Celebrity Masterchef seems such a long series (30 x 45 minute episodes over 6 weeks) - so it would not fit too well in prime time - I can see why they think it is ideal for daytime to give those that wish to watch so many episodes a chance to do so.

Of course it could have gone out against CS weeknights or indeed in The One Show slot - and give that show a break. The important thing is that viewers have the best of both worlds, CM will be available live, online, on pvr or on catch up. A BBC HD repeat could be broadcast also. For many viewers catching the Friday night edition will be good enough.

maybe, maybe not, but ive yet to see a succesful show fom Syco without Simon Cowells involvement.


fair enough you have a point, however could you give me a few hours to come up with something, I cant be expected to do it on the spot.

I do have an idea called Celebrity Hangman, its Wheel of Fortune / Im a Celeb....

Dancc makes a good point about people stealing the ideas.

I didn't mean "tell us". I meant sell it to TV bosses and turn it into TV's Next Big Thing.

First thing I checked. Couldn't find one. I think I probably won't bother with it this series. I've already got too much on the PVR to watch as it is without adding another series link to the already long list. Inevitably a lot of what I record just gets left for ages until I've amassed an absolute stack of episodes!

Plus Big Brother is a big enough daily commitment for me at the moment. I do have a soft spot for MasterChef though and my feeling was it hadn't peaked over here yet, wasn't it hitting new highs as recently as last series? So it's all very odd. I hope it adapts well to its new timeslots, but if it doesn't the BBC only have themselves to blame.

I guess Shine always have the option of offering it to commercial competitors, as in other markets especially Australia we have seen it thrive there. Ten practically survives on it.

At least Red or Black looks good against the BB launch . Noone expected it to do as well as the first Channel 5 launch because its running right after but for the audience to be half of the first launch is horrific. It should have got at least 3m. But 40% of that audience won't switch off and never return, its just right down to the core audience.

This is where Channel 5 should consider dropping January's Celebrity Big Brother. Running that could seriously damage the BB brand.

The audience is clearly split with Million Pound Drop, with both getting a similar combined audience both this week and last week. Channel 4 should shift it back to 10pm and the audience would increase by quite a bit.

That makes more sense. I'll let you know if I have any success on that front.

Compared to the soaps which are hardly ever on? And don't have stupid little spin-off shows? Count up the hours of Coronation Street that ITV aired across all its channels last year and compare that to The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent and then tell me which one is dominating ITV's schedules.


In the UK perhaps although in fairness they've only launched four(?) shows in the UK.

fair enough over versions of both X-Factor and Got Talent have been succesful in other markets without Cowell, however those markets never had Cowell in the first place on any show.

Those versions have there own names, specfic to that market, they have there own Ant & Dec and there own Simon Cowell types.

I still think Ant and Dec should have their own sketch/light entertainment show, ie not attached to any reality/talent show or with any of the Cowell hangers on. Exploring something different to presenting and and the frenetic House Party style Takeaway. They are not as big in their own right as some of their early ratings on Takeaway promised imo.

What, with games like Manchester United 8, Arsenal 2.

I think ESPN actually get a pretty good mix of games in a pretty good slot - and in some respects they benefit from not getting the obvious first picks.

I have a new idea for a quiz show with a top prize of £500,000

It is called Continue or Collect?

Takeaway has been away for long enough so could be a success again if they brought that back instead of Push The Button. It just needs a bit of reformatting.

Strictly is back on Friday 30th which i assume will be at 9:00pm?

If you had told the BBC this time last week that EE would be getting figures of over 7m against Red or Black then they would have been pretty pleased with that.


Then ITV shouldnt have stripped it across the week. If ITV believed it were that big a risk to strip it across a week then they shouldnt have done it and aired it weekly instead. But, ITV stupidly thought that because Cowell was behind it, Ant and Dec were presenting and they had thrown millions at in in terms of production and advertising that viewers were bound to watch regardless of a very dodgy format.

America's Got Talent begs to disagree.

I'd also point out that both The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent started relatively small and grew into mega-hits which again would suggest it isn't Cowell bringing people to these shows but the formats themselves.


Because broadcasters shouldn't take risks?

Just watched Doctor who. Wow what a fantastic epiosde. Really if Red or Black beats it tonight it will be a crime.

I'm not sure. Tonight will rate badly especially after a low launch like last night, around 1.4m I reckon, but IMO it will be uip to around 2m on Sunday. As long as it is above 2m in officials (probably 1.7m average overnights), Five will keep it on.

I have a weird feeling about this series. Well two feelings. On is that it will crash and burn. But for some reason, I really think the series could build momentum, just like the early series did (BB1 and BB2). With a low rating last night, there will be surely a smaller % drop if it does drop.

A new TV format - go to a different town every week, round up the locals, provide advice and support (Ant and Dec might need a new job soon) and get them to create, write, cast and then stage their own 30 minute drama and 30 minute musical/comedy each week. Live visits each night (half an hour) to see how they are getting on and also getting the money/costumes/local artistes to stage it and then a live hour long show at the weekend for the performance.

Each show (or both genres separately) is then scored by viewers and the winner at the end of the series gets a new village hall/community centre for the town.

It's been 8.30pm the last couple of series.

It might beat it in the overnights due to the 15 minute uplift Red or Black? will have as people tune in to The X Factor.

So they'll likely end up messing Outnumbered around - at best bumping it to 9.30pm, at worst dropping it for a week or two.

It was of course meant for the 5.15pm slot on BBC 1 before Pointless took off. I think that that time slot would have been good for Masterchef, I know its incerdibly popular at primetime but that slot would have still been good.

However 2.15pm is a silly time to start it. A popular primetime show relugated to the middle of the day. I can see that in primetime it would be difficult with 45 minute episodes and there being thirty of them. I think the BBC should have waited until the new episodes of Pointless had finished then put MC on straight on after it.

The openers have been 90 minutes on Friday night, so it'd run to 10pm.

yes they should always have a show of there own on ITVs scheulde (well one per yet) Push the Button is not good enough, and Red or Black just makes them look bad. Saturday Night Takeaway did that very well for them.


forget about the fact he wasnt on it. Still all that said I would like to see a Syco show launch succesfully without Simon Cowell in the UK, if only to prove to me that its possible.


agreed, ITV viewers are missed some great TV tonight.

Would it not make more sense to alternate between Pointless and Celebrity Masterchef in that 5:15 slot? And by that I mean a series of Pointless and then a series of Masterchef.