In an ideal world I'd love BBC Four to be the most successful network on television, but I know it's not going to happen. Whether we like it or not, far more viewers would sooner watch the soaps, TXF, BGT and SCD than a documentary about Heinrich Himmler.
Think about it, for all I can't stand a lot of mass appeal television, a harassed mother of three who's been on her feet all day would much rather watch a soap she's followed since she was a girl and keeps her entertained than a documentary about someone she has never heard of. This is why EE has 8 million viewers and the documentary on BBC Four has 400,000.
However, I do genuinely loathe cheap reality nonsense on the lines of Peter Andre's Bad Boyfriend Club and most viewers would agree as ratings for these do little better than the more intellectually challenging fare on BBC Four.

First post on ratings thread. I lurke.
I agree 100%.
I can admit, the only reality television I watch is Big Brother.
I just loathe TOWIE, Geordie this and XF and all that garbage. Far more important things in life.
Big Brother in a way I love the social experiment part. Hate the way its compared to things as towie.

According to a thread on here Birds of a Feather is returning for a new series following the successful stage tour this year.

Odd that the news was posted on Twitter by John Challis of Only Fools and Horses. Maybe they have given him a role?

Saw the stage show and it was funny so no surprise as it can still work.

Welcome, I know my televisual tastes veer more to BBC Four and BBC Two, but I also love SCD and Doctor Who. However, I do appreciate now the role soaps have and are vital to companies like ITV and how influential BB was in the early days.
Also we use a lot of initials on here.

Simple - the income that these papers get from X-Factor stories. It will only change when the public start to turn off in significant enough nos. & the profitable line for the papers is to bash it. That point hasn't been reached yet.

I do wonder if there has been a sea-change after the Olympics for a portion (at least) of the population in terms of this show. They have sat & watched 'real' achievers live their dream through hard work & dedication. Is this instant fame stuff going to (at last) appear very shallow & false. Time will tell. Personally I stopped watching X-Factor a few years ago when it stopped being a talent show. I know many watch it purely for entertainment but when this involves ridiculing folks with learning difficulties it is a step foo far for me.

I've seen you mention this on another thread and I think it could work as a Christmas special. Remember, 20 years ago this used to pull in 14 million viewers.

This thread is going to get so annoying over the next few weeks. There are other programs then the X Factor on

The X Factor starts tonight, hence the conversation. After all, it is a discussion forum.

Tomorrow there are other programmes on worth talking about - such as ITV's drama The Last Weekend, which I have not seen promoted much.

And so on and so forth. The discussion will keep on turning. If the thread is "so annoying", then don't read it. No one forces you to.

X factor discussion could be moved to its own rating thread:

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1720476

I've only watched the soaps on ITV this week, but I've seen it advertised quite a few times. Surprisingly a lot of ITV's upcoming dramas look good, as do BBC's (but that's less surprising.)

Already one here: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1712677

But there's nothing wrong with discussing XF ratings here.

Since throughout the year the thing with ITV1 is suppose to be 'its fine, they have X Factor anyway' - its kind of a big discussion.

R/B is more interesting to me though. X Factor could rate anything, but look at Strictly, initial ratings are not a sign of how the run will be.

I think Red or Black will do better this time. I wonder why.

Will the weather affect the X Factor much tonight? Its a really hot and sunny day in the South East, but a lot of the UK seems to be cloudy.

I don't know about anyone else in that area but its so hot outside to do anything so we're just inside with the fan on watching tv. So i don't think it will affect the rating too much.

I don't know if this has been posted but the radio times says the new series of New Tricks starts Bank Holiday monday

I think a lot of the non-coverage of BB is due to an anti-Desmond alliance. Why would other proprietors want to promote a reasonably low rating show on a channel owned by a competitor and do enough of their readers watch it?

The X-Factor is still the biggest show on UK TV, so will sell papers.

I concur, however, if it does drop in the ratings, then we'll get a sense of schadenfreude on here. I'm more interested in how Casualty will hold up and if ROB will benefit from TXF.

Well lets hope ROB doesn't do well in the ratings and Doctor who which will probably go up against that load of trash will thrash it.

Doctor Who will exterminate Red or Black?

A lot of people are surprised it came back after last year. I think it will be good for 3 million, but it won't get a third series. It's the kind of show that will be watched by people who are heavy ITV viewers.

Why is Red or Black 45 mins in length?
ETA: Oops, sorry. Forgot there were two shows.

Due to the increasingly mad weather, am changing my guesses for tonight:
7.5m/200k on +1

R/B1 = 2.9m
R/B2 = 3.4m

That first R/B could go MUCH lower though imo, I just don't know what the whole country is like weather wise so playing safe

why, do you think it should be "00" minutes long (little roulette joke there - pass me my coat!)

K

Red or Black will certainly be damaged by the weather tonight. X-Factor will probably be OK although down year-on-year. 2nd post X-Factor Red or Black might be in with a chance but I just don't think people will be interested to be honest. Casualty would be nice to break 5m for the series opener but I don't think it will manage it tonight.


Excellent, really glad it gets the Monday slot again. Last year New Tricks posted its highest ever ratings in the Monday slot so it should do well there. I would have waited until September to launch though. August bank holiday is not a good ratings weekend.