Originally Posted by Dancc:
“Good grief, a night to forget for Channel 4. I thought the Haiti doc might at least crack the 1m mark, was it a repeat? Beyond awful for Morgana.”
A year to forget really - and I think already we can put Famous and Fearless down as one of the flops of 2011. There just seems no method in their madness at the moment with a very weak primetime schedule where they put anything anywhere.
You used to know you could get popular factual on Tuesdays at 9pm, British drama at 10pm, US drama on Mon/Wed at 10pm, comedy on Fridays, property shows at 8pm etc. At the moment it's just all over the place and most new commissions are completely lacking in originality, something which C4 can usually be relied upon for - whilst anything with an ounce of promise seems to be killed off once it gets into the schedulers hands.
Even without considering the impact of the loss of Big Brother it's a huge year for C4 - and if they just stepped back and thought for a few minutes before shoving shows anywhere in the schedule they could quite quickly get back on the road to recovery.
Originally Posted by iaindb:
“The general consensus about UD is that it was inferior to Downton. But those ratings were healthly. I see UD as being a good choice to replace Lark Rise To Candleford.”
I'd agree with that consensus, though I suspect if Downton had followed UD the consensus may be different. I think though the BBC need to get out of this habit of reviving old brands though - Christmas has been pretty much solely remakes and rehashes of old favourites. Indeed has there actually been a single show on BBC1 we could call original?
Originally Posted by pasodabble:
“Re Downton and Upstairs Downstairs, an article in the Telegraph over the bank holiday mentioned that it's looking likely they will be pitched against each other when they both return. Not at the same time (as that would be suicidal for both shows) but in the same season, most likely autumn.
Would UD work well just before Strictly on a saturday, with DA retaining its slot after the X Factor results on a sunday? Assuming ~8 further episodes each are commissioned. Both could start in October and end in mid November, just before IAACGMOOH's run. I know UD at teatime may not work well with Merlin, but I can't see when else it could be shown.”
Upstairs Downstairs is clearly not a tea-time drama. At best it could slot into the schedules once Downton finishes and I'm a Celeb begins - this week I think there was six weeks of Sundays to play with there. Really though they're best holding it till the New Year, though with Wild at Heart in the 8.30-9.30pm slot I wonder whether it's best at 8pm, 8.30pm or 9pm, assuming it's on a Sunday.
Originally Posted by cylon6:
“Jean Marsh in The Guardian:
"I think we were all surprised. The new Upstairs Downstairs had been in the works for about three years. We were trying to sort out ... 40 years of rights, and then [ITV] also started Downton Abbey – in the Edwardian era, which Upstairs Downstairs did. So it might be a coincidence, and I might be the queen of Belgium."”
Because Upstairs Downstairs is the only period piece that's ever existed. If she really cared about it she wouldn't have casted herself in it - she's clearly the weak link in the cast.
”
