diff --git a/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.brs b/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.brs
index 2c24ceff..f88e18f6 100644
--- a/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.brs
+++ b/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.brs
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ sub itemContentChanged()
 
   ' Set Random background colors from pallet
   posterBackgrounds = m.global.constants.poster_bg_pallet
-  m.backdrop.color = posterBackgrounds[rnd(posterBackgrounds.count()) - 1]
+  m.backdrop.blendColor = posterBackgrounds[rnd(posterBackgrounds.count()) - 1]
 
   itemData = m.top.itemContent
 
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ sub itemContentChanged()
     print "Unhandled Item Type: " + itemData.type
   end if
 
+  'If Poster not loaded, ensure "blue box" is shown until loaded
+  if m.itemPoster.loadStatus <> "ready" then
+    m.backdrop.visible = true
+    m.posterText.visible = true
+  end if
+
   m.posterText.text = m.itemText.text
 
 end sub
diff --git a/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.xml b/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.xml
index 9f0d51d2..64cbe69c 100644
--- a/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.xml
+++ b/components/ItemGrid2/GridItem.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <component name="GridItem" extends="Group">
   <children>
     <maskGroup id="posterMask" maskUri="pkg:/images/postermask.png" scaleRotateCenter="[145, 212.5]" scale="[0.85,0.85]"  >
-      <Rectangle id="backdrop" width="290" height="425" />
+      <Poster id="backdrop" width="290" height="425" loadDisplayMode="scaleToZoom" uri="pkg:/images/white.9.png" />
       <Poster id="itemPoster" width="290" height="425" loadDisplayMode="scaleToZoom" />
       <Poster id="itemIcon" width="50" height="50" translation="[230,10]" />
       <Label id="posterText" width="280" height="415" translation="[5,5]" horizAlign="center" vertAlign="center" ellipsizeOnBoundary="true" wrap="true" />
diff --git a/images/white.9.png b/images/white.9.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..31dc0139
Binary files /dev/null and b/images/white.9.png differ