I think it is difficult going up against EE or CS for either channel, they can snap up 40% of viewers and leave the other channels fighting for a share. The BBC2 8:30 show rated quite low though, but there were a few decent other shows worth watching last night.

Well My Family did well over 4m in the past so really Room 101 is struggling in comparrison.

That's true, but Channel 4 and Channel 5 have done well in that slot in the past.

I think the difference is My Family went from 8-9 million to 4 million whilst Room 101 has never really been over 3 million to start with

Yes but it still got 8-9m against CS at times.....

I don't think My Family ever had a 8 or 9 million against Coronation Street, but I will happily be proven wrong.

I don't remember MF going against Corrie at it's peak..i maybe wrong though

Looking at the first few series My Family was broadcast on a Tuesday to begin with then Fridays when only the 7.30 ep of CS was shown

edit: In fact the first instance of a Corrie/MF clash had My Family at 4.48 and Corrie at 9.84 in May 2004 Whereas the week before MF had over 7 million. So the 8.30 Corrie ep was instrumental in grabbing a few million from MF although back then the extra 8.30 ep was only used on big weeks. I'd imagine MF cast changes and crap storylines lead to even bigger drops after 2008 along with a regular Corrie at 8.30 slot.

There was 1 occasion, I can't remember the exact date, I will try and find it for everyone. On this particular occasion MF had around 6m and CS had about 9m.

Off the topic of My Family, does anyone have ratings for CBB last night?

Are you perhaps thinking of Xmas Eve 2010 (Friday 8.30) when My Family had 6.4m in the officials and Corrie had 10m? My Family very rarely clashed with Corrie. Normal ratings and scheduling rules don't apply so much at Christmas.

3.7m is, IMHO, a very good audience for Room 101 up against Corrie.

If they weren't clashing, then it won't be the right date..... I'm still looking myself.....

They did clash. I quoted the time.

That might be it then.

CBS don't have enough comedy to expand the Thursday block until next season nor do they have anywhere that they can easily slot Person of Interest plus they very rarely commit themselves to massive schedule changes and especially not in season. I think its possible that we'll see the Thursday comedy block expand to two hours next season although it'll really depend on how well Rob holds up in the coming weeks. If they feel confident enough to be able to use that as anchor at 8PM then I can see it happening. I'd imagine they'd probably ship a comedy from Monday over to Thursday as well giving them two blocks of three returning comedies and the now standard two new comedies to debut in the Fall.

When it comes to Person of Interest at this level they'll renew. I would however be surprised to see it move to Tuesday night. I suspect a move to Sunday nights might be more likely at this stage.


That Tuesday 10PM slot has been a problem for all of the networks. The only thing that's been successful the past couple of seasons is The Voice everything else has really struggled to find and maintain an audience in the slot. I suspect CBS will try another new drama there next season although to be honest if I were them I'd probably consider moving Hawaii Five-0 there and freeing up the much more valuable Monday night slot for something new.

I'd also add that whilst its numbers suggest it should I'm not convinced CBS is ready to call time on The Good Wife just yet. I think they've stuck with it this long so they'll probably try and get another season out of it next year on Friday nights to push it into syndication. The CSI's are a difficult proposition. They're basically paying for themselves at this point through various syndication deals so I wouldn't be hugely surprised to see all three renewed. At this stage I think CBS could do worse than to give both Miami and New York 13 episode orders have them sharing a timeslot. That could give them a Friday night of The Good Wife – CSI's – Blue Bloods.


I don't think you should expect a blood bath of cancellations from CBS or even ABC although ABC could certainly do with a massacre come May. NBC is really the only place where I think you can expect any heavy loses and even then I wouldn't be surprised to see them be cautious on that front. If you look at ABC the only nights that are really likely to be open to any kind of change are Tuesday and Sunday and they still have enough on the bench for midseason that, that might change. CBS meanwhile are likely to make a couple of cancellations freeing up enough room for a couple of new comedies and a couple of new dramas. In fact if they expand the Thursday comedy block they may only play with one new drama in the Fall and one new drama midseason.


That's a tricky situation for NBC.

Just as a general hypothetical I'd say they keep it where it is for the time being if only because they haven't really got another slot for it especially not a 9PM one. Tuesday 9PM will be Biggest Loser, Wednesday 9PM will be opposite X Factor and Idol, Thursday will mean breaking up the comedy block (and they won't), Friday and Saturday are both no go's and Sunday will be football. The much more immediate issue NBC will have to face with a second season of Smash is whether or not they schedule it for the Fall or wait until midseason and bring it back with The Voice.


You'd think so but its not an entirely unique event these days.

The 9pm CBB show attracted 2.6m.
Don't know what the 11pm one got.

Any idea?

I think expanding the Thursday comedy block for next season is a definite possibility, and they really should go for it. A bit of juggling around would help too, so on Mondays they could have HIMYM at 8, Mike and Molly at 8:30, 2 Broke Girls at 9 and a new comedy at 9:30, whilst Thursdays could have Two and a Half Men at 8, Rob or a new comedy (or a final run of Rules) at 8:30, Big Bang at 9 and a new comedy at 9:30. I really think 2BG could flourish at 9pm and with Big Bang being their biggest comedy, that also deserves a 9pm slot, meaning TAAHM would have to go at 8pm.

I actually think Person of Interest should then stay on Thursday but at 10pm, with The Mentalist taking the Tuesday 10pm slot. Hawaii Five-0 could go on Sundays at 9, leaving the Monday slot open for something new. Good Wife on Fridays at 8 like you've said, but I think they might as well keep both CSIs for full series, as they do fine as they are.


I think ABC should shift Castle to Tuesdays at 10pm and give the better Monday slot for something new. They don't actually need to make too many changes, Mondays could be Dancing and a new drama, Tuesdays could have Last Man Standing, a new (older skewing) comedy, Dancing and Castle and Wednesdays are fine. Thursdays need changing - that 8pm slot has been hellish for them for years. They could perhaps put Private Practice there, leaving room for a new drama to launch out of Greys. Sundays are a bit of a conundrum from 9 till 11 though.


A big issue for NBC will be what to fill the Monday 8-10 slot with in the Fall. In no way should they double up on The Voice but they don't have too many other options. AGT maybe if they launch it in August the night after the Olympics ends with a hugely promoted premiere, meaning it'd have momentum going into the Fall. If they do go for that then Smash should probably return with it as it'd be a good fit out of AGT. AGT results could then go on Tuesday, giving them a launch pad for something new at 9 and probably SVU at 10. I'd then keep the Wednesday comedy hour at 8 leading into a shorter one hour Biggest Loser at 9 (it'd do an OK job in a hellish slot for them). A new drama could go at 10, and that also gives them the option of extending BL to 2 hours if the drama bombs. The comedy block could remain on Thursday but they need more mainstream shows in it. If Awake does OK in the Spring (doubtful knowing NBC) it could go there but otherwise it'll have to be another new drama. I think that's probably just about NBC's best option this Fall, and would at least prevent a total collapse.

As for FOX, I think they should dump The Finder ASAP and instead air Touch in the Thursday 9pm slot, meaning Alcatraz wouldn't need so many doubles on Mondays and Touch would get the Idol lead in. Bones and House could rotate in the 8pm slot (with a few doubles of each). If they do that then next season would actually look pretty good for them with Bones and Alcatraz on Mondays, Glee, New Girl and a new comedy (Raising Hope on the bench) on Tuesdays, XF/Idol (and a comedy) on Wednesdays, XF/Idol and Touch on Thursdays (if Touch can't debut until midseason then they'd just need a bit of filler for November) and Kitchen Nightmares with another unscripted show on Fridays.

Well, the official stance was that My Family had run its course after 11 years and with the children having grown up and left home:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pre...5/family.shtml

That's the "official" excuse.....

The BBC can't be seen to chase ratings remember.....

Not such a daunting task as it used to be in the eighties and nineties when BBC1 would show a repeat of Harry and the Hendersons against CS. Neither EE nor CS have the massive ratings pull they had 20 years ago and actually the alternatives tend to be decent like The Lakes and Panorama. You could say as well 51 million people like neither show so there is an audience that wants as alternative.

Notice Million Pound Drop is at 8.15pm tonight - could it beat The Talent Show Story?

Also last night they confirmed The Bank Job is returning for a second series - in February. I suspect though it might take one of the MPD slots and run weekly.

There also cutting back massively so dumping the tired stale 'family sitcom' which had stopped pulling in 'family viewers' makes a lot of sense

Friday 20th January Overnights
BBC One
20:30- Room 101: 3.72m (15.5%)
21:00- Hustle: 4.61m (18.9%)

BBC Two
20:00- Mastermind: 2.14m (9.2%)
20:30- On Hannibal's Trial: 1.08m (4.5%)
21:00- Sicily Unpacked: 1.2m (4.9%)

ITV1
20:00- Safari Vet School: 2.61m (11.2%)
21:00- Law & Order: UK: 4.73m (19.4%) , +1: 362k (1.9%)
22:35- Jaws: 1.12m (10.4%)

Channel 4
20:30- New Girl: 1.17m (4.8%) , +1: 113k (0.5%)
21:00- The Million Pound Drop: 1.65m (7.1%) , +1: 202k (1.2%)

Channel 5
21:00- Celebrity Big Brother: 2.5m (10.3%) , +1: ~100k
22:00- Celebrity Wedding Planner: 976k (5.1%)
23:00- Celebrity Big Brother: 1.7m (12.6%)
23:30- Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side: 882k (9.1%)

Primetime Shares
ITV1: 22.7%
BBC One: 20.8%
BBC Two: 5.9%
Channel 5: 5.6%
Channel 4: 5.4%

Ratings include HD and are tape-checked where necessary

Source: DS

I think it's scheduling suicide as it will be up against the second half of Who Dares Wins, Casualty and Live at the Apollo on BBC One with the live snooker on BBC Two. Would've been better if it was on at 9.30pm.

I can see the reason behind it as they're trying to obtain the Take Me Out audience but I think they're in for a fall tonight.

According to The Bank Job application form the closing date is the middle of March so it looks like they'll be using the same Friday/Saturday slot. I suspect they'll extend each show to 90 minutes and have five people on each show. In other words, every show will be like the first series final.

The Bank Job will have a massive task on their hands as although the audience did rise throughout the week it wasn't by much (couple of hundred thousand). It failed to get any of their six shows into Channel 4's top 30 shows. Where Million Pound Drop can easily do that. Also I think both the Friday and Saturday edition finished bottom in their respective timeslots.

Low for Hustle, although might timeshift much better given that there's probably quite a crossover between it and Law and Order on the other side.

Law & Order doing well in its Friday night slot.

Hustle seems to be suffering from "axed series syndrome". Fair to say the first two eps haven't been the best. Maybe the price is being paid for LAO getting the jump by a week? No logical reason why LAO won that overnight clash (Hustle will surely win on the officials), unless CBB nicked enough of the young upwardly mobile demo to send Hustle sub 5m?

Ok for Rm 101 I suppose.