Thanks.
Definitely needs moving, it will become embarrassingly low seeing as it had less than a million while Masterchef was on air.

FOX's commissioning of X Factor had less to do with the format itself and more to do with Simon Cowell. I can't see them being worried.


According to The Sun, he's about to sign a new deal with ITV for 3 years so I don't see anything changing in the UK if XF US fails.

Wow I always thought that last night would be a very interesting ratings battle and it didn't disappoint.

During the Edinburgh media festival in the Masterchef session, it was revealed that it is one of the CBBC show's thats might be considerered for the early Saturday night schedule.
It would be better than the hole in the wall repeat scheduled for next week anyway

True - that's going to be an interesting ratings comparison when it comes about: American Idol v The X Factor USA.


Bar The X Factor going back to the autumn and Britain's Got Talent the spring I'm guessing.

I think X Factor would work well in America but I do wonder whether two talent shows can be sustained, FOX have limited space as it is with so many new and existing shows and audience fatigue could play a part as well.

Masterchef has done okay in America, not a breakout hit but solid enough to get a second season. I think the show would be better without Gordon Ramsay, he doesn't suit the show at all! I think it will stay as a summer show though.

Some CBBC shows have been considered for BBC One peaktime slots, Horrible Histories is one Jay Hunt wanted to repeat although it's a good show. Junior Masterchef was a surprise as I expected it not to be as good as the original but the kids were just as good if not better than the adults.

Unless Idol goes into a serious freefall (worse than BB), I can't see XF beating it. The way US TV is just now, a 4.0-4.5 A18-49 rating is a massive success (that's the likes of Glee & Modern Family). American Idol 9 averaged something like 7.8-8.0.

They're also going to need to sort out what to do with America's Got Talent and X Factor USA which will overlap by 2 weeks in the same timeslots if things stay the same. FOX have nowhere to move so it'll have to be NBC that shift.

Will NBC move willingly?

I'm sure they'd rather not. They've done well out of spreading AGT over the entire 16 week summer season. But it shouldn't be too complicated.

They can make some auditions episodes longer and have fewer. Or start the series "in-season" and run into the summer. The auditions rate around 3.4 which is well above NBC's average for January-May.

On the US talent show front - Paula Abdul will be "lead judge, executive producer, creative partner, mentor and coach" on Got To Dance USA which is expected to start mid-season, the same time as American Idol. It airs on CBS, most likely on Sundays. There will be lots of focus on that come January.

Syco's Twitter saying 12.3m (49%). Not sure if that's 5 minute or 15 minute. Hopefully DS put up a ratings report tomorrow.

You don't think NBC may risk a head to head with The X Factor to see if they can crush it from the start, like ITV tried with 101 shows against Big Brother? I suppose the lure of Simon Cowell may make them decide against that approach.

GTD sounds like CBS' attempt to bridge the gap between seasons of their reality shows like Survivor and Amazing Race, ABC do well with The Bachelor so it's not a surprise CBS want to do the same because strong 8pm shows can lift the lineup.

AGT isn't so big that it's going to go out and crush XF - which will come in with a huge amount of hype. It's more likely that the opposite would happen. Also, NBC said they wouldn't allow AGT & Idol to air at the same time of year when Cowell was on Idol.


It did well in the UK - particularly when you compare it to how Must Be The Music is doing now - and looked good from what I saw.

I'm sure Paula Abdul will promote the hell out of it. It's really a dream job for her. She turned down all the "guest judge" and Dancing With The Stars offers and held out for her own show. And I think this is the best she could have picked. Certainly better than the ABC offer of a revival of Star Search in the summer.

I liked Got to Dance, it will be interesting who they'll get to present and for other judges. More details will appear in the next three months I imagine.

CBS' biggest new show is Hawaii Five-0 which launches in the old CSI: Miami slot and after the new Chuck Lorre comedy Mike and Molly, I'm predicting it will do 16-17m for the first episode but whether it can sustain that is another matter. Another thing to look for is the new Thursday comedy block with Big Bang Theory and Bleep my Dad Says and The Defenders on Wednesdays. With The Defenders, CBS has two midseason dramas which could replace it should it flop. one is Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour and the other is Chaos.

Hark! Scheduling-related esoterica! The Sunday Corrie was a no-brainer although it didn't perhaps do as well as hoped, I've said this before but against I think the second Sunday episode the Beeb showed Beethoven, not the premiere either, and it got a massive audience, only a million or so behind Corrie.

Corrie was in a bit of a state at the time, though, it was just before Brian Park took over and it was doing quite badly, the Christmas Day episode in 1996 got nine million which was its lowest for years. The storyline was Don Brennan's suicide attempt and everyone complained it was entirely unsuitable for Christmas Day.


Yes, in the autumn of 1995 you had Last of the Summer Wine at seven, then something hopeless like Showstoppers at 7.30 and Hotshots at 8.20, which was a filler show, like Coast today, which would fill any available slot. That was to ensure the next show started at 8.30 and completely avoided Heartbeat - which was Keeping Up Appearances, which actually did really well, I think it beat You've Been Framed.

Also in that Sunday 7.30 death slot that Autumn was The Ronnie Corbett Show, a one-off, and the idea was that it would be the first of a series of entertainment specials, but they never did another.


Well, Ballykissangel succeeded because it started in February 1996, after Heatbeat had finished its series. From January between 1993 and 1996, ITV's Sunday nights were a bit of a mixed bag, they usually showed films at 6pm - The Diet Coke Family Movie, of course - and then A Touch of Frost or other two hour drama at 8pm. It sort of depended what the film was, though, I remember in 1996 they showed Superman IV one Sunday, which flopped big time, and The Rocketeer which I remember was thrashed by Songs of Praise. Also in 1994 they showed The Man Who Would Be King in that slot, which must be the oldest film ever shown in prime time. Apart from Bond films. So it was a bit hit and miss. When Corrie started on Sunday they couldn't do films then anymore.

But the Beeb still ran away from Heartbeat, I remember the Christmas Ballykissangel in 1997 was shown at 9pm to avoid it. It's correct to say they originally showed it on Fridays, from April 1992, in Greg Dyke's autobiography he says Yorkshire were a bit unsure about it and requested that slot to get it out of the way. The second series in April 1993 was the first on Sundays, then it came back very quickly, that autumn.

I think the big difference between TXF and Masterchef in Australia, is that Masterchef has grown and developed as their own show over there. Their own presenters etc (I cannot understand the appeal having watched it for a week now on Watch but it is VERY Australian in style and presentation)Audiences have embraced it and it has evolved with them in mind. Very much like TXF over here.
Whereas in Australia TXF is a rehash of an English show which failed a few years ago over there, and there's just not the same interest on the ground with it.
It reminds me of the UK attempt at emulating Survivor which was enormous in the US, it was a bad re-hash of a successful American format and didn't work.
Maybe the Australians are the first to be jaded by the talent show format. Do they run a version of
Australias got Talent ? How does that rate?

It started last night.

Australia's Got Talent is the exception to the rule at the moment. It did quite well this year, averaging around the 1.4 million mark and peaking at 1.9m for the final which is pretty good. Some have put this down to the fact that it features a variety of acts instead of just singers so naturally has wider appeal.

However, it skewed very old. Put it this way, Ten wouldn't be interested in it. The final had something like a 65% share in the 50+ demographic. It didn't perform anywhere near as well in 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54 and was beaten comprehensively by MasterChef in these demos.

Including the notorious reality roadblock in the summer of 2006 when BB was opposed by the ailing Love Island on ITV1 and Only Fools on Horses ( a showjumping reality show that bombed ) on BBC One. This was never tried again and BB's opponents were quietly dropped.

Heartbeat- 5.6m/23.1 ... Albert's Memorial- 4.6m/20.0 ... ratings exclude HD

Interesting, thanks for info Dancc, strange that it skewed older than in the UK, will be interesting to see if TXF gets a lift for the Live shows, it's bound to right?

Ahh, I remember a time where anything with David Jason in was certain to get 7m+ ......

Porterhouse Blue and Diamond Geezer are examples that kinda disprove that. Jason is a guaranteed hit as long as he doesnt stray too far away from what viewers expect from him IMO.

Not if it goes the same way as Ten's version which actually lost viewers when it got to the live shows!

In other aussie TV news this morning, Nine have announced their third channel will be GEM (General Entertainment and Movies) aimed at women. It will feature shows like Friends, Wife Swap, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and McLeod's Daughters as well as the CSI franchise.

Nine are to outdo Seven by launching GEM a day before 7Mate on September 24.

I get the feeling Ten are making a massive mistake by being so slow to act on the new channels front. By the end of the month both Seven and Nine will have two extra general entertainment channels to increase overall viewing share, whilst Ten will have none. Eleven is not due to launch until early 2011.

DS has updated: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...o-over-6m.html

BBC1
8pm-10pm: A Concert For Heroes - 5.61m (23.3%) + 295k (1.2%) HD

ITV1
8pm-9pm: Heartbeat - 5.58m (23.1%) + 139k (0.6%) HD
9pm-10:30pm: Albert's Memorial - 4.63m (20%) + 151k (0.6%) HD

A good performance from Heartbeat's final episode but no massive boost really. I think it has had higher rating episodes earlier in the run. Albert's Memorial did OK but considering it's a David Jason starring program, I would have expected more interest. Perhaps the STV opt-out reduced its viewership a little.
Concert for Heroes did well on the BBC.