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In stark contrast with the chaotic sets and anarchic content of its predecessor 'The Big Breakfast', the 'RI:SE' studio is bare apart from the four presenters sitting behind a long desk -- resembling a panel from a talkshow.

The show, produced by Sky and Princess Productions, revolves around half-hourly news bulletins, which are presented by former 'Newsround' reporter Chris Rogers. The headlines are virtually the same as those in sister newspaper, the Sun, and bulletins last no longer than three minutes.

Despite being light-hearted and aimed at 16- to 30-year-olds, 'RI:SE's content is loosely based around the day's main news headlines, albeit treated with a tabloid take such as Beckham's image change and whether or not he's been smothered in baby oil for his picture in GQ.

However, issues such as the war in the Middle East and Gary Glitter's arrest in Cambodia were featured heavily, and the show lived up to its billing as a news-led entertainment show.

In between the news bulletins, anchor Mark Durden-Smith, the handsome face of Sky's rugby coverage, instigates discussion among the panel of presenters, dominated by MTV and Capital Radio's Edith Bowman and relative newcomer Colin Murray.

Sports host Kirsty Gallacher -- who, despite having attracted much attention as one of the faces of the show -- lets the side down by merely stumbling over the sports news and showing an inability to read the autocue.

Her personal low point came when Durden Smith asked her opinion on Beckham's pictures in GQ. She looked horror-stricken at the idea of having to speak without the aid of an autocue, hesitated and quickly passed the buck by asking viewers to send in their opinions by text or email.

Other features of the show were a guide to the May Day riots from Murray and a cartoon called 'Trevor's Hatch -- Kiosk to the Stars', which didn't really gel with the rest of the show.

A feature called Lipservice, which features clips of celebrities in mid conversation translated by professional lip readers, was innovative and amusing and seemed to be the kind of content that would appeal to the target age group.

Although the programme does not have the same controlled sense of disorder about it as the 'Big Breakfast', Durden-Smith will be sure to have grabbed a few headlines this morning. Halfway through the show, just as Gallacher was going to try her hand at reading the weather report, he dashed across the stage, excusing himself as he was "dying for a pee".

Whether or not this was a cheap attempt at drawing headlines to the show one can only guess -- it was certainly one of the more entertaining parts of the show. And Gallacher, maybe lacking some awareness and the confidence of her co-presenters, used this moment to begin talking about "wet spots" all over England, which was one of the show's funniest moments.

The show seems to have attracted the right backing, notably from the Sun, which carries a half-page picture of the 'RI:SE' girls in today's paper, and from advertisers.

The first two ad breaks were notably short, perhaps because advertisers and Channel 4 realised that the target audience is unlikely to be up much before 8am. Both pre-8am slots featured ads from the Army and Bertolli Olive Oil in one and Macleans and Carphone Warehouse in the second.

Other advertisers included Nivea Deodorant, Findus Wok and Nutrigrain breakfast bars.

The issue of what to put in the breakfast slot has been a thorny one for Channel 4, which recognised a gap in the market that was no longer being filled by its former ratings goliath the 'Big Breakfast'.

While the broadcaster may have found a replacement, it is unclear whether it will be the panacea to Channel 4's breakfast show dilemma, as all the other options are taken: the BBC's heavyweight news show, GMTV's coffee table style and Channel 5's cartoons.

'RI:SE' may in time attract a large and loyal following among its target audience, but that age group has little other choice at that time of the morning.

On its first outing at least, it certainly failed to create the kind of excitement that its predecessor the 'Big Breakfast' generated.

We'll have to wait for tomorrow's unofficial ratings from Channel 4 to gauge its success.

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