Bit early to be speculating about this perhaps but it's bugged me the last couple of years since they've changed it. Is it looking likely the I'm A Celebrity final will fall on a Saturday again? Radio Times appears to list 1/19 shows (that's taking into account the breaks for football I'm assuming) and I've just seen something on comedian Rob Beckett's (replacement for Russell Kane on Get Me Out Of Here Now!) website that says he's doing 21 shows which would mean it finishes on a Saturday.

Only reason I ask is because it really is about time they returned to Friday final's (even Monday's worked better). The Saturday finals of recent years have been rushed and poorly scheduled, I also don't like how they've stopped announcing the result down in camp.

IMO a Sunday final after The X Factor would work best; I'm not sure where their sudden desire to have a Saturday final came from.

It did gain 2m viewers on series 4. It was never going to reach the heights of series 7 as it didn't have the momentum behind it. Series 5 pushed series 6 which pushed series 7; it was a gradual snowball. Series 9 has had so many problems because the launch was so poor; series 8 didn't offer it much in way of support at all despite rating reasonably well (looking back - at the time most of us said it was doing poorly relatively speaking).

CBS are making an NCIS: LA spin off. So next Tuesdays on CBS could potentially become:

20.00 NCIS
21.00 NCIS LA
22.00 NCIS LA spin-off

This is true. But obviously when ITV are considering a potential season 11 then they'll be building in expectations of a further drop if it has gone three years in a row down 20% (and that'd have season 11 at under 6m). Cowell and Syco will be aware of this, particularly as his Sony deal is up and he can sell his 50% share next year. That means they need to do what they can to guarantee X Factor being able to secure a multi-year renewal into 2014 and beyond.

Their options are...

1) "Rebrand" - keep making what is effectively X Factor but with some key format changes (like Pop Idol > X Factor) and do it under a new name.

2) "Refresh" - keeping the same brand, make changes to the format. What's vitally important here is to communicate those changes. BGT didn't do much different this year but they really pushed the idea that the show was stepping up its game and it seemed to work. X Factor does need to make big changes and it also needs to communicate this to get viewers back.

3) Either 1 or 2 + bring back Simon Cowell. In scenario one, it gives a new brand a positive link to the glory years of X Factor signalling change but with a familiar face and all the hype and press he'll bring with it. In scenario two, it's a bit like how his return to BGT sent a message to the public and also did seem to improve things on screen.

The third scenario only happens if ITV pass the ball back to Syco. That means agreeing to can Barlow and to go with a scheduling shift. They can get X Factor on air in the key ad period - if they film pre-recorded episodes in September then they could air in November/December with live shows in January/February. The problem there is the knock-on effect on their other two talent formats in the first half of the year. Until recently I'd have thought there was no chance ITV would make such a shift but it's getting to the stage where they might have to. Also, it opens up a peaktime slot in September/October for a new format whether that's from ITV Studios, Syco or another indie.

It had the most "natural" growth of any series. Series 6 overall increased more but a lot of that was due to the Sunday results shows starting. Series 5 was really the starting point for what was to come.

Elementary is a very erratic show in terms of writing and episode construction, while the BBC's Sherlock engaged me its poor American clone bored in comparison.

Not surprised its not the breakout hit that CBS thought it would be.

Monroe 3.4m (presume inc +1?)
Hammond 3.8m

Both dismal for November

Masterchef 2.3m (incl HD???)

(Source: Jake Kanter)

I am damn surprised that Elementary got the post-Superbowl slot. I was expecting 2 Broke Girls to get that slot. They proved to do well on their freshman year last season and could have used the big push. The Big Bang Theory is already established enough, so it won't have been necessary. Sitcoms and reality shows premieres tend to rate well after Superbowl and get around 30m-40m range (The Office was one of the exceptions which got below it). It got me thinking, if ABC didn't give football rights to ESPN, Modern Family would have got the 2010 post-Superbowl slot and could have done gigantic business. Their last one was in 2006 with Grey's Anatomy (36 million viewers, I think) and they were in their second season. Modern Family, at the time, was at their first season and was one of the top breakout hits during the 2009-10 season.

Back to CBS 2013, Elementary was surprising but let's be honest. They slotted Criminal Minds after Superbowl. Other than that, it was Survivor and Undercover Boss in recent slots. Elementary is not really a hit new show that gets people talking. In fact, none of CBS' new show is getting viewers raving and excited so far. I suppose Elementary will gain interest from the viewers since it got that slot, but I doubt it will be that huge come Superbowl night. It will definitely do better than Alias (which got well below 20 million) but won't bring much promise either. I am thinking somewhere around 26-27 million viewers, at best.

Oh god, really????? Then again, CBS did spinoff 2 CSIs and attempted to spin-off Criminal Minds, which did badly. I guess The Mentalist spin-off won't be too far away now. Then again, The Mentalist itself is eroding quickly this season after CBS moved it to Sundays.

Monday soaps, tape checked DS:

Emmerdale - 7.11m (33.9%) + 212k
Corrie 1 - 8.19m (36.8%) + 216k
Eastenders - 7.59m (32.4%) + 416k
Corrie 2 - 8.17m (34.0%) + 206k


Poor for the soaps really, Emmerdale did OK though. Gotten used to Eastenders rating low, but Corrie also seems low for a November Monday night. Perhaps a bonfire night effect?

Rather late with this but since I haven't been on since yesterday morning, but what use is a high peak, but does anyone think thse people suddenly arriving to see who get through are going to stay and watch the adverts, no they are going to go off and watch something else thats shiny, if so these peak viewers are no value to ITV whatsover.

Casualty's still getting 5.1 m in the final ratings though which is better than most drama's at the moment.

that NCIS verse will be massive when it ends

JAG, NCIS, NCIS LA, Hawaii 50, NCIS spin-off.

not sure if the original Hawaii 50 counts.

It will be bigger than the CSI verse, which the 3 CSIs, Without a Trace, & Cold Case.

Nadine Dorries signing up for I'm A Celeb has got the tongues wagging online and in papers politically. A good signing imo.

let us hope Im a celeb... takes a dive, like the rest of TV has recently

Julian Fellowes tells The Sun today ITV have not yet commissioned series 4 of Downton.

I would not expect a spin-off from the Mentalist, its too character driven to easily launch a spin-off like with CSI and NCIS, ok NCIS has alot more character compared to CSI, but what I mean is The Mentalist is driven by Patrick Jane.

Its like the House spin-off that never happened.

CSI has replaced just about everybody (leads included), The Mentalist could never do that with Patrick Jane (its lead)

Not going to happen imho, Nadine 'Mad Nad' Dorries MP is going to provide acres of Broadsheet coverage and Labour are already complaining about her.

Yeah. I haven't bothered with it in recent years due to a combination of them signing up people that haven't interested me + the repetitive nature of the tasks etc, but will probably give this series a go as they've got a really strong cast lined up, Dorries included. All over the papers today that news.

all I can say is, I hope she is not a sitting MP, given that if she is she should be sitting in the House of Parliament (or a local surgery with her constituents), not a TV set of an Aussie jungle.

That alone is reason enough to ignore the show.

I certainly hope there is no one in her area, who is unemployed, because if that isnt the case, she should be helping her constituents, not appearing on reality TV.

Why on earth would anyone want to watch a MP not doing their job?

ITV ad revenue suffers as X Factor continues to decline:


Full story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...ngs-slump-cost

very interesting that the business side of ITV, is starting to suffer from X-Factors drop this year.

Isn't £10m a drop in the ocean though, really, for the likes of ITV? I thought the situation might be slightly more grim than that. Indeed, as MG notes, the 10% drop in revenues is at odds with the decline in audience closer to 20% in the show's key demographic. ITV are quick to point out in their statement that demand is still high "because the show continues to attract an incredibly important audience in very big numbers" which I guess is true.

But if these declines continue next year, and the year after, soon their over reliance on this one programme is going to have to change, or ITV will lose out on a much bigger scale. It's pretty scary that it currently accounts for 14% of all ITV revenues at this time of year and 6% across the year as a whole.

Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.........

Yeah, does seem an odd thing to go on about, peaks, as you say advertisers really aren't going to be happy with people that flick constantly, they want them for the long haul, watching all the breaks.

Also it's still worrying for x-factor's future, because there's no doubt these people with a tenuous liking for the show are getting more, and they could easily be turned off entirely.

Major revamp needed or the decline will keep on.