Well it will take something quite unforseen to change SYTYCD fortunes. In the bits I saw last night the judges seemed to be trying to be more confrontational and at one point one of the contestants mother got up and remonstrated with Nigel Lythgoe. The problem is that it does not alter the basic problem that people dont go for modern dance and have no interest in choosing someone for which the prize is a one way ticket out of the public eye. For a show which takes up a quarter of the year in primetime there needs to be more than articles about how low the viewing figures are.The BBC's endless search for another entertainment hit isnt answered here.

I doubt Sky will let a BBC America logo take up half the screen as the BBC does with Doctor Who too. Sky1 having Sinbad makes sense though - couldn't really see where Sinbad would fit on BBC1 without Merlin or Doctor Who going on a hiatus.


Such a disapointing start to TXF USA. Nicole is absolutely wasted as a presenter and would be better on the panel than either Cheryl or Paula - and Steve Jones and Cheryl Cole's reputations here count for nothing over there. Better presenters than Steve Jones have failed stateside.

Actually the US panel is so weakened by Cheryl and Paula that even without Simon the panel here of Louis, Dannii, Gary Barlow and A N Other is beginning to look even stronger.


Well, except for a certain Robbie Sykes.

No question about it last night's show was better concentrating on actual talent rather than the obvious laughing stocks - indeed not sure the buzzers were used at all last night. Michael Macintyre especially is coming into his own now and beginning to let the judge over take the performer in him, and I hope that Simon's involvement in the live shows this year is the end of his association with it as really the show doesn't need him - and assuming the same panel next year they'd be no need to parachute Cowell in for the live shows.

That surprised me as almost all the reviews have rubbished it. Maybe people not wanting to watch SYTYCD switched over to it.
However, fair play to Doctor Who for its ratings going up by 800,000. A strong story, less sci fi geekery and plenty of action last night would have persuaded more people to tune in. I think with the series being split, we could see 7 million for the last three episodes as next week's looks strong. Just a shame the first episode was slow and aimed at hardcore fans.

Cool idea. I'd like to see that as well.

Worth noting that CSI: NY gets its earliest start of the season next weekend (9pm) due to no Casualty on BBC One.

I think this month is going to be ITV1's best since the end of the X Factor. BGT is starting to get into its stride and I reckon for the weekday shows, 11 million a night will tune in and 13 million will watch the final. Also the ECL final should attract 13 million due to Man U reaching the final.
For BBC One Doctor Who seems to be picking up in the ratings and I predict 7 million( 8 million with timeshift) for the next three episodes. Their main one off event this month, the Eurovision Song Contest, should pull in 7 million viewers. Also The Apprentice should guarantee them 8 million viewers an episode.

Excellent for BGT last night. 10.4m inc. +1 is the same rating as the opening episode. I wonder how it will hold up again Eurovision next weekend? I can see them making a big deal of Cowell's return on the last show before the live shows. Hopefully they will get a lift too. 11m would be good figure but going head-to-head with EE every night won't help matters like last year. I think it lost momentum last year when Corrie was pulled for the final 3 days. I think this year the results shows will rate better than last year with Corrie keeping most of those viewers this time.

DW did well to grow 0.8m from last week. 4 more episode to go before the break should see it get 6m+ every week with some decent timeshifts up to 8m for the final figure.

There was already a Cowell teaser at the beginning of the show last night, predictably with him stating that he couldn't believe the calibre of acts which had been put through. I'd almost forgotten he was part of the show!
I do think it's going to look very weird with him sat on the end of the judging panel when the live shows come around.

The scheduling is ridiculous starting at 7.30pm.

Yeah I saw the Cowell teaser. I liked The Hoff's comments about where will Simon sit. He said something like, will we get a longer table or will Simon be sat behind us on a throne lol!

The 7.30pm timeslot is rubbish. I would run it 8.30-10pm like they have done in previous years, or if they really need 2 hours then run it 8-10pm.

Dot's arm is still in a sling.

Oh how I'd laugh if that came off. Cowell being forced to sign up talent from the SCD stable, and ITVistas/TXFistas on here then having to do a 180 flip and start talking up Dixon after slagging her off with glee since she joined SCD.

The Sunday Times, no less, today reported Gary Barlow as Cowell's replacement as head judge on TXF.

Gary Barlow and Alesha Dixon in place of Cowell and Cheryl? At least the new pair actually have some talent, but will they help whip up a tabloid/Twitter frenzy every week?




Pending confirmation of the actual ITV1 overnights, it's not brilliant that BGT and Life Stories were sub-10m (presumably just) and sub-4m respectively. The weather was appalling yesterday evening, and with the holiday period over, one might have expected more than a 1m uplift for BGT. It's just about back to where the debut episode was, so time will tell if it develops some "mo" this time out.

The weather helped Hare back towards respectability, obviously the first two eps being aired during the afternoon of two successive hot holiday Saturdays didn't help the cause. I think the Beeb should try to stick with the 5.30 slot rather than effectively cull the show already by shunting it back before the news. They obviously spent a bit of time and effort on the format, so to kill it already seems bizarre. I really don't understand why an inoffensive early Saturday family game show is attracting such hatred.

More decent ratings for extended HIGNFY. There is now clearly a committed audience who ignore the shorter Friday episode and just watch Saturdays. I'm amongst them - I suspect HIGNFY is one of those shows where aggregation is justified in the circumstances, but this splitting of the HIGNFY audience is clearly damaging the Friday night ratings, and not helping BBC1 on Fridays overall.

Roscoe Barnes: EastEnders is pretty dire at the moment. Coronation Street is worse, though.

I hope Britain's Got Talent won't go head-to-head with EastEnders. However, I think EastEnders will rate better. They have better material this year, instead of the "Teens in the Wood" week. I think Diedrick Santer knew that EastEnders would lose to BGT anyway, and probably didn't care. Or, maybe he knew that more teenagers would watch Britain's Got Talent, and tried to slowly lure them back.

One thing in Steve's favour is his ability to appear relaxed around contestants, be they celebs or members of the public. O'Leary always looks tense.

O'Leary is perhaps a bit better at delivering lines from an autocue, but he is always shuffling on one heel, which is incredibly distracting.

Hasn't this always been the case though? The extended repeat has always pulled in a solid ~2m for BBC2, but the first run episode has usually managed 5-6m. Now what's happened is that about ~2m still watch on BBC2 but there's about ~4.5m for the initial BBC1 airing instead of the ~5.5m it used to get. So even on "aggregation", the show would be down from what it used to get.

Both shows rating lower than SCD, TXF, BGT, IAC and Downton Abbey must say something. People are fed up with the depressing storylines, ham acting and cheap sets and in the case of dear old Corrie( how I hate that nickname) the sheer overkill with episodes and repeat showings.

I dont understand that, why are 4.1 m people still watching SIng If You Can, is there a drinking game im not aware of?

Slating BGT's 10 million and praising DSTH's 'respectable' rating. Those really are the rating stories of the night!

Would you be backing DSTH if it was on ITV I wonder?

whilst I agree that there is an over kill of Corrie episodes, I dont agree that the ratings are showing that viewers are tried of the shows.

There probably are lots of games that you arent aware of but I'd sugest that the presenters are popular and people know its light hearted rubbish (as do the presenters), unlike some BBCs shows which are rubbish too but the presenters seem to think they are living Lord Reiths mission statement.

Well it does seem in the last couple of years viewers seem to be opting more for dancing and singing contests and on one occasion New Tricks was a million ahead of the two soaps. Also Coronation St has been beaten on a couple of occasions in the ratings by Strictly and Doctor Who. ITV1's factual offerings like The Lakes seem to pull in 4 million against Eastenders which shows this isn't such a dead slot for ITV like it was in the nineties.
However, Coronation St is still a regular banker for ITV and they know it is a cash cow for them.

No he would not! He'd be dissing it as the worst programme in the history of British television, just as everybody else in the country is, even those who haven't seen it yet.

I can only assume that the 2.3m people who watched it switched on by accident and were, literally, too stunned to switch their televisons off.

I agree with statement b but you're pushing it with statement a.

I wonder if the Sunday Mirror still thinks BGT is in crisis after last night. 10.4 million would suggest a show that is very healthy. I wonder if, like Big Brother at the height of its popularity, the Mirror Group are trying to court controversy by turning against the top show in the ratings. However, dear old Corrie is always beyond criticism.

I am not sure I can say that ratings are low.

Day BBC 1 BBC 3
Monday 9.06m 740k
Tuesday 8.6m 1.14m
Thursday 7.8m 1.13m
Friday 7.95m 734k

Those are not low numbrrs, it was still nice weather earlier in the week as well.

That said EE is not at its best currently, and im sometimes surprised by the 8m - 9m ratings, Kirkwood is not doing well as the exec producer.

Cant speak for Corrie, but obviously its ratings are lowed than EE, so make of that what you will.

I dont know a Soap vs Talent Show comparsion is fair to either, they are two differnt types of show, one airs during the week, one at the weekend, what will we compare next, BBC News to 4 Music?

This genuinely happened to me last week, I was flicking through the channels, stopped on BBC1 and ended up watching the whole of Hare in sheer shock at how terrible it is. The contestants looked embarrassed .

Didn't make the same mistake this week .