You haven't looked very hard then, sir. Of course the critics will be the most vocal of the lot, but I've read some kind comments in recent weeks even on the DS:BB forum. Others like me do exist that enjoyed the show, believe it or not.

On a purely ratings front, everyone is agreed the ratings were below-par (for Big Brother, not Celeb BB), it's just the degree to which they were poor that's up for debate. At least across the run we didn't see any serious losses. I don't care what anybody says, that is something at least. At the beginning when it was logging like 1.3 early on, people were all "OMG I wonder where it will be at the end of the run?!" and of course it turned out it stayed pretty much at that level all the way through.

Absolute failure sounds like a bit of an overstatement to me designed to get a reaction. Maybe that's what happened in your fantasy, but it's not really been the reality.

Also the BBC Times liked it. And they hardly ever have anything good to say about Channel 5 shows.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2011-...brother-better

2 x 40 minutes puts a bit of a spanner in the works, because that would mean BBC1 and ITV1 cannot run in sync with one another so there won't be a seamless transition from soap to soap to soap possibly.

Unless:

BBC One
17:30 - BBC News
17:50 - EastEnders
18:30 - Doctor Who
19:30 - Strictly Come Dancing
20:30 - EastEnders
21:10 - The Royal Family
22:10 - The Royal Bodyguard
22:40 - Mrs Brown's Boys
23:10 - BBC News

ITV1
17:15 - ITV News
17:30 - You've Been Framed!
18:30 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Coronation Street
20:30 - Downton Abbey
22:30 - It'll be Alright on the Night
23:30 - ITV News

Except has EastEnders ever started as early as 5:50pm on Christmas Day?


3m or less. 2m or less is a disaster.

2 x 40m EastEnders probably puts an end to Downton Abbey's hopes of a Christmas Day slot, doesn't it?

Fantastic Ratings for TV last night.

IAC's best ever launch.

The X Factor up 1million. I bet ITV1 will be hoping that it can rise week on week now and this series will not be seen as a 'flop'.

X Factor getting 12.5million three years ago would have been fantastic for them so even though it's down 2million it's still doing very well for ITV1.

I'm Sure Gaga's performance helped it though.

I would love SCD to make over 11million next week. One of the best ever series.

Interesting how 2, 3 & 4 are some of the most complained about elements too. I really do struggle to see how it's going to bounce back though in January - I'm not sure why the 1m Celeb BB viewers who couldn't be arsed with the regular series would suddenly come back, especially when it's returning so quickly.

The problem Big Brother has is in the UK at least it's always thrived on originality to an extent, unlike I'm a Celeb or BBUSA which rely much more on familiarlarity. Sadly that originality has long gone and the format has struggled to adjust to something which thrives upon sticking to the basics and being able to repeat year after year and keep the audience interested.

I'm sure it quite often started that early when they had the split episodes. Also haven't some of the Doctor Who episodes been like 1 hr 15 minutes, so that can be taken into account too.

BTW - what is The Royal Bodyguard - seen it mentioned in most peoples Christmas Day schedules but no idea why it warrants a place there.


P.S. Misfits seems somewhat down in the overnights this week - 0.78m compared to close to 1m for the opening two episodes. The officials though put the premiere as it's best rating episode, rising to 2.2m.

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/n...g-episode-ever

Off the top of my head the earliest was 5.15 in 2000, before Titanic.

No one on here is going to suggest that Big Brother was a success.

Well in 2007 EastEnders aired at 6:00pm and got 11million so it's only 10mins earlier.
Personally i think the BBC will go with 5:50pm and 8:50

Dark and Depressing. Just how i like it and EastEnders at it's best

I think this 2 weeks has the makings of being one of EastEnders best 2 weeks during the festive season. They are really pulling out every stop

2x40 minute episodes of EastEnders? jesus is the BBC worried someone might actually feel a moment of joy this Christmas, that it felt the need to add another 20 minutes of the happy happy joy fest that is EastEnders at Christmas.

And yes it's also on Xmas Eve (A Saturday)
On the official website a few week's back they dropped a few script hints and there is some humour & Light moments too

shall I just call my GP now, and ask for more anti-depressant pills in advance?

No - but I think 'failure' is taking it too far the other way.

Celebrity Big Brother will see the natural bounce that the version has always benefited from. They don't have much in way of time to iron out the kinks but it is possible.

I may be really wrong with this but the year Den and Angie done the divorce on xmas day storyline(1986 i think),was there 2 episodes that day with 1 being on after The Queen and 1 later on in the evening??

Because someone's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to watch it?

Hasn't the Royale Family been confirmed as not being on?

James J this "EastEnders is depressing at Christmas" stuff, is just light banter between friends (well what passes for friends on a internet forum), neither me, dan2008 nor anyone else on this thread, is being serious.

No I'm a Celeb tomorrow due to football but then to make sure no momentum is lost, two new celebs go in with a 90 min special on Wednesday

The Impressions Show may sink even lower if ITV also have a 8:30pm junction. It does poorly enough when there is no other programme starting at that time.

By the way Coronation Street is trending tonight on Twitter, which as you all know is very unusual due to dear old veteran soap Corrie only being watched by people over 70!

You seem to be labouring under the illusion I think otherwise...

your post would suggest you did think otherwise, and looking back it seems outside the category of light banter.

There was no way I was going to tune in to see Schmeichel killed off.

Exactly.
I think you'd better go and see the Doctor soon though as im sure they will have their work cut out with 18 episodes of EastEnders in 2 weeks

Ever the optimist. 4 months is a fair amount of time, about the same as the gap between The Apprentice 2010 and The Apprentice 2011. And it's only that short because they want to get the show back to its traditional slots.

It wasn't that long ago we were all saying IAC wouldn't launch as highly as last year, and then look what occurred.

Without knowing the lineup, scheduling or anything like that, it's really hard to tell, and so I find your comments rather strange. But I'm quietly optimistic. I do think Channel 5+1 will help CBB and BB as it did for Channel 4, and that's probably why they're rushing through this launch in time for its return.