If anything that shows how far The Apprentice has dropped year on year as last year The Apprentice got 6.3m in the overnights. The previous week must have been 7.5m then.

I've never seen The Apprentice, but it sounds like they round up a load of egotistical deluded talentless wannabees, and give them a few moronic tasks to do.

The worst one gets kicked out, then they do it all again the next week. A bit like Big Brother I'm guessing

Not forgetting the 2 soaps which keep ITV ticking over until TXF. It's just July and August time when ITV1 seems to tank, but I'm sure they can take the hit as better times are ahead. Glad Lewis is back and Vera is quite good. It would be wrong to say nothing will get over 3 million, but last summer had some real stinkers from ITV entertainment.

I'm not having that because we haven't also mentioned ITV's other rip-off version of it, Natural Born Sellers, which also completely bombed and was dumped in a late night slot. And Million Pound Giveaway, their rip-off of Dragon's Den which was awful, And You Don't Know You're Born, their rip-off of Who Do You Think You Are, which only lasted three weeks.

And if just buying up a format is such a guarantee of success, how come The Marriage Ref was such a massive flop. Bit like when Simon Shaps laughed off the success of Doctor Who and said it didn't count as innovation because "it was a revival", because of course Crossoroads worked out so well.

Bet he was less than happy when a new, fresh format like Celebrity Wrestling did so badly against Doctor Who it had to be moved to a Sunday morning. Not forgetting some of the other real horrors ITV showed in this era that were original shows( well use Z list celebs in reality formats) and went quickly.

Well again you are answering a question nobody asked Its not a guarantee of sucess but it a lazy way of generating ratings for a corporation free of the burdens of market pressures

Buying a hit format tends to be as close to a guarantee of success as you can get - hence why so much money is spent on them and made from them. By no means was The Marriage Ref a hit.

Wasn't there some critic who found it great entertainment? Mind you the Daily Express called Don't Scare The Hare great fun with an animatronic hare, well this was the day it started.

Interesting news out of the US - ABC have cancelled Cougar Town but cable network TBS have picked it up for at least one more season (the cast have signed deals with an option for a second). Also Family Guy and American Dad set to continue through to at least 2014

Simon Cowell "What show were you on?" (as if he didn't know)
Ryan O'Shaunessy "The Voice"
Simon "And they let you go?"
Ryan "Yes" (He was knocked out of The Voice Ireland early)
Simon "Well their loss, is our gain...you could be the dark horse"
(Simon did thank Universal Music moments later for releasing Ryan from their contract).

Long live ITV! And long may they continue to be bold, brave and take risks on copycat formats, new formats, new progs etc.. etc.. They are a commercial broadcaster and at least they have the guts to go with something - sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

And for the sake of balance - long live the BBC too, and CH4, CH5, Sky etc.. etc..

GotTalent
Our NEW #BGMT presenters will be announced tonight. @itv2, 10pm
9:31 PM - 10 May 12

Where's Stephen Mullhern going?

The Apprentice is not that interesting this year, its a bit boring and I dont think the format of having a business partner works at all. It means that Lord Sugar can just look at the business plans and sack people regardless of how they actually perform on the tasks. It was much better before when someone actually won a job.

There is rumours that there is massive tension between Steven Mulhern and David Walliams. Walliams mightve got Mulhern the sack.

The less Stephen Mulhern, the better.

To me, the biggest problem for The Apprentice is that the contestants have watched too many of the earlier series. Classic moments have been the revealing comments made when the groups have been in the house or on the tasks caught by the brilliant camera and editing teams. Trouble is they are now wise to this and for the most part tread a reserved and potentially boring path forward. Most of the real characters in the past have been so far up themselves they could not help to be funny-there is rather a lack of those this time.

Has The Dark Knight been shown on terrestrial TV yet?

It's been nearly 4 years since it was released, is that not quite a long gap?

BGT series to date episode average is down 3% vs last year and 6% vs series 4.

That sounds pretty strong but I think the disappointment is that the auditions were up on both series.

The live show hourly average last year was 9.77m. For the 4 so far this year it's 8.92m so that's a 9% decline. The episode average for the live shows is 8.56m down from 9.64m, an 11% decline.

It's all a joke. Turns out it was revealed to be Jedward.

Well he had already lost 2m viewers in the earlier weeks when facing competition from practically nothing.


It makes you a bit uncomfortable at first - but that's probably the point. And frankly C4 have a better history of putting people of various disabilities into shows like Countdown and Deal or No Deal than most broadcasters.


So kind of a similar story to The X Factor last year. Perhaps it is the change in timing that has hit the live shows more than anything and I still believe they'd have been better sticking to their regular week leading up to the Jubilee weekend, but unlike The X Factor it certainly can't be put down to the talent on stage as this year is clearly stronger than the last couple - and I think they've been justified in putting the extra act into each nights show.

The problem for BGT this year is that I really don't see how they can improve it on the production end. The talent is the best it has been for years. It looks fantastic - some of the acts owe more to the production team than their own talent for putting on a show! The panel is the best they've had, I'd actually not mind Amanda being back next year. The extra act in each semi-final means they fill the shows better than the past 2 years.

I do think that leaves them with scheduling. I had it on tonight from 7.30pm - usually I'd Sky+ and watch later - and God was it a marathon!

On the other hand, I saw my first episode of Corrie in years which got me thinking and raised some questions as well. Firstly, Michelle Keegan needs her own show. Even when she's meant to be almost dead, I could watch her all night . When did the change the titles? I prefered the old ones. And did that guy with Eileen used to be in Hollyoaks?

I'd agree with that, the shows have been terrific this year and the production has been incredible - easily the best it's ever been and the panel is great. The length and scheduling do seem to be the only issues, and I do think they need to change it in some way next year. They have done a brilliant set of shows this week though so they can be pleased about that.

They'll be relieved that it rallied last night too - the performance show had quite a bump and the results held up better than I expected against The Apprentice.

They changed the titles nearly two years ago!


Yes.

I agree about BGT. I genuinely don't think they could do anything better for the live shows - the production this year has been the best it's ever been. The panel is incredibly strong.

I don't think the scheduling has helped although you can argue it's been the same scheduling for two years prior. But a weaker Corrie storyline than last year only exacerbates things.

My Digiguide data go back to November 2010, and there's no showing listed on any channel at all since then, even Sky (though I guess they showed it back in 2008 or 2009).


It's normally 2-3 years isn't it, so it does seem a long time (released US/UK July 2008).

Batman Begins from 2005 was on ITV2 a few times last month (TCM also showed it in February.) Perhaps ITV have the rights to TDK as well but are holding it back until nearer the time that the new film, TDK Rises is released on 20 July in the UK (and US). A way to catch the mood. All guesswork of course.

Arguments for and against the split in performance and result show - personally I'd prefer it all in one, but it doesn't bother me too much. I don't think it's a marathon though - 9 acts in 90 minutes is pretty good going nowadays for a talent show (If it was Dancing on Ice you could add half an hour!) and I think it moves along at a nice enough pace. The result show is pretty straight to the point too as far as result shows go, though personally I would like to see a second guest act each night so along with the "big name" they either have a former BGT contestant or the a winner of an international version just so the guests aren't always singers.

Must have been longer than I thought since I last saw it!


I think Corrie's probably getting as raw a deal as BGT out of this. Perhaps when they wanted to do "siege week" it made sense. But it must be a pain getting forced into these stripped runs to accomodate Red or Black and BGT (neither of which are benefitting from the arrangement).

And as someone who doesn't watch very often (clearly) it seems like there's less and less hype around these stripped weeks and less investment in them from the producers (who probably now roll their eyes every time Fincham demands a 9pm run!).