Potentially two major flops in one year then?

Christine would be so proud...

She's not going to sing is she, like Cilla did?

Probably goes without saying, but John Williams has confirmed the overnights have been delayed again...

Will they re-release his tie-in book that came out last summer?

I guess that will be on Mondays after The Diamond Queen?

Yes, if you start fiddling with the format too then you lose the only thing it had going for it, that it was pure luck, which would probably make it a better show but would then make it indistinguishable from any other game show. It reminds me a bit of Moment of Truth, which had that all-or-nothing approach, but didn't really work so they kept on tinkering with the format and adding new rounds and in the end it lost any sort of curious appeal it might have had.


It seems remarkable ITV did Soapstar Superstar though because they were in essence just spoiling The X Factor Battle of the Stars which followed six months later and seemed like yesterday's news. In fact it's amazing what a flop that Celebrity X Factor was, but the celebrities were absolutely atrocious, for the so-called biggest show on TV.

Celebrity Juice returned to its highest ever figure last night apparently:


Also Mad Dogs still performing well for Sky1:

Others I have spotted on Twitter:

Inside Men - a disappointing 4.05m (winning the slot, "over 1m higher than any other channel")
Corrie - 9.2m (presumably includes repeat)
EmFm - 7.9m (presumably 8pm - and 9pm..)

Sources: Sam Hodges, Michael Rosser, Mike Large

The soap ratings are up on DS here http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2...ody-trial.html

EastEnders was the top soap of the day.

A few more from Broadcast and Attentional. No full roundup available yet though.

BBC2
21:00 Putin, Russia and the West - 963k

ITV2
21:00 American Idol - 671k (2.8%) [+1 138k (0.74%)]
22:00 Celebrity Juice - 2.02m (10.38%) [+1 268k (2.44%)]

BBC3
21:00 Strictly Soulmates - 392k (1.65%)

E4
22:00 Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy - 210k (1.03%) [+1 86k (0.73%)]

Sky1
21:00 Mad Dogs - 703k (2.96%)

Good rating from Eastenders last night. Not often that the Thursday episode is the top rated one of the week. Indeed not often that the soap is above 9m overnights for its first showing at all these days.

....................................

Inside Men did OK at 9pm, I think ratings wise it has got lucky with some weak competition, and the way it is trending could go lower later in the run. I have been watching the show and quite enjoy it so not sure why it hasn't captured a bigger audience. It was violent in the first episode I guess.

I've not seen it, but it got slated in The Times on Sunday, mind the reviewer did seem to be slating everything. Great rating for Celebrity Juice , didn't know it's back, must look out for a repeat, it's one of my guilty pleasures.

I'm not surprised ITV and BBC rate low on Thursdays, I always find Thursday is consistently good on multi-channel . More 4/Sky1/BBC3/ITV2 all seem to have good schedules on Thursdays.

BBC Breakfast averaged 1.7 million yesterday

Question Time 3.0 million

- Kevin Bakhurst, BBC News Channel head honcho on Twitter

I see what people mean about EE being in crisis and Emmerdale gaining ground on it.

It timeshifts very well too.

Ep 1, 857k > 1.679m

Ep 2, 725k > 1.610m

Last year the first episode overnighted at 967k and consolidated at 1.613m.

The officials are all near enough the same, but the overnights show a significant downward trend.

I was only saying the other week that they should bring back Surprise Surprise.

I don't see why this should be this subject of bashing (or yes I do, everything relating to ITV must be spoken of negatively)

I don't know why they don't just get Cilla to do it though.

Having said all this, as this is reported in The Sun, it probably isn't Surprise Surprise coming back at all, probably a different show that is about 25% the same.

Remember all the fuss surrounding Amanda Holden presenting a new series of The Crystal Maze. The reality was very different.

Foyle's War is also returning reportedly

Not much to report from Channel 5's press pack issued today except that Eddie Stobart's Trucks & Trailers returns for a third series on Friday 2nd March at 8pm.

I also remember the hype surrounding Amanda Holden's ''comedy'' set in a circus which allegedly was going to be the funniest thing ever broadcast - it made the Royal Bodyguard look like a BAFTA winner.

Disappointing figure for the last of Putin, Russia and the West. This has been an outstanding series - and also quite frightening if Putin is returning for two more terms as president. PSB at its best.

US Ratings Thursday February 9

American Idol was up a tenth vs. last Thursday's outing but it still lost out head-to-head to CBS' The Big Bang Theory in first half hour of prime time. Sticking with Big Bang barring any upward adjustments in the finals its in a dead demo heat with Modern Family for the comedy crown during the first full week sweeps.

Elsewhere...

Person of Interest was steady with a series high and The Mentalist matched its second best outing of the season at 10PM. Rob meanwhile climbed a tenth week-on-week. On ABC Wipeout was down three tenths the same amount that Grey's Anatomy was up at 9PM pulling in one of its better performances of the season. At 10PM Private Practice was steady.

Over on NBC an hour long edition of 30 Rock was up vs. last weeks 30 minute episode. The Office however feel to its lowest levels since its first season all the way back in April 2005. On a sort of plus side for NBC a repeat of The Voice delivered their best Thursday 10PM performance since a special episode of Grimm aired there.

ABC
8PM: Wipeout – 1.5 [5.24]
9PM: Grey's Anatomy – 3.9 [10.10]
10PM: Private Practice – 2.3 [6.63]

CBS
8PM: The Big Bang Theory – 5.5 [16.06]
8:30PM: Rob – 3.4 [11.00]
9PM: Person of Interest – 3.3 [15.07]
10PM: The Mentalist – 2.9 [14.36]

Fox
8PM: American Idol – 5.7 [17.92]
9PM: The Finder – 2.3 [6.25]

NBC
8PM: 30 Rock – 1.6 [3.85]
9PM: The Office – 2.5 [5.16]
9:30PM: Up All Night – 1.8 [3.70]
10PM: The Voice [r] – 1.5 [3.50]

The CW
8PM: Vampire Diaries – 1.2 [2.97]
9PM: The Secret Circle – 0.8 [1.77]

9pm slot last night:

Inside Men (BBC One): 4.05m/17.1%
Eternal Law (ITV1): 2.95m/12.44% (+1: 179k/1.0%)
*series average across 6 episodes: 3.23m/13.6%
*slot average for past 12 months: 4.44m/19%
Restoration Man (Channel 4): 2.24m/9.46% (+1: 258k/1.4%)
Winter Road Rescue (Channel 5): 1.48m/6.3% (+1: 78k/0.4%)
Putin, Russia and the West (BBC Two): 963k/4.0% inc. HD

Source: Broadcast.

Although I can see why ITV would want to bring the format back (and I don't think its an entirely bad idea) I'm not sure it makes a whole lot of sense to be offering it to Willoughby at this point. I wonder if perhaps The Sun is just a little late to this party and this is something that was offered to her to try and stop her doing The Voice? That would certainly make more sense. Having said that even if they are lining this up for her to present it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to feed these stories to the press now. Surely that's just encouraging them to write about The Voice?

UK Overnights - 9th February 2012

BBC1
13:45 - Doctors - 1.67m (20.5%)
19:30 - Eastenders - 9.16m (39.2%)
20:00 - Super Smart Animals - 3.8m (15.3%)
21:00 - Inside Men - 4.05m (17.1%)
22:35 - Question Time - 2.82m (22.1%)

BBC2
20:00 - The Very Hungry Frenchman - 1.39m (5.6%)
21:00 - Putin, Russia and the West - 963k [inc BBC HD]

ITV1
19:00 - Emmerdale - 7.76m (34.9%)
20:00 - Emmerdale - 7.75m (32.0%)
* +1 240k (1.0%)
20:30 - Coronation Street - 8.89m (35.0%)
* +1 286k (1.2%)
21:00 - Eternal Law - 2.95m (12.44%)
*DS says 2.81m
* +1 179k (0.97%)

Channel 4
18:30 - Hollyoaks - 1.13m (5.4%)
20:00 - Location, Location, Location - 1.85m (7.5%)
* +1 322k (1.4%)
21:00 - The Restoration Man - 2.24m (9.46%)
* +1 258k (1.4%)

Channel 5
13:45 - Neighbours - 765k (9.3%)
17:30 - Neighbours - 1.09m (6.5%)
18:00 - Home And Away - 787k (4.0%)
20:00 - Bermuda Triangle: The Mystery Revealed - 1.35m (5.3%)
21:00 - Winter Road Rescue - 1.48m (6.3%)
* +1 78k (0.42%)

Primetime shares
BBC1 - 21.1%
BBC2 - 4.7%
ITV1 - 20.3% (+1: 0.7%)
CH 4 - 7.2% (+1: 1%)
CH 5 - 4.3%

ITV2
21:00 - American Idol - 671k (2.8%)
* +1 138k (0.74%)
22:00 - Celebrity Juice - 2.02m (10.38%)
* +1 268k (2.44%)

BBC3
21:00 - Strictly Soulmates - 392k (1.65%)
22:00 - Eastenders - 652k (3.2%)

E4
19:00 - Hollyoaks - 619k (2.8%)
22:00 - Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy - 210k (1.03%)
* +1 86k (0.73%)

5*
18:30 - Home And Away - 569k (2.7%)

Sky1
21:00 - Mad Dogs - 703k (2.96%)


Sourced from Broadcast and DS


Two different ratings from Broadcast and DS for Eternal Law, although either is a poor rating. A reasonable night for Channel 4 primetime. Earlier on, Hollyoaks is above 1m but still down on last year's already poor year-on-year monthly averages. Neighbours and H&A have also seen falls in their averages too. Channel 5 did well with the key 8pm - 10pm period well above the 1m marker.

Celebrity Juice has moved up to another level and really is a big performer now. Aside from sport and one-offs, it is probably going to be the biggest show on multichannel now. It does get repeated on ITV1 at 10:35pm occasionally and has never really got a bigger audience there though.

I feel bad for Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy on E4. Super Smart Animals obviously not winning viewers. Eternal Law wont be coming back for a 2nd series. Winter Road Rescue doing good.

Standout rating of the night was clearly Celebrity Juice, which is just flying higher and higher. Importantly for ITV2, it's another show that is produced in bulk (29 episodes last year) which along with TOWIE provides stable, weekly big-hitters for most of the year round. Might not like it, but at least the channel seems to have a strategy and is sticking to it.

Better night for EastEnders with a good rating and strong share after a few weeks of fairly limp numbers. The soaps are always very cyclical and its rarely worth getting worked up about low numbers unless they persist for a period of months, rather than weeks.

I thought Voice might end up with an episode of Coronation St against it, but now we know it won't, because ITV pointed out the other day how Coronation St can't go out on Saturdays.