It is easier to draw in viewers for imported drama but a live studio talent show certainly isn't a particularly tough sell. Look at Got To Dance, Sky1 isn't known for that sort of thing either but it debuted with more than 1.0m (across the 2 hours) in the overnights. Whilst GTD did go out in the Winter, it was also an hour earlier and the weather is miserable tonight so as Five is avaliable in far more homes it shouldn't have too much of a problem doubling that.


Of course Corrie is significant competition but it is in an unusual slot tonight where it has been known to drop below 6m. DSB also has a half hour head start so Corrie shouldn't do much damage.


I was unaware that Back To Reality aired one week after IAC so yah that will have dented it a bit. It is of course my own opinion that the two were poor, but the ratings do back it up, particularly with The Farm, but you're right in saying it developed a cult following - didn't it get a second (even worse rating) second series?

As for DSB itself, it's actually pretty good. Not sure I'll tune in every week as a show choir competition isn't particularly my scene, but credit where it's due as they've put a good show together with high production values. The judges seem good and whilst Emma Bunton hasn't been great so far I'll put that down to nerves and I think she'll improve. The technical hitch was unfortunate but it didn't last long. The standard of talent seems mixed so far but that's normal with these shows.

Dont Stop Believeing has been quite good so far, im really enjoying it. Its much higher budget than I thought it was going to be. Ill stand by my earlier prediction of 2.2 million average, anything under a 1.5 million share must surley be dissapointing for five.

Glad that sky recommisioned Got to Dance as I really enjoyed it, and it had great ratings for that channel.

Not sure about DSB - but tuning out after 40 minutes.

I think the standard of the acts is letting DSB down a bit with nothing particularly standout so far and one or two quite poor efforts. But on the plus side the production side of things has been excellent and it's very watchable. Naturally they won't want to use up all the best acts on the very first episode.

I've tuned out as well but in fairness that's not because of the programme itself, it's just that it isn't my scene. The production is good but the acts aren't so good. It's getting a scathing reaction on Twitter.

It feels niché. I have tuned out as well. But was impressed by the production values, for Five. Only gaffs were from Emma Bunton getting words wrong.

At least people are talking about it. And I wouldn't say it's universally negative [the reaction], I have read some positive things as well.

It hasn't been a bad show. The thing is though, this is clearly Five's biggest commissioned show in quite some time. Other major recent commissions - Good Times, Heads & Tails, LFSF - have been pretty big flops, so there's a lot riding on this.

DSB is going to flop. I've got loads of friends on Facebook that would really like this sort of thing and not one of them have mentioned it. I think it'll start at around a million or whatever it inherited from Finding Nemo and will then steadily drop off to about 0.7m.

As for Twitter, Emma Bunton is trending in the UK but that's about it. She not that bad a presenter actually from what I've seen so far.

Totally agree. They are simply desperate now for a hit in this genre and if DSB doesn't provide it, I don't know what will.

Maybe they could show The Wright Stuff before it next week

Looks like I don't have to eat my words just yet then about Don't Stop Believing. Most of the acts would have been buzzed off at the audition stage in Britain's Got Talent. Emma Bunton is no Myleene Klass - and frankly they just don't get it. Glee broke down the barriers with "show choir" but this show just seems to put them back up again.

It's also very formulaic - would have been nice to have them take a new approach to the talent genre rather than the usual VT, performance, judges etc.

Nice set though!


And I thought they were dependent on Corrie. And Emmerdale. And X Factor. And Britain's Got Talent. And Dancing on Ice. And I'm a Celeb.

God - ITV becoming so dependent on television programmes - they really should diversify!


I'm not a twitterer but from the four or five places I saw the show commented on I don't think I saw a single positive comment.

Wouldn't it be great if we had some kind of retention figure in the ratings so could have a rough idea how many of the 4m who watched last night watched the first episode.

Erm... how else would you do it?

Have judges comments before the performance? Have a VT after the performance? Confused much.

Five hit by technical problems after DSB, taking the channel off air for about a minute. Seems to be resolved now.

At least it didn't happen during the programme itself, although there was a scary moment after the first break with a bit of picture breakup and I thought it was going to go at that point!

It does look like a pretty strong line-up for BBC One this autumn. Last year, they seemed to use a lot of their biggest series over the summer and struggled for the last couple of months of the year.

I'm sure we'll get their autumn press pack soon, but for the Sunday-Friday 9pm slots, between now and Christmas, I think we can expect (no. of eps in brackets):

Returning:
The Apprentice (12)
New Tricks (8)
Spooks (8)
Who Do You Think You Are? (9)
Mistresses (4)
George Gently (2 x 90)
Have I Got News For You? (8)
Garrow's Law (?)

New:
Outcasts (8)
Accused (6)
Silk (6)
The Deep (5)
Single Father (4)
Sherlock (3 x 90)
Aurelio Zen (3 x 90)

Some of that might be pushed back to next year, but still, it seems pretty healthy.

0.04% of tweets for DSB.

I think it deserves to do well because the acts went from being good to v. good ( no stand outs though ) and it was a nice set up. I think it will peak at 2m and have averaged around 1.5

Well DSB left me feeling very disappointed. I guess my expectations were inflated by a clever ad campaign but the show didn't live up to it at all.

A few DSB tweets:

Channel 5 have royally f*cked up!!!
What were the public thinking? A sob story does not a good singing group make. My husband thought they were deaf!#DSB
EMMA BUNTON LOOKS AMAZING TONIGHT ! I LOVE HER #DSB
It's a good show innit. I like it. #dsb
Its Awful #dsb
This has been an hour and a half of my life I will never get back #dsb

Matthew Wright is on his summer hols!


LOL! Did you actually watch this year's series? The quality of the acts was seriously sub standard. Altogether now, "Chopping wood, chopping wood, chopping wood..." and that made the semi-final.

Rubbish on BBC1 beats rubbish on ITV1 - nothing new there. I'm not quite sure why ITV tried to stick two new programmes on one after the other, especially on a Saturday night. They needed something established to ground the schedule.

If Don't Stop Believing takes off, I hope Five looks at homegrown drama next. I know drama costs a lot, and is very risky but if they can find a hit show (the easiest thing to do would be to do a Britsih version of CSI with assistance from America) then that'd imrpove their reputation some more.

I think the pattern with most talent shows nowadays is good year >> bad year >> good year, and this year was BGT's bad year with not much standing out.

And there's a difference between entertaining and dire.

But however dreadful Chopping Wood man was he was very entertaining in a sort of bizarre kind of way, evidenced by the reaction he received online. BGT usually manages to get the balance right - the talent wasn't great this year but it was still an entertaining series.

Can't say I was particularly entertained by anyone on DSB tonight.

The problem I guess is BGT wasn't that entertaining last series either. It had its moments but generally it was kind of average. I'll stop watching when Cowell calls it a day, he really does hold that show together.

How about letting the performance speak for itself!


Unlike Singer Star though, it didn't win it's semi-final.

Results very dodgy. Winners off stage without a trace whilst the runner-ups get to compete for a chance to compete for a place in the final.


Anyone know where it was filmed by any chance?