So to sumarise: 12.19m - "Really?", 5.5m - "Very respectable". Only you could see a 2:1 victory of the season finales of the two flagship spring programmes in that view.


I did ask the other day and I don't even know if the info is out there as I couldn't really find it, but it would be interesting to see the sort of ratings syndicated/local shows get in the 7-8pm hour on local affiliates, plus how FOX and CW affiliates perform at 10pm when they end their primetime line up.

It's amazing really considering FOX's growth in recent years they haven't expanded into the 10pm hour.


Yes, I was thinking it might nudge over 5m but not to be. As a summer filler it does it's job better than most though.


I'm sure the Home Alones have featured most years around Christmas on all those channels actually.


We could do a lot worse than letting rzt take complete control of British television.


Interesting - not a single BBC drama in the top ten. Indeed apart from EastEnders really not a single BBC show in the top ten as the Royal Wedding, Comic Relief and Eurovision are just events the BBC broadcast - and they can't really take credit for coming up with the news.


If they did take all the good stuff off BBC4 I don't think they'd lose the foreign dramas - indeed BBC4 would arguably become more reliant on them to make up for the original drama and comedy they're losing - and anythin with subtitles is generally considered "art" anyway.

As for the inevitable BBC3 bashing - BBC3's biggest problem is they threw alot of mud to get a few things to stick, but really the things that stick have been worthwhile and I think much more has been sticking in the last couple of years.

Both BBC3 and BBC4 though need to be allowed to carry more repeats from BBC1/2 IMO. I remember when Extras was on BBC2 that BBC3 couldn't repeat it as it was considered a network show, but they can repeat Little Britain and Two Pints as often as they like as they're considered BBC3 shows, so although it might be the twentieth showing, it counts towards the 90% threshold for original programming it needs to meet and is considered of more PSB value than a second showing of a recent BBC1/2 comedy.

These are the overnight ratings:

--> Big Brother 7 Launch (2006): 7.0m (31%)
* peak: 8.15m (36.7%)
* 16-34 audience: 3m (43% of BB audience)

I'm afraid I can't get demo skews going that far back, but you can see how strong those figures were in 2006. That 16-34 audience is higher than practically everything shown on TV so far this year in prime-time!

--> Ultimate Big Brother Launch (2010): 4.00m (17.7%) [this is same rating as BB11 Final as it was all in one show]
* 16-34 audience: 1.53m (38% of BB audience)

Here's the skew for that UBB launch show: http://i52.tinypic.com/dbo5t0.jpg

Although the raw numbers were down, even in its final year on C4 it looks like the age-skews for BB were great and very advertiser-friendly. Channel 5 will be hoping for some of that. Also, IIRC the normal BB series usually skew a bit younger than the celebrity series.

When I think back to the strong BBC1 autumn and winter Saturday schedules of my younger days (not the summer ones, cos they were always awful ), I don't think there was anything of more than 50 minutes' duration, and lots of the shows were only 30 or 35 minutes.

There was also a wider variety of genres.

I think they need to get back to that. Obviously, they'd need to keep Strictly Come Dancing at a long running time, because it works well, but I get the feeling a lot of present day Saturday night shows are primarily designed to have as long a running time as possible, above any other considerations.

"Ooh, let's commission another talent show with a 75 or 90-minute duration, and a 30-minute results show to accompany it. That'll be a hit, won't it?"

No, it won't, and it'll stink out the entire Saturday night schedule, rating badly and having a knock on effect on reliable performers such as Casualty and the Lottery shows.

Rant over.

I think I'm remembering a few years later than you - but mid to late nineties BBC1 was pretty much:

5.40pm Dads Army
6.10pm Generation Game
7.10pm Noels House Party
8.00pm National Lottery
8.15pm Casualty
9.05pm - No idea, I must have been sent to bed!

And that was pretty much from October through to March.

ITV of course had something like

6.15pm Gladiators
7.15pm Blind Date
8.15pm Family Fortunes
8.45pm News
9.00pm An Audience With / Dennis Norden / FILM / Drama etc.


Thinking of Dennis Norden, has Alright on the Night returned at all since Griff Rhys Jones replaced him?


I do think rather than commissioning the likes of Hole in the Wall and Don't Scare the Hare that BBC1 could put the likes of My Family and similar BBC comedy repeated in the 5.30pm slot - and also the likes of Robin Hood, Merlin and Doctor Who repeats too.

It is worth noting too that in recent years ITV1 had dramatically reduced it's Saturday night line up - it now pretty much runs 7.00-10pm at most, whilst not that long ago it could run from 5.30-11pm. The BBC is pretty much playing it's Saturday evening shiny floor formats in the 6-8pm slot.

The Royal and Popstar got 4- 4.5 million viewers in line with what I predicted. Popstar was never going to be a massive hit, as opera is far less popular than pop, but 4 million in summer and an ABC1 skew is still good. The Royal's doing OK, even if the demos are similar to that of its dead counterpart Heartbeat, and ITV just want to burn off the remaining episodes and put it to rest.

Yep, they look like typical 1990s Saturday nights.

And going back to the mid to late 1980s (), most Saturday night shows only ran for six or eight weeks a year. I suppose Blind Date was one of the first to get a five or six-month run on ITV, and for the BBC, possibly The Late Late Breakfast Show (with Noel Edmonds), although I'm not sure. I know it was intended to run for about six months from Autumn 1986 through to spring 1987, because Noel announced it on the first show, but it ended in October because of the Whirly Wheel disaster.

Ah, I'm rambling with my reminiscences now.

I don't think there's been any Alright on the Night since the first couple Griff presented.

Not for the past couple of years they haven't. Home Alone 3 and 4 (i.e. the rubbish ones) are the "consolation prize" regularly served up by ITV. But the first 2 have been conspicuous in their absence in the run up to Christmas on FTA TV in both 2009 and 2010. Channel 5 were the last terrestrial network to air it in December, with the original movie averaging 3 million viewers on 7th December 2008. The previous year Channel 4 screened the 2nd one a few days after Christmas, bringing in 2.1m, about what it got yesterday.

I'm sure Sky have something to do with it. I think they made a big song and dance about the fact that you could only watch them on Sky one year.

BBC3 produces a lot of shows that have a commited audience but would not survive on a terrestrial. BBC3 produce a good mixture of shows that are pretty successful and very different to anything else on the BBC.


The Thick of It is probably the most successful comedy launched on BBC4. Lead Balloon has done very well too.

and this is the problem with axing BBC 3 or BBC 4, those shows would not have been comissioned by other charactes, with their own comissioning agendas, same goes for Junior Doctors on BBC 3.

Only because BBC1 and BBC2 need to show more guts and variety instead of churning out similar shows. Obviously they have no need to do as BBC3 do that job currently but if BBC3 is scrapped there's no reason why BBC1 and BBC2 shouldn't take on that role.

I dont see what is wrong with the present structure. If BBC3 is making shows very different to BBC1/2 then its doing its job.

If you closed BBC3 and moved those shows to BBC1 and BBC2, most of them would eventually get axed because the ratings wouldnt be high enough. Then BBC1/2 would not bother commisiong a BBC3 type show in fear of low ratings and then your back to sqaure one with the same types of shows on the main two channels, ie. populist, higher rating, and no BBC3 at all. You then lose a lot of young viewers to rival broadcasters and they wont bother with the BBC again.

So then we go back to the argument that the BBC should not be dictated to by ratings. The point of the broadcaster is to appeal to every spectrum, no matter of age, sex or race. But I do think you're underestimating the pull of some of BBC3's shows if they were moved to BBC1. For example, if Snog, Marry, Avoid aired at 8.30pm on a Monday opposite Coronation Street it'd pull in reasonable figures. Indeed, having these shows on BBC1 (and to a lesser extent, BBC2) would offer more variety and less repeats than what there is now.

The power of music on TV! Just noticed that Ross Copperman's Holding On and Letting Go is #71 in the Amazon UK music chart and #135 on iTunes after it was used to great effect in the closing montage of the CSI: NY finale on Saturday night.

A relatively obscure song, but a good one, and it looks like viewers tracked it down quickly after hearing it.

I did say "most" would be axed. There are a number that would do OK. Snog, Marry, Avoid types, Being Human, Family Guy, Russell Howard's Good News, Junior Doctors, some of the factual/documentaries would probably find a place on BBC1 or 2.

BBC1 and to a lesser extent BBC2 are judged on ratings. Everyone on here judges BBC by ratings as do the media and BBC bosses. If Danny Cohen decided to axe loads of top rated shows and replaced them with low rating but highly acclaimed shows he would get criticised on here, in the media and get the sack from the BBC. Right or wrong, that is the reality.

It's all about balance. The likes of EastEnders, Strictly Come Dancing, New Tricks, Casualty, Holby City, Waterloo Road, The One Show, Countryfile, Antiques Roadshow, Have I Got News For You etc. will continue to be aired. I think the simple thing would be to simply drop the repeats for new programming and work from there. There are enough digital channels airing old BBC programmes now; they're not really needed on BBC1 or BBC2.

All... but one. Check your spelling Fudd. *cough* Countryfile *cough*



But yes, I agree with your sentiment. Saying that, weren't the Delivering Quality First guys at BBC suggesting that The One Show should be shortened and that the BBC's weekday line-up should have more variety before 9pm?

Oh dammit, there are too many country programmes about. I'll correct it.


Yes, I think The One Show could be dropped, or only appear one day a week to give some more variety in the 7pm slot.

Awfull is an understatement, messy script,woefull attempts at pathos drama and two underachievers in the lead roles, it deserves to die a quick death.

Channel 5 have given The Restaurant Inspector the best possible chance of ratings success tonight. Instead of ending with the competition as usual, The Hotel Inspector ended with a quick preview of "the new inspector in town." After the credits rolled there was a short ad for Neighbours followed by an ident and straight into The Restaurant Inspector.

I'm hopeful that viewers will have stuck around and given it a chance with no ad break in between. The continuity announcer nearly got her inspectors mixed up though.

we all know you would have done a much better job

I'd be in my element in that job, wouldn't I?

A successful launch for The Restaurant Inspector IMO. I enjoyed it more than the show it was a spinoff of tonight. Hopefully the overnights won't turn things sour! The early critical response I've seen has been good. A few people on the social media sites are making the predictable jokes i.e. "The Inspector Inspector" etc but better to be talked about than not.

Meanwhile Injustice on ITV1 is getting generally favourable reviews. And The Guardian is calling Embarrassing Fat Bodies on Channel 4 "unwatchable." (I could have told them that before they commissioned it, but then I feel the same about the regular series!)

Sorry for coming late into this, I forgot to inform family members not to get married on important weekends like this, so most people are probably bored with it. The issue as far as I'm concerned is not showing Popstar to Operastar there, but showing a *preview* of it there, which more or less just tells the audience that is a show that isn't worth watching as nothing important or interesting is going to happen in it.

If they showed the first episode of Popstar to Operastar there, I would have less of a problem with it (if it meant shortening it or moving BGT about, so be it) because it's the actual programme. When they showed the first episode of Take Me Out between the two halves of The X Factor final, that was the right thing to do - here is the show that's replacing The X Factor. Same with C5 tonight launching The Restaurant Inspector after The Hotel Inspector.

But not a pointless preview. I think Brekkie got it right earlier when he said all the "preview" Popstar To Operstar needed was EITHER Katherine Jenkins turning up to sing on BGT and then saying it was on tomorrow, and that's it, OR the first episode in its entirety. But not a "preview", for heaven's sake.

I am sure we will get more detailed ratings but Neighbours reached a new high on ELEVEN on Monday - 412,000

Masterchef won the night for TEN - 1,637,000

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.51m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.43m
19:00 Home & Away 1.13m
19:30 No Ordinary Family 0.82m
20:30 The Amazing Race Australia 1.17m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.24m
18:30 A Current Affair 1.23m
19:00 The Big Bang Theory (R) 1.01m
19:30 The Big Bang Theory 1.35m
20:00 Come Fly With Me 1.15m
20:40 Rescue Special Ops 0.78m

Ten
17:00 Ten News at Five 0.73m
18:30 6:30 with George Negus 0.49m
19:00 7pm Project 0.93m
19:30 MasterChef Australia 1.64m
20:30 Offspring 0.95m

Eleven
18:30 Neighbours 0.41m
*record high since channel switch;
*most watched show on digital, 29th most watched overall.

Very strong rating for it last night, the 2nd highest rated episode of the series so far. (top currently is 1.66m for episode 2)