Week beginning 31st May.

Thankyou

Just noticed that the soap awards start at 7:30pm tommorow night so are slightly longer then usual so i expect more adverts or more talking to make up the time.

With the awards being held nearly 2 weeks ago and most people know the winners now
i wonder if it will hold up against the 2nd of a two-parter Holby City?

Maybe an hour-long One Show would be a good bet on the Monday at 7pm.

Will an EastEnders be displaced by footie on the Friday of the following week? That's gonna pop up somewhere.

While I think the main BGT shows will be lower, it's the results that I think will be hardest hit.

The BBC would just have an Hour-Long episode on the Thursday.

EDT-BBC press office have EastEnders bank hoilday monday at normal time

You're right, there is - but I think they'll just have an hour episode the previous night from 19:30 to 20:30.

They scheduled it extremely badly. BGT and The Prisoner are shows so far apart that most BGT viewers didnt bother giving it a chance. 9pm on a Thursday or Friday would probably have been better with a Corrie lead-in.


Or they could run a new show for the week between BGT which would rate very well and that show would have an audience for years making even more money.

But, as you say, they have absolutely nothing to show.

Yes, because Coronation Street and The Prisoner would have a great crossover audience.

Wherever they placed it it would have bombed. They were stupid to buy it in the first place.


Why would they have anything to show? There is the World Cup coming up which'd destroy all the scheduling - hence BBC1 airing rubbish on Sunday and Monday nights.

Can I just clarify something? Is Britain's Got Talent's first show going to be 60 minutes or 90 minutes long? If it's only 60 they're going to have some filler to think about:

Looking at what people are saying it appears to be 60 minutes long so I guess they'll go with something like:

Monday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Britain's Got Talent
9.00 Coronation Street
9.30 ???

Tuesday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 ???
8.00 Britain's Got Talent
9.00 Coronation Street
9.30 Britain's Got Talent: The Results

Wednesday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 ???
8.00 Britain's Got Talent
9.00 Coronation Street
9.30 Britain's Got Talent: The Results

Thursday
7.00 Emmerdale (60 minutes)
8.00 Britain's Got Talent
9.00 Coronation Street
9.30 Britain's Got Talent: The Results

Friday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Britain's Got Talent
9.00 Coronation Street
9.30 Britain's Got Talent: The Results

Wouldn't it be easier just to pull Britain's Got Talent back to 7.30pm across the board, with eight acts? They could add a Sunday Coronation Street either side of the week to make up for the dropped episodes on the weekdays. Britain's Got Talent Results Show could take up the remaining half hour on Monday. The spare Emmerdale could turn the following Tuesday into an hour long.

I think more Corrie viewers would recognise The Prisoner name and have given it a chance, it still probably would have bombed after week one though. Also some other show would have got a BGT lead-in.

I said to run it across the week. Unless the World Cup starts the same night as the first BGT semi-final there would have been no problems

I guess that may have worked. It would've been intriguing to see if it out-rated The Bill in the latter's slot.

What show could've been given Britain's Got Talent's lead out? The only one I can think of is Kitchen Burnout, I suppose, as suggested, that may have worked out better.

Kitchen Burnout was what I had in mind. It never would have been a huge success but probably would have added another million or so to its audience.

They could've worked it so they had another drama lined up for the slot, one that would attract a wider audience than a cult show like The Prisoner. There seems to be a lack of forward planning on post Britain's Got Talent position.

ITV have never used the Britain's Got Talent lead-in well, and to an extent the same applies for The X Factor. All that's gone after Britain's Got Talent is The Colour of Money and The Prisoner, both flopped. The X Factor had Doc Martin as a lead-out, but that would have got 8/9m regardless of lead-in.

At least BBC use Doctor Who as a gateway for the evening (Over the Rainbow), ITV use Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor to 'blockade' the evening and actually no new shows benefit. If they're going to put Britain's Got Talent on from 19:30 to 21:00 with Coronation Street on at 21:00, at least have something new on at 21:30 which can have a boost, even if it means dumping News at Ten for a week.

We'll see what the finalised schedules tomorrow bring.

Holby City is not a soap and I don't see the bbc relying on 11 weekly episodes of EastEnders and talent shows that will be lucky to have a few more years left in them to stop them from sinking.

To be fair I could see the logic behind Colour of Money. It was another shiney floor gameshow, it should've kept the audience hooked. ITV were looking to sell it worldwide.

But the host didn't work well, and the format dragged. Imagine what The Cube would've done with the slot, though? It's the same base idea - shiney floor gameshow - but it did brilliantly in the ratings in comparison to The Colour of Money.

Doc Martin was stupidly slotted, considering it would've held up it's own in another slot. Surely Married, Single, Other was ready for that slot by then? It aired post Christmas after all.


I can see the logic to be fair - it's short term gain, short term cash income which the channel desperately needs. The World Cup will then keep the income going over the summer.

ITV1 are not good at risks - they cannot afford to be after the failures they've had of late. While they should've done more with the auditions slot, I think they're doing the right think with the finals week.

Interesting schedules for BGT week. I suppose ITV are wanting to make a big launch on their Corrie HD ratings by running newly HD Corrie and BGT side by side. Any boost for Corrie will surely be short lived though, with viewers getting lost during the World Cup chaos over the following weeks.



If they do go for a movie premiere then there are a few big name 2007 films still to premiere on terrestrial, which must be due an outing this year soon:
- I am Legend (Warner Bros)
- 300 (Warner Bros)
- The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal)
- Transformers (Paramount)

Of those I think ITV have rights to I am Legend, 300 & Bourne Ultimatum, with the BBC having Transformers. (I'm only guessing about the rights based on the studios that made them.) If starting at 9:30pm, they would all go to at least 11:30pm though with adverts, so not sure they would be up for such a late finish.

I do hope they do something more imaginative than sticking the 2nd Monday Corrie in that 9:30pm slot.

I think it has something to do with the way ITV promotes its programmes - which is usually in a very generic way...I think image-wise and promotion-wise, ITV could improve.

There's no doubt that Britain's Got Talent needs to be bigger and better next year, with a more effective campaign to get more auditionees. Perhaps a bigger prize to go alongside the Royal Variety would help...

I think two hour shows would help next year:-

Sunday
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm Britain's Got Talent
10:00pm News at Ten
10:30pm Spitting Image

Monday
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm Britain's Got Talent
10:00pm News at Ten
10:30pm Spitting Image

Tuesday
7:00pm Emmerdale
8:00pm Britain's Got Talent
10:00pm News at Ten
10:30pm Spitting Image

Wednesday
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm Britain's Got Talent
10:00pm News at Ten
10:30pm Spitting Image

Thursday
7:00pm Emmerdale
8:00pm Britain's Got Talent
10:00pm News at Ten
10:30pm Spitting Image

Friday
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm Britain's Got Talent
10:00pm News at Ten
10:30pm Spitting Image

Saturday
7:00pm Britain's Got Talent
9:00pm PILOT
9:30pm Britain's Got Talent
10:00pm News at Ten
10:30pm Spitting Image documentary

So, at least one comedy pilot, and the return of Spitting Image after the news for a week? So, taking advantage of News at Ten having 6m+ viewers...

1. The Colour of Money would still make a very decent teatime gameshow, with a different host, perhaps without the families and the silly psychological sh*t.
2. Doc Martin would benefit from being coupled with Wild at Heart next autumn...
3. I don't think The Cube did "brilliantly", but it's a fairly original concept...



ITV should be aiming for more:-

- Sci-fi: Although The Prisoner hasn't worked, Primeval did, and family sci-fi can be a real ratings puller. Bringing back Thunderbirds to Saturday evenings would be a start...
- Monday Night Thrillers: Less this year, which is a shame. I think there should be two Thriller seasons every year, one from January-March with 3 thrillers, and another in the autumn with a couple more. 5 three-part thrillers per year is surely a good investment?
- Comedy: With Benidorm and Harry Hill, ITV are in comedy heaven in comparison to some of their former efforts. So why not invest into something, perhaps made by ITV Studios, which can receive a mammoth lead-in and lots of publicity and do well...it would be a long-term investment, obviously.
- Detective drama: After Lewis's success this year, surely bringing the Sunday soaps back can reinvegirate more of these dramas...

Worth noting this one has already been shown FTA last year on Sky3, to a record audience for the channel of 909,000 viewers. Part of Sky's Free Weekend Pass.

Looks like we're in to our twice yearly silly season, where the Ratings Thread dies as people obsess about Cowell scheduling 24/7... :yawn:


Scheduling desperation, I'd call it...

Well there's only so many times you can dissect the shocking performance of High Street Dreams...

BREAKING NEWS

Australia: Modern Family is the most watched programme on Tuesday, launching to 1.55m viewers on TEN.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.47m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.44m
19:00 Home and Away 1.08m
19:30 Australia's Got Talent 1.42m
21:00 Grey's Anatomy (18/24) 0.84m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.28m
18:30 A Current Affair 1.24m
19:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 1.13m
19:30 Top Gear (6/8) 1.10m
20:40 Survivor: Heroes vs Villains 0.93m
21:40 Two and a Half Men (R) 0.74m

Ten
17:00 Ten News at Five 0.91m
18:00 The Simpsons (R) 0.68m
18:30 Neighbours 0.60m
19:00 The 7pm Project 0.82m
19:30 MasterChef Australia 1.54m
20:00 NEW Modern Family (1/24) 1.55m
20:30 NCIS (20/24) 1.49m
21:30 NCIS: Los Angeles (16/24) 0.94m

Shares
Seven - 26.8%
Ten - 25.0%
Nine - 22.7%
ABC1 - 13.5%
SBS One - 4.9%

I'm not even sure if The Colour of Money would be a hit at teatime, as the format wore thin after about twenty minutes of the first episode, and that's without all the silly sob story stuff.

I think Wild At Heart and Married Single Other would be a better pairing for next Spring, once Dancing on Ice is out of the way, with Doc Martin probably back in a weekday slot after Coronation Street.


A lot of good points here. Sci-fi can do very well when it's done right, as proven by Primeval and particularly Doctor Who (even though this series has been largely terrible). However, it has to be mainstream enough to appeal to a wider audience, which is probably why ITV are very cautious when it comes to it.

More comedy is definitely needed, although with Comedy Rocks getting a full series they're getting somewhere. If they can get a decent panel show and another good sitcom then I think they're there. What happened to Headcases though? I'm sure it was recommissioned but it seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

As for detective dramas, they're clearly trying with Vera and DCI Banks: Aftermath commissioned for the Autumn/early next year. A Corrie lead in definitely helps, though as on New Year's Day Marple managed 5m with a Corrie lead in, which is it's usual audience nowadays, despite airing against the last ever Gavin and Stacey. I bet Marple would have been a million lower had it not been for Corrie, like it was the previous year against Jonathan Creek.

ABC Trailers are up:

http://abc.go.com/site/new-fall-season

Feedback from Deadline's live blog on the audience reaction to the trailers:


And the comedies:


Perhaps I should be worried that I seem to share the tastes of advertising execs in New York, but I'd pretty much agree with this.

Mr Sunshine was a real surprise... in a bad way. Better Together and Happy Endings both look OK-ish, can't see either of them being massive hits on the basis of those trailers, but I think they might do reasonable ratings in the Wednesday comedy block.

Legal/crime drama's don't really do it for me, but I can't see why Detroit 187 gets Tuesday nights and Body of Proof is stuck on Fridays. Also, BOP has a strong female lead which you would think makes it a more appealing prospect for ABC.

Easy to see why they highlighted the two that they did. Neither blew me away, but there could be something there. My Generation strikes me as the sort of thing that may launch well but could very easily collapse like FlashForward did this year.