To those uninformed about ballroom dance (most of the country) then it's all very much the same perhaps beyond "slow" and "fast". Strictly has obviously educated its audience over the years (although some will have known plenty when it started).

Same with diving, I guess. So it's all about opening up the subject to viewers. In theory you'd give them different elements to master each week. Anyone who watched the diving at the Olympics would know there's a hell of a lot more to it than jumping off the board at different heights.

I know one of the versions somewhere will bring in synchronised diving at some stage. I guess that's the kind of thing that could happen.

My issue with the show is that learning how to do a "reverse double twist and three forward spins with pike" is probably going to take a bit more than a week to master even for the most desperate celebrity. And it's not like dancing - you can't just take a crack at it even if you suck.

But we'll see how it goes. These are the kind of "long shots" I like to see being commissioned for Saturday nights. 80% chance it flops horribly but people probably said the same about I'm A Celebrity or Strictly. Either way, I'm sure its ratings will be far more interesting than middle of the road Lottery gameshows.

Actually I would like to see it rate well if its a good show and I wrote about Splash on this thread since the week it first aired in Holland when nobody outside of that country had even heard about it. Its been on my radar for a while and did tip it for international success intiially. It is only recently after finding out the low calibre of celebs doing it, fact theres been no promotion for it and ratings rut Itv currently are in, that doubts have started to creep in my mind about if it can rate well.

The problem is that the "dive" lasts about 2 seconds, compared to the "dance" which lasts about 3 minutes.

Wow, someone actually noticed the joke.....

Slow motion repeats, the long tense pause before they actually dive... can't speak for Strictly but most performances on music shows are about 2 minutes. They'll probably not be far off it.

Plus, with these shows it's always a mistake to think that the only "content" is the "talent". Most of them devote equal or more time to both VT's and judges comments and these (particularly the judges) are what make the shows work.

So even if we're talking 1 minute for the dive all said and done - throw in a 2 minute VT and 3 minutes on comments and feedback... you're looking at them having about 85% of the content a singing show would have per contestant.

Drivel.

Thanks for the considered response.

I think The Snowman and The Snowdog could be in trouble because of it being up against the last episode of Merlin and Coronation Street. Wallace and Gromit got 14m on Christmas Day at 8.30pm.

Synchronised dives would be quite cool. Just seen they did that in the Dutch version so theyll probably do it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_fxG...97D081FBFA46F9

Sorry, but your response to my earlier post was utter drivel.

I've read it several times and can't understand it.

I'm sorry, would it help if I sounded out the words for you?

You seemed to be impying that diving taking less time than dancing was going to be a problem for the show. To summarise my response... The fact that the time from the top of the board to hitting the water is very short isn't necessarily a problem. X Factor, and other shows like it, have run for many years with far more VT content and judges comments than actual singing. Just as X Factor doesn't limit itself to music enthusiasts, nor will Splash focus on diving experts. It's about all the stuff that goes on around it which makes it a Satuday night entertainment show.

Yes, that's a much clearer explanation, and for that I thank you profusely (being as I'm a bit thick).

Two seconds of the actual "event" part of the programme is still a problem, though. As ITV are about to find out.

Re Splash.

Not sure that long build ups to something that lasts a second or two will get much past novelty value-however its impossible to tell until it actually plays out.

If they go for some joke value-ie really fat celebs who go splat in the water it might create a hook to follow the more promising ones.

I can't even remember who the celebs were... not one of them. That's not a particularly promising start! The Peter Kay "running bomb" thing would get a laugh at first but I think over time, being bad at diving won't have the same recurring comedy value as being bad at singing or dancing.

They've managed to make it work in Holland and in Germany - from what I saw of the Dutch one they really did draw it out, we had to wait for the contestants to run along the side of the pool and climb the stairs to the platform! Normal diving does have a bit of a pause when they're standing on the board about to dive - there's no reason for it to be much longer than that.

The whole thing is a sign of how starved broadcasters around the world have been of entertainment hits. Just a flicker of hope that this might work and everyone everywhere is piling in to launch a diving format. On paper, it doesn't exactly scream "hit". And I'm sure something like it has been pitched many times before and knocked back. But the fact that it has worked in a key market seems to be enough to get up a lot of excitement.

I could see it working for the BBC, simply because they could have tied it in with the Sport Relief brand and made the thing a bit of a laugh - didn't they tie the first series of Strictly Come Dancing in with Comic Relief? A charity link allows the audience to look on the show more favourably.

What can ITV do, though? They have no established hits around the show - IMO they should have split Dancing On Ice, which is the only weekend show they have in the winter even if it took a hit last year, to boost Splash - and it hardly stands out in the schedule even though BBC One isn't really trying. I can't see it working; people have become far too wary of light entertainment shows and considering the number of flops in recent years I cannot blame them.

THE CHRISTMAS BUMPER PREDICTION SCHEDULE CAN BE FOUND HERE.

anyone got any AI's for LTIH? It's a long time since I've seen such a positive thread for a BBC drama...

K

Watched on iPlayer last night. It's likeable, with good actors playing strong characters.

But it's a bit dull isn't it? It had one genuinely funny moment, the rest just plodded along like an episode of Emmerdale.

Perhaps that's who the 7m viewers are - EmFm fans?

iplayer stats out for November:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediacent...ance-nov12.pdf

TV requests reach new high (167m inc VM)

K

First full month of iPlayer via Sky, wonder when we'll get those figures?

At least 3!

K

EE - 8.41m (37.2%)

Comfortable win over ITV soaps.

When was the last time EastEnders got over 8m? It looked like the episode had picked up a few casuals judging by the comments on Twitter. The real trick is keeping them.

That's very good!

37%?

What share did it get on Christmas Day last year?

If it bags 37% on Tuesday there will be happy faces at the BBC!

good result for eastenders. cant check right now but think thats highest since spring.