The post you quoted was actually criticising the minor celebs in SCD!

Anyway, that's it from me on the SCD scheduling discussion. I've put my points across a few times today, and answered the same counter-arguments a few times too, and I see no point in repeating them until the cows come home!

I'm off to tell ITV what they mustn't schedule against Last of the Summer Wine.

By the very fact that any such agreement exists, each channel is "dictating" to the other that they should not show their flagship soaps in certain slots.

Of course, as this shows, they can't rule that the other channels do anything. They can only ask. And in this case, ITV want a similar arrangement to the one that they have with the soaps. I'm sure they'd even accept some overlap where it's difficult to avoid. Just rather that the BBC didn't move an extended Strictly right into the middle of the schedules making it impossible to avoid.


It's partly a PR move, of course, because they can now point out that their scheduling is in keeping with previous years and leaves plenty room for Strictly. But it's a move which would most likely have happened even if the BBC hadn't changed their schedules. Even if it didn't go to 8pm, it would probably have gone to around 7.30pm (or wherever Strictly finished).


Of course ITV should be entitled to comment if a public body is using its position to engage in "ratings wars" with competitors rather than serving its viewers.


Ratings are down across the board. And so I fail to see how this is working well for anyone.


Lower ratings for Merlin and Strictly than they otherwise could have been getting.


ITV seem fairly keen to avoid a clash, don't you think?

True, they did clash regularly a few years ago until ITV finally saw sense and reorganised their schedule to avoid a clash. Both shows have grown their audiences since then.

Going off the SCD/ X Factor debate, it will be interesting how NCIS LA, The Good Wife and The Forgotten do on their debut. NCIS I think will be between 18-20m and NCIS LA will be 16-17m which I would imagine CBS would be very happy with but I wouldn't be surprised if NCIS LA hits 20m on its debut.

LA is guaranteed huge numbers and NCIS itself will probably get a boost out of the increased attention. So both of them around 18-20m seems possible.

Shows on at 8pm usually build through the hour, so NCIS:LA should get a lead-in slightly higher than the hour long average for NCIS. I'd have thought nearly everyone watching NCIS would give it a chance so I'd expect them to be very close. What will be interesting is to see if NCIS:LA holds that audience through the hour.

The Good Wife and The Forgotten seem like they are on the wrong channels and should switch lead-ins. I don't think either will make it to next season and wouldn't be surprised if they were replaced midseason.

The Good Wife has gotten excellent reviews so I think it may be safe and get additional episodes but perhaps not a renewal, I think the show that will get axed early on will be Three Rivers.

Three Rivers does sound like its already doomed. If NCIS:LA can get 16m+ a week then I think it should move to Sundays at 9pm where it could give Cold Case a leg up as well. That leaves Tuesday at 9pm free to launch another new show with a big lead-in.

I think The Forgotten is more likely to get dropped midseason than The Good Wife. I can see the latter getting decent numbers but not enough to be recommissioned with so many hit shows on CBS. I wouldn't be surprised if The Forgotten does really badly.

Still absolutely baffles me how everyone else can see from the moment such shows are announced they're destined to fail, yet they still get commissioned.

Even when it was first pitched as "Five and Friends" with Matthew Wright and Natasha Kaplinsky it had failure written all over it. The chosen trio make those two look like broadcasting legends though.


Call me cynical though but perhaps Five always knew it was destined to flop, but it's paved the way to remove the 7pm bulletin, and hence they'll go and axe this and replace it with something they really can't pass off as news

I tell you what - the SCD vs TXF/BBC vs ITV full-on war is killing this thread.

And I know I'm as guilty as anyone for sticking my oar in...

I totally agree - its not as if the arguments are going anywhere as the ITV and BBC supporters just wont accept their side can do any wrong.

As usual the real truth is somewhere in the middle. Both sides have tried to play games with the situation and both are idiots. They are banking on all publicity being good which may not necessarily be the case.

Well I think everything that could be possibly said about it has been said by now.

You are possibly the worst.

You dismiss or try to refute any comment that celebrates ITV's success in a programme/part of the schedule/etc.

You have such a biased-BBC attitude, which is fine, and the banter between you & George is good, but it would be nice to have a bit of objectivity sometimes.

You have stated in the past you think Lewis is a great programme. And occasionally, you've even criticised parts of the BBC schedule - but sometimes - you come out with these posts that criticises any apparent pro-ITV post.

I'd say that hardly any posters are pro-ITV at all. We talk about the broadcaster the most because its the place where most of the action's at. And that's because of the constant change and the full extremes of the audiences.

I mean, 17 million viewers and a 70% share for Britain's Got Talent, and then 2 million viewers a couple of days later, a 10% share for a documentary. Amazing.

I think that's not too far from the truth considering that the 7pm Bulletin rated badly anyway and I imagine Ofcom will grant them their wish and they'll have the main 5pm news and news updates for the rest of the night with documentaries and factual shows from 6.30-8pm.

I agree. Everyone has their point of view on the clash, but people are set in their thoughts so we'll just be going round in circles.

Though it says a lot about yesterday's UK ratings that we have to delve into the US for ratings debate otherwise (Bar from Live from Studio Five with Five viewers )

Blue Murder seemed to hold up better against Waking the Dead than last week - I'd have blamed the battle with Doc Martin yesterday losing Waking the Dead viewers, but Waking held up then.

All channels did pretty well. The soap ratings alone show that Monday's are the nights where people stay in to watch TV. Maybe BBC1 should've had a Strictly double bill on Sunday and Monday to maximise audience? (*ducks* )

I think ITV will be a bit disappointed with Blue Murder so far, this week was a bit of an improvement and maybe it will get better ratings once Waking The Dead finishes.

But compared to Law and Order, Unforgiven, Whitechapel and Above Suspicion, it's not doing too great. I wonder if Murderland will get the Monday 9pm slot or will it run over 3 consecutive nights like The Commander did last year?

ITV's new Saturday night reality show, "Popstars to Opera Stars".

No I haven't made it up.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...era-Stars.html

they could give it an X Factor lead in on Sunday, then have it on Monday and Tuesday. Football on Wednesday, The Bill Thursday and Benidorm on Friday and that's that week sorted.

Is it Criminal Justic on the Monday after Waking the Dead has finished? I think Blue Murder should do ok once the big hitter's out of the way.


Just when I think ITV are showing some sanity they go and do this. Could this be their answer to So You Think You Can Dance? I think it could lead to a saturation of singing reality shows on the market though if you considering the Wizard of Oz on BBC1, Britain's Got Talent (which has a lot of singers) and The X Factor. I think it'll do ok in the ratings, maybe good enough as summer filler.

Hmm. Aiming big? I'm sure they'll be able to get Sinitta on, she loves a bit of publicity.

Final ratings are in from the US. All the CBS comedies gained 0.1 in the demo to make a good night even better. Heroes also gained 0.1 but when you're more than 40% down year to year, who cares?! House was up 0.2 to a very impressive 6.7 and more than 17m viewers. Gossip Girl slipped badly from last weeks third season premiere.

To summarise:
FOX - Great news
CBS - Good night, steady as ever
ABC - Bad night
NBC - Awful

CW - Would Dawn Ostroff please turn off the light as she leaves?

David Letterman beat Jay Leno last night thanks to an appearance by Barack Obama. He had over 7m marking his best performance since 2005.

Last Weeks Top 10:
1. Sunday Night Football (NBC) - 24.8m
2. Pre-Kickoff (NBC) - 18.9m
3. The Jay Leno Show (NBC) - 18.4m
4. America's Got Talent (NBC) - 15.8m
5. Post Game (CBS) - 15.5m
6. America's Got Talent (NBC) - 13.9m
7. Emmy Awards (CBS) - 13.5m
8. The Jay Leno Show (NBC) - 13.4m
9. Football Night in America (NBC) - 13.4m
10. 60 Minutes (CBS) - 13.1m

NBC had 7 entries. It's the first and last time anyone will say that for a while. 2 were Leno, 2 were Got Talent and 3 were football related.

Well it just goes around in circles, for every new dancing show the BBC introduce, ITV bring in another singing format.

This may sound like a very elementary question to all you seasoned ratings-analysers, but I've always wondered how the powers that be manage to calculate ratings so precisely if they can't actually tell what each individual household is watching?

Surely they must be able to spy on us, or else how does it work?

No, no, no!

I don't even get how it would work. No successful star is going to go near it and make a fool of themselves. And while the odd opera singer can do well on BGT, I don't see it working as a show by itself. And certainly not with "celebrities".

I can't even imagine where it would go. Maybe a one off special, but not a series. They've got more than enough in the way of Saturday night shows between January and April.

They've settled with 3 very strong talent show formats since 2007. Keep it that way.

They use a sample which is representative of the population. They get a special box attached to their TV which monitors what they are watching.

More info:
http://www.barb.co.uk/about/tvMeasurement?_s=4

Only last week people were saying that ITV didn't have anything for Saturday nights in January.

I think maybe if they have a special the weekend before Christmas it might do ok - say, fill The X Factor spot for that week. But I agree, a series just seems too much. I'm intirigued how it's going to be used though - to try and stabilise the Saturday night schedule post Christmas (I think switching Dancing on Ice back with results on Sunday would do better) or as a summer show to bridge the gap between the Cowell vehicles.