How about:

TV I AM

- sums up the celeb presenter mentality ITV went in search of.

Excellent rating. ITV1's Champions League game featuring Chelsea on Wednesday only did 800k more! And of course, the Europa League contract is substantially cheaper for Ch5.

Great peak as well.


Superb. And that's after weeks & weeks of repeats as well.

No surprise the C4 doc bombed. I don't expect the grim sounding Trillion Pound Horror Story will attract many viewers next week either.

And what about those other examples in my post which indicate that the BBC is doing what C4 is doing?


Why would I be striking? Contrary to ill-informed opinion, I don't work for the BBC, have no connection with the BBC, don't work in broadcasting, don't work in media monitoring, not a journalist, not a freelancer and am not employed by any company with contracts or connections with the BBC.

I would have hoped that you were immune from this tinfoil hat rubbish that is prevalent on a certain Tooting Popular Front resistance site, and amplified by some other forum members here.

I haven't seen any Daybreak figures since Monday - is it holding at about 800,000 ? If so it will be back to GMTV's final figure

Daybreak and BBC Breakfast should be taken off the air

That is a bit odd.

Why?

The cutback BBC Breakfast this morning was actually an improvement on the usual. Much preferred the programme single-headed. The stand-in presenter did an excellent job as well.

There's no denying between one and million Corrie fans only watch Monday and Friday now, and this is a big issue for the show. Nearly a million behind EE and only .5m ahead of Emmerdale - this is symptomatic of nearly every week and REALLY not good!

ITV need to bite the bullet and move what is one of the biggest shows in the country into slots it is worthy of. Yes, another change will grate some and perhaps it is just as well leaving it where it is. But for a show that's been running 50 years, this odd sense of momentum loss from Monday to Thursday night is starting to possibly impact on the viewers' maximum enjoyment of the storylines.

I know there are various factors in place here that pose issues such as football on a Wednesday, and Holby City airing at 8pm on Tuesday. In my view there are two viable solutions for consistent, regularly spaced timeslots and they have been floated before.

Option 1 - Return to Weds, displace when needed
This schedule would run as follows:

In non-football weeks
Mon 7.30 and 8.30pm
Wed 7.30pm
Fri 7.30 and 8.30pm

in football weeks
Sun 7.30pm
Mon 7.30 and 8.30pm
Fri 7.30pm and 8.30pm

However this could well result in audiences declining due to annoyance at an even longer gap, and inconsistencies - is it on Sunday or Wednesday this week? etc

Option 2 - Ignore Holby City, and ditch a double episode
Would run like this:

Mon 7.30pm
Tue 8.00pm
Thu 8.00pm
Fri 7.30pm and 8.30pm

This solution is good - I've chosen to keep the Friday double episode, but ITV could decide which between it and Monday would be least damaging if dropped.

Then, Corrie takes the post-EastEnders slot on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This would establish a good mindset for viewers, who could remember Corrie airs before EE on Monday and Friday, and after it on Tuesday and Thursday.

Corrie would win out against Holby initially and continue until Holby is severely dented, and eventually I think the BBC would move Holby to Wednesdays, and sort something else out for Waterloo Road. Holby is no threat to Corrie.

Emmerdale would have to move on Thursday, however, but I think an hour long on Wednesday most weeks then in football weeks 30 mins on Weds with special extra ep on Thu at 8.30pm, would be the best solution.

I honestly think ITV should be bold and employ option two. It avoids the football complication; gives well balanced and spaced schedule for consistency in plotting and a sense of momentum; becomes enjoined with every EastEnders episode, airing either before or after it directly; and also kills one of the "laborious" 90 minute commitments ITV is demanding twice a week at the moment with the double Corries.

By keeping Fridays double, it gives it more of a purpose, for the climax to the week's storylines - and makes it, I suppose, a bit more special with the rest of the nights of the week getting just one episode.

I think the solution would lead to improved pacing and quality of Corrie episodes (week's episodes featuring 4 days instead of 3) and THUS viewer retention and satisfaction will increase.

None of them are directly comparable. Most are rather soft focus and non confrontational. I doubt we will see the BBC hold the green movement up to scrutiny and ask searching questions.

good night for BBC 3, do we know what EE rated?

Highly impressive for Russell Howard whose built that show up steadily over the last year or so. And another million+ show for BBC Three - they're building up a good number of those now for which you've got to give Danny Cohen plenty of credit.

There seem to be far more of this level of hit right across multichannel. Time was (not so long ago) that a million was rare - now we've got three shows on three different channels hitting it in one night (well, almost for CJ). I think The Inbetweeners has proven that there's nothing stopping these shows going much, much further than that.

That 460K figure for Newsnight seems a bit low, unless my memory is playing tricks.

Maybe you should start a separate thread about it and then you can tell us why you have that view and we might be able to discuss the relative merits and demerits. But perhaps the Ratings thread is not the place.

You have travelled into the next few weeks in a time machine then.


Ah, my mistake, I wasn't aware that we were talking solely about green/climate programming. I thought that we were talking about narrow interest and PSB programming in general. My mistake.

ABC:
9pm - Grey's Anatomy - 11.67m (4.3)
* Up 13% from last weeks fast national ratings
* Best rating for 3 weeks
* #1 at 9pm in the key ad demo
* Down 14% from same week last year
10pm - Private Practice - 10.20m (3.9)
* Up 44% from last week
* Ties highest rating at 10pm on any network this season
* Largest ever lead over The Mentalist (34%)

CBS:
8pm - The Big Bang Theory - 13.88m (4.6)
* Highest rating since season premiere
* #1 show of the night among adults 18-49
* Up 12% from last week
* Ties with the equivalent episode last year (which aired Mon @ 9.30pm)
8.30pm - $#*! My Dad Says - 10.94m (3.4)
* Up 10% from last week
* 74% retention from TBBT among adults 18-49
9pm - CSI - 13.87m (3.3)
* Flat vs last week
* Most watched show at 9pm, 3rd among adults 18-49
10pm - The Mentalist - 14.27m (2.9)
* Season low

FOX:
8pm - Bones - 9.10m (2.5)
* Down 4% from last original episode 3 weeks ago
9pm - Fringe - 4.97m (1.8)
* Down 10% from last original episode
* Season low

NBC:
8pm - Community - 4.57m (1.9)
* Down 21% from halloween special which aired at 8.30pm
* Equal to previous episodes
* Down 17% from same week last year
8.30pm - 30 Rock - 5.29m (2.4)
* Up 9% from last original (2 weeks ago)
9pm - The Office - 7.61m (3.7)
* Down 5% from last week
9.30pm - Outsourced - 5.78m (2.7)
* Down 7% vs 30 Rock in same slot last year
* 73% retention which is equal to what 30 Rock was doing
10pm - The Apprentice - 4.02m (1.4)
* 13% lower than The Jay Leno Show in same week last year

Good night for ABC, particularly at 10pm, and very strong for The Big Bang Theory which featured the return of Kaley Cuoco.

Tvbythenumbers

As we're half-way through Autumn, let's take a look at the official series averages for the BBC1 and ITV1 dramas so far this year. These figures include HD. In brackets is the change compared to the average for the show the previous year (or 2008 if it didn't air in 2009):

BBC1/HD
1 – 8.8m – Sherlock... (NEW)
2 – 8.7m – Rock & Chips... (NEW)
3 – 8.1m – Doctor Who... (-4%)
4 – 7.8m – Five Days... (+20%)
5 – 7.8m* – New Tricks... (-2%*)
6 – 7.7m – Silent Witness... (+22%)
7 – 7.0m – Lark Rise to Candleford... (+8%)
8 – 6.8m – Jonathan Creek... (-32%)
9 – 6.4m – Hustle... (+3%)
10 – 6.4m* – Merlin... (+7%*)

11 – 6.4m* – Spooks... (N/A)
12 – 6.3m – Ashes to Ashes... (-3%)
13 – 6.0m – Five Daughters... (NEW)
14 – 5.9m – Wallander... (-4%)
15 – 5.8m – A Passionate Woman... (NEW)
16 – 5.7m – Inspector George Gently... (-3%)
17 – 5.5m – The Silence... (NEW)
18 – 5.5m* – Single Father... (NEW)
19 – 5.0m – Luther... (NEW)
20 – 5.0m – The Deep... (NEW)
21 – 4.9m – Mistresses... (+4%)
22 – 4.6m – Survivors... (-20%)

ITV1/HD
1 – 9.5m* – Downton Abbey... (NEW)
2 – 9.4m – A Touch of Frost... (+12%)
3 – 7.8m – Lewis... (+11%)
4 – 7.8m – Above Suspicion... (+1%)
5 – 7.7m – Wild at Heart... (-4%)
6 – 7.3m – Foyle’s War... (-5%)
7 – 6.8m – DCI Banks... (NEW)
8 – 6.8m* – Whitechapel... (-23%*)
9 – 6.6m – Joe Maddison’s War... (NEW)
10 – 6.0m – Midsomer Murders... (-7%)

11 – 5.7m – U Be Dead ... (NEW)
12 – 5.6m – Heartbeat ... (+9%)
13 – 5.5m* – Poirot ... (+23%*)
14 – 5.4m – Law & Order: UK... (-15%)
15 – 5.4m – Bouquet of Barbed Wire ... (NEW)
16 – 5.3m – Marple ... (+9%)
17 – 5.3m – Father & Son... (NEW)
18 – 5.1m – Albert’s Memorial... (NEW)
19 – 4.8m – Taggart... (-3%)
20 – 4.7m – Identity... (NEW)
21 – 4.7m – Married Single Other... (NEW)

Notes
- * = average does not include rating/s for their latest episodes as BARB hasn't updated for those weeks yet.
- Material Girl, Reunited and The Prisoner averages not mentioned since they didn't chart in the Top 30s. But I should be able to get those BARB figures the next time I do this update and will include them.
- I've included Rock & Chips as it was described as a "comedy drama", although I do understand if some people consider it a sitcom.
- Some of the ITV dramas did not air in Scotland so bear that in mind if directly comparing an ITV drama (not aired on STV) rating to a BBC drama because the ITV one would be at a 0.3-0.6m automatic deficit.

The last time I did this update (at the start of Autumn), I said it'd been a good year for BBC1 drama and I'd say the same thing now. Most of their new dramas have had 5.5m+, with two of them at mega-levels and already recommissioned. All their returning dramas have held up well apart from Survivors and Jonathan Creek, although in the latter's case I think it was more of a case of mis-scheduling and a very high comparable figure from last year which makes the decline look big, rather than the show being poor. I don't think they've announced if Five Days is coming back or not but based on its ratings (which were well up from the previous series), it deserves it. If there's one thing I think they could improve on, it's to find a new weeknight 6-8hr drama series with returnable potential. If you look at that list, most of the hit weeknight shows started pre-2005 so I suspect they'll want something to come through soon. They tried with Luther ealier this year which probably didn't get as many viewers as they'd hope for (though its been recommissioned) so I guess they're hoping for either Accused or Outcasts to do well, both of which are airing soon-ish.

As for ITV1, I said last time I did this that it has been quite a bad year so far and they'd be hoping for Downton Abbey and DCI Banks to rate well - and they certainly have, obviously with DA becoming the most watched new drama series on any channel since 2006 (Wild at Heart series 1 - 9.7m). In terms of new drama, the first half of 2010 was bad due to the failure of Married Single Other, Identity and The Prisoner. Also a couple of returning dramas have declined somewhat: Whitechapel and Law & Order UK. Whitechapel's decline is the 2nd biggest of any drama on BBC1/ITV1 but still managed a mid-high 6 consolidated rating which should be good for another series I'd have thought. I think one area ITV could improve on is to find a non-crime returnable weeknight series because most of their returning brands are crime. It's fine to play to your strengths but for a bit of diversity, I'm sure they'll want a non-crime show to be big next year on weeknights, possibly their new medical series Monroe. A decent year so far for ITV drama I think (better than 2007-2008 but worse than 2009), with Downton Abbey being the obvious highlight.

I think you're right. It was more of a drama than a comedy.

Norris let slip on Alan Titchmarsh that the live Corrie is an hour long and on the 9th, though he didn't seem 100% sure about that.

BBC1 schedule change, Wild Weather on from now until 7pm.

Interesting development in the US cable news networks rating wars. Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's star man, has been suspended indefinitely for giving donations to Democratic candidates in the mid terms.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/...didates_b38394

It follows on from criticism of MSNBC for having their election night programme presented entirely by it's left wing, opinionated prime time hosts.

While Fox News is more often than not always deserving of criticism, they did at least have analysts from both sides of the political spectrum and their coverage on election night was not presented by their prime time 'opinion heads' with Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity only making brief appearances.

October: BBC1/ITV1 Weeknight 9pm Slot Averages
In terms of the Monday-Friday 9pm slot, October 2010 was BBC1's strongest-rated October since at least 2005, with an overnight average of 5.6m. That's very strong compared to previous Octobers:

2006- 4.5m
2007- 4.9m
2008- 5.1m
2009- 4.3m

Well up from last year's comparable figure. In fact, it was their best-rated month in the 9pm weeknight slot since September 2007 (5.8m)!

ITV1 averaged 4.4m in the October weeknight 9pm slot, one of their weakest Octobers in recent years by this measure:

2006- 5.1m
2007- 5.2m
2008- 3.8m
2009- 4.8m

Only 2008's October was worse in terms of the average rating for the Monday-Friday 9pm slot.
Note: HD included in the October 2010 averages for both BBC1 and ITV1

October Primetime Shares
In October, BBC1 had an average primetime share (19.00-23.00) of 22.1% while ITV1/HD had 24.8%.

ITV1 have won three months in primetime so far this year: June, September and October. Compared to October 2009, BBC1 was flat in the primetime % while ITV1 was down from October '09's 25.2%.

BBC Press Office has updated, with confirmed schedules for week beginning 21st November. I say confirmed, it lists the Strictly results show as 75 minutes long from 6:30pm, which is wrong! Hour long EastEnders also confirmed by the PO.

Week 48 provisionals also on BBC Press Office for week beginning 28th November.

I know the listings always speed up at this time of year, but it does seem like they are coming fast at the moment

Strange choice of programme to repeat nationally given it was a regional programme intended for audiences in the westcountry.

Thats really quite remarkable. I guess it stems from having New Tricks and The Apprentice on at the same time though. We did predict BBC One could have a much stronger autumn than last year where it struggled.

Thanks for the drama averages, too. Great to see some new names like Sherlock and Downton Abbey appearing. The BBC has had a much better year after a meagre 2009 - they've got a couple of big hits in Sherlock and Rock and Chips, strongly-rated serials like Five Days and consistency among their bread-and-butter returnees.

ITV are looking in better shape, though they must be disappointed that some of the new shows that had the most potential to return with significant episode order (Identity and Married, Single, Other) struggled. Short-run serials or feature-lengths dominate their Top 10 with the exception of Downton Abbey and Wild at Heart.