Originally Posted by grahamzxy:
“Jim Davison was never mega famous he was just loud, rude and thought he was still funny. he never had the warmth that Bruce had, (oddly I never saw any non-white contestants on GG or BB when Jim hosted.)”
I recall the BBC specifically asking for contestants who were disabled or from an ethnic minority on Big Break - I certainly remember a number of blind contestants - as it was one of the few quizzes the disabled could actually participate in. Although given they had to meet Jim Davidson, I don't know how many fancied it.
Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123:
“Yes, it regularly got 15-16m every single week in its prime. I remember the Beeb brought it forward to 7.50pm and featured some racier storylines which the Daily Mail got all excited about - there was some controversy and the Beeb had to pull it off air for a week and rescheduled it for 9.30pm - that episode then got the biggest audience of the run, about 17.7m I think.
The episode in 1994 that aired straight after the Noel-fronted debut National Lottery draw (itself a 21m hit with a 23m peak IIRC) got 18.5m. I think that is Casualty's biggest ever audience?”
I do know that Casualty's most consistently succesful period was around 1996, as at the start of that year there was a big run of lottery rollovers, back when the nation was nuts about it, so that was getting huge ratings, and Casualty was actually getting more viewers. Looking at some old RTs, I see it got 17.6 million on Saturday 6th January 1996, two million more than the lottery.
The final episode of the 1993 series was of course the one where there was a riot at Holby and they had to shove it post-watershed at the last minute, I remember Auntie's Bloomers filling the gap. The Beeb apologised for that episode in the end, for being too graphic, and they replaced the producer.
Originally Posted by rzt:
“Poor at 9pm though which is yet another sub-1m show at 9pm for the channel within a week.”
It's a shame Travels With My Family got under a million, it was highly entertaining documentary of the old style. I assume it was simply completely overshadowed by The Apprentice.
In its style it reminded me of a Forty Minutes, and it's perhaps a shame we don't have a successful strand like that these days, Forty Minutes used to be on for six months of the year and would usually get quite a loyal audience. I don't think that even three or four series on people know what the Wonderland strand is about. It certainly doesn't have the recognition that Cutting Edge gets.
Originally Posted by Pizzatheaction:
“I think Big Break was getting 14m at some point during its 1993/94 series!
I'm not enirely sure how the Generation Game ratings went between Bruce's departure and Jim's arrival, but I seem to recall they fell initially, which wasn't surprising because Jim's first full series was a bit weak: it still contained the plays for the final game. Those plays suited Brucie, but not Jim. There was also rumoured to be mutual dislike between Jim and his assistant, Sally Meen. For Jim's second series, there was a new assistant, and more of the games seemed a better fit with Jim, and I suspect he had much more input than he did in the first series. Lots of his showbiz mates used to appear quite regularly.”
The first ever episode of Big Break, in 1991, got 16.5 million viewers, and it was a big show in its day even though it was clearly just Bullseye-but-with-snooker.
Davidson's first series of the Gen Game was awful, they fiddled the format a bit and it was all a bit of a mess. I remember he had the worst catchphrase ever, going into the conveyor belt, where he said "If you don't know what happens here..." and the audience had to shout "...you're already dead!", which was crap. I remember the contestants entered in a 2CV, that was quite good.
As you say, Jim's second series got rid of most of the contrived bits and Jim seemed a bit more relaxed, which was of course later to become to the show's detriment because it became a load of self-indulgent unfunny rubbish. They also changed producer, I remember Guy Freeman did Jim's first series, but didn't do the second as he took over on Noel's House Party - and he was the one who was sacked mid-series because Noel had fallen out with him, the beginning of the end for that show.
I remember when Brucie was in charge, the Gen Game's ratings fell during the 1992 series so in 1993 it was moved back to Fridays - as the first series in 1990 was - but rather fortunately it was during the six months that ITV had moved The Bill to Saturdays, so it didn't go up against that but You Bet, and the Gen Game's ratings rocketed again, I'm pretty sure it was its highest rated series, and they "promoted" it back to Saturday the following year. Those were the days, of course, when a series moving from Saturday to Friday was a serious demotion (cf Russ Abbott).
Originally Posted by Charnham:
“Loose Women axe, I wont shed a single tear”
Everyone forgets they already have axed Loose Women, about ten years ago they changed the name to Live Talk for a bit, so as not to scare off male viewers, and then dropped it for at least eighteen months or so, before it turned up again. Quite why it's lasted so long I don't know, I seem to recall the first few years being pretty unsuccessful.
) so the WR road viewers would be more likely to stay with Emmerdale giving a boost to the 8pm junction. 
I'm surprised BBC1 didn't air the hour long last Thursday to try and boost the share against Britain's Got Talent - but it'll probably get more on a 'normal' night.
