They came, they saw, they didn’t suck.

Wake Up and Studio 10 slid onto our airwaves this morning and, on the whole, both shows are a pleasant surprise.

The Breakfast replacement was as distant to the 2012 nightmare as it could possibly be. The “Beach House” provided a great set and Manly beach did indeed look as beautiful as promised. Tash, Tarsh & Matho worked through their nerves pretty quickly and apart from some very small technical slip ups they got through the show easily (all that work leading in paid off). There was lots – LOTS – of conversations across the desk (almost too many) and some pretty punchy crosses.

If anything there was too much earnest conversation and not enough light and shade – something that will balance itself no doubt.

The localised news was indeed very local, though the cuts from the intro to Nuala and the tape rolling seemed to be slightly delayed making it a little jarring. Certainly noticeable which means it’ll be something that will get ironed out pretty quick.

The highlight was the anarchic crosses to Sam Mac. “Inserting himself” into the community around the Manly studio offered some good laughs (“Way better than Wurrawhuy”). he’s just the right amount of loose cannon.

Including a “guest tweeter” who then sits at the desk as a part of the conversation (taking honours as the first guest was Jo Casamento) has great potential. For the first time out you could tell it was hard for the four at the desk to stop the conversation they were clearly enjoying but again that will even itself out.

Even after a month of rehearsals there were some bugs and jitters but nothing that a couple of weeks on air won’t see off. Wake Up was fun, interesting and on the way to providing a fresh change from the other two commercial FTA networks. It’s a long road ahead for the team and they’ve started on the right foot. It’s more than a solid show that provides enough of a point of difference to see viewers start the migration back to Ten.

Studio 10 was absolutely en pointe. An entirely enjoyable conversation to eavesdrop on and all four hosts given opportunity to involve themselves as much or as little as they want. If Ita, Jessica, Joe or Sarah were nervous it didn’t show… if anything they were too keen to chat with each other that meant sometimes they talked over each other. The View-esque desk chat worked really well on the whole.

Involving Meshel Laurie as the first guest host was very smart and she added wonderfully to the show with her voice and opinions (and an indirect nod to fans of The Circle given Laurie was a regular).

The audience were pumped and seemed to really engage with the hosts and guests. Giveaways were good and seemed to add the excitement. The necessary evil that are infomercials were far fewer than expected and making them live with the audience added to the vaudeville feel Jono Coleman brought to the show. Giving away a car and tracking it with the Sydney Ten traffic guy Vic Laruso in a chopper made for a nice bit of fun.

Studio 10 has already made its mark and show how different morning television can be. Of the two shows launched this morning it’s the stronger; given it’s day one for both the delivered products they batted well above their weight… and now the marathon begins. Sure there are kinks to work out but that’s to be expected. Won’t take long until they’re all sorted (they’re hardly terminal).

Whatever the ratings are for both shows tomorrow the teams know they can’t rest on their laurels. They have to deliver a consistently high product day after day, week after week. Their leaders in Adam Boland and Rob McKnight know what that’s like to do that (as do a number of key staff) so they’re in good hands.

With Wake Up and Studio 10 in the game this summer the breakfast and morning TV competition is certainly going to be the hottest we’ve seen in years.

Wake Up – Mon-Fri 6:30am, Ch10.
Studio 10 – Mon-Fri 8:30am, Ch10.