WHEN more people watch a man wearing a bear suit than your debut show, you know you're in trouble. Recovering from the humiliation of being beaten in the ratings by a children's programme - and a Channel 5 children's programme, at that - was never going to be easy for breakfast show RI:SE (C4).

Nearly two months on, Channel 4's replacement for The Big Breakfast is still struggling to find a house style that will make viewers want to choose it rather than not only Bear In The Blue House, but BBC1's Breakfast Time and GMTV on ITV.

I'd like to say they're succeeding but from what I've seen - and I've tried to stay with it longer than 20 minutes a sitting but failed - they're not succeeding.

There's more life in the GMTV sofa, even after Eamonn Holmes has been sitting on it all week, than the gang of presenters on RI:SE. They're trying desperately to inject some life into their not-very-merry banter but have yet to find their niche.

Being stuck, for the most part, behind a long desk doesn't help create a relaxed, informal atmosphere where the ad libs can flow freely. The GMTV presenters are masters (and mistresses) the art of combining sofa small talk with hard news stories. Even Breakfast Time, with its leather chairs, is getting better at it, even if presenter Jeremy Bowen sometimes looks like he'd rather be reporting from the front line of some trouble spot.

Following The Big Breakfast was always going to be difficult, even if that show's latter editions were a pale imitation of the Chris and Gaby/Johnny and Denice heydays. Wisely, Channel 4 opted for a different format, but one that shows all the signs of being the wrong one.

At present, RI:SE is further hampered by having to plug endlessly another C4 programme, Big Brother. Mostly, they're rehashing old stuff and their live link offers little more than the residents of the house asleep. Dig and Dug on Channel 5 ("the pair dig some holes and fill them in") offers more drama.

News is presented by Chris Rogers standing in front of a giant screen. The top six stories yesterday including a report on the world nettle-eating competition and Charlie Sheen's marriage. So much for serious news.

The big question is whether RI:SE gets a major makeover in a bid to boost ratings. Main presenter Mark Durden-Smith is described as the "anchor", so maybe he'll be the first one thrown overboard. Replace him with a man in a bear suit and they might be on to a winner.