Maidstone Studios

The Maidstone Studios.

I tuned back into DSB for the last half hour or so and judging by the recaps the standard of the performances was pretty poor. Shame as it seemed promising at the start. I maintain that the production values were good but Emma Bunton wasn't great and Duncan James was the only decent judge. The supergroup was pointless too, and general opinion was that it was littered with sob stories, which X Factor and BGT dropped 2 years ago. It has potential but it didn't have a great opening episode. I still think it should break 2m though.

The show would be over in under an hour.

Probably a blessing.

Not only that, the VTs are needed in order to give these shows some structure. A necessary evil.

I agree. (SYTYCD being the evidence in hand)

But they don't need to follow the traditional sob-story pattern - they can concentrate on the performance aspect or ask the groups to introduce themselves in a creative way.

Ditching the judges probably easier though - they could just turn it around and make it a more positive experience, perhaps assigning each group a genuine mentor (with guest mentors rather than regular mentors) and then rather than have the judges comments just have the mentor comment at the end of their performance, and then once all have performed bring all mentors in for a wider discussion about all the acts.


Risky may be - but I do think now any talent show entering the market should be looking at doing things a bit differently rather than just following the format set out by Pop Idol nearly a decade ago.

Good second week retention for '101 Ways...', but the pacing is slow and that will ultimately result in more viewers abandoning the show in the next few weeks. I don't see it being another Total Wipeout success but I imagine if it does retain 3.5m+ for the rest of the series, it'll get a recommission. Tonight's the Night has got a loyal audience - looking at the figures for the last series, after the initial drop from episode 1 to 2, the ratings remained very stable at just under 4m. It might not be to most people's tastes (including mine) but ratings-wise it started well last night and since it's the second series, I don't think there'll be much of a drop-off in the remaining episodes. Casualty's rating is mediocre - it should be hitting the 25% mark against such poor competition and I just worry it's on a downward slope, particularly as it has tough competition half the year (TXF and BGT).

Like already mentioned many times today, absolutely appaulling for ITV1's lineup. Magic Numbers' rating, in particular, was very poor and ironically a one-off prank show hosted by Stephen Mulhern on the same weekend last year got a million more! Really bad thing is that ITV won't be able to scrap (or delay) it mid-series because it's a live show and they've probably committed to 6 guaranteed episodes with the studios already booked etc. Maybe ITV should schedule a TV Burp repeat in between Odd One In and Magic Numbers for the upcoming schedules because I'm pretty sure that would be able to get 4m and could help the shows either side of it slightly. I agree with a previous poster that having two brand new programmes back to back was a risky (and damaging) move.

The show hasnt rated very well, but ok enough on the digitalspy Dont Stop Believing thread here on DS. I think it was a bit to formulaic, and the best act didnt win witht he quality generally quite low. The production values and set though were very good. Hope it rates well.
http://www.digitalspy.com/forums/sho....php?t=1300887


Top Gear was good tonight and really enjoyed the camper van challenge. Possible the highest rating episode of this series considering the opposition, third time repeat of POC on BBC1 and Heartbeat on ITV which obviously have different dermographics watching.
Id imagine that lots of people were watching TV last night especially for the summer because of the poor weather and range of programmes.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.66m
18:30 Dancing with the Stars 1.33m
20:30 Bones (R) 0.83m
21:30 Castle (R) 0.61m

Nine
18:00 Nine News Sunday 1.63m
18:30 RBT 1.45m
19:00 Send in the Dogs 1.24m
19:30 60 Minutes 1.01m
20:30 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (16/23) 0.84m
21:30 Cold Case 0.57m

Ten
18:30 Merlin (13/13) 1.14m
*series high.
19:30 MasterChef Australia - Challenge 2.19m
20:30 Hawke (Premiere) 1.61m
22:30 Hawke: The Interview 0.84m

Ten dominated. In particular, the telemovie Hawke based on the former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke and the highs and lows of both his personal and professional life was a huge hit with viewers. Really impressive figures all round though. Even the interview after did extremely well for 10:30pm. Its nearest competition in that slot had 340k!

The individual shares haven't been released yet, but combined Ten and One had a viewing share of 33.4%, its highest for a long while. Seven and Nine along with their digital counterparts had about 25% each.

Anastacia was very off putting she talks so much bull.

I really enjoyed Don't Stop Believing - it was really lively and positive! A feel good show like this is really needed on a Sunday night and I thought most of the acts were really good! I still stand by my prediction that 1.5m for DSB will be a success for Five and then if it holds onto 1m+ throughout the series, then Five can build on that.

Don't Stop Believing credits: "Created by Richard Woolfe"

I don't think I've ever heard of that before. Usually channel controllers just commission the shows people come to them with. I guess the closest I've heard of would be Peter Fincham with The One Show, which I think was his idea.

Quite impressed. More controllers should do that. Even if it is clear he just watched an episode of Glee and decided to do it X Factor style.

I saw that he had an Exec Producer credit and at the time I thought that was odd. I know some channels sometimes give the commissioning editors a credit but not usually the Controller. However, it makes sense if he created it. Although a lot of the time that credit doesn't appear at all, so it's hard to know how often it happens.

I thought DSB was decent enough. Wasn't too keen on the judges and as has been said, the talent wasn't exactly brilliant. That was always going to be an obstacle when many viewers will only really have the Glee cast to compare to. But it didn't look cheap anyway.

If GroupM were able to fund the bulk of DSB, it wouldn't be surprise me if Five used them again to fund and co-produce a drama. I think if they were serious about commissing a drama either a series or a one-off, they would find partners to help fund it.


he'll probably get a portion of the revenue from international sales given that it's already been sold to Australia and is likely Shine will try and sell it to other countries.

Before DSB ratings arrive, will we know if they include HD ratings since Five HD is relatively new and we haven't really had HD ratings for the channel in the past.

DSB 1.5m / 6.8%

Bang on what Dancc's been saying all week - but I was thinking it would have been higher. I think it'll drop next week.

How did BBC2's and ITV1's primetime lineup do? (TG, Heartbeat, Corrie)

Exactly what I predicted on the Predictions Game. So I'm pleased in that respect.

And also just the right side of what I would call decent. Others will disagree - but I think for an entertainment show on Five across 90 minutes that is a very good effort.

Full roundup - Heartbeat and Top Gear beat Corrie! It still shocks me that a programme that gets 6m, regardless of lead-in, has been axed.

Sunday 18th July 2010
BBC1 (inc BBC HD)
12:45 - Golf: The Open 2.9m 21.7%
19:00 - Antiques Roadshow 4.5m 22.6%
19:45 - BBC News / Regional News and Weather 4.4m 19.8%
20:00 - FILM: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 3.2m 13.6%
22:20 - BBC News 2.8m 14.5%
22:45 - FILM: Enigma 1.3m 13.3%

BBC2
16:25 - Escape to the Country 1.1m 7.7%
17:25 - Songs of Praise 1.2m 7.8%
18:00 - Wild Wales 1.3m 7.6%
19:00 - Dragons' Den 1.3m 6.4%
20:00 - Top Gear 6.1m 25.2%
21:00 - The Damned United 3.3m 14.8%
22:30 - Brian Clough: The Greatest Manager England Never Had? 2.3m 16.7%
23:35 - Mock the Week 0.8m 8.9%
00:05 - FILM: Things to Do Before You're 30 0.4m 8.3%

ITV (inc ITV HD)
15:40 - Agatha Christie's Poirot 1.0m 7.3%
17:40 - Ladies of Letters 1.0m 6.3%
18:10 - London Tonight / ITV News & Weather 2.2m 12.7%
18:30 - Celebrating The Carpenters 2.5m 13.5%
19:30 - Coronation Street 5.9m 27.3%
20:00 - Heartbeat 6.0m 24.8%
21:00 - Taggart 5.1m 21.5%
22:00 - ITV News & Weather 3.8m 17.6%
22:15 - FILM: Out of Sight 1.0m 8.5%

C4 (inc C4 +1)
16:35 - Deal or No Deal 1.2m 7.6%
17:25 - FILM: Grease 1.7m 8.7%
19:30 - Channel 4 News 0.8m 3.4%
20:00 - Dispatches: Catching the Gun Runners 1.2m 4.1%
21:00 - Big Brother 2.4m 8.6%
22:00 - Alan Carr: Chatty Man 1.7m 8.1%
23:05 - The IT Crowd 0.5m 3.9%
23:40 - Stand Up for the Week 0.3m 3.3%

Five
16:45 - Five News 0.8m 5.6%
16:55 - FILM: Finding Nemo 1.9m 11.4%
19:00 - Don't Stop Believing 1.5m 6.8%
20:30 - FILM: The Wedding Singer 1.0m 4.2%
22:25 - FILM: Not Another Teen Movie 0.6m 4.7%

BBC3
20:00 - Don't Tell the Bride 0.424m 1.80%
21:00 - The Real Hustle Around the World 0.337m 1.47%
22:00 - Family Guy 0.764m 3.65%
22:20 - Family Guy 0.840m 4.62%

BBC4
21:00 - Who Killed Caravaggio? 0.330m 1.44%

ITV2
21:00 - Peter Andre: The Next Chapter 0.432m 1.88%

Dave
18:00 - James May's Big Ideas 0.108m 0.63%
19:00 - Have I Got News for You 0.180m 0.95%
19:40 - QI 0.175m 0.80%

Sky Sports 1
14:30 - Live Cricket: Friends Provident Twenty20 0.153m 1.18%
19:00 - Live Darts: World Matchplay 0.137m 0.65%

Not too good for BB.. or DSB.

Cant believe ITV are getting rid of a drama (Heartbeat) that can still get 6m in the summer. It rated higher than Corrie in numbers and could actually get potentially more than 6m with due care and attention. This proves it only ever dropped due to poor scheduling.

Even when they messed it around it did not drop as low as The Bill has. They'll regret axing it as few ITV shows can get that let alone dramas. It's watched by pretty much the same no. of viewers Emmerdale has.

Any ratings for Five HD? Or are they too small to even register? :P

yeah desipte what ive said about the promo, I was expecting around 2 million for Dont Stop

Heartbeat amazing, ITV are fools to axe it.

Corrie should be having a better year in its 50th anniversy, I almost feel bad for it.