This week, ITV bosses implemented their new TV schedule shake-up – but they made one major error.

The start of the new year can only mean one thing – a series of resolutions which will ultimately be forgotten about a month from now. And it appears that this is the case for many of our favourite ITV morning shows, too. Last May, it was announced that Lorraine and Loose Women would have their usual time slots axed in a brutal move from the corporation.

This month will see a series of new changes, with Good Morning Britain extended by 30 minutes to run from 6am to 9.30am. Meanwhile, Lorraine will no longer have her usual hour-long 9am slot and will instead run from 9:30am to 10am on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year. When Lorraine is off the airwaves, GMB will run from 6am to 10am, while Loose Women will continue to air for an hour from 12.30pm, but this will only be on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year. But after watching the first run of ITV’s new daytime schedule, it is clear they have made a big mistake.

Today (January 5), ITV bosses implemented these new changes for the first time, with GMB airing for an extra 30 minutes in their brand-new studio live from ITN’s building for the first time. Despite showcasing their shiny – albeit smaller – new studio, the morning episode fell flat.

Hosted by Susanna Reid and Ed Balls, the morning news show, which axed four GMB stars today, didn’t feature any major format changes despite its extended length. Instead, they walked over the same headlines they had covered all morning with nothing exciting to keep viewers engaged.

In the last half hour, they conducted an extra interview with the cast of Corriedale and added a second debrief from the politics panel, welcoming Michael Gove onto the show alongside Kevin Maguire as Andrew Pierce’s replacement.

Lorraine’s show was cut from an hour-long slot to just 30 minutes (Image: ITV)

It was such a disappointment not to see any major changes to the show, especially when the channel is struggling and in desperate need of new viewers. This timetable shake-up resulted in many people being let go, and the lack of exciting content that I expected from their opening episode made the show feel lazy. It’s no wonder shows like GB News and TalkTV are seeing their viewership skyrocket while ITV falls behind.

I would have liked to have seen a new segment in the last half hour, or a fiery interview with a politician that would give the show the spark it was so desperately missing.

Even something as simple as including a good news segment at the end of the show would help breathe some life back into the programme and leave viewers feeling a little more positive at the start of their day.

After watching the changes unfold live on air, it’s clear that ITV bosses need to go back to the drawing board if they want to attract more viewers this year. The changes left me feeling bored and downhearted, rather than upbeat and excited about the new year ahead.

To be honest, I’d rather have watched an extra half hour of Lorraine than Good Morning Britain today after watching all the worrying news hitting the headlines. Daytime programmes provide some much-needed relief from the doom and gloom the UK faces on a daily basis, and ITV need to get creative quickly if they want to save theirs from extinction.