Elaine Bedell wasn't up to much at BBC1 - so many talent shows that didn't work and she started doing exactly the same when she landed at ITV1 with Popstar to Operastar. ITV had pretty much stopped with the talent shows before she arrived, settling with DOI, BGT & XF.

They've done alright on the factual entertainment front - shows like The Biggest Loser and Long Lost Family might not be big glamorous hits, but they're solid returning series - which is what ITV have been in need of. But I think those are Alison Sharman's department.

The obvious failure is on Saturdays in January-March and that's potentially going to become a big issue come January 2012. For now, Ms Bedell's big gamble (pardon the pun!) is obviously Red or Black? And she's certainly not being helped by whoever is running scheduling at ITV!

Although I'm not sure how much ITV can be compared to NBC. Looking only at primetime, (remember, NBC are #1 in the morning, evening news and late night) the business of programming the 3 key hours (7-10pm here, 8-11pm there) is vastly different. If the US networks had Corrie/Emmerdale 5 nights a week and could get decent audiences for cheap factual filler, none of them would ever be in the bother that NBC are/were in. The situation for NBC in primetime is/was far worse than ITV. For the past few years, NBC would probably have bitten your hand off to have the UK ratings for shows like Downton Abbey, Doc Martin and X Factor! Plus, some definitions of UK primetime include news broadcasts - which NBC would love to happen in the US!

I know DS isn't the be all and end all, but Moira Ross' approach to Strictly Come Dancing appears to be isolating the core fanbase (a lot of complaints that she's 'Americanizing' it). A lot on that forum are saying the Widdecombe factor boosted the show, so I'm intrigued whether the programme can sustain the levels of last year - if so, it'll show Moira Ross' approach has worked. If it dips by a reasonable amount then maybe she's gone too far away from its origins.

Of course, Beth Hart has a tough challenge on her hands to sustain The X Factor when it's lost both Simon and Cheryl. Talk about a poisoned chalice!

I wouldn't be surprised if it was 1.2m tbh. New episodes rarely got over 3m

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.55m
18:30 Dancing with the Stars 1.48m
20:30 Downton Abbey 1.62m
21:30 Castle (R) 0.56m
*not in Adelaide.
22:30 Wimbledon 2011 Men's Final 0.44m
*up on last year's 0.35m which aired on Nine.

Nine
18:00 Nine News Sunday 1.56m
18:30 In Their Footsteps 1.02m
19:30 60 Minutes 1.03m
20:30 The Mentalist (Part 1 of 2) 0.84m
21:30 The Mentalist (R) 0.60m
22:30 CSI: Miami (R) 0.38m

Ten
17:00 Ten News at Five 0.40m
17:30 Jamie's Thirty Minute Meals 0.40m
18:00 Ten Evening News 0.35m
18:30 Merlin 0.86m
19:30 MasterChef Australia 1.56m
20:30 Hawaii Five-O 0.73m
21:30 NCIS (R) 0.41m

ABC1
19:00 ABC News 0.66m
19:30 New Series: Grand Designs 0.79m
20:20 Sneak Peek: Crownies 0.43m
20:30 Midsomer Murders (R) 0.54m

Downton Abbey still proving a solid hit for Seven and Masterchef continues to do well. When's the final as it usually at this time of year but the show started in late April.

There's about 4/5 more weeks to run I think so sometime in early August.

Interesting article, Sirens is hopefully the start of more drama series and hopefully they can find one that sticks so they can end Shameless on a high. Fresh Meat sounds more like a E4 show.

Can't believe Channel 4 drama budget is higher than BBC Two although I imagine a good chunk of it goes towards Hollyoaks. The Original British Drama branding is quite good and Channel 4 should adopt a similar tagline for their dramas, maybe Channel 4 Originals or 4Drama Premieres?

I think she did a very good job, she cast the show well, did a good job on revamping the production side and took a risk when bringing in new professionals [ which obviously annoyed the diehards but I don't take bothered the average viewer]. if the show had stayed the same, I think the shelf life of the show would be considerably shorter and last years revamp was vital as most in the press had written Strictly off as a half dead show.
The casting this year is going to be very interesting.


Agreed the NBC/ITV comparison is wrong. ITV is either first or second every night in primetime. NBC would be delighted to be 3rd in primetime.
IIrc in the last regular season they nearly came 5th on an occasion

Thanks, I'm surprised MC hasn't been poached by Nine, Seven don't need it as they have enough solid shows plus it would be a scheduling nightmare.

Isn't Lachlan Murdoch the CEO of Ten now and also a major shareholder.
The rights to MC are owned by Shine previously owned by his big sister Liz Murdoch and which is now part of Daddy Rupert's News Corporation.

It would have been an awkward Christmas if they sold them to Nine

To be fair to her (and all reality TV shows) the casting is very important. Someone who may look good on paper could turn out a disaster. A lot of it is down to luck.

Will be interesting how The World's Most Expensive Paintings does, given that Modern Masters was a flop and Fake or Fortune is only doing okay, I can't see doing it well. I think Alastair Sooke should be kept as a presenter for Arts programming but art is one subject which doesn't translate well to television.

having a Murdoch in charge has gone very well for TEN

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/07/...xe-at-ten.html

NOT!!

Do kids still do that?

He has even watered down the previous sport channel, to the point its more like ITV 4 than a sports channel.

A few bits from TV Scoops on Twitter which haven't been picked up here:

- Anthony Horowitz, creator of hit dramas 'Collision', 'Foyle's War' and 'Injustice,' is writing a new drama for ITV1: 'The Organisation'.
- ITV has ordered a new game show pilot, 'Worth a Fortune'. If the pilot is successful, a full series will be commissioned. In 'Worth a Fortune', 4 contestants using their instincts have to predict the value of fascinating objects of memorabilia in front of them. The contestant furthest away from the correct amount is knocked out in each round until one person remains who walks away with cash prize
- Series two of hit ITV1 factual series 'Long Lost Family', hosted by Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall, begins filming next month.

And from Jake Humphrey's Twitter, he is "off to BBC, making a pilot for a new entertainment show" later today. Anyone know what the show name is?

They pay for an HD simulcast. They haven't got the rights to show the HD version in a different slot.

isnt that basically "The Price Is Right" ?

From Attentional:

01/07 - 20:00 - BBC4 - The Most Incredible Thing: 117k (0.56%)
02/07 - 21:00 - More4: The Angels of Edgware Road: 72k (0.4%); +1: 25k (0.1%)
02/07 - 21:45 - BBC2 - Secrets of the Pop Song: 1.1m (5.6%)

Not technically correct. They can show it any time it is repeated on BBC Three, which can presumably take place just about any time given the volume of repeats of said show on said channel.


The BBC are just fobbing you off with an excuse because they don't want to admit they've made an absolute hash of it.

As a simulcast, which is what I said.

I'm not sure when to do updates today - probably when DS updates.

However, what I can tell you is that Penn and Teller: Fool Us, according to Broadcast did not get above 3m, instead it sank to 2.43m (11.17%). The Marriage Ref had 1.73m (8.4%) - an absolute disaster for ITV.

EDIT, in fact ignore that, I'm not sure if that is correct, because it says:


The fact that 2.43m (11.17%) is used twice to represent two different facts suggests to me that one bit is wrong.

From Sam Hodges on Twitter:

From Attentional:

BBC One
13:05 - Wimbledon: 5.5m (45.3%)
21:00 - Stolen: 3.4m (14.9%)

ITV1
21:00 - Scott & Bailey: 5.7m (23.8%)

Scott & Bailey - the only shining light in ITV1's weekends. Great figure for Wimbledon.

You said it could not be shown in a different slot, which is a bit of a misleading statement. Family Guy is shown every single night of the year on BBC Three, and BBC HD does not fill all of those slots with new programming, so it would not be at all difficult to accommodate a HD simulcast at some point in the week.

Brilliant for wimbledon. Cant see many other shows this year getting 5.5 in the 1pm slot

Sorry, I meant the HD version can't be shown in a different slot to the SD one.

Those who had Nurse Jackie, season one on BBC HD on series link. completely missed episode 11!!

That reminds me, Nurse Jackie, season three starts on Atlantic tomorrow at ten. Any guesses for overnights/officials?

The first ep on BBC Two on January 22, got 700k + 18,000 HD.

Can anyone get hold of the officials,as they're too far down on the BARB charts!!