Totally agree, if the weather is as promised, think most people will be taking advantage of it and heading outdoors, BBQs etc.

The second episode of Dr who will suffer a bit because of this.

I have never understood why the BBC air the show in the spring/summer months.The ratings are good, however they could be so much better at 7pm in the winter.

Maybe they should just not air anything during the summer! Until it rains.

ABC:
8pm - FlashForward - 5.48m (1.6)

CBS:
8pm - Survivor - 12.18m (3.7)
9pm - CSI - 15.03m (3.5)
10pm - The Mentalist - 16.08m (3.5)

FOX:
8pm - Bones - 9.79m (2.7)
9pm - Fringe - 6.44m (2.3)

NBC:
10pm - The Marriage Ref - 4.77m (2.1)

FlashForward was up from its series low last week but it really doesn't matter. It's not even close to the kind of ratings required for renewal.

CBS and FOX both enjoyed bounces from last week, CBS partly because they put CSI and The Mentalist back in their old slots.

+1

I just think Dr who would do much better in a Autumn/Winter slot.

On a slightly crazy note (and not particlarly Doctor Who related), why not put the TV clocks back by an hour? So the soap line-up would be running from 8pm every night rather than 7pm.

I was thinking about it for FOX/The CW in the US. The 10pm hour is far stronger than 8pm as we move towards summer. FOX might work better airing from 9-11pm rather than 8-10pm.

(I realise it's impractical and probably encounters an endless list of problems, but it's a nice idea!)

...and as for Merlin?

It seems to be doing quite well where it is. I'm not a fan of all this "air the good shows in the depths of winter" talk. People can record it or watch it on iPlayer if they're going to be out - there are enough ways to catch up now without having to air shows only when it's dark.

And Britain's Got Talent managed 18 million viewers last year on a scorching hot weekend so...

Though I love Robin Hood it floundered in the Doctor Who slot last year, and I think Merlin may do the same, whereas Doctor Who doesn't need an Autumn boost whereas the Spring schedule needs the boost of a programme like Doctor Who.

However saying that, January to March is awful on BBC1 yet now it is cramped. Surely they should look at putting Doctor Who on then. I know that leaves the argument of Six Nations but even during the Spring run Doctor Who misses an episode for Eurovision so a couple of weeks delay is not a bad thing

Hear, hear, it is such a welcome break from You've Been Framed and talent contests. Over 8 million viewers seem to want escapist drama like Doctor Who on Saturday nights and, after all, in the past decent but not heavy going drama series always attracted huge audiences on Sat nights.

It's not the time of year which is the problem, it's the time of the week. As has been discussed quite a bit recently with BBC1 it seems to be all or nothing on a Saturday night, and really at least one show needs taking out of the schedule to make things run a bit smoother.

That said though, the end of the schedule tomorrow night is 25 minutes earlier than it needs to be, so really everything from Total Wipeout through to Casualty could have run 25 minutes later and MOTD could still start at 10.30pm. (It starts at 10.15pm this week, but the news is extended to 25 minutes - though that might now be common during the election).

I dunno they must be doing something right, they've won every Saturday night this year bar Rugby weekend when they drew with ITV1, so I don't understand all the criticism? If they were getting really bad ratings I would think fair enough.

Trouble is it's very safe. ITV seem to be taking the risks with their weekend shows lately - I'm not sure the BBC have anything brand new for Saturday nights at all this year.

I guess that depends on whether you class SYTYCD as new...

I wouldn't say ITV have been "taking risks". Take Me Out is really the only brand new Saturday night programme on ITV1 this year. Push The Button is basically Ant & Dec doing their usual thing with a cheaper set, cheaper prize and cheaper budget.

The BBC had So You Think You Can Dance which was brand new. They've dominated Saturday nights so far this year so their strategy has worked out fine.

Just a couple of queries please!

How is Pineapple Dance Studio's rating and have the ratings improved over its course as it seems to have a lot of press attention? I have looked on BARB but its not in Sky1's top 10, so cant be rating that well...

Also, how is Divided doing this week?

Yeah, I'd like to know how Divided is doing as well. I think it's a great show!

bump.

The Bill's lowest level on Thursday appears to be 3.5m - now the question is can it match that come Tuesday? I doubt it somehow. The soaps are bizarre - EastEnders suddenly gains in share again whole Coronation Street drops. The football did excellently for Five, but couldn't they have launched a drama of any kind in, say, a 10.15pm slot instead of a classic film repeat?

The Bill was under 3m went it was on a Tuesday before Christmas and it had Paradox as opposition. I cant see it going much higher than 3.2 or 3.3m at best.

Remember Fudd, this is Five, the only thing they could have put was CSI or a Justin Lee Collins show instead. A 39 year old film repeat was probably wise.

Football is never a great lead in for shows as the audience switches once the match is over. I think only in America does overruns benefit a schedule or stuff like the Superbowl, you never see The FA Cup or Champions League used to prop up a new show in the same way.

The Prisoner after BGT is similar to what FOX did with American Idol with 24, House and now Glee, you need to find the right show for it to work.

I'd forgot about SYTYCD, but that's as new to the BBC Saturday schedules as Ant and Dec are to ITV's.

They must have something they could try out there. Maybe even Good Times being given a boost.


True, though if they were swift with cutting off the football they may not have lost many viewers.

Well by that analogy that means that ITV1s new risk-taking Saturday schedule consists of one new show Boo! Bad BBC for having one less new show, You'll have to come up with something better than that as an arguement me thinks I was expecting a pletahora of new ITV show as opposed to BBC but, not so much, NOW if it came to Fridays, hands up to ITV1 they've tried MANY new formats and failed, but fair play for trying