Why does US tv make most money on Thursdays?

Ads for things people spend money on at the weekend - new films, cars, etc. Its the last big tv watching night before the weekend mall shopping

Oh yeah, that makes sense. Thats why big shows like Friends and Cheers used to be on Thursdays during NBCs 'Must See TV' schedule. Do you know if its the same thing over here in the UK?

Bit of a long shot and quite off topic but does anyone remember a few years ago Ofcom changed C5's UK-produced programming quota so that it would include UK productions on their digital channels? I'm certain it happened but if been searching for it for days and I can't find anything on it online, even on Ofcom's licensing pages. I'm trying to include it in an essay but obviously I can't if there's no source!

You'd think a soap about everyday farming folk would air a live episode in the summer months when we could see all the lovely countryside and the little lambs and calves, not dark and gloomy October.

But then its no longer about country farming folk, its all lipstick lesbians and winebars.


So out of touch that the combined peak BBC/Sky audience was 13.5m, making it one of the most watched live TV events of 2010...

He really does take the piss - anyone would think there is an election coming up!


I think you only have to look at the schedules to realise that historically it isn't the case and for some reason while the rest of the world goes out on Saturday it seems to have been the big night over here, along with Sunday and Monday for drama.

That said though the digital channels all seem to up their game on Thursday nights - ITV2, E4 and Sky1 are usually all quite strong on the night, and have been for years.

It'll be interesting to see if there are any outdoor shots as the village location and studios are some distance apart I believe (or so I read elsewhere an hour or so ago!)


P.S. Amongst all the reports of Kelly Rowland quitting The X Factor is the comment about this year requiring an "increase commitment" from the judges, so wonder if we'll have more than 10 weeks of live shows.

Or extra padding of each live episode?

The last time the Strictly and Apprentice finals aired the same weekend they did promote it as a 'weekend of finals' IIRC - I think it was Sports Personality that weekend as well.

However I'm not sure there will be as much hype about The Apprentice this time around - there's a serious lack of buzz this series.

X Factor UK & US, Britain's Got Talent, Dancing On Ice and I'm A Celebrity among others will be "under new management" this year. ITV Studios have poached Siobhan "Shu" Greene from Syco Entertainment where she was Head of TV. She'll get the new role of Director of Entertainment which puts her in charge of all ITV Studios entertainment output but perhaps more importantly, developing the next hits. She joined Syco in 2003 with her Granada TV colleague Nigel Hall (now Global Head of TV at Syco). It's the latest big appointment by Kevin Lygo (who himself was quite a big appointment) to try and boost ITV Studios, a few months ago they hired Million Pound Drop's first showrunner and co-developer, Nic McNeilis.

The hope is obviously that they can fill those glaring holes in ITVs entertainment line-up with "in-house" formats that go on to sell worldwide.


I'm not sure it's still the same thing in the US, tbh. Although it was a few years ago anyway when that 9pm slot was the biggest of the week - Grey's vs CSI vs The Office. Thursdays are generally a bit limp just now. Although thanks to X Factor/Idol, FOX are a lot stronger there now.

As for Obama, I think this is the first in a while. He has definitely cut back on them over his term - as mentioned FOX had stopped showing some of them and he ended up having to phone the CEO of General Electric (which then owned NBC) to try and "arrange a time".

Bad time as well because it's the last week before Sweeps so any network showing originals is going to have a problem fitting everything in before the end of the season. I guess it depends what the announcement is.

But Ian, your assuming that BBC will air The Voice Final Results show live!

CI4E, do you think hiring these people will really make a difference to Itv studios fortunes? You say Kevin Lygo is a big appointment but since last year, he was in charge of Born To Shine, High Stakes, Red or Black and Holding Out for a Hero, most massive rating flops. These big name production signings mean nothing. Itvs obsession with finding a in-house hit has meant them rejecting better shows from indies in favour of mediocre Itv studio programms.

The Obama thing is to commemorate the one year anniversary of the OBL 'killing' - I would think the networks wish to appear patriotic and I expect ratings to be pretty strong across the networks - although commercial free during his speech.

Probably not! But I can see the thinking behind it. They're hiring people who have created hit shows rather than just produced them (Greene co-developed Saturday Night Takeaway then X Factor and Got Talent at Syco) in the hope that if they've done it before they might do it again. It's probably a better investment than Christine Bleakley!

Ultimately they do need talent behind the scenes but I think finding hit formats right now is particularly challenging for any company regardless of who is leading the development teams. Indeed, Syco's development record since 2006 is atrocious.

I suspect less to commemorate and more to "remind" people that Obama was in charge!

A good few days for BBC1 in early June then:

Saturday 2nd

- The Derby (last time on the BBC)
- The Voice UK Final

Sunday 3rd

- The Jubilee RIver Pageant
- The Apprentice Final

Holiday Monday 4th

- The Jubilee Concert at the Palace
(2002: 12.54m/peak 16m)

- Jubilee Beacons lighting

Holiday Tuesday 5th

- Service of Thanksgiving
(2002: 6.51m from 11am-1.45pm)

- Carriage Procession, Balcony & Flypast
(2002: 5.74m from 9.25-11am; 7.88m from 1.45pm-6.45pm / peak 11m) (nb: 6.45pm news got 9.44m)

(of course much of the above will be on ITV1 and Sky News - but frankly, who will be watching...)

Then Euro 2012 starting the weekend after....

Next Tuesday at 9pm on BBC1 Britain's Biggest Hoarders -
Why, when the BBC are facing financial cuts and constraints are they wasting our licence fee or such a completely pointless programme? ( I don't care if it is filler against Coronation Street and Britain's Got Talent.)



The Matt Lucas Awards: If the whole programme was as entertaining and energetic as the opening titles then this would be vying with X Factor and England at the Euros for highest rated programme of the year.

the Matt Lucas Awards only serves to highlight how wasted Matt Lucas is on the Matt Lucas awards, also how he works best in a wig, that is the only time the show and Matt really come alive.

I think you've answered your own question..

Why launch a second series of the relatively successful Silk against that lot?

Surely it's more of a waste to launch something like an expensive drama against ITV's scheduling onslaught.

I just watched CBS Eastern - they left the Obama broadcast around 7.42 and showed a cut down Two and a Half Men until 7.57 - then straight into NCIS, naturally this wont affect Central or Pacific timezones.

It's not really the same. I would suggest this is because historically the BBC has led the way and so the TV landscape has been defined by that lead rather than being commercially focused.

The Sun reporting that ITV are considering moving Dancing on Ice to Saturday nights, with the results show as a standalone Sunday night show.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...e-wielded.html

the beeb will be in for a very good summer ratings and share wise. be interesting to see how itv holds up?

They keep trying to relaunch and reinvent it, but its boring and dull to its core.

Torvill and Dean don't help - every week they are asked the same questions and give the same standard monotone responses - pointless waste of everyone's time. Christine, as Holly before her, does nothing - literally reads out the name of a judge and asks for their comment. Luckily Philip lets her get a couple of words in at the start and end of the show. He can't stop screaming and screeching at every boring little bit of "drama". There have been about 20 judges come and go, with not one of them having either the knowledge or the personality required for the role. They've diluted the money spent on celebrities to drag the thing out for as long as possible to the point where they are taking the dregs Celebrity Big Brother wouldn't touch. The whole thing drags on for hours on end and weeks on end.

I'd go for the Saturday/Sunday thing, ditch the presenters and get one new host, keep Torvill and Dean but restrict their input to the VTs (they have no purpose in the studio), have 5 professional judges and don't bother with comments - just get scores and move on, and have 10 celebrities skating for 8 weeks. They also need to try and focus on the comedy of celebrities on ice, rather than the "DRAMA" they keep trying to push on the audience - which no-one is buying anymore.