We caught up with Wallender and Great British Railway Journeys because the offerings were abysmal on all the channels, i hear people frequently say 'more channels,more choice' well thats rubbish for a start.

Apparently Obama's entourage for the Olympics™ will be around 8,000 people. Bonkers.

I'm glad the Prime Minister's job doesn't seem to automatically involve the missus in everything, unlike the American equivalent.

And they say a republic would be cheaper

Keeping to topic, agree with those who say peak may be lower than England/Italy due to the effect of people dipping in and out. Do hope I'm wrong

Has a few posts disappeared?

My epic fail seems to have went the way of the dodo.

What were you doing when the stuff you were catching up with on the planner was on? Watching something else? That seems a complete contradiction, I couldn't find anything to watch on the telly so I watched some telly I hadn't watched yet.

You don't have to watch live telly every night, like you don't have to go to the cinema every week.

As proved by the ratings for the royal wedding and Diamond Jubilee, most of the people who say they won't watch events like these (like most people did about those), do, and are mostly all talk.

my bold.

Obama is not coming to the Olympics. And 8000 is fantasy.

Ratings delayed because they're low???

What can be said easily is that the Opening Ceremony of an Olympics is the closest you ever get to broadcasting to the entire World.

Almost everyone in the World will see some of the ceremony, whether it's 3 minutes on the news, a few clips on YouTube, 5 minutes on the telly or sitting watching the entire thing.

8,000 must be the BBC representation

Tonight is going to be very cheesy indeed...I was watching clips on YT after midnight and they looked great and very 'British'...edited...

I can see the peak being 22 million, the average being 14.5 million...It is on until 00.30 or later and that could affect ratings.

They said on RTE news this morning that he was

I really don't see how you can claim that. There's no science behind it. There are over 7 billion people in the world now.

I imagine they are delayed because they will be (presumably?) be processing a lot more data due to the Olympics. And of course there's 24 extra channels on Sky and Virgin to account for...

Grahamxzy please put that in a spoiler post.

He isn't, Mrs Obama is.

Admittedly parts of China, some African nations etc do not have much TV access, but I would imagine Europe and North/South America will have the bulk of viewers. Oceania and Eastern Asia will be awake and tuning in...African nations many on similar timezones will have strong figures also.

Sorry about that...edited,

RTE is a bit of a joke...aren't they usually posting one minute peaks as ratings figures??

Don't you mean RTE is a total joke? I rarely listen to it, now I know why!

Can't see the weather helping proceedings. Beautiful day today (for the North at least) and it staying light past 9.30 will keep folk in the garden

Plus it's pay day, lot of folk will be heading out

Hope they get their act together tonight/tomorrow morning, for what might (or might not...) be the most seismic ratings event in British TV history.

Now, even you don't believe that...

While we wait:

2004 Olympic Games Ratings
BBC1 - 13/08 - 18:36 - 8.68m (Opening Ceremony)
BBC2 - 14/08 - 19:15 - 3.20m
------------------------------------------------
BBC2 - 15/08 - 13:00 - 2.12m
BBC2 - 15/08 - 20:00 - 2.59m
------------------------------------------------
BBC2 - 16/08 - 18:00 - 3.31m
BBC2 - 17/08 - 18:00 - 3.80m
BBC2 - 18/08 - 18:00 - 3.71m
BBC2 - 19/08 - 18:00 - 3.78m
------------------------------------------------
BBC2 - 20/08 - 18:00 - 3.06m
BBC1 - 20/08 - 19:00 - 5.13m
BBC2 - 20/08 - 20:00 - 3.90m
BBC1 - 20/08 - 20:30 - 6.49m
BBC2 - 20/08 - 22:00 - 3.20m
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 21/08 - 08:45 - 4.52m (Athletics)
BBC2 - 21/08 - 16:30 - 2.23m
BBC1 - 21/08 - 17:35 - 5.27m (Athletics)
BBC1 - 21/08 - 20:05 - 8.27m (Hockey)
BBC1 - 21/08 - 20:25 - 6.67m (Athletics)
BBC2 - 21/08 - 21:10 - 2.61m
------------------------------------------------
BBC2 - 22/08 - 12:45 - 1.82m
BBC1 - 22/08 - 15:50 - 7.69m
BBC1 - 22/08 - 18:50 - 7.21m
BBC2 - 22/08 - 21:30 - 3.02m
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 23/08 - 17:25 - 4.82m (Athletics)
BBC2 - 23/08 - 18:00 - 3.36m
BBC1 - 23/08 - 19:00 - 7.95m (Athletics)
BBC2 - 23/08 - 20:00 - 4.38m
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 24/08 - 17:25 - 4.27m (Football)
BBC2 - 24/08 - 18:00 - 5.07m
BBC1 - 24/08 - 20:00 - 7.58m (Athletics)
BBC2 - 24/08 - 22:00 - 4.99m
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 25/08 - 17:30 - 4.43m
BBC2 - 25/08 - 18:00 - 3.05m
BBC1 - 25/08 - 19:00 - 6.82m
BBC2 - 25/08 - 21:30 - 2.92m
------------------------------------------------
BBC2 - 26/08 - 18:00 - 3.85m
BBC1 - 26/08 - 19:00 - 7.66m
BBC2 - 26/08 - 21:00 - 3.71m
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 27/08 - 19:00 - 8.38m
BBC2 - 27/08 - 22:00 - 1.61m
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 28/08 - 17:35 - 9.04m
BBC2 - 28/08 - 21:00 - 2.87m
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 29/08 - 11:00 - 4.24m
BBC2 - 29/08 - 15:00 - 3.38m
BBC1 - 29/08 - 19:00 - 6.97m (Closing Ceremony)

2008 Olympic Games Ratings
BBC1 - 08/08 - 12:45 - 5.0m (50.8%) [Opening Ceremony]
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 09/08 - 01:55 - 288k (28%)
BBC1 - 09/08 - 06:00 - 1.6m (41%)
BBC1 - 09/08 - 11:00 - 3.4m (32.6%)
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 10/08 - 06:00 - 1.92m (41.1%)
BBC2 - 10/08 - 11:00 - 2.87m (26.6%)
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 11/08 - 06:00 - 1.9m (45%)
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 12/08 - 06:00 - 1.4m (36.3%)
BBC1 - 12/08 - 09:00 - 2.2m (33%)
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 14/08 - 06:30 - 1.6m (37%)
BBC1 - 14/08 - 09:00 - 1.7m (28%)
BBC1 - 14/08 - 12:45 - 2.1m (27%)
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 15/08 - 06:30 - 1.5m (38%)
BBC1 - 15/08 - 09:00 - 2.3m (35%)
BBC1 - 15/08 - 12:45 - 2.8m (35%)
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 16/08 - 06:00 - 1.5m (54.5%)
BBC1 - 16/08 - 08:20 to 16:30 - 4.4m (47.8%)
* 08:20 to 12:00 - 4.1m (52%)
* 12:00 to 16:30 - 4.8m (44%)
* see here
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 17/08 - 00:50 - 1.14m (45.3%)
BBC1 - 17/08 - 06:00 - 1.33m (53.2%)
BBC1 - 17/08 - 08:20 - 4.86m (46.9%)
* 08:20 to 12:00 - 4.65m (51.6%)
* 12:00 to 16:30 - 5.02m (42.6%)
* see here
-------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 21/08 - 09:00 - 2.1m (35%)
BBC1 - 21/08 - 12:30 - 3.1m (38%)
------------------------------------------------
BBC1 - 24/08 - 10:00 - 2.5m (28.7%)
BBC1 - 24/08 - 12:00 - 5.5m (42.3%) [Closing Ceremony]

2004 ratings are official, 2008 are overnights. Thanks to rzt for the majority of the 2008 ratings from the archive. Live programming only.

I do hope DS updates every day during the Olympics, but they don't like putting sporting events as the headline, or at least they don't tend to.

Also, many congratulations are awarded to Fudd for predicting the fortnight's schedule four years early....

Just curious as to why ITV are pulling the Lets Do Lunch with Gino and Mel show for the next two weeks. Gino said it was due to the Olympics and seemed pretty miffed.

I would have thought that the mid day largely female audience are some of the least likely to desert such a programme and its ratings are hardly so huge that they are going to suffer badly anyhow.

What is the thinking behind pulling it for a fortnight? I know that there is giving in to the inevitable in peak slots but this show is only cheap daytime filler. And This Morning is continuing as normal.

Just seems an odd move, especially as they made clear on air that it was because of the Olympics.

Maybe they think that their star guests (as in ex soap actors or out of work loose women) might find it hard to reach the studios? If so I dread to think who will make it onto This Morning over the next fortnight. It will be wall to wall Heather from East Enders going camping and Jonny whatsit going camp by the sounds of it.