Sorry to be a insufferable grammar pedant, but an acronym is an abbreviation you can pronounce. Tricky to get your tongue round CWWTBAMSOL!

Let's just call it Has-been for short.

I was wondering if New Tricks might finish above The X Factor in the Bank Holiday weekend overnights. A look back reveals last Bank Holiday New Tricks took 8.03m, but tomorrow night's episode is James Bolam's last. Maybe it'll finish above X Factor including +1 and below X Factor excluding +1.

I think it should be in the high 8's/low 9's tbh.
Its one of the best slots for the show in a while.

Should be top of the week, but then theres been a bit of negative press etc. around the show, shouldn't affect things, but still to be taken in consideration.

Seems like a busy time in Holland! Given the number of shows to start out there (largely thanks to Endemol!) it's always a market worth watching. Bit of a slide there for The Voice but maybe just the launch date as you say and it still seems to be miles ahead of the rest over there.


He really slams Superstar. Not surprising given the show itself but surprising seeing as it's on ITV and was quite a big deal for them. Not really much on The Voice that the BBC haven't said over the last week (he just states it a bit more bluntly!). Like Cowell in the past he identifies Strictly as the best of the rest. Nobody ever seems to say anything, good, bad or indifferent, about Dancing on Ice!

Seeing as he's the most prolific entertainment producer still working, it's always interesting to read. And his approach to the ratings seems reasonable - they're obviously not happy, he says they never want the numbers to go down which is a fairly lofty target! But what I'd pick up on is where he says "If you rest on your laurels for one year, you'll lose it" because I think that's exactly what has happened this year with X Factor (whereas in the past they have tended to try and step it up - or at least give that impression to the audience).

Other snippets:

* Thames, Syco and ITV likely to begin negotiations for the next BGT/XF contract late this year or early next year.
* Seems keen on revivals - says the BBC should do The Generation Game and he is looking to revive The Price is Right.
* Having produced Fort Boyard in the past, he says big adventure game shows could be due for revival taking advantage of new technology
* Despite Syco's latest productions being with ITV Studios and Optomen Television, it looks like Thames are keen to work more with them and the two companies are forming a joint development team.

Pleased to see Parade's End is still Most popular programme on BBCi after 2 days.

Will be interesting to see how Family Guy performed this evening on BBC Three as Zai decided to schedule it at the normal time, cutting the live Foo Fighters performance at Reading. The rest of the set is being shown as edited highlights later on.

that wont win him any fans, a very strange decision, they could have delayed it till Foo Fighters had finished.

Looking at the Twitter feed for Family Guy, it did divide the audience, some were pleased FG for once didn't get moved for concert coverage, Foos and music fans were not happy.

This was pretty much a lose-lose situation for Fox.

Cowell's deal for American Idol was up and he'd made it incredibly clear that he had no intention of signing another one. Additionally he'd started (very) publicly shopping The X Factor in the US. Negotiations with NBC in particular were surprisingly advanced. Fox ran with The X Factor and invested heavily in it because if they hadn't it would have landed somewhere else and it probably would have been pitched against Idol. The general theory is that NBC brought The Voice because they'd originally planned to launch The X Factor in that slot and were able to pull The Voice together so quickly because they'd already been putting the ground work in for The X Factor. That theory also suggests that NBC's judge line-up for The X Factor would have been Simon Cowell, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and a second female judge (possibly Cheryl Cole). That would have been quite the line-up.

When it comes to American Idol I think its unfair to push the blame for its recent stumbles onto the shoulders of The X Factor US. I'm certain that's played a role but The Voice did its fair share of damage, the general age of the show did its fair share of damage and a less than brilliant panel and production did its fair share of the damage. There's a lot of factors at work in the drops we've seen for American Idol.


Does it? They don't own so all they're profiting from is the ad revenue (which won't be unsubstantial) but its not likely to be a fortune particularly as it won't be a cheap show to buy.


I do wonder how BBC1 are going to schedule Sunday nights. Do they stick with the tried and tested line-up or go on the attack? If they go on the attack they could not only dent Downton (which will give ITV pause for thought come Christmas scheduling) and put another boot into The X Factor.


On the subject of New Tricks I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more talk here of the behind the scenes implosion that seems to be happening there. I do wonder if the BBC is going to be able to keep this going for another year.

I suppose the question is – do you keep the fans who tune in every night for Family Guy happy or the audience that tunes in once a year for festival coverage happy? That's obviously an overly simplistic and broad divide but I think Family Guy might be the one you prize...

The actors are contracted for another series but I suspect the next series will be the last which is pretty good. I wouldn't be surprised if they are developing a spin-off of some sorts.

That's a bit odd. Isn't the rule of thumb in broadcasting that you stick with the live event?

Family Guy was going out very late during the Olympics anyway, so I don't see why it couldn't have been delayed.

They tried that with Waking The Dead and it didn't work.

An odd decision but at least BBC3 generally give a decent number of hours to their festival coverage. I don't really understand why C4/4Music continues to screen the V Festival when they show so little of it, and practically nothing "live".

On the whole BBC Three thing -- thats a silly thing to do imo, its not like Family Guy would be affected across the year

I really don't have a great like for the new BBC Three guy, hes just relying on Eastenders and Family Guy for his schedule. The irritating thing is I have less to complain about following Bad Education, but I still think theres something off with the guy :/


I think they might go for it. 'sod them' mentality must be kicking in, and when you look at how cramped the BBC One schedule is...what else can they do?

Downton is difficult, despite criticism last year - its gone from strength to strength. If I were him...I'd be tempted to go all out at them, in the end these shows have to go somewhere.

I was surprised that at the end of the hour's coverage on the Saturday afternoon on C4 that they didn't highlight the fact that coverage was continuing on 4Music. All they did was plug the highlights show later that evening on C4, which seemed like a missed opportunity.

I've really missed Glastonbury this year. Coverage of the other music festivals pales in comparison. Getting the odd song from a set here and there with a load of presenter waffle in between doesn't really do it for me.

Last year, BBC Three were very quick to shift those new FG episodes on, two a week throughout the series. This year, bar the first week and last week, it's only been one episode per Sunday.

The thing is, they can follow a new episode with a repeat and probably retain a good 70% of the audience at least.

So absolutely no need to run all new double bills.

For anyone interested, a clip shown on Fox Sports today of the behind the scenes documentary at Liverpool FC that is coming soon to C5,

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop...kLHhJHw8&gl=IE

Not a Liverpool fan (far from it!) but I personally can't wait to see the whole thing, should be a fascinating insight and should do well for Channel 5.

Does look fascinating. The stuff we don't normally get to see.

My only reservation would be, where on earth are they going to schedule it?

There's no obvious place for something like this. When the Europa was around they could have scheduled it after matches perhaps but they don't have that option now.

If anything, I really think the changes to daytime could help BBC Two - maybe not in ratings terms, but certainly in perceptions.

As you say, there's nothing worth saving (aside from the Daily Politics, which is staying) in daytime currently - so the worst that can happen is they start repeating Flog It, whereas they currently air new episodes. Makes no difference, really! And at best, they might actually wind up with a reasonably thoughtful mix of World News programmes, primetime catch-ups, curated repeats and some of the sport that would currently be relegated to the Red Button.


I really think people are overstating the 'opportunity' for BBC One here. Yes, the BBC had some success against Dancing on Ice - but they've always aired (solidly rated) drama opposite that. Call the Midwife wasn't some grand new strategy, it was just the replacement for Lark Rise that happened to take off. Even if XF is way-off year-on-year come November (and that is in no way guaranteed, or even likely) then it'll still be pulling 10m+ in the Sunday 8pm slot, with 12m peaks and a total dominance of younger viewers. It won't even come close to being the same as DOI.

Besides, what are the BBC going to 'attack' with? They'd have to try a new drama - which would condemn it to ratings far worse than it would manage elsewhere in the schedule. And if Antiques Roadshow plus the existing old-skewing, short-run 9pm drama and factual efforts already pull in 4-6m v XF and Downton - then how much extra damage is this non-existant big new show possibly going to do?

Hasn't it got c3.5m each of the last 2 Fridays?


Has there been a single trailer shown for New Tricks yet? I hadn't even realised until today that it returned tomorrow.

Yeah...I saw it before and After EastEnders on Thursday and Friday.

Yep. Last year they commissioned two more series for 2011 & 2012. James Bolam said he was leaving the upcoming series before filming started. Then Amanda Redman announced she was leaving and then Alun Armstrong. Both of them will leave in next year's series. I think next year's should be the last and not continued with a new cast as the show's a hit with these character.


They have shown a trailer but it's very well hidden.