"...keep some money in the bank because expenses could be heavy." "...we've got the chemistry and the people here in the studio." "...amid all the gloom and predictions in the press that nobody will watch it... I think that's a happy omen for us for the future." "...we've really got to live on our ratings... it's our lifeblood." "...[sales] are going exceedingly well... lots of advertisers." The ironic foreshadowing of TV-am's later woes in this broadcast is fascinating.

@ITVWeatherFans

5 жыл бұрын

Indeed, as is the part about Sir David talking about the ability "to update stories" from overnight. That failed big time when the Brighton Bombing occurred.

I'm currently reading 'Morning Glory' and they were still on the verge of bankruptcy in 1985. Two years after this disaster

“Brightness is the essence of GMB.” David “Ironic” Frost, bringing you high-brow TV stations since 1968.

I don’t know why this has come up in my recommendations now, but this was broadcast on my fourth birthday and now I understand why my Dad used to watch the test card in the morning. It was more interesting.

@annemariestones3984

Жыл бұрын

I was 4 a few days before on the 8th! My memories of TV am was when it brightened up a bit. I managed a few minutes of this dullness!

David Frost telling the "who reads the papers joke" which would be later used in "Yes Prime-Minister" five yeas later

Oh dear lord, that was a disaster. As a pitch to either advertisers or viewers, that has to be one of the most boring and repellent pieces of television I've ever seen. Being a tad too young to remember the earliest few years of TV-am, I've watched the various clips of its founding broadcasts questioning why it was so unpopular. I've just discovered the answer. A deathly gloomy pallor dominates both the set and the people working on it. Their efforts to wake up the nation failed at the point where they were challenged to wake up themselves. It has the warmth of an iglu. The personality of an oak tree. The pace of a recently deceased tortoise. The content of Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. I now fully understand how breakfast could possibly turn out more appetizing after becoming plagued by a rat.

@RebeccaGunn

7 жыл бұрын

the thing is other breakfast TV efforts would make the same mistakes time and again - I can almost understand TV-AM having to feel it's way a bit as one of the first efforts. But Channel 4's RI:SE and ITV's Daybreak would also mess up by having dull presenters when you really need people with at least some ability to be a bit peppy and light at 6am - not people who are grumpy or make you want to just go back to bed again : P

@97channel

7 жыл бұрын

David Frost already had form for starting up TV stations with highbrow aspirations which then had to head downmarket for survival. The one lesson which anybody should have learnt by now with breakfast TV is avoid starting up anything new. With few exceptions, it's usually a nightmare getting a breakfast show up and running.

@robertcomer2767

6 жыл бұрын

97channel Never understood after David Frost was so instrumental in being awarded the LWT contract from ATV and that station was such a disaster on start up that the IBA would even consider letting him another go. Funny how he wasn't awarded a contract in 1991

@jcampton1

5 жыл бұрын

But do you think that dealthy gloomy parlour got shifted to the BBC when Breakfast Time in 1986-89 had to be from Jeremy Paxman behind a desk before eventually merging into Breakfast News until the Millennium?

@97channel

5 жыл бұрын

@@jcampton1 KZread's reply notification system is broken. I only discovered your comment by accident. Well, better late than never... ...Oh, definitely. The BBC just handed the audience over to TV-am, when they reformatted Breakfast Time. I can appreciate the need for news in a breakfast show, especially one on the BBC. But they just went WAY too heavy with it. It's a shame that breakfast TV is now an option between news and news. With so many channels available today, a lighter option or two is ripe for exploiting. If any channel, even the lesser stations in the depths of Freeview, launched either a TV-am clone or a Big Breakfast style show, the audience would find it.

8:05 I wouldn’t take any advice from a Mr James Saville if I was you

It's going to be different in three ways. The programme will be unwatchable, no content and everyone will be switching off. You won't be advertising and we'll be on the brink of going bust.

I seem to remember seeing this. I assume it was broadcast either with the IBA trade programming or before morning startup.

1:00 :( No Post Office detector vans will be knocking at my door!

Michael Deakin "we've employed the best people and they're under 30". And this was the s*** we were subjected to.

Funny, Frost also quoted newspaper astrologers when previewing Frost On... before LWT came on the air on ATV London.

14:56 what happened to the regional news and traffic information which Frost promised? Apart from regional opts on General Elections, it never actually happened until 1993 with GMTV. Was there a last minute union issue?

@ecclefech

Жыл бұрын

TV-am wanted to reflect stories nationally in regional centres - it was working until Thatcher did her thing

Remember that promo very well

Nice upload! 0:37 Is there a reason why he referred to it as the "ITV 1 button" there? Or was it just so it fit with the February 1 info straight after?

@transdiffusion

9 жыл бұрын

Yes: the recent launch of Channel 4 (on your ITV2 button) had left people thinking the new TV-am will be on there - so there was thought to be a need to remind people that TV-am was on ITV/the ITV1 button/the 3 button, not on C4/ITV2 button/4 button, and certainly not on its own button (5? ITV3?) that you didn't have on your TV!

@ClydebridgeStation

2 жыл бұрын

@@transdiffusion Yeah, some Phillips TVs had six buttons, marked "BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, ITV2, BBC1" and either "ITV1" or "VCR"

@ecclefech

Жыл бұрын

Remember TV-am was a separate Franchise within the ITV system

I never even knew this existed. Great upload.

5:00 who reads what paper... classic this was three years before Yes Prime Minister! :)

If I was an advertiser, watching this drivel, I'd be reluctant to part with my cash for an advertising slot. I would've thought a proper corporate style video, introducing the company in a professional manner, what it was all about etc, would've been better. Instead, what TV-am offered was some self centred poke a bit of fun at themselves and the world promotion. I wonder who came up with this idea of "corporate" presentation to the business world.

Some nice jokes and witty remarks from David Frost, I wonder who wrote them?

@antster1983

2 жыл бұрын

Possibly Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. His bit at 4:39 was recycled in _Yes, Prime Minister,_ but delivered much better there by Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds.

Great promo to the original TV-AM

this a tvam test broadcast

It's actually quite funny and humourus

The horoscopes was true about TV - AM. 😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄

Did this go out live?

@transdiffusion

7 жыл бұрын

Yes, but with recorded inserts.

God almighty. This appalling promotion should have warned people what was to come.

Hello good evening and expenses!

God. This was stiff and boring here. The IBA must have seen this and lots of faces were palmed. 🙄

That was awful

@robertcomer2767

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly like those first two months of actual transmission

More cheesy than a block of Stilton.

I think about 50 people were watching this. It's so forced and crap

Considering how few commercials were featured in the first day of TV-AM's transmissions, this feels like a final desperate attempt to pull in more advertisers before the channel officially went on air. The first ever commercial break consisted of just one advertisement, so the interview with the sales guy talking about how many clients they had for the first week was a total lie. If I had been a potential advertiser watching this broadcast, I'd have been less than enthused. It's dry, bland, and lacks any kind of excitement. Plus, the set is beige on beige. I think they were going for a clean and modern look but it doesn't reflect well on television. Plus, the segment taking about the tone of newspapers is lame. TV-AM doesn't pick a side because due to the rule of broadcast media needing to be impartial. This was a disaster. However, Anna Ford was on it, so it wasn't all bad.

The description of the newspapers is more or less directly plagiarised from Yes Minister!

@flkclips

8 жыл бұрын

+flkclips But Robert Kee doing impressions of the different papers was original and quite well done!

@kevintennent1341

8 жыл бұрын

+flkclips Yes I couldn't believe Frost did that.

@DarkLight753

7 жыл бұрын

That reference was actually in 'Yes Prime Minister' which aired in the late 80's (long after this broadcast aired). And the description of The Sun readers in the TV show was "Sun readers don't care who runs the country as long as she's got big tits!"

@MrDannyDetail

7 жыл бұрын

I knew I recognised it from somewhere. But since this is nearly 4 whole years before Yes Prime Minister did it (on NYE 1987) it does make me wonder if they both lifted it from some other show, or just had the same writers for both this and Yes PM.

@antster1983

6 жыл бұрын

David Frost might have had Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn writing some little gags for him, and they chose to reuse that one in _Yes, Prime Minister._