked the idea of McCoy and Harvey interrupting the commentary. Races can get boring listening to the same mundane voice just endlessly calling out the horses names, I think its a good innovation to have a bit of in running analysis.
I wasn’t as annoyed by Chapman as many others on here. I think its important to have outspoken people. And many give out to him about his approach but he asks difficult questions and on ATR he has managed to develop two excellent programs in ask the handicapper and on the line.
I watched the whole programme. I was actually very pleasantly surprised at the highish standard of coverage – from anchorman Chamberlain, through the good-humoured banter between the pundits to the clear graphics and results tables. Chapman’s larking about was a bit much but not quite as irritating as McCrirrick – I may warm to him.
It was a lot better than Channel 4’s coverage, for a start.
The camaraderie and badinage amongst the presenters (even Mr Miserable joined in sporadically) was quite engaging and there was none of the droning waffle provided by Cunningham and McGrath; those of us who want “expert” analysis will either provide our own or watch one of the specialist channels.
Chapman was, as others have said, trying a bit too hard but, like a skittish two year old racehorse, he will hopefully settle in time… or be gelded. Chamberlin was affable and made a few quick witticisms but seems like a genuinely likeable bloke, as opposed to his predecessors on Channel 4, and it’s a shame that the smug Bell and abysmal Persad will be presenting some of the programmes. Hoiles isn’t the most accurate of commentators but all of his colleagues have their flaws and he can come up with some amusing quips. Plunkett always reminds me of an overexcited Labrador puppy but knows her stuff and is by far and away the best female racing presenter… the vastly overrated Hislop included.
Quite what Pendleton can teach Fitzgerald about presenting a horse at a fence I’m not sure and Verasamy’s presence is utterly pointless but overall it wasn’t a bad first effort; I’d give ITV a large Timeform “P”, based on the assumption that they bin the pointless “x to jump” graphic in the top left hand corner (it takes up far too much screen space and the commentator gives us that information, anyway) and try to show all the horses before the race (cough *Agrapart* cough).
If they got rid of Bell, Persad, Pendleton and Verasamy and gave AP a dose of happy pills before each broadcast, all the better.
It was a lot better than Channel 4’s coverage, for a start.
The camaraderie and badinage amongst the presenters (Mr Miserable aside) was quite engaging and there was none of the droning waffle provided by Cunningham and McGrath; those of us who want “expert” analysis will either provide our own or watch one of the specialist channels.
Quite what Pendleton can teach Fitzgerald about presenting a horse at a fence I’m not sure and Verasamy’s presence is utterly pointless but overall it wasn’t a bad first effort; I’d give ITV a large Timeform “P”, based on the assumption that they bin the pointless “x to jump” graphic in the top left hand corner (it takes up far too much screen space and the commentator gives us that information, anyway) and try to show all the horses before the race (cough *Agrapart* cough).
That’s it in a nutshell regarding the analysis. I would happily take RUK without any contributions from the presenters. It seems many on here still don’t understand that ITV are trying to put out an entertaining package and thankfully not a carbon copy of RUK. That ship has long sailed. It was never going to happen.
I didn’t really have a problem with Pendleton and it is easy to see why they would want to use her enthusiasm as a relative newcomer to the sport. A combination with Plunkett would probably have worked better than Fitzy but in reality they were only on screen for a few minutes. I can see where you are coming from regarding Verasamy but again she will be a recognisable face to some and again it was only a couple of minutes to camera. Rather her than some stuffy Clerk Of The Course. It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise if she gets involved in some fashion stuff later in the year.
I didn’t really have a problem with Pendleton and it is easy to see why they would want to use her enthusiasm as a relative newcomer to the sport. A combination with Plunkett would probably have worked better than Fitzy but in reality they were only on screen for a few minutes. I can see where you are coming from regarding Verasamy but again she will be a recognisable face to some and again it was only a couple of minutes to camera. Rather her than some stuffy Clerk Of The Course. It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise if she gets involved in some fashion stuff later in the year.
I suppose I can soften my stance on Pendleton, at least- she is an instantly recognisable face due to her Olympic exploits and her forthcoming piece on training horses, as discussed with Plunkett today, will enable those who are less familiar with the sport to share her learning journey, as it were.
Verasamy is, I strongly suspect, only there as eye candy.
I thought it was pretty decent, on a really tough day to be outside doing a live broadcast.
As a die-hard I’ve accepted that the terrestrial coverage needs to be populist. If presentation and overall seriousness were indeed the reasons for the decline in C4 viewing figures then at least ITV have attempted to address that.
Chamberlain is good, already there imo. Keep on keeping on.
Thought the “beer stand” looked cheap.
Thought the archive footage was great.
Liked the graphics, but make the finishing line thinner.
Liked the Jonjo piece.
Liked how they explained things.
Thought the pre-race analysis was pretty skinny even by populist standards.
No post-race winners enclosure interviews. Joy, euphoria, and a connection with the connections. Why wouldn’t you put that on your broadcast?
Matt Chapman – I like the guy, but trying too hard today.
Pundits – An area they will have ongoing struggles in, imo.
Lucy Versamy – Total waste. Just ask the clerk. He/she has the weather and how it pertains to the going (which is the only reason we need the weather in the first place)Overall feel of the presentation – It seems they have a reasonably good idea of what they want to achieve in terms of a more charismatic approach to the thing, its a shame they weren’t a bit braver in recruitment to implement it.
Having watched that today I could see Tom Stanley and Gordon Brown fitting in well there.
What a pity it now disappears to the graveyard until mid March.
Anyway, good luck to them and well done, Ed in particular.
Some great points on this thread.
It was a tough day to get started out on. Middle tier racing and poor weather.
Apart from a few minor things (the insipid music they play when showing the trophy presentation), the mid-race analysis (leave the race to the commentator please) and the retro looking graphics (which I’m sure I’ll get used to) I thought it was OK.
Chamberlin is assured and will grow into it as time goes on I think. At the moment he looks and probably feels a bit of an outsider but once he settles in I’m sure his ‘racing’ confidence will grow.
I thought Matt C was trying a bit too hard but I like him and I am sure he’ll settle into it also. He shouldn’t try to be a new McCririck – the Matt Chapman we all know will be fine (let’s face it – he is and probably always will be marmite).
Luke Harvey did pretty well I thought.
I was at Musselburgh and saw Oli Bell at work, he’ll be fine I reckon, everyone in racing seems to like and engage with him and that like-ability comes across on screen.
The Jonjo feature was good.
Not sure we really missed the McGrath/Cunningham type of more in-depth analytical coverage. As Cav points out it needs to be populist and some of that paddock analysis was very dry and repetitive/boring at times.I said to myself after watching it just now ‘was it worse than Ch4?’ and I couldn’t in all honesty say it was. In fact I’m pretty sure if you compared it to a CH4 New Year’s day coverage with similar fare I think it’d come out well.
Early days.
Cannot be more disappointed with the ITV coverage.
Since when has Victoria Pendleton been a racing expert?
As for Matt Chapman, well maybe a clown outfit may be more in keeping with his role.
Terrible just Terrible
Having watched Racing UK free to air yesterday I think I’ll be signing up.
Yes, I think that could turn out to be a very shrewd move by Racing UK. There must be quite a few people who tuned into both this weekend and it really did highlight the difference in what you (can) get from a dedicated channel.
Having watched Racing UK free to air yesterday I think I’ll be signing up.
Yes, I think that could turn out to be a very shrewd move by Racing UK. There must be quite a few people who tuned into both this weekend and it really did highlight the difference in what you (can) get from a dedicated channel.
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This might sound strange but other than the live pictures of the actual races Racing UK is actually quite poor. Their analysts are all boring and over analyse everything to the point where they might as well just read time form notes for every horse. Their graphics are bland. And they don’t have any programmes on when there is no racing. I don’t think its acceptable to pay a high price for a channel who doesn’t even show racing stuff in the evening time after racing. At least with ATR we have different shows like Ask the handicapper, get in, on the line, Monday view, Sunday forum, Friday focus, the Irish angle etc. Until they offer more in that department I’ll continue to stream it online for free
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