Originally Posted by wizzywick:
“The BBC will probably launch SCD on Friday September 28th and Saturday September 29th. The first vote show cwould be October 6th. Therefore the SCD final would be December 15th. Possibly the same day as it was in 2006.”
It was on December 22nd in 2006, and on the 23rd in 2007, and I don't doubt it'll finish the Saturday before Christmas in 2012 as well, if for no other reason than it seems completely logical and more "special" in that slot. What would they put on that Saturday otherwise?
Originally Posted by Brekkie:
“Good to see a new face on BBC primetime - and he's an improvement on Lenny, but adding a public vote to a show already trivialised by using celebrities makes it even more frustrating this format took off whilst Penn and Teller: Fool Us didn't.”
Trivialised? Of course it's trivial, it's a light entertainment show!
Originally Posted by GeorgeS:
“ah but Christmas is special and not a time for relentless soap operas. Of course it is the BBC that started the arms race on soaps - introducing them to Christmas Day on non soap days and upping the number of episodes of Eastenders from 2 to 4.”
Ha ha, that was of course after Coronation Street had moved up from three to four shows a week and Emmerdale had moved from three to five.
Originally Posted by Fudd:
“And if the BBC were that eager to launch something off the back of EastEnders they would've used the 8pm slot on Tuesday instead of clogging it up with Holby City so I have little sympathy with them on that, either.”
Well they used to launch a lot of things after EastEnders on Thursday, they did lots of new dramas there, and after they successfully launched Waterloo Road in that slot they then moved it to Wednesday so then other things could benefit from the lead in. But then ITV moved the soaps there. And I don't know where else Holby could go at the moment without crashing into an ITV soap, other than 9pm which would be far more constricting that its current slot.
Originally Posted by Fudd:
“I've said before that I'm surprised ITV haven't taken the risk with Coronation Street with Holby City there anyway. Even if it's hurt by Holby it would do a damnsight better than anything else they've chucked there.”
I doubt it'd do particularly well though because I'm sure there's far more audience crossover between Corrie and Holby than there is between Corrie and anything else it goes up against.
Originally Posted by C14E:
“It was massive, though. Obviously it hit key demos too which helped with tabloid buzz. But until 2008/09, nobody really thought we'd have a time when the soaps were repeatedly kept of the weekly #1 spot by X Factor or Strictly. So being "the best of the rest" was a big deal. Cowell's importance at ITV was already significant in 2006 when he just had X Factor (and it was losing to Strictly then).”
Yes, Pop Idol was a massive deal, even if the ratings weren't absolutely enormous, because in the context Saturday nights had been a wasteland for a few years up so it dominated the Saturday schedules. And the likes of Heat were just taking off so they were able to go nuts all over it. I think Pop Idol had a slow start, mind, I don't know if at the start people thought it wasn't just a straight retread of Popstars, and it was rather overshadowed by the war in Afghanistan (which started almost immediately before one of the early episodes). The live shows were when it really took off. And it was a good show, way better than the contrived stuff we get these days.
It's still remarkable to think that Popstars was such a hit, and that Hear'Say were so successful, when the general public had nothing to do with their creation so you might have thought nobody would care.
There were talent shows before that, mind, I noticed a clip of Get Your Act Together in the show last night, which BBC1 ran on Saturday nights in 1999, presented by Ronan Keating, which flopped massively (they shoved it to a teatime slot mid-run). That was all a bit worthy and dull, though I remember when they announced the results (it was an audience vote, it was all pre-recorded apart from the final) they broke them down and revealed who was most popular with the various demographics in the audience, which was a bit interesting.
In fact there were loads of talent shows in 1999, that year you had that, Give Your Mate A Break and Star For A Night, which was actually quite a big hit despite it being the most bog-standard format imaginable (some people sing, judges pick a winner, that's it). Oddly though, they moved the final series from Saturdays to Sunday teatimes and I remember the producer on Teletext saying "Well, we dunno why the Beeb have given us that slot and presumably we won't be coming back", and they didn't. The best episode was when Ian Hyland, oft of this parish, was a judge and was actually honest about the acts, in a Cowell-esque fashion before Cowell was even on telly, and the producer went on Points of View to apologise. I wonder if Hyland regularly sticks pins in a voodoo doll of Simon Cowell.
Originally Posted by Charnham:
“to be fair he has had TOTP on Channel 5, but only TOTP 2 repeats.
I also have not received word of him making a daring swoop on Something For the Weekend, which actually wouldnt be difficult for him, all he has to do is get on the set of The Wright Stuff.”
They repeated the 1985 Christmas Top of the Pops, which presumably they licenced off the Beeb like the other repeats they do, like they licence An Audience With off ITV. In any case, I would rather they didn't pick up Something For The Weekend, because I would very much like Tim Lovejoy to be unemployed, as I can't stand him.
No Sunderland pundit on the panel
