I was wondering if it might "grow" (MGs review and comments are very positive, as are those on the DS thread) but it hasn't been setting iPlayer alight (it's recently moved into the top 10 most popular, but still being beaten by EE, MC, TG and SSaSP).

K

I do feel sorry for WAH against such formidable opposition on BBC One as it is a good drama. My plan would be to move it to the ex Coronation St slot on Thursdays for the next series, where 6-7 million would be most welcome. Actually if ITV1 keep their two Emmerdales and follow it with WAH they won't have a new flopzone. However, my idea would be to have the two Emmerdales surround CS on Wednesdays, followed by something like Lewis and have a major drama hit like Benidorm or WAH on Thursdays preceded by a game show. Please no more dross like TBL or 71 Degrees North in peak time on ITV1.

I don't think it's been confirmed there will be another series of WAH.

ITV would be mad to ditch it as the show still has decent ratings and against weaker BBC opposition could fill the dead Corrie slot quite easily. Maybe moving the extra Emmerdale to Wednesdays to really hurt Auntie on what has become a strong night for them.
This is how I would rebuild Corrieless ITV 1 on Thursdays:
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 The Lakes or similar regional type show
8.00 Wild At Heart
9.00 Benidorm
or 8-10 when the lighter dramas aren't showing, Midsomer Murders.
All hits and would be a diverse schedule from at one end a factual show and the other a comedy drama.

I did fear that Inside Men may not have hit expectations with the small number of replies in the thread on here and relatively low iPlayer position. I expect it was slightly dented by being against two other drama, even if they were low, in Eternal Law and Mad Dogs.

Sky1 is up 37% year on year for January 2012 (versus January 2011)

depends on when it is. Ive seen some fans speculate (and that is all) she could appear on the night of Olympic opening ceremony, with the live element, EE is well and truely part of the event, so yes if Sharon was to return as well that night, it could well be 13 million.


not surprising, im not sure launching them together is a good idea.

Emmerdale doing well, Corrie looking low because of that, and EastEnders was never going to do better, not this weeks storylines.

For once, completely agree with everything you've said. And this is reflected in the ratings back in Aus too. The stories have been so weak compared to the H&A I knew and loved, it should come as no surprise that viewers are becoming increasingly impatient with it. They need to bring back the drama and fast.

I also think there's a few things they could do right away to make it more watchable and I said this in the survey that they had at the end of last year. Ditch the stupid previously / next time sequences and bring back the opening titles complete with the legendary theme tune. It's just bizarre that a show with a theme song as iconic and memorable as Home and Away's would not want to show that off as much as possible! And if it's having to change the titles all the while that puts them off they could just do something simple that focusses more on the locations.

FYI guys I'm not in on Monday, so there'll be no prog spoilers from me

data should be up on BARB website around 1.30pm (assuming my stand hasn't cocked things up)

ciao for now

With you each day, Home and Away, same as I can't stand that modern version of the Neighbours theme.

Yeah Channel5 should bring back the Home and Away titles. Here's what they used to be like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAEKI0JmJ2w

Nice feel good titles, great theme tune - best of any soap.

Oh yes, far better than that worn out dirge Coronation St uses.
However, H& A's ratings are worrying and I wouldn't like to see it go as the Aussie hour is excellent for Channel 5 when it goes well.

Yes, they are enjoying a lot of year-on-year growth but thats only down to a lot more investment. Its not exactly down to expertise by Murphy. He has just spent a lot of cash on getting well known faces to appear on the channel and poaching hit shows from other channels. Its not a strategy that deserves any acclaim.

It could be that apart from peak time, interest in all of the daytime soaps are falling. Hollyoaks sometimes doesnt even get 1 million viewers nowadays. Maybe its just a general viewing trend, people are falling out of interest of daytime soaps. This is happening in America too, lots of day time soaps over there have been axed. I think theres maybe only 1 left there now.

Exactly! EVERYONE knows the H&A theme tune. It's cheesy as hell but perfect for the show and a good feelgood piece of music. It's a waste to only have it over the end credits which are talked over by the continuity announcer. I don't particularly like the current arrangement of it either compared to the one in that video but it's better than nothing.

I like it that Sky 1 are investing more and they deserve credit for this. In the last 6 months, theyve shown more scripted comedy than BBC1. A lot of those comedies havent had big name actors, theyve been made after a lot of development and hard work put in from dozens of people and its paid off. Its good to see that at a time when BBC1 is no longer showing much scripted comedy anymore, Sky1 is now there to offer the public a great alternative.

The heyday for the pre 6pm Aussie soaps was the late eighties: remember when we had Sons and Daughters, Richmond Hill, A Country Practice, The Sullivans and the Blue Heelers as well as the big two. Then the Aussies and ITV fell out of love with them and they were steadily cancelled.
Only the big two survive, but are generally seen now as daytime filler, which is what they were seen as originally, and don't even win their slots now as the daytime viewer would much rather watch a chat show or the news.
However , Doctors continues to do decent business for BBC One and Hollyoaks has good demos. Also with regard to America, the soap bubble burst in peak time about 20 years ago and the genre became a daytime thing for the housebound./

Broadcast have lost the plot. No nomination for BBC One in the Channel of the Year category? Come on!

I agree with you about Sky1. Increased investment in original homemade content especially scripted is always welcome but they are in a pretty gifted position in terms of budget and resources and so this should be the standard anyway. They've underperformed in recent years which is why their progress in the past 12 months looks so pronounced.

John de Mol's new talent/game show dropped 40% of it's premiere audience from 1.08 million to a lowly 640.000 in the Netherlands last night. Something tells me this won't be his next "Voice". The Voice in comparison rose over 40% for it's second episode (1.6 to 2.3 million) and averaged 2.7 million for it's first series. The second series averaged 3.3 million.

It's great to here the theme in their latest promo - but I wonder how many younger viewers would even know it's their theme tune (I suspect the theme is cut completely on the closing credits on 7):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVUFZx9-w-w

But yes, H&A fans aren't going to turn off because of an iconic 30 second theme tune and presumably Seven have full rights to the theme. I know some US shows have said they ditched their theme tunes because they had to pay the rights everytime they played the titles.

Coronation St's funeral march has never harmed it in the ratings, but the issue with H& A isn't so much the music, the fact is it's poor and possibly past its best now. I never hear anyone mention it in conversation, we get the big three at work, a couple of Hollyoaks fans and very occasionally Neighbours, but never H&A.

Some of the Broadcast awards seem a little eccentric to me.

To be fair EE usually beats CS on a Thursday so the comment about it closing the gap isn't relevant.

That is one of the highest I've seen for CS on Thursdays for a while.

Interesting from the US. American Idol and TBBT gap closes further. TBBT is doing outstandingly well

It managed to get the highest rating ever for the show.

FOX American Idol - 17.12M (5.4/15)
CBS The Big Bang Theory - 16.38M (5.4/16)

To think that when TBBT started it was getting 8m and AI was getting around 26m+
I think it's safe to say that TBBT is now the biggest sitcom since Friends finished.

I think (and I suspect the TV industry agrees) that increased investment is absolutely something that deserves acclaim. Especially when they're taking on a tough genre like sitcoms. BBC1 and ITV1 spend loads and loads of money but still have flops so it's not always that simple. Not all Sky1's comedies have done well, but it seems to be a decent record so far. And it's not as if Glee is doing particularly well for them anyway. I'd not consider it one of their better decisions in 2011.