‘Good Morning America’ showcases updated second floor in new ways on Day 2

As NewscastStudio was first to report, ABC News‘ “Good Morning America” unveiled an overhaul of its second floor studio in Times Square on March 28, 2022 — and viewers got to see more of the new space Tuesday, March 29, 2022.

That’s primarily because the Tuesday show was anchored entirely from New York by Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan, whereas Monday’s broadcast was essentially split between NYC and Los Angeles for the network’s post-Oscars coverage.

On Day 2 in the new space, additional areas of the second level were used in more ways.

Roberts, Stephanopoulos and Strahan made their first appearance from upstairs about 12 minutes into the second hour of the show, or around 8:12 a.m. eastern.

The trio was seated around a large glass-topped circular desk with a square base that hasn’t been seen previously in this space.

Correspondent Kenneth Moton was in-studio for a “GMA Investigates” segment about moving scams, using the southeast alcove’s L-shaped video wall that extends into the ceiling, an example of how flexible the set is because it was used later in the show for a one-on-one interview.

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The three segment video wall installation in the northeast part of the space was used for a weather update from Ginger Zee, similar to how she uses the one on the first floor, as well as an interview space for all three anchors plus a guest seated on directors chairs, in addition to showing up in the background of segments shot in front of the north video wall.

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During this interview, a floating camera shot incorporated the vertical video panel on the east wall to showcase the poster for the film being discussed.

The north video wall, which also extends into the ceiling, was featured without the desk in favor of stylish director-style chairs, for another interview segment featuring two guests, who were seated camera right and appeared mostly with the northeast video wall array behind them.

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In addition, the book being discussed, written by Kevin and Danielle Jonas, was shown on the lower portion of the other L-shaped video wall installation, with an on camera move briefly showcasing the LED in the ceiling.

Set Design

Good Morning America

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Wide shots of this interview, as well as when the round desk was used in this space, also showcased portions of the west video wall and L-shaped structural elements.

Another studio standup utilized the eastern wall, which is dominated by large panels with the letters “GMA” cut out but also features a vertical video panel.

As mentioned, the southern alcove area was also used for an interview with Strahan and the network’s medical correspondent Dr. Jen Ashton.

It’s noteworthy that, at least so far, “GMA” has largely shied away from inserting any topical graphics or text on the video walls behind interviews, instead, sticking with the variety of generic show branded looks. Standups are getting more topical on-set graphics, but so far interviews haven’t.

This is notably different than “Today,” which often uses fully custom looks for segments that don’t incorporate many elements, if any, from its primary graphics package.

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“CBS Mornings” often uses a more middle-ground approach of elements from the eye logo used to create frames for topical imagery for standups with interview segments either backed with fully designed looks or the simulated loft look on the video walls.

ABC, for example, could have added a textual reference to going sober during its Ashton interview to the generic background or incorporated stock images of alcohol in some manner but opted to keep the panel filled with the generic look.

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Meanwhile, the southwest window alcove made its first prominent on air appearance for Zee to present a weather update, where she even interacted with the windows when talking about the cold weather in the city.

The west video wall was also used prominently as the background for a cooking segment on Korean food, which also included bringing in two demo tables. 

This background was a bit more topical, featuring an image of a kitchen on the left side accented with the graphics package’s dots and ring elements, while the right side featured two gold segments, one of which featured the cookbook author’s name appearing in the segment.