Originally Posted by Fudd:
“I'm assuming ITV didn't have first choice rights on Celtic's matches, otherwise they would have probably chosen the Barcelona match on Matchday 3.”
They do have first choice rights to Celtic games because they're broadcasting to Scotland - but it wouldn't have been a shoo-in anyway because Man U vs anyone would still get bigger ratings than Barcelona vs Celtic, I think.
Originally Posted by Brekkie:
“I always felt ITV were better with the news at 12.30 and then Loose Women at 1pm as an alternative to the 1pm news. Surely any Loose Women fan who isn't going to watch the news isn't going to be staying tuned at 1.30pm, so surely better to get the head start on the BBC with the lunchtime news then offer an alternative to their news at 1pm which could hold viewers through their afternoon daytime line up.”
I've always wondered this, it also doesn't help that Loose Women doesn't start on a BBC1 junction and surely the kind of thing they talk about is too similar to what they've just been doing on This Morning, it's more or less the same programme. And the news at 1.30 always makes it look out of date compared to the Beeb.
Originally Posted by square_eyes:
“Wow spectacularly awful for Me & Mrs Jones, just what went wrong with that show ?”
It didn't help that it missed a week for Children in Need so I wonder if many viewers thought it might already have finished. That scheduling was not very sensible, it should have started a week earlier. And also it's far too slight a sitcom to work on primetime BBC1 opposite I'm A Celeb, Hebburn would have been a more mainstream proposition, I think.
Originally Posted by iaindb:
“The Sun lists 8 past celebrities but 1 newcomer. Add in Fabrice and, assuming The Sun's story is true that's 10 celebs in total, in which case it has to be a 90 minute special, surely.”
I dunno, though, because as you say The Sun mentions this Champion of Champions business, and they're going way back too with the likes of Tash Kaplinsk, whereas you'll notice that story about Muamba mentions other celebs "yet to be announced". And it would be very strange, I think, to have former champions plus Muamba and someone from JLS competing together, people who have won the series against people who have never danced before. And how would they sell it, Champion Of Champions Plus Two Others?
That's why I still wonder if we're actually going to get two Strictlys over Christmas, a Christmas special and then also a Champion of Champions, what with this being the tenth series.
Originally Posted by F1Ken:
“Someone said earlier on that Miranda will be starting on Christmas day. I think this is a mistake they should have run the series and held one back for Christmas so it could gain some traction.
But I can kind off see why they have done it. The problem is that the programs Top rating so far I think was 5m ish for the repeat of the Christmas special. So Miranda if you think about it is a bit off an unknown so is therefore a risk.”
I don't think so, Gavin and Stacey was mentioned before and also the likes of Catherine Tate have done alright on Christmas Day when before they'd only been on BBC2. Even The Royle Family was quite a big risk on Christmas Day when they first showed it there in 1999, there'd only been one series on BBC1 before, but it still got good ratings opposite Millionaire in its pomp.
Originally Posted by garyessex:
“Is that a new Live at the Apollo?”
Well, new in the sense that that particular episode hasn't been on before but not in the sense that there are any new ideas or comedians on it. This is the problem, they repeat it so often and every episode's the same so nobody cares about a new episode.
Originally Posted by johnnymc:
“The BBC Christmas schedule is formulaic, has been the same schedule for last seven years where is the new ideas? C'mon needs more imagination to get viewers to watch. Eastenders has hardly a festive spirit with a great big murder at Christmas, I predict viewers will choose Downtown or switch their X boxes, Wii games on. BBC needs to rethink what they produce.”
Have you ever met Brekkie? I think you'd get on terribly well. And this is rubbish anyway, this year we're going to get at least some of Call the Midwife, Room On The Broom, Mr Stink, Miranda and Mrs Brown's Boys, none of which have been on Christmas Day before. BBC1 always show new things on Christmas Day, the longest running thing in primetime is Doctor Who which started in 2005 which is still not as long a run as the likes of The Generation Game (eleven consecutive Christmas Days between 1971 and 1981) and Only Fools and Horses (nine consecutive Christmas Days from 1985 to 1993).
Whereas ITV is Corrie, Emmerdale, Downton and probably Family Fortunes and You've Been Framed. EXACTLY the same as last year.
Originally Posted by mossy2103:
“To be fair though, in previous years the Saturday evening schedule did not have has many big hitters competing for the 6-9pm slots in the Autumn (Casualty could only really be scheduled after 8pm anyway), and this year was the first autumn with Doctor Who for many years..”
Yes, the reason Casaulty is on so late is that now we have Merlin, and before that Who, whereas going back into the mid-nineties, after Strictly it would go straight to the lottery and Casualty and that would be over near enough nine o'clock to put another drama on, which they would often do, a la Sea of Souls or something. And they could still do that now if Merlin wasn't there. But I still wonder whether drama or comedy work post-watershed on Saturdays anyway when you're less likely to see every episode, at least with Casualty you can just dip in and out of it.
Originally Posted by Score:
“Not sure how that'll work with a public vote. Maybe nobody is being voted off in the first week so they can pre-record the first show?”
Don't think they need to bother with a phone vote on celebrity diving, do they? Either you dive well or you don't. I'm thinking this will entirely be pre-recorded.
