It's looking likely that there'll be another run of Law & Order: UK later this year on ITV1, from September/October. I thought they'd leave it till next year but promo pics for the series are already on the Internet and there's a repeat run starting on ITV3 tomorrow which will probably finish in mid-September, just before the new series possibly starts on ITV1.


Are America's Got Talent's ratings up compared to last year or are Hell's Kitchen's down? Just wondering as I remember reading last year that Piers Morgan and Gordon Ramsey were arguing over who had the better ratings - Morgan was saying it was the total viewers that counted while Ramsey said that his show did better in the 18-49s! But it looks like AGT's now pulled ahead of HK in the demo, or perhaps HK has slipped?


Hell's Kitchen doesn't skew young over here (for a reality show). The last series had about 0.8m 16-34s for ITV1 which was one of the lowest performing reality shows for them in that age range (only Popstar to Operastar did worse).

If it does start on September 27th - that leaves 6 slots between it and Identity, and would mean L&O has enough weeks for 7 episodes before IAC.


Piers Morgan arguing about ratings, again!

Yep like they did with Sherlock and ITV have done with Vera.



SYTYCD seems to have suffered a bit from the over exposure of having 2 seasons last year. But its still a good performer and with it having no fall season this year I think it will recover next year.

C14E has any date been set for the debut of the US version of Top Gear on the History channel ?

That's good as it was filmed a while back and there is no point in them ordering 13 episodes every time if it takes them 2 years to air them all.


Little bit of both. HK is down a little from last year but it's nothing major and it tends to grow a bit across the series anyway, and I don't think running it in double episodes each week is helping. As for AGT, last year the Tuesday shows were consistently ahead of the Wednesday shows by a decent margin, but this year the Tuesday episodes have dipped a bit (largely because of having a total turkey as a lead in) and the Wednesday shows are comfortably up, and they've been ahead of Tuesday for the last two weeks. It's interesting as last year on Wednesdays AGT and SYTYCD were neck and neck on about 3.0, but last week SYTYCD had a 2.5 and AGT got 3.5 so there has definitely been some viewer defection towards AGT.


It wasn't a proper argument like he seems to have with so many other people, as he and Ramsay are friends and I think it was just a joke whilst they were having dinner together or something.

But yeah he does seem really obsessed with them, doesn't he?

That's because it's made for brain-dead idiots. If they'd made the show about the food and about the talent, rather than all about popularity, it might have stood a chance.


I guess we'll be hitting the summer doldrums completely once the World Cup is over. And to think it used to be us who still got new shows in the summer and the US who were stuck with repeats. How things have changed!

The only figure I can find is the live match average without the build up and analysis on MG

Live match Average 2.772 million (27.1%) on ITV1 + HD http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010...010-tv-ratings

Other ratings
BBC1

1.45pm-6pm: Wimbledon 2010 – 1.49 million/16.5%

10.35pm: Imagine – 1.811 million/13.8%

BBC2

12pm-3.25pm: Wimbledon 2010 – 727,000/11.2%, BBC HD 49,000/0.5%

Spain V Portugal is the highest watched Non england match so far.

The Gadget Show is coming to Dave. Starts Monday 26th July and airs every weekday at 10am, 2pm and 7pm.

Looks like they are starting with episodes from way back in 2004 as they are only 30 minutes long.

EDIT: No they are not. It's the most recent series that has aired on Five. Quite why they are splitting them up into 30 minute episodes I don't know.

Surprised Pawn Stars hasn't been picked up here, given the success of Antique shows, it would do pretty well.

History is on a roll but most of its newer shows have nothing to with history but it seems to working as they are attracting a younger audience.

The US Hell's Kitchen works well as a weekly format but it's a surprise that ITV never adopted it here. The Australian Masterchef works well even though it's more a hybrid of Hell's Kitchen meets X Factor but I doubt the BBC would ever adopt that format for UK Masterchef as it would upset the fans even though as a fan I think it would be an interesting change.

Thanks. They're both still doing well for their networks, especially since there's been quite a few seasons of each already. SYTYCD is slipping - it doesn't look like it has many more seasons in it.


Well it's not all repeats! In drama BBC1 has The Silence, New Tricks, The Deep, Sherlock coming up over the summer. ITV1 with Identity, Poirot, Marple and Heartbeat.

For entertainment shows, BBC1 has 101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow, probably a new Lottery gameshow (Secret Fortune?), and maybe Dropzone (though we've not heard anything about it recently!). ITV1 has Odd One In, Magic Numbers, 71 Degrees North.

So it's not too bad. Looking at the US schedules, they seem to have less drama on some of their main networks than BBC1/ITV1 over the next month or two!

Wonder how they'll air the 45 minute episodes? I guess cutting references to the competition will save a few minutes but not by much or more likely they'll air it 40 minute slots like they do with their sitcoms.

Knowing the BBC it'll be exactly the same format next year - still airing a show designed to air stripped across a week where they can squeeze them into the schedules.

I don't think the Aussie format would be appropriate, but it should certainly be tweaked so it's broadcast in two hour-long episodes each week.

Failing that the BBC shouldn't be afraid to give The One Show a break. Masterchef would have filled the 7pm slot quite nicely over the summer once the World Cup is over, allowing The One Show to come back refreshed in September rather than revamping mid-summer (cue ill-informed ratings reports comparing ratings for April with ratings for August!). A three week break for the Celeb version after Christmas wouldn't do it any harm either.


Though with New Tricks, Poirot, Marple and Heartbeat, new episodes are essentially repeats anyway.

True though the US networks don't seem to commission summer drama/comedy, only burning off failed series or repeating popular series.


Two bits of sports news. Firstly, USA v Ghana became the countries most watched soccer game at the weekend, attracting 19.4m and beating the 18.1m who watched the 1994 final between Brazil and Italy (in the US).

http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/17...er-us-audience


And secondly be interesting to see if a price increase affects ratings, but in a move which is in no-way anti-competitive or abusing their position, Sky Sports are putting the prices of their channels up by £3 each - which due to the rules outlined by OFCOM last month allows them to force their wholesale prices up from £10.63 a month to £13.42 for SS1 and £13.34 for SS2 and from £17.14 to £19.07 for both. This means BT Vision is now likely to make a loss on the channels if they stick to the pricing policy they were intending.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010...-raises-prices

Jonwo they are not showing the old episodes like I originally thought. If you read the descriptions they refer to episodes from series 13 which aired on Five not so long ago. So either they are showing half an episode at a time or they are showing a condensed version.

The upcoming American version of Masterchef is based on the Australian format but it'll be a weekly format so I think if that works out, the BBC should consider testing the waters either with a spin-off or adapt one of the existing shows to the US/Australian format. The Australian is six nights a week anyway with episodes varying from half an hour to an hour depending on the day and challenge.

It is most likely a condensed version which removes the competition references and one or two segments. Half an episode would be quite confusing for casual viewers.

Sky trying to rain on BT's parade by the looks of it. BT might proceed with its original pricing plans anyway because customers will still have to take other BT services in order to get Sky Sports at that price. No idea what they will charge at Top Up TV, where you are not currently obliged to take anything else if you just want premium sports. Probably not much less than Sky but with the added bonus of it being available through your roof aerial and without having to take other viewing packs that you don't need or want.

Yeah, I suppose you could easily cut it down into half an hour. Last series I must confess I found myself fast forwarding through a lot of it. At the same time I'm not sure how it could be improved. Maybe just take it back to basics a bit. All the challenges and stuff are getting a bit out of hand now, trying to turn it into Top Gear with gadgets which isn't working. I'd try and focus it more on product reviews, previews, best buys, etc.

The current format of challenges and reviews works fine, going back to reviews and previews would turn off viewers. I would tone down the challenges and not try and ape Top Gear, I find when a challenge is done well it's very entertaining.

The presenters make it work and they have great chemistry. The bulk recomission and the success of Gadget Show Live and Magazine shows how much Five views the show and they've allowed to grow its audience before expanding it with spin-offs.

Hells Kitchen seems to be down a bit from last year. It's also on far earlier. Last year it aired opposite the tail end of AGT which traditionally gets lower ratings. So it's up against AGT in its strongest stage this year.

In 2006, SYTYCD beat AGT in the 18-49 demo prompting a few snide remarks to be traded between Cowell & Nigel Lythgoe. Since 2007, I think AGT has been ahead on both.

AGT is all over the place this season but overall, it's coming out just a touch ahead of last year at this stage. As Score says, the Tuesday lead-in isn't helping matters. On Wednesdays, the lead-in is a repeat of the Tuesday episode which is serving up a far stronger audience (in the demo & total) than Losing It With Jillian which should really be pulled. So Wednesdays are up but Tuesdays are down. NBC's summer schedule is a total bust but they'll get by on the strength of AGT.


I've not got 18-34's for the show in the US, but the 2.9 rating works out at 62% of the audience aged 18-49 which is at "Glee" levels.


No specific date AFAIK, but it is due this fall:


http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/cabl...-for-top-gear/

Seems like the kind of thing which should fit in perfectly with History's current crop of hits.
_________________________

Meanwhile, Joy Behar is being rumoured to take Larry King's spot. which seems more likely than Katie Couric or Ryan Seacrest. She currently hosts the same hour on HLN, which used to be CNN2, but now beats King at times. Both channels are owned by Time Warner.

However, when announcing his retirement last night, King endorsed Ryan Seacrest to take his job if he wants it.

Thanks for that. History seems like a good fit for it

Re Joy Behar, she was also a regular stand in for Larry before she was snapped up for HLN.

They're making an effort this year. Or at least ABC are and FOX are kind of giving it a go.

But I think there's a public perception of the big 4 that if it's a scripted series on in the summer, then it must be crap. Which is probably fair!

The cable networks have filled the void in scripted over the summer as can be seen by HBO. True Blood would be a successful series on any network at any time of year.

Does it? Call me old fashioned but I like channels that do what they say on the tin. The History Channel should be showing documentaries of a historical nature, not Top Gear.

Well I agree with you there about the name and content.
Since History has gone down the road of of airing men friendly top rated shows like Ice road truckers etc I think Top gear will do ok there.

History still shows historical shows like America: The Story of Us but shows like Ice Road Truckers, Axe Men, American Pickers and their current hit Pawn Stars have done great business. You could argue that Pawn Stars has some historical elements as it's about antiques.

Seems to be a lot of Tabloid interest [ on the front page of the Sun] in tonights Panorama special on the recent mauling of nine-month-old twins by a fox.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/l...015560.article
The tabloids have some snippets of the interview and the first photos.

This is how MTV's downfall started. Branching out into genres that were relevant to the target demographic of the channel but not the brand.