It did with Diversity, SuBo, Stavros, Flawless et al. And from 2007-2009 we've also had Pottsy, Connie, George Sampson (who managed to annoy everyone apart from tweenie girls), little Hollie (cruel DSers loved insulting her believing she and her mum manipulated the show), Faryl, Escala, the dancing dogs (although they're back) etc. Those heady days are long gone I'm afraid!!

The thing is it only takes one great act to start people talking...I do think the show may be becoming more panel-centric though; if the talent is poor the panel will be expected to carry the programme and keep it entertaining. Certainly for the launch episode it worked IMO.

I would agree with this. Last year would have been a disaster had Spelbound not auditioned.

its only the first ep of the series, the talent could get better it would have been better to refelect nearer the live shows!

Yes, but as others have said, the opener is normally a good show to generate interest in the series. I think ITV thought gypsy guitar man and the double dog act would excite people. It didn't.

I dont get why everyone at ITV and all these shows and magazines go ****ing gaga at dogs doing tricks. Its not that big a deal. And once you've seen one you've seen them all tbh. And the guy singing, tbh i thought his voice wasent great and any average guitar player can play like that. Plus no disrespect to him but the simple fact is that unless he loses 7 stone and gets some work done on his face he will never have the look of a singer beyond a pub.

I figured they'd carefully edited the first show to only have a few semi-decent acts on it in order to allow the main focus to be the panel, seeing as it's the biggest real change to the show since it began (Kelly Brook doesn't count, as she was no sooner there than she was gone again!)

It's a pity they didn't do a clean sweep & get rid of Amanda Holden too - never could stand her, totally talentless and should not be judging anyone.

That's a plausible enough theory and I hope you are right!

Yep, I think they have ran out of talent and the format of the show has become tired, outdated and boring.

So after one show you write off the whole series, Do you have the attention span of a goldfish? Give it time I bet there will be a few talking points in the new series just as there was in the old ones...

There is always a chance that good talent will shine through. And I guess if it wasn't for shows like this and X Factor then maybe the talented would go undiscovered?
The talent show that I miss the most is "Stars in their eyes." That for me was way the most entertaining show of all.
Just my opinion but I don't think any of the talent shows today come anywhere near the likes of Opportunity Knocks and New Faces. Mind the standard of talent was a lot better back then imo.

I don't get the problem. BGT Audition shows always consist of loads of bad acts followed by a couple of good ones at the end. Always have. Always will. That way, the good acts stand out more as they're surrounded by a sea of crap.

Yeah sure, however, the 1st episode consisted of almost complete crap and only 2 notably decent acts. (This week's episode was slightly better). It used to be a decent amount of good acts, a couple average acts and then the majority funny/crap - not to the extreme of every single act - bar 2 - is crap

In my opinion, the last couple of series have been rather boring with far too many dance acts getting into the latter rounds. I would like to see a more varied choice of acts going through such as more comedians, rock bands etc.

It's gone from 18 million to averaging just under 9 million. 2009 was a brilliant year for BGT.

It has never averaged 18 million in the audition shows, not even close. And the only reason it managed that figure in the final was down to the single short 30 minute result show and utter ridiculous amounts of hype, not talent.

Think this show has lost its appeal now,simon C has made his fortune in the uk on the back of ITV,now hes off to America to squeeze sheds loads of money out of their TV stations,i think he will in time quietly slip away from tv here in the uk!!

If a couple of dog acts, a few street dancers and a couple of middling singers is all it took for Britain's talent mine to run dry, we shouldn't be ****ing bothering at all.

I do think the show is starting to feeling tired now, even with the revamped judging panel. We've just seen the majority of the acts before.

This series surely cannot be any worse than last year's though. The talent level was just dire.

I agree and if you want to re-live them all in one place here they are http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgAbyfKOaYM

Another poor show tonight. People who would have been booed off the stage in previous years getting rapturous applause.

Have there been any decent singers in the last three weeks? I can't remember any Herbie tonight was ok but not that good.

The boy Ronan was the only singer that's been truly good. But Shaheen was 12 at the time of his BGT performance and was a lot better.

It still remains 'OK' but will be heading for ITV2 at this rate...