Given that the premise of Paradox is the same every week I reckon you must have at least a partial interest to keep tuning in.
The acting isnt any great shakes and for some reason it seems colourless and drab-like someone ran off with half the budget, but there is still something compelling about it.

I know the audience varies with the subject matter, but considering the ratings Dispatches gets at 8pm aren't too far off what C4 get at 9pm, I'd be tempted to move it to the 9pm hour, out of direct competition of Tonight and Panorama. It might not do anything amazing, but wouldn't fair any worse than other offerings in the slot, and also frees up 8pm which could easily be used for repeats as it's pretty much a dead slot against the soaps.


Note all the articles seem to neglect to mention the real reason for it being dropped is due to the voting fiasco that occurred last year. No doubt with three contestants left it should be dropped - seems ridiculous to indicate to the public who the likely winner is a week before the final.


I doubt it if BB11 itself doesn't do well, especially as the producers have long given up making the final a piece of event TV, and instead make it about getting 6 HMs out of the house ASAP.

A relatively simple structure for the final could work if just 4 remained, evicting two in the first hour before basically forgetting about BB11 and making it all about the winners in the second show, with the winners back on stage to chat with Davina, then the BB11 highlights before the winner of the final BB is revealed, and then once the runner up and winner of BB11 are out of the way showing the best bits from the last ten years.

BB though really screwed up by having their "10th birthday" a year early and doing the things which really would have been more appropriate for the final series.

Small Island wouldn't have done as well against IAC so I can see why they held it back for week.

I do wonder how similar the demographics are for SPOTY and X Factor. There must be a large quantity of men that have no interest in X Factor and love their sport.

They don't tend to have ownership of the remote control.

I expect ITV will announce Manchester Utd v Leeds as their 2nd FA Cup tie after tonights Leeds victory.

So it's :

Reading v Liverpool
Man Utd v Leeds

and one other.

And a large number of people who end up watching TXF on a Sunday (only) because they're not big on antiques shows, or don't live near any late-night Sunday shopping experiences...

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/bl...r-X.5886336.jp

That confirms that The Royal Variety Performance was originally due to air this Sunday and that ITV's decision to split the final over two nights was probably only taken when they saw the ratings for the Sunday results shows.

I love the quote from Blackpool entertainer claiming its awful they are breaking with tradition to show it midweek.

Someone should tell him last year it was shown on a Wednesday too - in exactly the same slot.

Obviously they're going down the 'so bad it's good' route. It may just work.


Yet they can't be bothered to give it a decent lead in.

Sorry, I'll shut up about my view on the ITV soap scheduling now.



The BBC were in a bit of a spot TBH. I personally think they should've planned it for the following week - if they'd done the maths they would know that it'd be X Factor final weekend and that ITV would do anything they could for ratings.


It's ridiculous scheduling by ITV though. Why stuff it in midweek instead of airing it the following Sunday (the 20th)? It'd replace a well viewed light entertainment format, and think it would've pulled in strong numbers. Not that it'll be weak on Wednesday, but it seems a bit...out of place.

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Neither of the big two soaps hit 10m - thought that'd be concerning now we're in December. Good for I'm A Celebrity... . Gadget Show did excellently, Panorama poorly and I'm surprised Life didn't take advantage of weaker opposition.

Probably because the recording was set in stone for the 7th December and they felt two weeks would be a bit too much of a stretch. People will have read about it in the papers today and be expecting it on TV tonight or tomorrow night.

But as the Blackpool Gazette confirms, the TXF final was going to be on this Saturday, as it always is, but ITV couldn't turn away the cash they'd make from spinning it out to 4 hours over 2 nights. That was not anticipated when the BBC fixed the usual traditional date back in April.

I'd still love to know how they are going to pad this out to 4 hours. Do any TXF cheerleaders know the proposed running order?

Not that I give a toss...

True. Shame though - no foresight seen by ITV this time, they should've had the Royal Variety Performance next week instead.


But Robbie - you've said all along ITV are about ratings (and therefore money) more than anything else. Why would ITV NOT strectch out a money grabber (even if it was performing to 2007 standards) to the point of boredom?

Of course, the BBC wouldn't have known about the Sunday night shows in April which would've scuppered them a bit - but is there any particular reason why they have to announce the date so early?

I don't think they're too similar to be honest, as SPOTY is much more male oriented. I actually don't think going up against SPOTY will do X Factor any harm at all. SPOTY fell to 4.9m in 2005 when it was up against the Royal Variety Show which got 9.5m (up by over a million from 2003 when ITV previously had it). Up against X Factor, I'm expecting it to fall to about 4m especially as everyone knows Jenson Button will win it.

The X Factor Final is probably the TV event of the year. The fact that it clashes against SPOTY will be of little significance. Despite the X Factor's ratings "flat-lining" over the last few weeks, I'd put money on it averaging over 17m. My prediction on the RPG is 17.5m.

Indeed hasn't it pretty much always been on midweek, certainly when on ITV anyway.


Three songs each on Saturday - so nine performances over seven parts, including the celeb duets. Previous years it's been 90-minutes, but dragging it out an extra half-hour really won't be noticed as that's pretty much the same padding we've had this year.

On Sunday third place will be revealed, then the final two have two performances each, plus a guest spot from Paul McCartney, and then of course the result and reprise - along with any group performances. The structure of the show will probably mean there are only "competitive" performances in parts 3, 4 and 5, with the first two parts being a group performance and then the third place result, and the latter two being Paul McCartney and the final result.

I'm sure you'll see it as padding, but it'll fly by a lot quicker than 30 minutes of Strictly Come Dancing!

Like everyone knew Lewis would win it last year...

Contrary to popular belief, I think many people watch it for a review of the sporting year. I'd still rather it was called Sports Review of the Year. SPOTY is only one element of it.

If Antiques Roadshow can hold 6m against TXF, even when 16m+ were tuning in to TXF at its high water mark, I don't see why SPOTY will drop to 4m.


It's not, I believe, as easy as booking a function room in a pub, say...

Don't forget that Antiques Roadshow is about 3 million viewers down from last year.

Sports Personality of the Year will see a similar fall, perhaps bigger because I bet it's got a larger audience overlap with The X Factor than Antiques Roadshow and it's up against the final.

That's why I think it will fall to about 4m, maybe lower in fact.

Or indeed two hours of SPOTY.

Agreed. Though Studio One is big enough for Sports Personality - it doesn't need to be in a huge location like the Royal Albert Hall.

Then again, Studio One has Strictly Come Dancing in it until Christmas. Though the budged it for Children in Need, I doubt they'd want the final in the smaller Studio Four.

Thats a brave prediction, saying that over two hours its going to find another 5 million viewers from the previous weeks hour long show.Not that Im saying it wont happen-as you say its become far more of an event-far more than the product it will eventually create.
The trend appears that BBC are producing a series of shows that will rise (to a reasonable if modest height) and fall depending what is on ITV at the same time. Casualty for instance may approach 7 million if there is a car crash on ITV.
This has been an exceptional Autumn on ITV1 though their all hours share will go down again this year. And it will make next year difficult-can shows like XF and BGT maintain the surge and continue to leg up the shows around them. Time will tell.

Speaking of which, I believe TXF parties will depress its reported ratings. I've hears of one venue, a 315 seat cinema, that will be showing the final live on big screen and serving refreshments all evening for £15 a head. I'm sure there are quite a few of these plus TXF house parties planned.

Oh and Robbie before you ask, I haven't heard of any SPOTY events yet, but I'll let you know if I do. There might be a caravan in Skegness showing it or some such....................


Live From Studio Five might be big enough for SPOTY this year.....

LOL! All all seriousness though these parties happen every year and they never dent the ratings, and they won't this year either. According to The X Factor forum, 3rd place is being revealed on the Saturday show, which is good in my view as it'll give some sort of incentive to watch on the Saturday.

A couple of times, yes, it was certainly there in 2001, although for most of the eighties and nineties it was a weekend show, doing well on Sundays and less well on Saturdays. In the seventies, the BBC showed it live a couple of times, so it was on a Monday night, around the Nine O'Clock News.

The latest it ever went out was in 1998 when the Beeb showed it on Sunday 20th December, and it was actually billed as The Royal Variety Performance At Christmas. Actually they billed it as that a few times, even when it was on about the 14th.


No we won't! They'll announce who's top with the judges at the end of the main show and *then* open the phone lines between the two. The only difference between this and the results show is that instead of the bottom two going into the dance-off, the bottom one will be announced and kicked off.

Robson Green Wild Swimming Adventure 2.5m (11.1%)

I wonder if Paradox beat it! Must be close!

K

That's incredibly poor. With Paradox on the other side and all the promo during X Factor at the weekend I was expecting something closer to 5m.

So where did the viewers go last night? Not to the two main channels, that's for sure!

ITV's tuesday flopzone returns with a bang.

Paradox must have increased or two shows under 3 million in that slot on those channels is just dreadful.

Also Coastline Cops had 3.2m and a 13.7% share.