But now we have the Darker Evenings won't Viewers want to stay in and watch TV. I Don't think it'll be warm at 7:00 in the evening.

Here are my Predictions for this weekend

Doctor Who: 5.6m
National Lottery: 3.4m
Casualty: 4.1m


All Star Family Fortunes: 5.2m
The X Factor: 10.9m for Saturday and 11.4 Sunday
The Jonathan Ross Show: 3.7m

The problem with Big Brother airing at this time of the year is the increased competition for younger viewers in the 10pm slot. Just this week the 10pm competiton has been Shameless, Fresh Meat and Celebrity Juice amongst others, next week TOWIE is back too. A lot of viewers obviously wont commit to watching BB every night for 9 weeks when there are so many alternatives. Had the series aired in the summer then BB could mop up a lot more 16-34s than its doing now.

I'm watching bits of it here and there when theres nothing else on and from what I've seen it is a really good series this year. I just can't get fully into it and whilst the figures do point towards it being a flop, I don't think Channel 5 should worry until next years series is on air. If it doesn't rebound then theres a problem but I think it will.

The Apprentice 2010 suffered from being out of its regular slot but completely rebounded earlier this year. I'm not sure Celebrity Big Brother in January is such a problem after all. the 1.4m who are watching now will obviously watch whenever the show is on. Its getting the 1m or so extra to watch, and with 4 months between the two celebrity shows and not much on in January, it should do OK. On C4 there was only 4 months inbetween the normal one and the celebrity one and then another 4 months inbetween the celebrity one and the normal one so for most viewers it will just be following the regular pattern.

Agreed. Next summer's sport fest will present its own set of challenges. I'd favour BB starting a bit earlier than usual and running late April-June.

I'd go for 10th May until 20th July, giving it a 10 week run. I think its very important for them to capitalise as much as possible on the weeks inbetween BGT and X Factor when there is nothing else on for reality TV viewers. As long as they don't run into The Olympics which start on 27th July then it will be OK. Most Euro 2012 matches will be long over by 9/10pm so that doesn't pose much of a threat.

They should make a few tweaks to the format, possibly making it more natural instead of feeling a little scripted and maybe get a new presenter for the wider interest. They could do with a clear theme too and should make the most of it being BB13.

US Ratings

CBS wins the night in total viewers whilst Fox takes the prized 18-49 demo thanks to The X Factor. However once again X Factor’s thunder was stolen by an Emmy winning comedy this one on CBS – The Big Bang Theory won the night in both total viewers and the demo and it did it with ease in its head to head with The X Factor it was nearly a point ahead in the demo.

Elsewhere a disappointing start for Person of Interest which debuted lower than expected and The Mentalist was down vs. last year despite a well received season finale. On ABC Charlie’s Angels stumbled out of the blocks whilst Grey’s was another show down a lot vs. last year (and its a big drop for the medical drama which averaged a 5.4 over the same time period last year). NBC had a mixed night with The Office performing well and Whitney holding its audience relatively well. The 8PM and 10PM hours weren’t good. Over on The CW The Secret Circle already dropped below a 1 in the demo. That didn’t take long.

ABC

8PM: Charlie’s Angels – 2.1 [8.79]
9PM: Grey’s Anatomy – 3.8 [10.11]
10PM: Grey’s Anatomy – 4.2 [10.53]

CBS

8PM: The Big Bang Theory – 4.8 [14.06]
8:30PM: The Big Bang Theory – 5.0 [14.65]
9PM: Person of Interest – 3.1 [13.22]
10PM: The Mentalist – 2.8 [13.36]

Fox

8PM: The X Factor – 3.9 [11.43]
9PM: The X Factor – 4.4 [12.71]

NBC

8PM: Community – 1.7 [3.98]
8:30PM: Parks & Recreation – 2.0 [4.11]
9PM: The Office – 3.9 [7.63]
9:30PM: Whitney – 3.2 [6.71]
10PM: Prime Suspect – 1.8 [6.00]

The CW

8PM: The Vampire Diaries – 1.2 [2.49]
9PM: The Secret Circle – 0.9 [2.05]

CBS will be pleased with those BBT numbers but so-so results for Person of Interest and The Mentalist. I think PoI ought to have rated in the mid to high 3's, that launch doesn't give it too much breathing room to drop. Charlie's Angels and Prime Suspect are DOA with those ratings. Very poor for Community too, while Whitney did okay with a high retention out of The office. But already, it's been a very bad week so far for NBC. After the disappointing premiere ratings for XF on Wednesday, FOX will be relieved it only dropped a little bit in the demo.

Person of Interest did alright but I wonder if it hurt The Mentalist or was it being against the second hour of Grey's Anatomy and Prime Suspect. I imagine Mentalist will increase next week when Private Practice returns as that show never cracks 10m.

The Mentalist was still 3rd most watched in Total People, only beaten by fellow CBS show The Big Bang Theory. I guess the trick is getting more young people watching.

It has a 4.5 target to beat The Voice in terms of season average.

I think if Mike Darnell says today that he is relieved with the X Factor ratings, people might believe him. That'll likely be a 4.3 final rating for X Factor last night vs the 4.4 last night. A really good hold - and much needed.

After some good ratings in previous nights, looks like quite a disappointing night for the other networks. The Big Bang Theory did well, matching last years numbers although I did hope it would sneak across the 5.0 marker for the hour. It's a shame to have it at 8pm but I can see why CBS do it. But that was really the only brightspot elsewhere.

Very poor for Charlie's Angels, perhaps damaging Grey's as well which was down an eye watering amount. And not a great start for Person of Interest either. Throw in How To Be A Gentleman at 8.30pm next week and I think Thursdays could be difficult for CBS.

Another rough night for NBC.

Maybe they should swap PoI and The Mentalist, it would be a better flow to have the comedies lead into a light hearted drama. HTBAG is DOA IMO.

Another option is to have comedies at 9pm, it would make sense given the weakness of the NBC block.

Person of Interest is a tough one to call. That’s down noticeably on the CSI premiere last year and perhaps more worryingly equal with CSI’s premiere this year in a new timeslot. To add to that it didn’t match the returning Hawaii Five-0 and its only just ahead of their other new drama Unforgettable which hasn’t had anywhere near the publicity campaign that Person of Interest has had. We’ll see how it holds up next week but CBS could be in a very difficult position moving forward because if it tanks I’m not sure what options they have going forward other than moving The Mentalist to 9PM which they’ve been reluctant to do. Also worthy of note is that it hasn’t skewed as young as they wanted. This could be a disaster for them. (I’m really trying not to smile and gloat about that)

On the subject of Charlie’s Angels that’s a terrible start but still a significant increase on the timeslot a year ago for ABC (which should tell you all you need to know about how horrific that Thursday 8PM slot has been for them). Obviously I’m expecting it to drop like a stone next week but some good news for ABC there I suppose. The Grey’s drop however is huge and does not bode well for the rest of this season.

NBC meanwhile should be a little relieved that Parks didn’t completely collapse at 8:30 and with CBS putting a new and awful comedy in that slot next week may even hold out hope of it growing a little. That 9PM hour is the biggest hour they’ve had all week and will probably be their biggest hour of the Fall (excluding football). That’s a depressing thought for them. And The Office only fell 9% vs last year which is pretty spectacular all things considered. It remains to be seen if viewers stick with it but if they do then Whitney should be dragged to something close to respectable figures through to midseason.

Nice to see that Fox have confirmed the return of Kiefer Sutherland to TV by commissioning 13 episodes of 'Touch' for mid season.

He is the father of a mute autistic child whose ability at psychometry lets them see the future.

Very good retention figures for The X Factor.

As I said yesterday it will do well to hold at this level for the next couple of weeks and then perhaps increase for the live shows - big names such as Britney Spears, Lady GaGa, Rihanna and others likely to be performing will give the show a boost.

The auditions come to a rather quick conclusion next week. Live shows start October 26th.

So is that X Factor USA Good or bad and is it likely the show will be up next week

I imagine Touch will get Mondays after Alcatraz has finished its run or Wednesdays at 9pm,

It should do.


The problem CBS has is that whenever they've tried The Mentalist in that Thursday 9PM slot it hasn't performed well.

Moving the comedy block is potentially an option depending on how The Office holds up. If it stays relatively steady CBS may not want to risk denting The Big Bang Theory by putting against The Office. Plus it'll depend on how How To Be A Gentleman does. If it bombs then they won't want it at 9:30 because it'll open up Big Bang becoming an indirect lead-in to Whitney on NBC.

If Person of Interest drops in the coming weeks then they may just have to stomach its numbers (assuming it doesn't also dent Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist) until midseason and then reschedule from there.

I've been reading lots of comments today and yesterday all along the lines of people skipping the auditions and maybe checking in again at the boot camp/judges houses stage when the show starts to become a little more unique. If that does happen I suspect the audition process of the show in future seasons will continue to be very short.


Its good although not in line with the inflated expectations. Your guess is as good as mine on whether it'll grow next week.


Who the hell knows where they're going to schedule it. I doubt even Fox knows at this point. Their midseason schedule looks pretty cluttered right now.

I think Fox will be relieved more than anything with that XF USA rating. It just means that people aren't going to desert it - and they can satisfy themselves with what is still a very good demo performer. Albeit, a lot less than they might have expected given the investment. I'd say there's also a fair chance it can see a rise next week with the scripted shows falling off from premieres. Trying to tap in to the sort of momentum it feeds off in the UK will be vital.

Aside from that - a moderate night for CBS who'll be pleased with TBBT (comedies are huge in the US at the moment - UK TV, please take note) though a bit underwhelmed with the two dramas. It was a big, bold move replacing CSI with PoI in such a prestigious slot - and it'll be egg on the face if it fails.

ABC will be disappointed - but can hardly be surprised Charlie's Angels flopped - everybody predicted it, and everything dies in their Thursday 8pm slot anyway. Last season's spring ratings makes Grey's numbers unsurprising. In all honesty, it was never going to outlast that other veteran, Desperate Housewives, by too long. Perhaps another season or two, but the network needs new hit dramas and they're struggling.

And NBC, well, oh dear. At least The Office hasn't given up the ghost. Whitney did OK, but the reception is bad and it's clearly not going to last. If I were them, I'd get Up All Night after The Office pronto and try and salvage something - anything - from the fall premieres...

I think that would be a terrible idea.

Right now all signs point toward Up All Night being a decent (if not great by NBC’s current standards) performer for them on Wednesday night. Sacrificing what may very well be a self-starter on Wednesday for minimal increases on Thursday should not be an option for them. What they need to do is find a better companion for Up All Night on Wednesday because otherwise Free Agents is going to kills any momentum it might have. 30 Rock looks like the obvious show to pair it with at this point (although with production only just started back up I’m not sure how many episodes they have in the can) and should give NBC a solid mid-2 in the 8PM hour and right now that would be huge for them.

If Whitney drops significantly next week then they need to look at bringing forward one of their new midseason comedies – Bent, BFF or the Chelsea Handler multi-cam. Personally I’d go with Bent.

The much bigger issue for NBC though is the state of their drama slate right now.

The Playboy Club, Harry’s Law and Prime Suspect are all (barring a miracle) dead at this point and they don’t have quite so many options when it comes to replacing them. I can’t see Smash or Awake being brought forward (and it would be a mistake to do that) and they can’t bring forward The Firm which leaves them with Grimm as the only other new drama they have plus a new Brian Williams news magazine. At this point I think they have to give Grimm a shot in one of the three timeslots that are opening up rather than leaving it on Friday and things might be so bad that they should consider playing Chuck’s final series in that Wednesday 9PM slot. So maybe the Brian Williams magazine Monday at 10PM, Chuck Wednesday at 9PM and then Grimm Thursday at 10PM with some combination of Harry’s Law, Prime Suspect and The Playboy club on Friday.

Hi,

I'm currently taking part in a statistics A level, and wondered whether anybody would be able to give me an evaluation of Channel 5's figures/ shares for yesterday in terms of whether they are over expectations/ under expectations/ in line with what the channel would expect. I'm looking into percentages in television at the moment and wanted to pick a minor channel. If anyone could help then that would be great!

There was always a chance they'd quit the UK version for a US version watched by less people.


X Factor USA did better than I expected considering the little promotion. Glee I think will probably benefit from timeshift.


With Glee fast tracking has been about the only thing Sky has been selling it on - though another issue with fast tracking is not having the time to prep the promos.


Exactly. And it's no surprise at all - I had to wait three weeks during Celeb BB (even though in hindsight that too technically flopped, just not as badly as people predicted) but now it is safe to say "told you so!". Even if C5 had waited another year and tried BB next year they'd have had a better chance of success.

As for next years scheduling - I'd ditch Celeb BB in January and run the main series from May to July, ending the week before the Olympics, then Celeb BB in August after the Olympics.

Excuse me if I'm wrong, but just looking through this thread I feel I had to say- doesn't increasing by 100% say more about the poor figure of the 9pm offering than how well Big Brother did?
Again, sorry if mistaken.

It does yes. I was just making the point that Celebrity Juice did not improve a jot with a vastly bigger lead-in, yet BB improved slightly week-on-week with a much worse lead-in.

Last week you blamed the poor lead in to BB of the post football analysis...