Make that 2-0; City need four.

Channel 5's luck has seemingly not lasted very long.

Alright, alright, try not to enjoy this too much Fudd.

City have been a disgrace, playing with no passion at all. Probably influenced by the United result and what it could mean for the league.

It's hard not to enjoy it - Manchester City tried to buy success and it hasn't worked...not yet anyway.

I doubt either Manchester sides are that bothered in the long run. Both would prefer to win the Premier League to the Europa League and it shows in two pathetic performances from them tonight.

Although, of course, you'd think it was a strong schedule if they scheduled "International Farting" every night at 9pm for a month.

I still don't get this love-in for Channel 5 - how you think everything this channel does is utterly brilliant and how it is beyond any criticism whatsoever. I am a big fan of BBC1 and BBC2 but I can still find tons of stuff on the channels I can't abide and see reasons for the channels to be criticised.

No offence - I just don't get it.

"Extreme Fishing With Robson Green" is straight out of the Alan Partridge Book Of Desperate Pitches (like Youth Hostling With Chris Eubank) and I'm sure you'd be totally unimpressed if it had been on BBC2 or Channel 4. But just because it's on Channel 5, it pure brilliance.

is S2 of episodes expect to air on BBC 2 around the same time as it did on Showtime (early July) like it did for S1?

Yawn. I don't think that and if you followed my posts at all you would know this, Iain.

Indeed in the very post you referenced I touched upon C5's very weak Monday night schedule at the moment which I was critical of in here only the other day.

Still, at least there is an underlying passion about most (not all) of what C5 are doing at the moment. Can't say the same for much of BBC primetime at the moment, i.e. The One Show, Food Inspectors, the latest Countryfile clone, New Tricks rpts, etc. Not very inspiring and that's probably why ITV1 are giving them a good hammering in the demos.

LOL - so true though. They had two parts of analysis after the game last night which highlights how stupid they were to rush The Brits off air for the news.


But Simon left to launch The X Factor in the autumn slot. Now Simon would have loved to have taken Idols slot, but Idol would not have wanted their 22 week format condensed into 13 weeks.


He did have Pop Idol though in autumn 2003 - but as you say it kind of fell into mid-season after it's summer launch as a fall return would have been too quick.

Talking of shows running twice in a year though I think it might be time for CBS looking to cut Survivor and The Amazing Race to one run a year if they want to protect them for the long term - though both shows and Big Brother have lasted far longer than anyone would have predicted when they launched.


Cue stupid journalists commenting on this weeks rights news to highlight only 700,000 watch Cheltenham on C4 while 8.8m watch the National on BBC. Wouldn't be a bad idea though when they pick up the rights to bill the Gold Cup, Grand National and Derby as separate programmes so the recorded BARB figures for those races are closer to the peak.



Always thought it would end up there, though I suspect E4 might hold it back now until June once 90210 has finished. I'd have liked to have seen it given a shot on C4 myself - but frankly E4 is as in need of drama at 9pm as C4 is at 10pm, and long term it's probably going to find more success on E4. If that long term stretches beyond two years anyway.


Talking of which, many years ago (well, 2006) C4 had to make a choice between continuing with Lost or Desperate Housewives past series 2, and they picked Desperate Housewives. With the benefit of hindsight do we think they made the right choice?

That's true. Very true.

All that money they get paid and where is the motivation? Useless.

Good job I'm not a City supporter, I'd be fuming.

Yes, I think so. At least, DH is a better fit for the C4 brand overall. It's still doing really well on E4 on Sunday nights. In fact I was a little surprised that they didn't let the last season play out on C4.

I think, whilst Revenge would probably do well on C4, E4 needs it more at the moment so a good decision again there IMO. Maybe it could be the next Glee for the channel.

It's on C4 on Tuesday evenings. Handy for those who want to watch it in HD/DD5.1 and don't have E4 HD. Need a PVR though, it's on a bit late.

Yeah, not the best slot. If I was a viewer of DH I would record and watch that showing though. You've taught me too well to do otherwise, Derek.

I think it depends on how you define successful

Desperate Housewives whilst the longer lasting of the two, was always in the shadow of the more exciting and innovative Lost, which I think will live on in pop culture longer than Desperate Housewives.

Certainly where JJ Abrahams is someone TV and movies really want to work with, that is not the same with Marc Cherry.

So I think its Lost will have a greater impact on pop culture, but is that better for a TV channel in the long run? I thinking look back I would rather have had Lost, but thats just my opinion. I think it would have defined the channel better than Desperate Housewives, and made E4 more of a pop culture reference than Desperate Housewives ever did.

Maybe with hindsight this is why they were right to ditch this contract, as they could have been lumbered with a seemingly endless competition with no English teams involved after the last 16, or ones in earlier rounds with limited followings like Birmingham City. However, the Europa League has been a relative success for Channel 5 and I often wonder if they'll be tempted to bid for the FA Cup when the rights come up again.
Also should the summer BB stiff again and they decide only to stick with CBB on a lower contract rate, then they will have more money to play with.

I'm thinking Lost kind of had the ambition that C4 imports are supposed to have - Desperate Housewives is probably one of the most mainstream US shows C4 have aired. I think like many shows though Lost had it's blip in the middle but picked up towards the end, while Desperate Housewives had it's blip in the middle and kept on blipping. I think though I gave up on Lost personally in the first series, and I think by the second it had already been announced it was moving to Sky, so others probably didn't bother either.

If the repeat rights to it though did come onto the market in the near future I suspect a full rerun would find an audience on any Freeview channel - though it needs to be weekly (perhaps double bills) as The Wire kind of showed that running nightly perhaps isn't the best strategy. I don't know what sort of time frame BBC2 had the rerun rights of The Wire for but I suspect it might have done rather well in a weekly slot over a year or so.


Anyway, in future flop zone news ITV have commissioned a two part documentary on Rupert Murdoch:

Goodness. Might have to eat my words about Manchester City. Staging a bit of an unlikely comeback here.

First half performance was woeful. Mancini must have had serious words.

One more goal needed...ten minutes to get it.

Drama aplenty in the next 5 minutes - the Masterchef winner revealed (BBC1) and Manchester City trying to get a 4th goal in 30 minutes (ESPN).

I dont know how you guys can stand the excitement.

Love Life's flopped on ITV1, don't be surprised to see sub 4 million. Can't see this one being a hit.

ITV are having big problems with their non crime drama. Despite Wild At Heart slipping against tough opposition it's been their best performer for a few years, and I don't think that's just because of the Dancing On Ice sandwich. Of course it's probably costly when compared to Love Life but they'll have to think carefully before deciding it's future.

Football: Manchester City are out despite a fightback, so no British teams are left in the Europa League.

Trying to recall the ratings for an obscure series from 1987 can prove useful in bed though in the same way some folk try to remember the names of the 1966 World Cup squad or their 12 times table...


Dull wasn't it?

Surely their best performer has been Downton Abbey?

They could probably do with another hit that isn't in that crime genre. But I think anyone with a brain knew this wasn't going to be it.

Best performer for a few years...outside the last couple?

Love Life was commissioned because it was cheap. How many episodes are there?

Wild At Heart is ITV's highest rating non-crime drama? I take it you've forgotten Downton Abbey and Doc Martin. I'm 99% sure Wild At Heart will be back though - it may have slipped a bit this year, but it still did very well in the face of incredibly tough competition, whilst DOI dropping won't have helped it either. The series average has been around 6.5m in the overnights and comfortably above 7m officially, and I highly doubt ITV would axe a drama that does that well. It isn't that much more expensive than you're typical ITV drama either.

Love Life is only a 3 parter with no returnable potential so I doubt they'll she'd any tears if it flops (although we don't know if it has yet!) but their big upcoming non-crime drama is Mr Selfridge, which could potentially be a big hit. They've made a big commitment to it (10x60 minute episodes) and it has returnable potential. Titanic and Mrs Biggs are also clear attempts at quality non-crime drama although obviously they don't have the returnable potential of Mr Selfridge. They'll be looking to the military wives drama to do better than Prisoners Wives did too as that one could potentially be a returning non-crime drama for them too.

Erm okay.