Hope Misfits does OK for E4 tonight and grows over the next six weeks. They seem to have much more success just commissioning a few UK shows rather than using the BBC3 approach of commissioning any old shit and hoping some sticks (and if it does, BBC1 comes along and nicks it!).

C4 don't seem to have any intention of taking E4's hits away from E4 too - and in truth I doubt audiences for shows like Skins and The Inbetweeners would grow that significantly if they aired on C4 first anyway.

I just think the 8pm slot is a disaster zone for ITV at the moment. There's nothing that seems to work against Holby City whatsoever. Quiz shows and documentaries are different genres and they're not working - frankly the only entertainment shows that I can see drawing in figures are the Cowell duo and Dancing on Ice. Audience with... shows may do ok but not brilliantly, probably around the same rating as Millionnaire.

I'm amazed in the last revamp that ITV didn't try and sure up Tuesday night's. Ok, a clash would've been there but a lacklustre performance from Coronation Street/Emmerdale would still be better than anything else they put in the 8pm slot.


The problem is now it does seem like it's the only drama series in the entire history of television to be repeated. It feels like it's on all the time. There seems to have been no rest from it, no break. I've got a boxful of TV Guides from the year in a box next to me. Over the weekend I'll go through them and see how many Thursday night's have had New Tricks on. Bet it's around 90% over the year. Certainly feels like it anyway!

BBC1 have got a plethora of dramas to show - surely they can find another one if they have to have a repeat?


That's fair enough - maybe for once the BSI is showing some sense. But it's always New Tricks. At least ITV rotated their Friday night repeats.

Really, after they finish off this repeat New Tricks shouldn't return until the new series is ready for broadcast. I wouldn't bet on that happening though.

The US imports are Five's bread and butter but they don't rely on that heavily, in the autumn it's usually only CSI: Miami and now FlashForward. Come January, it's CSI, CSI: NY, NCIS and later on The Mentalist. They do have successful homegrown shows like The Gadget Show, The Hotel Inspector and some of the factual stuff but they need to look at why these shows are successful and apply it to future commissions.

E4 do seem have the right of imports and homegrown, BBC Three is hit and miss and ITV2 is too reliant on ITV1 spin-offs, Katie and Peter etc. I think BBC Four with its limited budget is very successful and uses it well.

I'm surprised Five haven't tried commissioning something like CSI: UK. ITV saw the opportunity in Law and Order and that claimed around 6m viewers on a regular basis. I think they need more of a British drama base than they have currently. Take away the US dramas, and they'd struggle.

CSI: UK or even NCIS: UK would do well but it would be very expensive to produce unless it was a co-production with CBS, I actually think they should do what BBC Three did about a year ago and what Channel 4 is doing with comedy and have a Drama Showcase season where there is six or more pilots that get aired and the best one(s) received ratings and critically gets a series commision.

Maybe that'd be the best approach. I'm not sure whether CBS would buy into a British version. They may see it as a (relatively) cheap way of filling the summer months rather than repeats, though the repeats do the business for them.

The Showcase idea is a good one. It'd have to be Tuesday nights though, IMO. Any other night and it'd be swallowed up by other programming (though Flash Forward is doing well on Monday).

Tuesdays after CSI would be good as it would get a great lead in although a 9pm slot would be good also. One of the things I liked about the Showcase on BBC Three was how diverse the dramas were even though it was hit and miss I'm surprised BBC Three didn't attempt to do it again like Channel 4 did with Comedy Showcase.

So despite ITV1 rolling out The Fix Factor, the bestest and most popular programme ever in the history of television , and other shows benefiting from a massive advertising and promotional push, BBC1 has held its own and remained the nation's most-watched network by some distance.


Misteeq? Nope, still a blank.

I'd never heard of the lovely Alesha either until she became a massive star on SCD.


Oh come on, 4.2m is good for prime time on ITV1 for a show that doesn't have Cowell in it or bikini-clad z-lebs eating worms...


I think BBC1 are effectively saying to the BBC audience "watch Top Gear". Which is probably what the BSI would want to air at 9pm on BBC1 for the next 7 Sundays, if Jeremy would let them...

I'm quite sure Small Island was intended for this slot, but the Beeb (for once) has decided not to kill off a big new drama against one of their biggest shows on another BBC channel.

Maybe it was too much money to spend on a digital channel, whereas Channel 4 has a wider audience base. BBC3 can fill themsleves up with cheap documentaries and new comedy without having to worry about drama. BBC1 seems to be carrying drama ATM, with BBC2 helping here and there.

True although saying that, BBC Four are able to broadcast drama but mosts are one-offs than series, comedy is BBC Three's strength and I think they should try and find the next Gavin and Stacey and perhaps a companion show for Family Guy whereas BBC Four struggles a bit with comedy although they did give us Getting On and The Thick of It but they are great with drama and intelligent factual.

I'm not sure whether BBC4 should be overly concerned with comedy - it's more of an 'educational' channel than BBC1 and BBC3 with it's documentaries and historical dramas. If they come accross an intelligent comedy then fair enough - the two that they have broadcast have been highly rated, but they shouldn't chase it for the sake of it.

Same with BBC3 and drama IMO. they shouldn't comission any old drama for the sake of it, just pick carefully and see what comes of it. It'd be nice if BBC1 left BBC3 alone for a bit rather than grabbing the hits.

Watched Miranda today and it was... funny like really funny.

I think they should consider bumping it up to BBC1 - maybe Saturday nights. Certainly better than the repeats they sometimes show - its a very good BBC sitcom. First one since Gavin and Stacey I reckon - and god knows what the last good one was before that.

I agree I was pleasantly surprised. It's wasted up against Corrie.

Miranda is great although some of the gags were a little risque for that slot, I think they should nuture it first before considering bumping it to the main channel.

Yeh, chocolate cocks at 8.30pm? Bit risky for the BBC.

I agree with the sentiments expressed about E4. I've said on this thread before that I'm an admirer of their brand and strategy - and credit for C4 holding off from stealing their biggest shows.

BBC Three would certainly seem like much stronger channel if it was still enjoying the fruits of shows like Torchwood, Gavin and Stacey and, in the past, Little Britain which all launched there. Mind you, with G&S capable of pulling more viewers than most BBC One comedy can get these days, its hardly surprising it gets promoted.

I'm sure the BBC will also say that it means the cost of the hits is taken by One, meaning Three can use its finite budget on more innovation. Just a shame they take the "see what sticks" approach rather than the carefully considered commissioning process that saw Being Human brought to life.

I could see something along the lines of CSI: London (UK's much too vague) but what relevance would that have? Maybe MI5 but that's what's Spooks is called abroad.

It had 2.5m so hardly wasted. That's probably double what it would have got in any 10pm slot, apart for the one that the repeat screening has - immediately after Top Gear on Sunday. Remember, it's only low-rated Panorama on BBC1 on Monday at 8.30 so plenty of spare viewers around at that time.

If its combined ratings can hold up, maybe it will get promoted to BBC1.

As for the risque material - I expect Miranda thought she was going to be giving a 10pm slot. Pre-watershed comedy slots on BBC2 are practically non-existent.

This isn't just about BBC1 cherry-picking the best programmes from the other BBC channels, it's about these programmes getting a deserved promotion to the BBC's main channel, where they can fulfil their full potential.

The Apprentice wouldn't be able to get 9m if it was still on BBC2. Torchwood wouldn't have got 6m on BBC2 or BBC3. I'd expect the new series of Gavin and Stacey to get at least 5m. Again, they wouldn't do that on BBC3 (not in one screening, anyway).

Because as you well know ITV have slashed budgets for off peak, so this all hours share stuff reflects declines in the weekend daytime & to a lesser extent weekday daytime and late night.

But then ITV is a business, the BBC is a tax funded organisation that just spends money it is gifted. Hence they can make brand new "serach for an antique in grannies how that we can nick & sell" show for the captive daytime audience without worrying about its return on investment

12.11.09

E4: Misfits: 612,000 (includes +1)

BBC ONE
Traffic Cops 3.4m / 14%
Crimewatch 4m / 17%
Question Time 2.6m / 23%

BBC TWO
The Restaurant 1.7m /7%
Defying Gravity 0.7m / 3%
Wonderland 0.7m / 3%

C4
River Cottage 3m / 14%
Octomum 2m / 9%

ITV1
Corrie 8m / 33%
Collision 6.5m / 28%

ITV2
Peter Andre: 1.1m

Good rating for Collision. Hopefully near 7m tonight. River Cottage did well @ 8pm.

It be really interesting to see what Gavin and Stacey gets, If it was not up against I'm a celeb I would have thought 7m+ was possible, but I can still see it getting 5m+, and will no doubt increase once I'm a celeb has finished.

Would you rather the BBC was funded by ads too?

I imagine ITV bosses would be crapping themselves if that ever looked like coming to pass...


GeorgeS will be happy - BBC1 doing its public service best to give ITV a free opportunity to make money again..

I'd rather the BBC made challenging & innovative programmes rather than endless TOS.

If you gave me £3biilion a year I'm pretty sure I could make a few decent programmes in between paying myself multiples of the PM's salary