Yeah it's a step in the right direction at least. It was decent enough, and if there's ntohing on it's worth a watch but it's nothing special. It's far better than ITV's other recent attempts at comedy-drama though such as dross like Monday Monday. It hasn't gone down very well on here but on Twitter it seems to have been received better. For it to be a long term success I think it needs to debut with 5.5m+, and anything below 4.5m will lead to it becoming an outright flop. Bet there'll be a few nervous people at ITV in the morning!


Well that's an unheard of reaction on DS isn't it?

Note that I don't believe it is airing in Scotland which may effect the overnights. STV are probably showing some dross instead.

I notice they've opted out of Michael Winner on Friday too - to show Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives! At least Winner's show will be 'so bad it's good' whereas Fantasy Lives was just terrible.

There's two strange things there

1, that they opted out of Fantasy Lives in the first place, as I thought STV usually keep the cheap dross and opt out of flagship drama

and 2, that STV are still going ahead and showing it, even though they've seen that it was possibly the lowest rating prime time programme on ITV so far this year.

STV are showing an Australian drama called 'Underbelly', which is better than most drama you'll see on ITV (or any other channel for that matter). But due to the nature of the show, I doubt it'll do well for STV and it'll probably rate below the network average. Still, it's anything but "dross".

Married Single Other was not as good as I expected it to be - I'm expecting one of those lines in the Broadcast article tomorrow saying that it "lost over a million throught the hour". I'm predicting low 5's for today's episode and then a fall to low 4's for next week when it faces tougher competition.

I really think ITV should attempt a big entertainment/drama with lots of crosspromotion and merchandising opportunities Glee-style. Brittania High was the right idea - even if poorly executed. These sorts of big, talk about tv dramas for a high school musical audience are probably the future of proffitable large scale drama.

Remember though, if Glee was on ITV, it'd be branded a flop as it's not getting 6 million viewers

All the 'cool' dramas, Skins, Shameless etc also only get ratings that wouldn't be enough on ITV

This is one of the pressures on ITV, everything has to be a mainstream hit, cult audiences = flop.

yes the reality bandwagon seems to be grinding to a halt now with Hell's Kitchen being axed and other shows being confined to ITV2 and it's time they went for a really big drama with family appeal that can be exported and made into DVDs in a way reality shows can't. A British High School Musical would be the way forward.

Glee is getting 2 million on E4, if it was on ITV1 it would definately get more than that but how much more who knows. Shamless is getting 4 million this series when you add in the first look episode so I reckon that would be good enough for ITV1. However ITV would never make or air these series because they just dont fit what ITV dramas are like. If they were new shows on ITV they wouldnt do well because there is a reputation and expectation of rubbish non-crime dramas on ITV.

Were people expecting MSO to be any good? Isn't it something they've had sitting on the shelf for a while or am I thinking of Mr Eleven?

They need to strike a balace between it being an obvious attempt at cashing in on the success of glee and such shows, but still appealing to that audience and producing a show with the potential for Album/DVD/Game sales. The Disney/ Hannah Montana model essentially.

I don't think its impossible to make such a show mainstream. Glee is hardly skins is it? They should focus on quality over quantity, a core base of 5 or so dramas with longer runs, say 10 to 12 weeks, which can return and create a buzz. More american style drama.

This would inevitably mean more repeats in primetime, but thats the way ITV will have to go, emphasis on big X Factor shows on certain nights, with tumbleweed ~4 nights a week.

They're holding off to air the stripped "5 Days" Monday-Friday next week. They've got to wait for Survivors to finish tomorrow and they also have the rugby on Friday which would have stopped them airing it this week.

Glee isn't Skins, but it ain't HSM or Hannah Montana either, it has a certain amount of adult content

Stupid putting anything like that against Glee really. I agree though - been completely overkilled. Loved it when it began, but didn't bother with the last series at all as I'd just had enough and the "reveal" moment has just lost all it's impact now as if someone out of the area turned up near you with a film crew filming a documentary about volunteering the pound signs would begin flashing immediately. Even the recent Mumbai episode, which I did watch, struggled to convey and genuine shock or surprise amongst the recipients.

BTW, any news on Grand Designs - it usually returns in January, but nothing so far this year and as it's one of C4's top rated shows, I can't imagine it's been axed.


US drama just doesn't go down well on ITV1 though, unlike C4/Five. If they had it, the only night I could see them scheduling it is Tuesdays, and then I doubt it would top 2.5-3m, so be written off here as a flop.

Glee and E4 are just a perfect fit - I just don't think it would have been anywhere near as successful on ITV2 or BBC3 for example, and I'm hoping it's not the kind of show Sky viewers like either. Sky1 seem to have ditched going for the teen drama, so hopefully it's safe on E4 for as long as it lasts - though however successful it is now, I think it'll burn out relatively quickly like The OC.

Can I just say I have now gone bright red? Though how DARE you not rope me in with the BBC fans! I'm appalled!

Anyhow, back to last night. Awful for Dancing on Ice relatively speaking - I think the series is suffering from a lack of great skater or a storyline. Think about it:

2007 - Kyran Bracken's development from rugby star to ice star was amazing, and captured the imagination of the public
2008 - Chris v Suzanne created a lot of debate and they were both great to watch
2009 - Ray Quinn blew everybody out of the water, and was exciting to watch

This year there is no plotline and no exciting skater. It's just...bland. Wild at Heart is suffering accordingly, and it's becoming very dull with the same kind of storylines being pulled out every week. Maybe it should go out while it's still on a...medium? I think it'll just keep decreasing. It must cost ITV sending cast and crew out to Africa.

BBC1's schedule is doing excellently - I wonder what'll replace the programming once the current lot is over and done with? Does anyone have any ideas?

The Fantastic Four did well, as did Five's schedule. The Winter Olympics is performing excellently and, as someone (Brekkie?) said earlier I'm surprised and slightly disappointed BBC2 aren't airing more during primetime.

Good point about Grand Designs as it usually airs at around this time, wonder if they are saving it for later in the year?

As for Glee, I think it will be still be around for another few years and it's a moneymaker for FOX but I wonder what they'll do as the cast gets older as it'll look ridiculous having twentysomethings still in high school unless they find a way of having Glee Club while in college.

Well, I think theres another 5 episodes of Lark Rise (they really stretch that one out to 12 eps a year) after which I guess the schedule will move back an hour and they'll put Countryfile back on at 7pm.

Not sure how many AR's there would be left for 8pm, but it wouldn't be beyond them to throw some repeats of it in for a few weeks afterwards. They have tried to launch pre-9pm drama on Sundays to capitalise on the success of LRTC - think Hope Springs last year - but they've never really caught on. I can't really see any new drama commissions that seem destined for that slot at the minute.


Edit: Just re-read my post and realised it amounted to a really long way of saying: dunno.

I think they've delayed the new series because the projects they were following have been slowed down by the financial crisis. Or... something like that? Don't quote me on that, I'm doubting myself now!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...ne-series.html

I think people should realise that using Twitter trending to make a point, is at best a double aged sword, and should be backed up with something else.

Shame we can't have it nationally! Can we have the option to "opt in" to STV please ITV?

I don't have very high hopes for M, S, O. I'm thinking around 4.5m but may end up slightly less than that.

New Tricks will likely attract a similar audience with probably no more than 200-300k in it. I think NT may well edge slightly ahead though to win the hour.

Am I wrong in assuming Married, Single, Other was like BBC1's Mutual Friends?

They seem similar to me, and both touted as the new Cold Feet, which is a bit of a curse to put on anything.

When you tout anything as the new something your in trouble. When was the last time a show lived up to such expectations?

DS have updated with Friday's other ratings: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s10/l...-for-sky1.html

I'm guessing BBC Three for the whole evening beat Five overall and maybe beat Channel 4?

Wasn't Underbelly on Channel 4/E4 a while ago? I've certainly heard about it on of the 4 Channels.