One of the Sundays in December will go to Sports Personality of the Year which usually airs at 8pm but they could rest Countryfile for a week and have it at 7pm. Wallander aired late November/early December in its first series so Zen could follow a similar pattern but I think January would be a better time, same with South Riding which I'm kind of surprised has only just finished shooting because there was footage in the BBC Drama reel.

Any news on where Upstairs, Downstairs will be scheduled?

New River Monsters starts in that slot next week



Considering how Christmas and New Years Day will fall on a Saturday, and Boxing Day on a Sunday, I wonder if they will wait until then to make up the missed half hour. If they stick to 11 half hour episodes over Christmas with the normal ones unchanged and Christmas Day an hour, that means New Years Day can only be 30 minutes, and nothing on Boxing Day. I don't think a Boxing Day episode is necessary (would be nice though) but just 30 minutes on NYD seems a bit short considering how there is usally a big New Years storyline


What about trying Popstar to Operastar on a Tuesday?

ABC:
8pm – The Middle – 9.43m (2.8)
* Series high?
* Up 8% from last week
8.30pm – Better With You – 7.76m (2.5)
* Up 19% from last week
* 89% retention from The Middle (A18-49)
9pm – Modern Family – 13.07m (5.1)
* Record high for the show
* #1 scripted show of the week among A18-49
* Up 9% from last week
* Beat The World Series at 9pm among A18-49
* Up 38% from same night last year
9.30pm – Cougar Town – 8.26m (3.3)
* Up 7% from last week
* Best rating since season premiere
10pm – The Whole Truth – 4.56m (1.2)
* Series low
* Down 8% from last week

CBS:
8pm – Survivor – 11.63m (3.4)
* Season low
* Down 3% from last week
9pm – Criminal Minds – 13.94m (3.4)
* Down 6%
* Season low
* Most watched broadcast at 9pm, 3rd in key demo
10pm – The Defenders – 9.86m (2.1)
* Down 6% from last week
* Ties series low

FOX:
8pm – World Series Game 1 – 13.44m (4.3)
* Subject to significant revision in final numbers
* Down around 25% among adults 18-49 vs 2009

NBC:
8pm – Undercovers – 5.41m (1.4)
* Series low

tvbythenumbers

Fantastic rating for Modern Family which will top Glee to be #1 show of the week in the key demo. ABC's entire comedy block performed well, although The Whole Truth is still doing horribly at 10pm.

NBC aired repeats from 9pm.

More likely to be mid-week than the weekend, the last couple have been shown on Wednesdays, but that slot is filled until Xmas by you-know-what, which has been spare in the past couple of years.

I don't think they will have an episode on New Years eve but Boxing day and New Years day is a must.

EastEnders aired Boxing Day last year(the only soap too) and that was a Saturday so i think it's safe tosay we are going to get a non stop EastEnders from Thursday-Tuesday at least

Apparently there will be an hour long EastEnders on Thursday 25th November to make up for the 3 episodes the previous week.

Not sure why the ABC comedy block was up so much, did they have Halloween specials? CBS I think was affected by the baseball but Criminal Minds is still doing solidly as is Survivor.

NBC have a Shrek special which should do given how well Shrek the Halls does for ABC and Dreamworks specials have performed decently for them and of course like Charlie Brown are very repeatable.

Whats wrong with Wednesday 7:30pm/8:00pm

They should save the episode for the 9th Dec and run EastEnders 7:30pm-8:30pm

Yes. Practically all ABC comedy shows this week are Halloween specials. Desperate Housewives are also having their Halloween episode this Sunday. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are having a "Halloween Makeover".

SPOTY will be 7pm - 9pm on the 19th. It has been for about five or so years since it went on tour and the public were let in. Dec 12th and 19th therefore are still clear at the mo at 9pm and a three parter would fit nicely with part three sometime over Xmas.

Upstairs, Downstairs is highly likely to be a candidate for Xmas.

As for 2011, it looks like on hell of a strong start again. What with what has already been announced, there is still stuff like Silent Witness, Waking the Dead & Hustle to name but three to fit in the schedule too.

Halloween is much bigger in America than it is here but producers do taylor episodes based around holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and sometimes Easter. Over here, we're sort of restricted too just Christmas specials although Vicar of Dibley did have an Easter special.

Yeah it looks strong for BBC1. I think in January, they'll have Hustle on Mondays, Outcasts on Tuesdays, other stuff (i.e. Carling Cup semis) on Wednesdays, Silent Witness on Thursdays and Fridays. That'll be a really good schedule for them.

Like Jonwo, I expect Zen and South Riding to turn up on Sundays in January, with Lark Rise to Candleford returning in February, slightly later than usual due to having just 6 episodes instead of 12.

Lark Rise is a 8pm show whereas Zen and South Riding will air at 9pm so it's possible it could air in January.

I wonder if Masterchef will air in January or debut it later in February or March with the new format.

Oh yeah, I forgot Lark Rise is a 8pm show. In that case they could have all three of those dramas on Sunday nights in January.

Will the new MasterChef be once a week or twice? I think if it's once a week, it could launch in late-January/early-Feb and air on Wednesdays at 8pm.

Is outcasts definately moved?
I think Outcasts will have to move to 2011, there just seems to be no room for it.


Does it depend on the Carling Cup?

It's not definitely been moved but I'd assume so because like you say, there's hardly any room for it. I mean they could start it on Tuesdays in December after Turn Back Time ends but I suspect they'll leave those Tuesday slots free to air one-off events such as the Royal Variety and Christmas themed programmes during the holidays. So an early 2011 launch for Outcasts looks likely.

I think your right, it's probably best to leave it until 2011.

All I know about Masterchef is that its 16 hour long episodes with no more 30 minute episodes.

When was the last time though Eastenders got moved from one of it's normal slots apart from sport, charity events or breaking news? It's always on normal days at normal times even during holiday periods. (Must be one of the most consistently scheduled evening shows there is). So I can't see there not being a New Years Eve episode.

I'm sure there'll be a New Year's Eve episode of EastEnders - I don't see why they wouldn't have one.

It'll be interesting to see if there'll be any soaps on New Year's Day which falls on a Saturday. Although dan2008 says it's a must, the last time NYD fell on a Saturday (2005), there were no soaps.

BBC One seem to have run out of space before Christmas for all their drama. I can sort of understand the decisions on Sunday - Garrow's Law did a relatively modest 4m in that slot last year, but of course its constrained by the competetiveness of ITV's XF-boosted fare in the hour. If they've big hopes for Aurelio Zen or South Riding, waiting till next year makes sense. DOI appears relatively vulnerable.

I hope they find a good slot for Outcasts. Tuesdays seem to be the kiss of death for a lot of drama. It shouldn't be on BBC One - Holby gives a great lead-in - but it's been ages since anything excelled there. Survivors, The Deep and Luther have all come a cropper there - to differing extents - over the course of 2010.

--

In the US, ABC must be absolutely delighted with the strength of their Wednesday comedy block. Mondays and Wednesdays has been the bright spot of a season which has mostly been one of flopping new series and the graceful decline of ageing dramas.

It's a shame ABC isn't on the Superbowl rotation anymore since they gave MNF to ESPN. Something like a post-Superbowl episode (as Glee has next February on Fox) could just give Modern Family a boost into the stratosphere. Still, they'll be delighted its now topping even the notoriously strong CBS comedies (which do seem down a litttle thanks to the reshuffle).

For whoever it was who asked - Hollyoaks Later got 580,000 last night.


I wonder if it'll air at all that week, or whether they may give the Christmas slot to CITV (or other filler shows) and make a few tweaks over Christmas.


Thanks for those.


They're probably testing the water but I think a show like this seems to rely on momentum, so breaking for a week from Friday won't do it any favours.

I'd have definately commissioned it to return in January instead of the Famous and Fearless show they have planned - and perhaps test the water at 9pm too.

New Years Day Episodes of EastEnders seem to rate well these days though.
I say do something like

Monday Normal
Tuesday Normal
Thursday Normal
Xmas Eve Normal
Xmas Day 6:30pm & 9:30pm
Boxing Day 8:00pm-8:40pm
Monday Normal
Tuesday NO Episode
Thursday 30th NO Episode
Friday 31st 8:00pm-8:40pm
New Years Day 7:00pm & 8:30pm

Emmerdale and Corrie can easily fit around that i think


EastEnders is never out it's slot unless it has to be which us usually down to sport,charity events ect.
Christmas is the only time EastEnders gets different slots

Outcasts will now be 2011. This week is the last chance to start an eight parter before Xmas intrudes and unless it launches with no press and publicity, we'd already have known a date by now and as the rest of the 9pm slots are now sorted for the next few weeks, it has no choice but to slip back. It has been in development for a long time so a transmission "delay" of a few weeks won't harm it. The big question is "Will it be any good?" Kudos's track record would suggest it should be excellent, but you never know...

Masterchef 2011 will be twice a week over eight weeks surely, asking an audience to keep watching for four months is too big an ask these days. Its been Feb - April recently, and I'd expect that to continue especially as they are still taking applications even now, so January looks unlikely and as we've already discussed, January looks full even now.

From ITV Press Office: http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press...s/default.html

Pretty sure this aired on the Monday before Christmas last year, so I think it'll air on Monday 20th December.

Thanks C.M.W, do you know when the second series of 'So you think you can dance' will air? As there seems to be a new 'magicans' show on Saturdays in January.