Because BBC1 has become an incredibly lazy channel with three hours of The One Show every week, Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow clogging up Sundays, Casualty and Holby all year round, 30 episodes a year of Waterloo effing Road, too much Masterchef and four weekly episodes of Eastenders where two would suffice (and give the production team the space to improve the quality).

ITV have an excuse for filling their entire weekday pre-watershed schedule with soap - they're a commercial organisation with no other ideas how to cope with the increased competiton they face today. But the BBC with their licence fee don't have to rely so much on ratings, so should be willing to take more risks and offer a more varied schedule than they do.

- Demographic Information for BBC1 and ITV1 for Monday 27th February to Sunday 4th March: http://i43.tinypic.com/dzjrmh.jpg

Top programmes for the week among 18-49 year olds from that list (excludes soaps) were:

1. England v Netherlands: 9.9
2. Take Me Out: 9.1
3. Benidorm: 8.8
4. Dancing on Ice: 8.6
5. Let's Dance for Sport Relief: 7.7
6. Harry Hill's TV Burp: 7.5
7. Whitechapel: 7.2
8. Wild at Heart: 6.9
9. New You've Been Framed: 6.3
10. MasterChef: 6.2

- Demographic Information for BBC1 and ITV1 for Monday 5th February to Monday 12th March: http://i44.tinypic.com/qyzew8.jpg

Top programmes for the week among 18-49 year olds from that list (excludes soaps) were:

1. Dancing on Ice: 9.4
2. Benidorm: 8.8
3. Take Me Out: 8.6
4. Harry Hill's TV Burp: 7.7
5. Wild at Heart: 7.6
6. Whitechapel: 7.4
7. Let's Dance for Sport Relief: 7.2
8. MasterChef: 7.1
9. Scott & Bailey: 6.3
10. Prisoners' Wives: 6.0
* list excludes YBF and Waterloo Road which could've got top 10 places

-Note: Each number indicates the % of the UK 18-49 population. For e.g. 9.4% of 18-49s in the UK watched Dancing on Ice etc.

because its war. you cant risk ceding 5 yards as before you know it your share % might drop 0.005% and you will get a bazooka from Robbie.

hmmm....

If they were that desperate for ratings, they'd have got rid of the kids shows a long time ago.

Not a total surprise. The numbers have been horrific but CBS has been leaning toward siding with syndication and awards love with The Good Wife. The major issue is where they put it next season. Friday night has seemed like the obvious slot for a while but with them testing The Mentalist there recently it might not be...


Neither is dead yet. These are early renewals from CBS the fate of the remaining CSI's and the likes of Rules of Engagement and Rob will depend on how CBS' development slate shapes up and for the comedies at least whether or not they press ahead with a two-hour block on Thursday. I suspect, as I have for the entire year, that at least one of them gets a safety net renewal if nothing else.

Having said that the writing has been on the wall for the entire CSI franchise for a while now and Channel 5 should have been much more proactive in searching for replacements for them than they have been. CBS should have been as well for that matter.


Not quite.

Early renewals from CBS but I imagine the other networks will follow suit with a couple of early renewals over the coming weeks. The bulk of decisions probably won't be public until April/May though.

I see Saturday Kitchen Best Bites is taking the 90-minute Something For The Weekend slot from Sunday 25th.


Liver on pizza? Eww.

New Girl is in relative trouble, IMHO. Since the Halloween episode it's lost all it's charm, for some reason. One particular plot-line is just irritating.

Fox really are struggling scripted-wise, this was their big hit this time around.

It could easily do a:

8pm - Good Wife
9pm - Mentalist
10pm - Blue Bloods

Or, CBS could move TGW to Sunday at 10, and try a new drama at 9.

I reckon Rules will get a 13 episode order, Sony will slash its licensing fee if it wants to get to 100 episodes. Rob I think is dead.

As for CSI, to be fair to Channel 5 and CBS, they have been buying more US imports, CSI: NY should it be cancelled only fill 22 weeks a year so it wouldn't be hard to replace.

CSI I think is safe for a few years, The Mentalist while it's been renewed is not as safe as recent years due to it being produced by Warner Bros rather than CBS Studios. I reckon they'll hit seven seasons unless its drops dramatically next season.

The problem is Undercover Boss is doing good business at 8PM on Friday and I think that's going to push CBS to ditch the fully scripted Friday schedule and go unscripted at 8PM where they've had endless trouble for a good few seasons now. The entire CBS schedule is packed as hell right now though so God knows what they're going to do. I think they might have to move to timeslot shares unless they're just not picking up any new drama...

Football on ITV1 heading for a thrilling finish, most exciting game of the season (could be extra time).

It is very exciting, great game.

Rob's a tricky one. It started fantastically but it has slowly but surely died away. If CBS opt to expand to two-hours on Thursday then I wouldn't be hugely surprised to see both Rob and Rules get short episode orders. The Mentalist is likely going to depend on where it lands next season and just how much Warner Bros. is making from syndication.

All good...


I reckoned on a highly unscientific 75% yesterday, so that's pretty good actually!

The other 25% probably think its the voice in their head that the questioner is asking about

Could end up anywhere to be honest, though with the news of two CSI franchises not yet being renewed C5 is possibly more in the running than it was this morning.

A commission like this would really help C4's 10pm strategy too - but they haven't had a procedul since Without a Trace and seem to have pretty much given up on US network drama now.

Homeland?

Football guaranteed to go past 10pm on ITV1 now (and pick up some of those who were watching the final week of Masterchef).
No goals would mean penalties, a Chelsea exit would mean no British quarter-finalist for the first time in several years.

Surely not as good as the Carling Cup final?!

It has, however, made me turn over from NCIS. ITV1 could salvage something from this miserable Champions League season yet as the momentum looks to be with Chelsea currently.

Why would you even think of doing that!?!?

But, I'm watching on +1 anyways

is there a list anywhere of the top rating programmes ever for each multichannel channel?

Channel5 has shown more US drama recently like Castle and Body of Proof but neither have taken off like the CSIs. They also have Once Upon a Time coming up which might rate well. I dont know why Channel5 dont get Person of Interest, it would be a big hit for them. Why are they taking so long buying PoI, its a no brainer!!

It doesn't seem like something C4 would go for but I guess it's a possibility. I haven't heard any whispers about this one so nothing would surprise me except maybe UKTV, who must surely have spent most if not all of their acquisitions budget for this year by now.

That's a cable drama, not a 22 part network drama.