General Banter and Random Musings

[Mommabear]

I had a quick look earlier and My name is Den was welcoming everyone and hoping the gremlins are now gone......er nope, your words came before your mouth moved, so they'd gone nowhere.

 

[Hammy60]

I had a quick look earlier and My name is Den was welcoming everyone and hoping the gremlins are now gone......er nope, your words came before your mouth moved, so they'd gone nowhere.

Has she mentioned her daughters yet?

 

[Jazzydrury]

Has she mentioned her daughters yet?

No

 

[Herring]

It was a decent launch.

A few thoughts:

• It feels very Shop Extra Mk2. That feeling isn't helped by having most of the same presenters, most of the same products, and most of the same set! Replicating Shop Extra isn't a good thing given, y'know, it shut earlier than planned. Positive: we didn't get a repeat of that long, sycophantic opening Shop Extra's launch had with them cuddled up on a sofa telling us about how we were all friends and family. 5 minute introduction then straight into selling.

• Dennice on first with the air fryer - a selly telly staple at a fair price, fine. But she immediately made me groan by preaching to viewers that they could easily expect to pay "around £200" for an Air Fryer - on what planet, love?

• Seeing Shona on there was a surprise, and making digs at IW3. Amusing (the digs she was making were fair) but revealing: she was happy to stand on IW3 (and Shop Extra) for months on end flogging tat to people, telling us how wonderful it was to be on the channel, how amazing, exquisite, and phenomenal the products and prices were. Yet she's now taking swipes at them. Hmm…

• Tim, as always, sooooooo slimy.

• Simon seems less exuberant, but I imagine he's had a stressful few months leading to the launch. I often have a pop at him for his sales tactics but fair play to the guy for getting the channel off the ground. He and the team behind the scenes should be chuffed with themselves. Sync issues aside, it was a polished launch.

• During the opening Dennice said something like "and as you can see, all the faces you know and love from shopping tv are here". Aside from being egotistical — yeah Dennice, we loooooooove you, we're starstruck and so blessed to have you on our screens again — it also implies the channel assumes it's only being watched by long-time selly telly viewers. Add in the fact it's (currently) flogging the same items (Blue Magic, Waterless Wax, Air Fryers) most long-time viewers will have seen (and many bought) before, where's the appeal? The growth? It's just repeating the same tired format death spiral.

• I do LOVE that the VT constantly tells viewers to follow the channel on TikTok. Do Muriel, Brenda etc use TikTok? Presumably this is a Simon thing because that Whizzy Whisk video he made got 1M views on TikTok (which isn't that huge on that platform). The average age of someone on TikTok is 16 to 24. Do they watch selly telly? Will they be interested in making Blue Magic and Waterless Wash Wax go viral?

 

[Alex Knowles]

Hi guys - thank you for your feedback, we have worked hard behind the scenes and are planning on bringing new products to the channel and being open on here and responsive. We read the comments and want to make a channel that can entertain and offer decent products so that’s our aim. Thanks for bearing with us and the technical difficulties, we know these are going to happen from time to time.

 

[Jazzydrury]

Hi guys - thank you for your feedback, we have worked hard behind the scenes and are planning on bringing new products to the channel and being open on here and responsive. We read the comments and want to make a channel that can entertain and offer decent products so that’s our aim. Thanks for bearing with us and the technical difficulties, we know these are going to happen from time to time.

No problem, I did feel sorry for you first thing.

Nice to see a Channel that isn’t doing the hard sell.

 

[The Insider]

Sync issues aside, it was a polished launch.

I think your polish might be out of date but I agree about Tim

 

[Jazzydrury]

Got it on now, Nice to see younger presenters being given the opportunity

 

[Alex Knowles]

No problem, I did feel sorry for you first thing.

Nice to see a Channel that isn’t doing the hard sell.

Thank you - a few technical issues but we are on top of them now. We want to build something that you can interact with, have fun and sell some products along the way.
We have a new mattress launching at 7 so I’m excited about this and launching Minky at the moment.

 

[Mommabear]

'all the faces you know and love from shopping tv'

All the faces I'd hoped I'd not see again so it's a from me

 

[Herring]

Got it on now, Nice to see younger presenters being given the opportunity

It is, Jazzy.

I'll take my pithy sarcastic hat off for a second and congratulate the team for that. It's an encouraging sign from Seen on TV. New blood is what Selly Telly needs.

I mentioned in an earlier comment that my fear for the channel it that it's going to re-repeat the mistakes of other failed channels (i.e. try too hard to replicate Ideal World mk2/Shop Extr) but including new presenters —truly new, not washed up soap stars— is something to be optimistic about.

Because although that ingrained, muscle-memory selling technique the "faces you love from shopping TV" vomit on autopilot does clearly "work" (or they wouldn't get work) it's hackneyed, artificial, and only works on a certain demographic. To grow the channel into something sustainable the presentation has to evolve.

Mercifully we've seen little of the hard sell "check out your baskets, stock is flying out, we're approaching sell out city, how many we got left? *klaxon noises*…" nonsense so far — whether those old habits creep in for the old pros, I don't know.

The newbies (hopefully) will be free of that.

Today, "authenticity" sells more than the jazz-handed, hyper-enthusiastic, superlative-laden sales approaches other shopping tv channels go in for (quote marks on authenticity because, contradictory though it sounds, it is possible to fake being authentic, see influencer culture on social media).

So as long as the newbies don't "learn from the pros", Seen on TV may well find it births a new set of "faces to love" who can put a new spin on old products.

And maybe give us on here fewer things to poke holes in!

 

[Jazzydrury]

Think I heard Tim Britton say he’s got 2 hours of watches later, be interesting to see if they come with the BS

 

[Herring]

As an aside, I am thrilled there's a new channel for one reason: jobs and work experience opportunities for people, many just getting started, in the TV industry.

Watch the credits of any programme made in the UK and in the names that scroll by at the end will be someone who got their first real break working in TV through a shopping channel. Most of the tat shopping channels sell isn't vital, but the opportunities and onboarding such channels provide for the UK TV industry as whole (especially as it's live TV) certainly is.

(I'll go back to be snarky after this post, don't worry ).

 

[The Insider]

As an aside, I am thrilled there's a new channel for one reason: jobs and work experience opportunities for people, many just getting started, in the TV industry.

Watch the credits of any programme made in the UK and in the names that scroll by at the end will be someone who got their first real break working in TV through a shopping channel. Most of the tat shopping channels sell isn't vital, but the opportunities and onboarding such channels provide for the UK TV industry as whole (especially as it's live TV) certainly is.

(I'll go back to be snarky after this post, don't worry ).

All those behind the scenes have come from Ideal World and/or Create & Craft.

The "younger" presenter is Ellis Ward's daughter who previously presented on various Gemporia channels for the past 5 to 6 years.

No one new is working here.

 

[Herring]

All those behind the scenes have come from Ideal World and/or Create & Craft.

The "younger" presenter is Ellis Ward's daughter who previously presented on various Gemporia channels for the past 5 to 6 years.

No one new is working here.

Oh, that's disappointing.

A nepo hire related to Ellis isn't exactly encouraging either given Ellis' sales techniques have gotten her ASA reprimands (she also hate-reads this forum as she apparently likes to take a pop at it on air - I'd tell her to chill out with some of those plastic crystals and scent diffusers she's always flogging at UNBELIEVABLE prices, but I know she knows they're tat).

 

[Herring]

Think I heard Tim Britton say he’s got 2 hours of watches later, be interesting to see if they come with the BS

Nah, they'll probably come with cufflinks, a pen, or a cheap wallet like they usually do

 

[Jazzydrury]

All those behind the scenes have come from Ideal World and/or Create & Craft.

The "younger" presenter is Ellis Ward's daughter who previously presented on various Gemporia channels for the past 5 to 6 years.

No one new is working here.

I hadn’t seen her daughter before so didn’t know

Regarding behind the scenes I heard them mention Producer Molly, I thought that name rings a bell

Those behind the scenes Didn’t do no wrong in recent versions, so at least in my eyes deserve a chance

 

[PhædrusR]

2 hours of Kevski Tonight, with Tim Britton but they didnt say when

I think the website schedule said Vostok Europe from 8pm.

 

[Hammy60]

I hadn’t seen her daughter before so didn’t know

Regarding behind the scenes I heard them mention Producer Molly, I thought that name rings a bell

There was a Molly on shop extra, didn't she model the sun glasses on one show.

 

[Hammy60]

Think I heard Tim Britton say he’s got 2 hours of watches later, be interesting to see if they come with the BS

It's Kevski, so will be the usual Vostok Europe stuff, Igor, Seiko Industries, the amazing mecaquartz movements, found more stock in the back of the wardrobe, shakes head at prices, world exclusives, blah blah.