20 posts tagged “good morning”
New Zealand is a year behind on Life on Mars, and I note from a TV One ad just now that Derren Brown’s Séance will air next week. I know we are necessarily behind the UK on British programmes, but I don’t remember us being this far behind since the 1970s. A three-year-old show? What is happening? Now with Cold Case, Without a Trace and other American shows on One, is this the end of the British influence on our networks?
And people wonder why TVNZ as a whole is doing so poorly. It’s simply not delivering what people want. I can say that with some more authority, having been an insider.
Incidentally, having left Good Morning, my theory has been proven right: my profile is up. The results are in: May saw eight press mentions across the company—up on 2006, but down on some months in 2003–5 where we were seeing something written about us at least daily. (The idea that appearing on TV regularly enhances your profile is, I can now say, bollocks.) It is reaching the levels (measured in column inches and mentions) it was at before I began on the show; indeed, we seem to be returning, as a company, to pre-2004 levels, before we made some bad hiring decisions. I do seem to have rid myself of the negative influences in my life—and Good Morning, and whatever sickness TVNZ has, were the last.
I love being proved right—it was a good lesson, reminding myself to stick to my guns, remembering that sort of magic that helped us get an international clientèle to begin with, and exposing me to seeing a bad organization that wasn’t paying me to fix it. It’s not every day I have that opportunity: while I have seen ill organizations, I am usually called in after they have realized they need help. TVNZ has not got there yet and, in recent memory, is the only first-hand example I have of an organization I got to see over a period that wants to stay in its funk. It had more often been a management-textbook theory.
As to my personal profile, I believe the slip in press mentions was due to an energy mismatch here at work in 2005–6 and the fact that appearing on Good Morning took me away from building my media appearances doing the things that mattered to me as a CEO. From a personal-brand standpoint, it was not authentic, to coin a phrase from Johnnie Moore. Not that that was the intent: I had been promised by the network that I could promote Lucire, most of all, through the show. That promise, as those of you who listened to my voice post last month, was not kept.
Furthermore, I cannot see, with hindsight, how the ‘You’ve Got Male’ segment was a dignified forum for a company leader. I say this with respect to men like Paul Sinclair, with whom I regularly stay in contact.
When I think of interviews I have had with CNN or the BBC, the show went against the image I had built up as a businessman.
As each week passes, I feel more comfortable with my decision to leave Good Morning, and the positive consequences are coming up more frequently.
My main regrets are endorsing the show to friends, getting caught up in it. I should have recommended that Laural and Sharaine Barrett not appear, though it was a good excuse to catch up in Wellington. Jennifer Hamilton of Avidiva reports no increase in profile, bookings or ‘Oh, I saw you on …’ since appearing on Good Morning.
You may see me on C4 in mid-July (to be confirmed), and there may be some news that could net some television attention in late June–early July. The key is to not get sucked in to negative organizations or be around negative people as part of my routine—and if I have to appear on a TVNZ network, then it must be totally in line with my real job and personal mission.
No more Good Morning for yours truly. As some of you know from the private posts here at Vox, I felt that things haven’t been right with the show for some time. I probably stayed a lot longer than I wished, primarily because I had a pretty good rapport with my co-presenters.
Those of you who’ll choose to listen to my little voice post at left will get filled in on the nitty-gritty—which has not been denied or disputed by TVNZ. And I do have a photographic memory that is better than most people’s.
At the beginning, I agreed to go on the show to promote my work, and my right to do this was taken away gradually. The interesting thing is that Good Morning never managed to contribute to my profile: I had a lot more press coverage before I was on the show. Now free of Good Morning, I have noticed things such as invitations to speak and other public appearances have increased domestically.
Good Morning, with hindsight, never fulfilled my motivations—and actually caused the opposite. The invasions into my privacy—the subject of written complaints and telephone conversations by me—were, at the end of the day, inappropriate and dealt with unfairly.
I stressed to the producer, Sally-anne Kerr, in my request to have my contract terminated, that I did not hold her personally accountable. I believe she had had her hands tied by those further up the food chain.
However, there is no hard and fast rule that says that if you appear on TV, you open yourself up to public inquiry. As I said at the beginning of this month, I am no Judy Bailey (even if some people took that the wrong way). I’m just a regular bloke who did between eight and seventeen minutes of live TV a week, on a show that even I did not watch, except in review situations.
I thank those who read the private posts for their support and their vows to never watch Good Morning again!
You will likely see me or one of the team on C4 in New Zealand next month anyway, while Lucire’s US editor Summer Rayne Oakes continues her media exposure. Stefan Engeseth recently was on TV in Göteborg. So we are continuing to be out there, doing things that are far more relevant to the work that we are trying to do at Jack Yan & Associates. Good Morning, sadly, was very incompatible with that: it came to symbolize the trivial in my life, and even the annoying.
Perhaps unlike Judy Bailey and other people who are actually known by the general public, I don’t want the gig back—so please don’t take my posting as anything but fuelled by my usual desire to share with readers. Except it is regulated by me—not through prodding. Most of you came to my blogs through my real work, not through TV, but I did feel I owed some explanation to those who did come via the show.
And for those who came via my work, I have always advocated transparency in organizations.
I have been told my services are not required on Good Morning this week and that Craig Revel Horwood will take my place.
Ironical, since last week’s episode netted me more fan mail than usual.
Or is that the problem?
The promos have introduced the male panel tomorrow as though it were business as usual.
So, is the image of a Chinese guy with an opinion too much for New Zealand TV to handle?
Dudes, I don’t do the ching-chong man accent.
Say, how did they get rid of Judy Bailey again?
Here is a photo of me and the very generous singer John Rowles—lookin’ good. As mentioned earlier, John was under the weather, but still performed his hits on Good Morning as though it was 1967. He had to do three songs during the show and probably would have hung out with us more otherwise, if I only had time.
This has been a great day for celebrities. I started it in loco parentis for Laural and Sharaine Barrett (Miss Universe New Zealand 2007 and her twin sister, who was runner-up in 2006), escorting them safely from airport to TV studio and back (nice that the regular crew had a bit of fun with me on a day I wasn’t scheduled to appear), and finished it watching Topol in Fiddler on the Roof at the St James Theatre. My friend and colleague Caleigh Cheung, who stars in the upcoming TV2 series Ride with the Devil, sent me a digital photo of the two of us, taken by her friend Alastair Kwun. Sadly, Cal cannot comment on her new series but I think she is on the verge of something big. And I am usually right about these things.
Meanwhile, Lucire’s online edition is running a story on Eva La Rue of CSI: Miami (from an earlier print story), just as news of her romance with star David Caruso is becoming better known.
It has been a very interesting and varied day, but I got too little work done.
I can’t tell you how far along the segment this happened, but I did say on Good Morning today that it was 2040 and that I am in a coma, thinking that it’s 2007. The reference seemed to go over everyone’s heads.
Funny: they will all watch bloody Dancing with the Stars at Tuesday 8.30 p.m. but not Life on Mars, which had the same timeslot for the seven weeks prior.
Since I need to watch at least one time-travelling cop each Tuesday, the excellent American series Day Break has just started here, on TV2. Pity the Yanks only made 13 and showed seven. (We may show all 13.) And they laugh at the Brits for having short TV series: at least Life on Mars lasted 16 and had a finalé.
Even though I might champion my friend Megan, I have to say, to her eternal disappointment, that I do not watch Dancing. It did not stop the Pong Man (Brendon Pongia) asking me for my support, but I said it had been promised to Megan prior.
Still, John Rowles was on my show. That is just too cool. The man is a legend.
I met John Rowles today when he guest-starred on Good Morning. The guy is a hero to me, not because he can sing, but because he broke through as a New Zealand entertainer internationally before most people had heard of the country. We may deservedly give Peter Jackson et al a pat on the back, but John broke the mould.
You wouldn’t know it, but the guy was taking Strepsils before he went on. And he sounds exactly the same as he did in 1967. Hard to believe it’s been 40 years since that song, ‘Cheryl Moana Marie’, hit the charts.
He told Sarah Bradley that it was a mixture of being cold in London and watching Hawai’i Five-O that helped write the song. Still a great bloke, who took the time to have his picture taken with make-up lady Deborah, and with me.
As to our segment, it was better balanced today, running a record 17 minutes with the addition of Craig (the Pommy judge) from Dancing with the Stars. The extra time only worked because Andrew Wood, the researcher for the show, gave us such great questions to work from. I don’t mind the longer segment, but the topic has to be great.
Still don’t know what the topic is. Jeez. Have to ad lib it, I guess.
A fun episode of Good Morning this morning, and I got to do push-ups on air in front of the babes from the Feather Girls, though I hope the producer doesn’t get on my case about the comment that cellphones irradiate one’s testicles. However, the topic was slightly different to what we got sent. Athleticism?
Paul, working for SPARC, is not allowed to say anything that could compromise his job, while Barry remained shocked off-stage that I had never seen a rugby game.
Oh well, it’s good episodes like this where I don’t mind being on the show. Should have recorded this one. Hope the Kiwis who saw it enjoyed it, too, and you can always watch it online until the next show airs on Sunday, 8 p.m. GMT.
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