As in the two presenters with the most journalistic credibility?

Is that really the best way to address "concerns that the content has become too frivolous and lightweight" because it seems a bit backward to me.

It's quite common in the U.S. due to the way shows over there are filmed and indeed transmitted. Frankly it would drive me mad tuning in each week expecting a new episode and ending up with a repeat from just a few weeks ago. At least over here they mix it up a bit and show episodes from older series' a lot of the time. (next week's Law and Order episode is over a year old now)

E4 are going more down the U.S. route, having just reset The Big Bang Theory back to the beginning of season 3 again midseason which feels a bit pointless as I remember these episodes too well, as much as I enjoyed them. However if they had decided to air a series of "best of" episodes from across the 3 seasons so far, then I would have been more interested. They could have asked fans of the show to vote for their favourites online or something. Missed opportunity perhaps.

It's funny they started in December because they could have started in January and not have to take a break, that's the disadvantage of having episodes close to US airing as they have to take breaks which viewers aren't used to, even Glee will take a short break as new episodes don't begin until April but they'll be only 6 days behind when do start up.

I wonder if E4 will show Season 5 of HIMYM after Season 4 as they have Accidently on Purpose which I imagine will fill the gap left by The Big Bang Theory.

I think they started in December to coincide with the launch of E4 HD on the 14th of that month.

Doesn't explain the Glee situation though. I guess they are planning to air closer to US transmission, regardless of the consequences. It's something I agree with on the whole, as it means we get to see stuff faster and it reduces piracy, but the breaks could be handled better.

Glee doesn't return in the US until April 13th and E4 only have 4 episode of the 13 already aired which means the break will be three or four weeks, I think E4 should have not aired a double bill to reduce the break.

Flashforward is likely to air on Five on March 22nd although I'm guessing they will air 12 episodes in a row rather than what they plan to do in the US of a two hour opener and two hour finale, it was supposed to return on March 4th in the US which may explain why Five are showing the Dollars trilogy.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned...

Major for ITV's big match last night - 3m, and that was essentially just match with no pre-match and presumably very little post! Sure, it did better than ITV's usual Tuesday night flop-fare, but still.

Imagine what it would have got if it had k-o'd at 7.45!

The England match should do much better business tonight, not far off 3 times what the Brazil game got. Or rather, I mean an England friendly just weeks before the World Cup kicks off should be guaranteed 9m+, but then it's on ITV isn't it...

Brilliant for Five Days - though I don't think it's as good as the ratings warrant. The original Five Days was superb and in a different league - but I think got smaller numbers.


Kilamanjaro did rather better than "6m+" - got 9.3m if I recall.

Why should it be guaranteed 9m+? England v Uruguay - 1/3/06- just a few weeks before the 2006 World Cup didn't average over 9m on BBC1. And that was with virtually no pre/post match analysis as the broadcast was 7.55-10pm. ITV had nearly 50 mins of pre/post match talk tonight.

England v Hungary did indeed average 9.3m on 30 May 2006. 4 days later the final home friendly against Jamaica got 6.5m (as I recall) on a baking hot Saturday afternoon with an early kick off of 2pm.

In fact, that whole week at the end of May/start of June was stifling with unbroken blue skies and soaring temperatures. But still the ratings were fantastic.

I'm sure ITV (the self-styled home of football...) should comfortably beat that in the bitter cold March darkness. A lot more expectation about England this year too than in 2006.

I meant England v Uruguay - it was in March, the equivalent friendly match before the last World Cup. That didn't average over 9m (it was close though).

Of course, as we get closer to the World Cup, the figures will pick up so it's no surprise that Hungary match got such a good figure as it was just a week or two before the actual competition.

That 9.3m average basically had no pre/post match talk. ITV's averages are probably dented by 1m due to the extensive analysis they give the games.

It was Andy23 not me.

The 1st March 2006 game was vs Uruguay, and despite what you say about 9m being well off the mark, BBC1 averaged 8.5m for that coverage despite a short clash with Corrie at the start and competition for what was then still a strongly-performing ITV show, The Bill, which pulled 6.4m in the 8pm hour.

(For anyone who's forgotten, The Bill was a popular twice, sometimes thrice, weekly soapy police drama which pulled big ratings for ITV. It vanished into obscurity in about 2009, although I believe it still airs - although no-one has noticed...)

Doubt it - hence they're able to slip in a repeat after episode one of a new series.


Oops - sorry Andy23.


4m people seem to notice still. Quite resilient they are too, but they may forget tomorrow with Five Days ongoing.

I love how you always build up the football on ITV as should be getting 9-10m. Everyone knows that 8m would be good enough considering the channel.

I never said it was well off the mark. But you made it sound like these pre-World Cup friendlies easily get 9m+ when that's not really the case. Some matches do, some matches don't - there was no guarantee about it getting those figures even when it was on BBC1.

The 5-minute clash against Corrie would have hardly knocked the rating down. Bear in mind that the 8.5m average was split into 96% match and 4% analysis. ITV1's average will be split into 66% match and 33% analysis so that's automatically a disadvantage.

There's no doubt that BBC1's coverage rates higher. But there's no point making statements like "9m+ guaranteed" when that wasn't really the case before anyway. You do have a selective memory when it comes to past BBC1 football figures - I remember a couple of months ago you basically said that all BBC1 World Cup Qualifiers were getting 10m+ when in actual fact only a couple had done that in the space of 6 years.

I saw the first episode and uninspired would probably be the word. It wasn't awful, it was just a bit *shrugs*. For a comedy drama, the characters were not funny. And unfortunately, their dialogue wasn't that funny either.

The "other" couple were obviously meant to be the nice ones and they weren't subtle in making the point. He's a paramedic who we see being nice to an old lady and she works in a womens refuge. And that's the perfect template for a funny show! (As it happened, the old lady died and the woman was assaulted while working at the refuge)

Tbh, I don't watch much in the way of UK drama. Maybe being "gritty and realistic" is the way to go and it certainly looked more Coronation Street and less Desperate Housewives. But it wasn't really for me.

I've said it before but I'd like to see ITV make some comedy and create a regular hour in the schedule for comedy (as they had for Monday Night Thrillers). We talked about ITV being like CBS with all the crime drama. But CBS' best performing hour (by quite some distance) is their 9pm Monday comedy hour of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. They delivered a 5.8 A18-49 rating through that hour. NCIS last night had slightly more total viewers but a 4.1 rating in the demo.


ITV entertainment is on the opposite end of the "gritty realism" spectrum to ITV drama. It's glossy, loud, noisy and doesn't take itself too seriously.


In the 15 minute breakdown it held its audience well which is always a good sign. Unfortunately, I think it has 5 more weeks where BL has to go head-to-head with Idol.

From that point on, the 9pm hour will be very interesting. Glee returns and any network could win that hour in the 18-49 ratings.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.31m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.19m
19:00 Home and Away 1.02m
19:30 RSPCA Animal Rescue 1.13m
20:00 Crash Investigation Unit 1.10m
20:30 Criminal Minds 1.26m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.00m
18:30 A Current Affair 1.03m
19:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 0.99m
19:30 Two and a Half Men (R) 1.12m
20:00 Customs 1.25m
20:30 RPA 0.96m

Ten
18:00 The Simpsons 0.47m
18:30 Neighbours 0.56m
19:00 The 7pm Project 0.66m
19:30 The Biggest Loser: Couples 0.75m
20:00 So You Think You Can Dance Australia 0.77m

ABC1
20:30 Spicks and Specks 1.08m

Seven won comfortably with a 28.6% share.

---

Quiet night really with nothing doing spectacularly. Poor for Ten throughout.

3.3.2010

ITV1
Emmerdale 7m / 32.5%
England v Egypt 7.7m / 31.5% - peaked 9.1m / 34.5%
ITV News 2.4m / 13.7%

BBC ONE

Masterchef 3.6m / 14.7%
Five Days 6m / 22.8%
BBC News 5.3m / 25.1%

C4 (includes +1)
Relocation 2.6m / 10.6%
Ramsay 1.5m / 5.8%
Housewives 1.2m / 6.7%

Five
NCIS 1.9m / 7.4%

BBC TWO
Being Jane 1.3m / 5%

Wednesday 3rd March Overnights
BBC One
13:45- Doctors: 1.9m (25.5%)
18:00- BBC News at Six: 4.8m (25.5%)
18:30- Regional News and Weather: 6.3m (30.5%)
19:00- The One Show: 4.9m (23.0%)
19:30- Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers: 3.7m (16.7%)
20:00- MasterChef: 3.6m (14.7%)
21:00- Five Days: 6.0m (22.8%)
22:00- BBC News at Ten: 5.2m (25.1%)
22:25- Regional News and Weather: 5.0m (27.1%)
22:35- The National Lottery Draws: 2.8m (17.2%)
22:45- Damages: 1.2m (9.8%)
23:25- Film 2010 with Jonathan Ross: 0.7m (8.7%)

BBC Two
18:30- Priceless Antiques Roadshow: 2.1m (10.0%)
19:00- Yellowstone: 2.3m (10.5%)
20:00- Becoming Jane: 1.3m (5.1%)
22:00- Grumpy Old Women: 1.3m (6.2%)
22:30- Newsnight: 0.9m (6.8%)
23:20- The Bubble: 0.4m (4.9%)
23:50- The Virtual Revolution: 0.2m (4.8%)

ITV1
18:30- ITV News & Weather: 4.0m (19.4%)
19:00- Emmerdale: 7.0m (32.5%)
19:30- International Football: England v Egypt: 7.7m (31.5%)
22:10- ITV News at Ten & Weather: 2.4m (13.7%)
22:45- International Football Highlights: 1.1m (11.1%)

Channel 4
18:30- Hollyoaks: 1.4m (6.6%) , +1: 176k (0.8%)
19:00- Channel 4 News: 0.9m (4.3%)
20:00- Relocation, Relocation: 2.5m (10.1%)
21:00- Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA: 1.3m (4.8%)
22:00- Desperate Housewives: 1.1m (6.2%) , +1: 98k (1.1%)
23:00- Shameless: 0.4m (4.7%)

Five
17:30- Neighbours: 1.4m (8.9%)
18:00- Home and Away: 1.0m (5.5%)
18:30- Live From Studio Five: 0.3m (1.5%)
19:30- Monkey Life: 0.6m (2.9%)
20:00- Extraordinary People: The World's Oldest Conjoined Twins: 0.7m (2.9%)
21:00- NCIS: 1.9m (7.4%)
22:00- Law and Order: Criminal Intent: 1.0m (5.6%)
23:00- Numb3rs: 0.6m (7.2%)

BBC Three
20:00- First Time Voters’ Question Time Live: 199,600 (0.8%)
* below slot average

BBC HD
20:00- Becoming Jane: 0.009m (0.04%)
22:00- Mad Men: 0.029m (0.16%)

E4
19:00- Hollyoaks: 439k (2%) , +1: 243k (1%)

Fiver
18:30- Home and Away: 558k (2.7%)
19:00- Neighbours: 168k (2.7%)

Primetime Shares
ITV1: 29.1%
BBC One: 19.5%
Channel 4: 6.3% (+1: 0.8%)
BBC Two: 6.6%
Five: 4.5%
-----------------------------------------------
Whoops, dubsj's got in first. I'll leave this as there's a few more numbers in it.

I think the football did really well on ITV1 - it's similar to what the crucial World Cup Qualifiers were getting, and it's less than a million down from what BBC1 averaged for their equivalent friendly before the 2006 World Cup even though ITV1 had much more analysis which would've dragged down the average.

Five Days held up very well - 6m is a fantastic performance against such strong competition. Channel 4's post 9pm lineup rated poorly, and that's probably DP's worst rating ever.

Wow, Stunning numbers for the football, bodes really well for the World Cup. What a peak too, unreal, the fact that England were 1-0 down for alot of the game would have kept people watching I'm sure.
Five Days help up really well too, alot of people watching telly last night.

You must be psychic!

LOL! I wish, that would help a lot for the DSRPG. I was pretty confident though that Five Days would hold up better than some were expecting. 6m is terrific especially since the football was closer to 8m.

No need to wait for the officials - Five Days is clearly a big success.

Horrible number for FTVQT. Stupid slot though... what would the majority of 16 to 34 year olds be doing at that time? Hmm.

Good rating for England, Five Days though held up exceptionally well.

E4 would be wise to do a marathon rerun over the Easter weekend, or even over the two weeks it needs to be off air every night at 9pm. It only needs two weeks off, and I'm hoping E4 won't be stupid enough to delay the last nine episodes even further.


Desperate Housewives collapsing a bit for both C4 on Wednesdays and E4 on Sundays - no coincidence the ratings fall came in the weeks after it was confirmed John Barrowman is set to appear in the show. Nobody wants to risk watching a show for him to crop up! And now he wants to ruin Glee as well!

Channel 4 knew when Glee was returning. Why not just delay the series launch by one week and drop the double bill?

They risk confusing people now. Which they have already done with Big Bang Theory.

If you are going to make people wait until after Christmas to watch these shows I don't see why you would start them at a point where you still need to take a short break. Having waited this long you think they could wait another few weeks and run them uninterrupted.

Wednesday 3rd March Multichannel

ITV2
20:00 American Idol - 364k (1.4%)

ITV3
19:55 Agatha Christie’s Marple - 601k (2.4%)
22:00 Canterbury Tales - 415 (2.3%)

ITV4
22:00 Film: Crank - 221k (1.6%)

BBC4
20:10 Rose-Red City - 246K

E4 inc +1
21:00 Film: Wedding Crashers - 333k

Film4 inc +1
18:45 Film: Mighty Joe Young - 183k
21:00 Film: Me, Myself & Irene - 373k

More4 inc +1
21:00 Come Dine With Me - 337k

Sky1
20:00 The World Wild Vet 131k (0.5%)

Source: C4 Sales, ITV Media, MG



Football last night:

MG report entire coverage: 7.8m (32%)
MG report match average 8.8m, peak 9.5m between 8:30pm-8:45pm
ITV media report 5min peak 9.8m (39%) at 8:45pm