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?