I wanted to like the premiere of KING-TV’s new morning talk show New Day Northwest. And I still want to like the show. We need all the pro local media we can get. Host Margaret Larson is a seasoned broadcast journalist; she’s also worked in PR for several humanitarian groups. The show’s director, Steve Wilson, was a key member of KING’s old Almost Live! team.

That said, the initial telecast was a disappointment.

There was a cutesy dog training segment, with a plea for viewers to send in their cutesy dog pictures.

There was a PCC cooking-demo lady preparing a salad by simmering some ingredients on a range (?).

There was a cross-promo with the host of another KING show (Grant Goodeve of the travelogue show Northwest Backroads).

There was one human moment, when the guy who wears the Seahawks mascot costume showed up in street clothes. He discussed what happened when he was diagnosed with one of the diseases his character goes around raising money against (MS).

I’m not part of the show’s target demographic. But I can still tell what is and isn’t compelling TV. And I’d really like New Day to evolve into more of the former.