All these stories about crisis moves and them tearing up the format - when in fact Cheryl and Adele appearing as guests on the show has long been rumoured (Cheryl since will.i.am was announced, Adele since the Brits), while them axing two acts in the next round of live shows and having the judges perform with them is directly out of the format hand book.

TOWIE is on a couple of nights a week, it's not comparable. It rates well for what it is but it's not the same. BB delivers above average audiences for C5 night after night. The effect it has on the channel is much more profound, especially its profile amongst young people. ITV2 generally does okay here anyway as it has other shows that hit the spot like Celeb Juice and the Cowell show spinoffs.

Also consider what we've seen happen on the channel in the past week alone: 1) The Restaurant Inspector flopping majorly with only 700,000 viewers; 2) a few other homegrown shows underperforming and doing not much better; 3) only a 2.7% share last night. All this strengthens BB's position as suddenly its performance even last year doesn't look so bad, especially with the strong demos, and as I've already alluded to I do expect to see growth this year.

Look around on TV, it's full of ageing formats. Should all those be cancelled as well just because they are not as popular as they once were?

Big Brother's future will be decided this year, last year's performance is irrelevant now. This was always going to be the case when they signed the 2 year deal for the rights to the show. So let's see what happens.

These sort of headlines I expect from the Star, but not the Mirror!

The Voice has been disappointing since the auditions finished it has to be said.

Can anyone shed some light on why BGT is starting at 7.31pm tomorrow night? Or is it just my Sky EPG being weird?

The Mirror's lost its way recently. A damn shame if you ask me as it used to be a decent enough paper, certainly the best of the tabloids.

A laughable headline that and a laughable story. Real barrel scraping "journalism."

I thought Channel5 had already renewed Big Brother until 2014?: http://www.bbspy.co.uk/news/0403/cha...l-with-endemol

So does that mean the ratings dont matter as much this series? Maybe in 2013/2014 the BBs then will matter more cos renewal talks for 2015 onwards will be happening then but BB is all good for C5 until at least 2014.

It has, but there is sure to be some flexibility in the new contract. They already made changes this year to accommodate another series of CBB. So I think if BB was to fail, and I stress I still think this is unlikely, then I'd imagine the preferred option would be to do more CBB and do away with BB altogether.

Oh, thats interesting to hear, I assumed both CBB and BB would definately continue to 2014. Hmm, I think itd be overkill if Channel5 have something like three series of CBB per year to compensate for no regular BB. Two would be more than enough.

Fudd stole what I was about to say. Quite ironic actually.

What do you get if you throw all the first series ratings for The Voice, BGT, Dancing on Ice, X Factor, Strictly and I'm a Celebrity together? This graph... http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg840...ng&res=landing

Edit - Ironic about The Voice stealing BGT's headlines that is.

They could do longer runs. Another option could be an 'All Stars' version, bringing back ex-housemates. Been done before but many were robbed of a place last time.

So they have options if the worst comes to the worst, but I don't think it will come to that.

They have all fallen to their lowest common denominators recently. Possibly because they are pulling out of the 'political' business? The Sun has been very noticeable recently (online anyway) for its return to just being an unapologetic horrid rag, after a few years at least pretending to be a newspaper.

I never realised Dancing On Ice did so well for it's first series. It was hardly a vintage season.

So here may (or may not) be interested to know that NBC have started a raft of early pick-up announcements for next seasons as they attempt to get new shows on the air in time for Olympics over the summer. Picked up to series so far are three new comedies and two new dramas

Go On – Comedy starring Matthew Perry and created by former Friends writer Scott Silveri about a grieving sports caster and his mandatory therapy sessions.
Save Me – Aspirational comedy starring Anne Heche has a formally downtrodden woman in a broken marriage who, after an accident, becomes the best version of herself and begins to believe she's channelling God. [This was originally in development at Showtime]
The New Normal – Comedy from Glee's Ryan Murphy about a gay couple and the woman having their baby.
Revolution – High concept drama about the survivors of a world where all forms of power have mysteriously disappeared. Created by Supernatural's Eric Kripke and produced by JJ Abrams
Hannibal – Drama from Bryan Fuller about the early days of Hannibal Lector as he works as a profiler alongside FBI agent Will Graham. Very loosely based on Red Dragon.

I suspect we'll see Revolution and possibly Hannibal land somewhere in the UK. Comedies are harder to tell by Go On looks like somebody would take a punt on it.

I wish the tabloids would stop treating these shows as if they are Shakespeare. They are singing contests that if cancelled tomorrow, would barely raise an eyebrow in the same way the end of Pop Idol hardly caused riots in Trafalgar Square. However, TV, which is the best of a bad bunch, has suffered a hefty fall.

Yeah, I noticed that. This kind of thing will only serve to speed up the death of newspapers. My local paper is sadly going weekly soon, the nationals will be next. They can't compete with online on any level.

I expect to see a full All Stars season of BB in the next few years.

August could be a big month for NBC - new shows, AGT as a lead-in and Olympic promotion as well.


You'd have to be nuts to want to be in the political business. Only 15m bothered to vote last week. Revolution in Europe... 24 hours later and Greece is going to shut down AGAIN. Who wants to read that on their way to work or at lunch?

If I were a betting man I would say Revolution and Go On will be the more likely to be picked up in the UK. Be interesting to see when they will be scheduled; 'Must See TV' is badly in need of a shakeup.

I think the one good thing about the Voice is Will.i.am. Everyone else seems to want to get rid of him but he is so random and unpredictable that he is the only one who makes the show worth watching. I think the judges could work again next year but the contestants are not great singers this year and there is no wow factor.

I seen a few articles pop up recently saying that The Voice coaches being overly positive and giving contestants false hope is worse than being nasty to peoples faces. Jan Moir says:

Yes I would agree, the coaches need to be more constructive. That doesnt mean being nasty but saying the truth to some of the contestants who dont sing particularly well and giving advice on how they could improve would be better. And that does not mean by just saying "it was pitchy"!


BGT is on the front page of 3 newspapers.

That's certainly what they're hoping for. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out for them. God knows they need to catch a break.


Revolution seems like a lock for Watch to me. To replace the sure to be cancelled Alcatraz. This type of Abrams branded drama has done well for them so they should stick with it and hope they eventually find one that runs for more than one season.

Depending on how it plays out content wise I could see Sky taking a gamble on Save Me (possibly for Atlantic) but I'd agree that Go On looks like the only comedy anyone's immediately going to be interested in and that's purely because of who's involved.

Posted ages ago about the voice after watching the dutch format and had a feeling the live shows
would be the issue.

its the biggest mistake the BBC did wasnt having a live results show even just for this first series to keep the buzz going.I think even the best presenter would have a problem trying to build up tension when they know its a recorded show and any messups can be edited out or redone.

Jessie J and Will.I.Am just not working.Both have really bad attitudes there was a story a while back they were scared these two swear a lot so would that explain the more than guarded comments? its like pulling Teeth from Will.

They said they didnt want it looking like Xfactor but with the cheesy Dancers its halfway there already so having more popular music acts can only be a goodthing.

The idea of Cheryl Cole saving a show called 'The Voice' is pretty funny I have to admit.

The thing is they do that. Danny's comment about a contestant being pitchy was followed up by him advising that she try bringing a band on stage with her because surrounding herself with that sound will make it easier to find her pitch.

The problem is that I don't think the audience at large really wants to hear particularly technical criticism. Do people really want to listen to Jessie J and will.i.am advising a contestant on what shape they should make with their mouth when they sing a note? Yes that's all very helpful to the person on stage but is it interesting or entertaining for the audience? It's s difficult balance to strike.

It is worth a chuckle.

Adele's a good booking though. I still think they should have splashed the cash and got her as a coach.