I'm not too sure about the XF final scheduling. Usually it's ran from 19:30 to 21:30 (in past year), I wonder if that scheduling (for the Sunday in particular) will hamper it or not. Saturday's schedule seems about fine.

Those schedules aren't confirmed yet. Looking at the Press Centre I think the Sunday show will be 19:40-21:40 with Rod Stewart afterwards.

Hope the Sunday part of the X Factor final remains 8:00 - 10:00, but I'm not keen on the Saturday scheduling at all, especially where my OCD is concerned

And I don't see what there is to gain from launching the final 15 minutes before the end of Strictly?

Digiguide update is odd. It looks like the provisionals we should have got yesterday. Definitely not the final schedules, which were issued earlier this afternoon.

I know The X Factor isn't the force it once was but Rod Stewart and the news getting it's lead in?! Why not just closedown after the show and be done with it?

People say this every year but after 2 hours of TXF, and even more hours if you assume many will have watched SCD as well, the lead outs aren't going to retain 10m, as people will be TV-ed out.

With another show well past its peak Millionaire the other side.

It's a pretty unexciting schedule from ITV. They don't seem to put that much thought into things nowadays.

The Expendables should do well, Channel 5 seem to pick up a lot of second run rights, they showed Fox films like X-Men 2, I, Robot and Master and Commander. They is still loads of 2009 films that have yet to be shown like 2012, The Hangover and from 2008 The Dark Knight.

Hmm, you'd think after goodness knows how many hours of the Superbowl Americans would be TV-ed out and yet shows almost constantly see a strong boost out of the lead in. If ITV had the guts to support a show by using the big shows as lead ins and cushions they may get more of a pay off and a few more, at least, middling shows.

Digiguide changed again it's now :


Saturday 8 December

BBC One

18:00 Pointless
18:50 Strictly Come Dancing
19:55 Merlin
20:40 The National Lottery Awards
21:20 Casualty
22:10 BBC News
22:30 Match of the Day

ITV1

18:30 You've Been Framed
19:00 The McFly Show
20:00 The X Factor Final
22:00 Film: The Invention of Lying

* although I don't think this is right - where is the News ?

Sunday 9 December

BBC One

18:00 Countryfile
19:00 Strictly Come Dancing
19:40 Antiques Roadshow
20:40 Rome's Lost Empire
22:00 BBC News

ITV1

18:40 Who Wants to be a Millionaire ? - Panto Special
19:40 The X Factor Final
21:40 Rod Stewart Christmas Special
22:55 ITV News

Suddenly the earlier draft doesn't seem so bad. Hey, at least the start times are neat, but that's the best thing I could say about it.

If it weren't for The National Lottery Awards, I reckon the Beeb would have had a real chance of beating ITV in primetime on one of their biggest nights of the year.

They really spoil us on Thursday 13 December

BBC One

21:00 Britain's Hidden Housing Crisis

ITV1

21:00 Pensioners Behind Bars

Bargain Basement there, a good night for the other channels that night.

The British Comedy Awards 2012 will screen on Channel 4 on Wednesday 12th December at 9pm.

Also from Channel 4 that week, a strong showing on the movie front with the premiere of Predators (Saturday 8th December 9pm) joined by perennial favourite Elf (Sunday 9th December 5:20pm). There's also another showing planned of Peter Kay Live (Friday 14th December 9pm). And a burning issue is addressed in Is the Weather Getting Worse? (Tuesday 11th December 8pm).

And confirmation sort of, of the new judge for Dancing on Ice. Any news on the presenters ?

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s101/...ie-spence.html

ITV have a ready made excuse if they want to make a clean cut and replace both Phillip and Christine. I didn't think Christine did a bad job, to be fair, but she's an easy excuse now for anything that flops. And Phillip hasn't had an easy time of it of late.

I would argue that's a bit of an unfair comparison. None of the Superbowl lead-outs retain even 50% of that audience - it's only because the viewership is so huge in the first place that it has more of an impact.

Plus it's just an awkward time of year for ITV - not the ideal time to be launching a new show, nor do they really have much in the cupboard otherwise.

I do think they waste that lead-in for most of the series though. Jonathan Ross is about the most exciting thing they've used it for in recent memory, bar I'm A Celeb (which is out-rating X Factor these days) - would be a decent place to launch a new sitcom or a panel show. But it's just part of the general decline of Saturday nights on ITV - once upon a time The X Factor would be the centerpiece of a rich and varied schedule, now it's pretty much the only thing worth watching surrounded by padding and filler.

I don't see what the problem is - compared to the earlier update all they've done is swap the Saturday and Sunday schedules around.

The McFly show won't do much but it'll probably do better than Justin Bieber did in the same slot last year. The Invention of Lying has been scheduled quite well - Ricky Gervais should at least hold a few XF viewers. At 10pm their options are fairly limited.

Sunday looks alright. Millionaire isn't exactly inspired but I can't think of much else that'd do any better against Strictly. The Rod Stewart special will probably do quite well. His last ITV special three years ago averaged 5.4m in the overnights, and his episode of Piers Morgan's Life Stories is one of the highest rating episodes ever of that show, so he's clearly a pretty big draw. I'd expect a 5m+ rating in that slot. They clearly aren't going to air a new drama at 9:40pm on a Sunday night straight after a 2 hour show which they will probably have used up most of their ad allowance in anyway. It wouldn't even make sense to start a new series there anyway as Christmas is in the way and would kill off all momentum.

Great to hear Jason is back. He should spice things up. Wonder if Philip Schofield will still have his job by then?

I think Downton Abbey was a pretty good use of the lead-in to be fair!

I do agree with the general sentiment though. In the past you'd have X Factor, Saturday Night Takeaway, Afterlife and Parkinson all on Saturday nights. Even just a few years ago it was TV Burp, X Factor and Life Stories. X Factor is now pretty isolated among a sea of flops. Take Me Out hasn't worked before it and Jonathan Ross doesn't do much after it, although with X Factor finishing as late as 10:30pm this year they haven't got many other options.

They tried with Red or Black earlier in the run but that didn't work out either, so it's back to the drawing board for next year. Personally I'd like to see them run some kind of Saturday night action/adventure drama at about 9pm after the audition shows but I can't see that ever happening to be honest.

I should have said I was referring mainly to the Saturday show. I think the Sunday show is fine because it's not too long or bloated and as you say it was a masterstroke scheduling Downton after it.


I think you hit upon the main issue there though - that it's now often finishing as late as 10:30pm, particularly in the early weeks. Now that they're running scared of Strictly it's pushing the show later and later, not to mention the live shows have been getting longer and longer with each passing series. I can see why they do it, but it really restricts the schedule in a big way.

Hopeless, Adolf did nearly as well on BBC Two as BBC One at 9.00. Mind you, those of who have seen the documentary about Hitler say it is good and the use of colour footage, which was rare then, brings it to life.

Does Rod Stewart always celebrate his Christmas so early?

9th December?

Most folk won't even have their trimmings up by then!

Yes, worth noting how strong BBC Two's night was. The 8pm combo of University Challenge and Masterchef is hugely reliable and a well-promoted documentary series giving BBC One a very good run for the money afterwards.

BBC One's line-up till Christmas looks largely shocking - so we could see plenty more close-run things over the next few weeks. I don't understand how difficult the channel seems to find planning ahead so things finish just on time at Christmas, without requiring weeks of padding. Very poor.

Really? I have heard the exact opposite from almost everywhere. Anyway I thought you were boycotting the BBC
Obviously a man of stern principle....

Overnights last night was the highest since the first episode and got 800k. Officials are incredible for Sky1, the first 2 episodes were at 1.7-1.8m, around 1m higher than the 2nd place. Sadly, this week haven't shown the Sky1 BARB numbers.