what might?


no rubbish TV shows, which are over hyped and some how achieve massive ratings, annoy me. That is just something that ITV/Syco seem to specalise in.

Syco shows are massively over hyped, and get far too much publicity, im sorry im I feel there should be one voice (even if it is mine) who dares to say something negative about them.

I'm not saying. You'll just have to find out yourself

im going to assume that in the final game, neither the red or black sheep went into the pen, in the alloted time, and the show is now in total chaos, as to which contestant has won the prize money. Im also going to assume that one of the contestants had an experince with a sheep when she was but a wee lad* and as such thought it would bring her bad luck.



* not a mistake

Earlier I said 7.5m for the first show, 10m for the second, so don't exaggerate.

That doesn't seem unreasonable for all the hype and the benevolent scheduling.

Whether it builds on that during the week must now be in serious doubt, particularly if the tabloid verdict in the next 24 hours is that it's a turkey. I suspect even the red tops that thrive on the Cowell-fest are willing him to fail for once.

Better reaction online after the second show tonight. I am wondering how many just watched out of curiosity value and never planned to stay...

it will be interesting to see how Simon Cowell distances himself from this flop, with X-Factor USA coming up, the last thing he needs is a flop show stinking his "good name" up.

OK start for Ross so far, one bright spot for ITV tonight.

Then again, the show is a carbon copy of his BBC show, minus the Puffs, as expected (and nothing wrong with that).

Is he presenting it from the London ITV regional news studio? Interesting cost-saving measure...

Red or Black was so dull, the contestants don't have to do ANYTHING - think, do any physical tasks, nothing, so how does a viewer engage in it in any way?! I certainly can't, it's totally vapid and vacuous rubbish. At least with Deal or no Deal the contestant has to think about when they will do the deal, but with this there's just nothing so it's impossible for me to get hooked into it. Totally flawed concept and massive error of judgement IMO.

I'm sure with the hype it'll do ok tonight before the ratings gradually go down.

It seemed odd that they did all the X Factor style intros and background on the contestants. Why? Who cares? At least with the karaoke show, these people are competing, they're on the show for weeks, they're all over the tabloids. This lot pick red or black (if they still have a choice) and then go through or go out purely by chance.

Why do we need all the emotional background puffery? Totally redundant.

Could this show turn out to be the most expensive flop in TV history? Perhaps I'm getting carried away, but the omens looks bleak right now...

Excuse me, can anyone tell me how well the football did last night. Thanks

I actually thought the background was needed. What's the point in watching a TV show if you haven't invested in a character or person?

The VT's were necessary otherwise there would be no point watching as I know nothing about no one.

How can you call Red or Black? a flop when the ratings haven't even been released?

The VT's are necessary cos there's nothing else to it - if it was a good format you wouldn't need it. Another problem is there's no jeopardy, at no point do the contestants have something to lose.

as has been said by many on this thread, tonights ratings are not the important part, its tonights reaction that is important, and generally that reaction has been negative.

A £15 million show, should not be getting negative reviews like Red of Black is doing, even in TV terms £15 million is alot to spend for something with the reviews its getting.

Also the very basic point (as many have suspected) is that the format is not a god one.

I don't remember gameshows in the pre-Cowell era airing these turgid VTs about each and every contestant. You had Brucie, Bob, Barrymore etc ask some pre-rehearsed questions, the contestant tell a funny story, have a bit of banter - and on with the show.

That's a good point - and although this show admittedly needs zero concentration I certainly find with the Million Pound Drop and others if I'm playing along online or discussing the show I'm watching I'm not really watching or enjoying the show as much as if I was giving the show my full attention.

I think though it might be the ambition that might be Red or Blacks downfall. It didn't really need the Wembley Arena stunts, doesn't really need the £1m jackpot every show and doesn't really need to be stripped across a single week over two shows a night. If it had just been given the pre-X Factor slot once a week with say a £100,000 weekly jackpot and perhaps confined to the studio it would likely have done fine at a fraction of the cost.


Hopefully though like with Million Pound Drop it can iron out the creases over the week - I'd certainly be ditching that contestant profile for the final 8 from tomorrow and do it a stage later for the final 4. And then from Monday losing the 15 minutes will help - but I really do think having the final 2 in a separate show killed any momentum built up throughout the first.

I've been reading the RATINGS thread for a few years, and this opinion is a new one on me. The ratings don't count, it's the opinion of 50 people on DS which counts.

My memory has blanked them out! Probably wisely!

You really are a narrow minded fool aren't you Charnham - you're making Robbie look as fair and balanced as Fox News!

So whether it rates well or not you'll brand it a flop based on a few selected tweets even though you haven't seen it (so why the **** do you care?). And take Simon Cowell out of the equation even though Red or Black certainly borrows some "qualities" from The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent (scheduling) essentially it's quite a traditional ITV light entertainment show of the type you got on the network most weekends over the 90s.

You've obviously become too used to the crap unoriginal quizzes the BBC get people to watch by sticking the phrase "The National Lottery" before them.

As I said future ratings are more important than the first episode, this is true of many (if not all) shows. No point getting 30 milliion viewers for your first episode, if only 3 million watch the next day or next week.

I believe Star Trek Enterprise started with some massive ratings, but quickly fell, the high ratings of the first episode mean nothing now.

I Agree with you when you say the future ratings are more important but you can't call it a flop until you see those ratings really

and I would still think it was a rubbish show, the fact it also feature Syco types is hardly going to help.


hardly, if I like a show ill watch it, if I dont I dont.

What I dont like about the ITV/Syco shows is that they are seriously over hyped, unlike the various Lottery shows you mention.

That said maybe they do bring out the worst in me, but I think that is my reaction to the over hype and the fact they get massive ratings, I dont think the shows deserve.

Its Charham the psychic octopus. Can predict the future based on a few twitters and not watching the show.

Those lottery formats are better than the Red or Black format, if it wasn't for the prize it would be nothing. At least we've got Jonathan Ross now.

Maybe Ant and Dec should revive Jim Bowen's catchphrase (Insert Roy Walker joke here) : "Keep out of the black, and into the red..."