The main problems with Penn & Teller Fool Us are the host - he is not that popular with viewers, the production values - it just seems so low budget, the acts are a mixed bag - some impressive, some not at all. It was never going to be a massive hit for ITV. Penn & Teller as magicians are mindblowing - as judges they are by comparison quite dull.

They should have 3 decent acts per show - with a full trick routine, not card palming/throwing - give the audience something to cheer along to, amaze viewers with tricks, a show like this needs a hook.

The thing with card tricks is that they're ok every so often, but not every week. it can get repetitive seeing at least one an episode.

Interesting that E4 are only going back to the beginning of Season 6 with Friends once they finish their current run through on Monday. This would suggest it's bowing out at the end of August.

Due to the Athletics finishing bang on 8pm, Top Gear is now billed from 8pm to 9:05pm.

Spokespersons for Kate Thornton and Zoe Tyler confirm they have not been offered new contracts to return to Loose Women.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...t-ratings.html

Is that the trilogy of sackings for Kate Thornton then? The X Factor, 71 Degrees North, Loose Women.

Just one thing:

"In January, the 60-minute show, which is screened live at 12.30pm every weekday, was drawing in daily audiences of more than two million. But by June figures fell to just 700,000 – less than those tuning in to BBC1 antiques programme Bargain Hunt."

Face. Palm. Journalists + Logic = Never.

The press certainly seem to be turning their fire on ITV at the moment.

that isnt a great track record.

Big question in tomorrow's overnights is who wins the 2011 coveted award of 'Battle of the Reality Flops'....

Battle of the Flops
Popstar to Operastar - 3.50m (15.4%) [11 episodes down; 2 left]
So You Think You Can Dance - 3.32m (16.15%)

Popstar to Operastar excludes +1 as Digital Spy does not always provide +1 ratings.

Because STV/UTV take over the franchise at 9.25 in Scot/NI, and apart from a few people here the 9.25am start isn't a problem. It's very much a traditiona at ITV, and it's not as if other channels really have junctions at that time. ITV2 keep to 9.25am too, and C4 hits that junction too.

Rather than 9.30am (which after decades of 9.25am is a bit odd IMO) actually ITV be better off with Jeremy Kyle beginning at 9.24am as if the show was a minute longer it could have an extra ad break.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.47m
18:25 Carbon Tax Address 1.35m
18:30 Dancing with the Stars: Grand Final 1.47m
*in line with the 1.48m audience for the 2010 final.
21:15 Castle (R) 0.63m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.33m
18:30 Prime Minister Julia Gillard Carbon Tax Address 1.01m
18:35 In Their Footsteps 0.74m
19:30 60 Minutes 0.93m
20:30 The Mentalist (R) 0.60m
21:30 The Mentalist (R) 0.44m

Ten
18:00 Ten Evening News 0.49m
18:30 Merlin 0.85m
19:30 MasterChef Australia: New York Special 1.62m
21:00 Hawaii Five-O 0.50m

ABC1
18:30 National Address: Prime Minister Gillard 0.23m
19:00 ABC News 0.59m
19:30 7.30 Special: Carbon Tax 0.38m
20:00 Grand Designs Revisited (R) 0.40m
20:30 Midsomer Murders (R) 0.58m

One
21:00 Formula 1: British Grand Prix 0.31m

To get this thread up from Page 2, someone in the Big Brother forum appears to have posted details on the new series and scheduling on Channel 5: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...61&postcount=1

Of course as always don't take it as 100 percent confirmation, but thought I would cross-post it anyways. The 'no Saturday highlights show' may not be too much of a surprise to us if they want to keep the US serials there.

lack of a website seems odd, but 10pm - 11pm highlights suits me.

That guy has a track record of posting threads with incorrect made up information which DS have deleted in the past. So I certainly wouldn't believe what he's said.

According to dsrealitybites on Twitter, the Popstar to Operastar final last night peaked with over 4m.

She can always host The Voice now.

if she cant do Xtra Factor, there is no way she is going to get The Voice, dont know if we are going to get The Voice: Extra.

Join the rest of the X Factor cast off's


The World’s Most Expensive Paintings 2.6m (10.8%)

Popstar to Operastar 8pm 3.5m (13.9%); 10pm 4.2m (19.6%)

Law & Order UK 5.9m (24.2%)

Solid start for L&O: UK. It was always going to perform better in the Sunday slot. Does the 5.9m inc. HD and +1? Also when it was against New Tricks last series, it struggled to make 4.5m didn't it?

HD but not +1

A very good start for Law and Order: UK - over 6m including +1. I do expect it to plummet though next week against The Apprentice Final.

Excellent start for L&O. It's one of those shows that fluctuates a lot depending on the competition and slot. It seems it can get anything between 3.5-6m. World's Greatest Paintings was always going to be sub 3m so it started in the best slot possible. I fully expect it to be around 4.5m next week though, but it should bounce back above 5m the week after.

OK for Popstar results, but the performance should be higher. I didn't think the results would be over 4m tbh. I doubt it will get recomissioned now though. If it can't perform well in one of the best slots of the week sandwiched between two decent rating programmes, then I reckon it has reached its peak.

Excellent start for L&O UK. I did give it a go last night but found it too slow and laboured compared to the US procedurals I'm used to and ended up switching to a CSI rerun. It will surely take a huge knock next week against the big Apprentice final but the good news is with this type of drama it's much more likely to bounce back the following week.

The World's Most Expensive Paintings did about as well as could be expected for a documentary about art on primetime BBC One. I guess Coast on BBC Two must have beat it quite comfortably. At least it wasn't at Modern Masters levels though. Popstar to Operastar bounced back a little for the finale as you'd expect to a certain extent, but overall it's hard to make a case for the show returning based on its ratings collapse over the course of the run. It will still go down as one of the biggest flops of 2011.

Theres always Big Brother if times get hard.

The irony in all of this is if she quit LW to go back to the SCD tour and not the other way around, she would have ended up getting Claudia's job on It Takes Two. The BBC would have effectively kept her in employment until she decided to quit TV/radio, but the best she can hope for at ITV is a guest stint on This Morning.