at those ITV ratings. Just

WTF were they thinking putting a random P&T episode in that slot with no promotion whatsoever? Safe to say it won't be back now I think. I can't believe David Jason was so low too.

Very poor ratings for ITV1 yesterday. Must've been their lowest primetime share ever, or certainly close!

I guess ITV aren't too worried, with a run of big shows up to their next shut down period at Christmas, but some of the ratings depths ITV has plumbed this summer are quite astonishing.

With such dire numbers being regularly posted, and the ignominy of coming 3rd, 4th or 5th in several primetime contests, has ITV been losing money by simply being on air at times this summer? Have the few programmes people have been watching actually offset the losses elsewhere?

Goodness me. That is a pretty disastrous set of figures for ITV1.

Maybe ITV1 needs to be revamped because its really been a terrible year for them.

Looks like a normal Tuesday except dragged out over 3 hours and without Emmerdale. Had it not been for David Jason, that'd be 3 hours under 2m.

I can see the point in trying out Penn & Teller in another slot, but I might have put it back to Fridays at 9pm. I'm not sure what they expected to happen last night (although they may simply have been burning it off).

One week of filler to go...

Did ITV1 actually nose ahead of Channel Five, the nation's fifth-ranked channel, at any point at all from 7pm last night?

That must be a first?

(EDIT: Come to think of it, it was probably behind BBC2 for all that time too!)

I don't think so. For comparison...

7pm Joanna Lumley's Nile (ITV1): 1.7m
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle / The Da Vinci Code (Channel 5): 2.01m

8pm David Jason's Great Escapes (ITV1): 2.1m
The Da Vinci Code (Channel 5): 2.42m

9pm Penn & Teller: Fool Us (ITV1): 1.9m
The Da Vinci Code (Channel 5): 2.19m

It's only been a bad summer for ITV. The Winter and Spring months were not bad

It's been a disaster of a Summer for them. Normally they at least hold up roughly with 3-4m or so but this year they've just completely collapsed. Flops like The Marriage Ref, Born To Shine and Show Me The Funny have sunk to embarrassing levels, whilst Penn and Teller failed to shine on Saturdays (and the less said about last night the better), whilst bringing back Popstar To Operastar and Odd One In didn't pay off at all, and neither should return.

Elsewhere, factual such as Homes From Hell, Baby Hospital, Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain, Babies Behind Bars and The Choir That Rocks bombed, whilst Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son was terribly scheduled on Fridays. It could at least have broken 3m elsewhere. Repeating Nile was a bad move that resulted in hideous ratings and whilst repeating Cops With Cameras worked better it still didn't do too well. A couple of Monday night docs did well in June but that's about the only positive for the factual department this Summer.

In terms of drama Single Handed rated poorly on Thursdays and probably won't be back on primetime ITV1 with ITV funding. Law & Order UK did OK considering everything around it was collapsing (last night's ratings show how LOUK really was doing a decent-ish job) and Scott and Bailey was their only hit of the Summer, and will be back next year with an extended run. Repeats of Lewis did OK but nonetheless it hasn't been a great Summer for drama.

So overall it has been a terrible Summer for ITV1 this year, and they seriously need to change their strategy for the future to avoid another Summer of embarrassing ratings like this one.

Crikey, an absolutely awful night for ITV1. Possibly there worst ever primetime share as well, awful. I think any chance of Penn and Teller coming back has just gone as well.

Great rating for the BBC2 film.

What does baffle me I must admit is how it can be such a weekend of extremes for ITV1. How they can go in the space of 24 hours from excellent ratings to diabolical ratings, at complete opposite ends of the scale. Advertisers must be left scratching their heads.

A lot resting on Red or Black? now. I'm not generally a fan of gameshows based on 50/50 chance myself, but stripping it gives it the best possible chance of success as a piece of event TV.

Great rating for MOTD2 which appears to have gone unnoticed.

One wonders how it would rate if it was in that 10.20pm BBC1 slot every Sunday of the season?

The Saturday show manages 4m most weeks in that slot, but Sundays usually have the bigger games. I've always thought it barmy to schedule the show on BBC2 where it only manages half the audience of the BBC1 sister show.

Those Sunday ratings for ITV are shocking. The X Factor and Downton Abbey on Sundays will be a blessed relief for them.

Corrie's been drafted in next week as well for one of its several random Sunday appearances each year. Normally I'd criticise but I think they need it.

I think it's even more important for Elaine Beddell and ITV Studios than it is for ITV1 (which will mainly depend on X Factor, Downton Abbey, Doc Martin and I'm A Celebrity). I'm struggling to think of any entertainment show launches this year (aside from the summer filler flops). And this is probably the biggest in-house launch since Colour of Money...

Any ratings for Xtra Factor on Saturday night?

Yikes! And we all know what happened with that show.

Gameshows are the trickiest genre to predict I think. How did The Cube start out?

If Red or Black had two random people presenting or celebrities like Vernon Kay and Davina McCall to name two I'd write it off as a flop almost instantly, but its got Ant and Dec presenting and they are rarely associated with flops, let's not forget even Push the Button at its lowest level is higher than just about everything new on ITV this Summer.

It aired after X Factor (8.30pm-9.30pm) and had 5.6m for the premiere in August 2009.

I think Ant & Dec's Push The Button did around 6.5m when it launched - albeit in February and I think their stock may have fallen a bit. But while I'm not sold on the format, I do think the ads for ROB make it look quite impressive.

Primetime gameshows have been really difficult to get right in recent years. They seem to work at 5pm. They seem to work if attached to The Lottery (and with modest expectations). And in the US, they don't seem to have worked at all recently.

Couldn't you say the same about Jonathan Ross though? He's a high profile presenter himself, rarely associated with flops before Penn and Teller.

As good as Ant and Dec are, people won't stick with this show for 90 minutes a night for 7 nights if they don't like the format.

Ross is just there for the links in between though, he doesn't play any major part in the show, I doubt people tune in or out because of Ross.

I guess you could argue the same for Red or Black and Ant + Dec, but based on the adverts it looks like Ant and Dec will be on the TV a lot during the show so play a more bigger part than Ross in P&T so may help the ratings more. I mean, would people watch I'm a Celebrity if Ant and Dec did not present? Some of it is down to the contestants, but you've got to have good presenters to.

Thanks for refreshing my memory. That helps me a little as far as the DSRPG goes!

Rarely associated with ITV too, the incongruously-placed Comedy Awards aside.

He'll be ok though - big BBC name moves to ITV, continued career success always follows like night follows day...

If he could (before he went stale) get 3.5-4m for his 10.35-11.35pm BBC1 Friday show, how much more should he get nearly an hour earlier, on Saturdays, and following the latest hyped-and-stripped Cowell TV event?