SNT as filler, ho ho, it'll be BGT as cheap filler for Saturdays next.

What about Slap Bang (the predecessor to SNT)?

With the Morrisons lads doing better than usual business for ITV against mighty BBC1 offerings like the news and Pointless Celebrity repeats, I wonder if they might bring it back for an autumn series against Strictly?

Would probably do better than failures like YBF, Paddy or TXF, all of which have proved not up to the task.

Denting Strictly must be the no 1 Holy Grail achievement for ITV in 2013.

It wasn't a repeat last night.

Oh dear, one of BBC1's massive winter programmes relegated to 2:15pm. Biggest flop of the year so far.

I wonder if this has pretty much finished off Hammond's career outside of Top Gear or whether they will continue to get him to front various third rate programmes

Yes the highest programme on BBC1 being a 5 min regional news summary, 2m behind ITV's highest and beating the entire BBC1 line up is some achievement to be proud of.

With 3 entries being news bulletins maybe they should have just simulcast the BBC News Channel last night, the pensioners would probably still have sat and watched it all night.

Does anyone have the figure for Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings (Fri BBC Two 9pm) please?

The BBC fanboys have been quiet about this. This show is the biggest pile of BBC LE junk since a certain show about a hare. Hammond should stick to car based shows as he's not much of an LE all rounder, same as it would be like getting Phil Schofield to present Question Time.

1.90m (8.1%)

Thanks.

I can't believe they could even think about commissioning such a huge pile of crud! They need to find a new main course for January and Britain's Brightest can fill the Pointless celebrity slot. That's the type of show brightest is. A starter not a main course.

But the Hammond thing is a massive failure and I am surprised we haven't milked that point more.

One day the BBC may find something good but we will have to wait!

Ken

Wonder how ITV would fare if they were to screen 3 or 4 repeats of regular Chase episodes back-to-back from about noon on a Saturday afternoon.

The regular episodes of both The Chase and Pointless are better than the celebrity editions because celebrities do like to be the centre of attention which can be quite annoying. Plus on Celebrity Chase, the studio audience is a bit too loud and I don't think the Chasers are as relaxed as they are playing ordinary mortals.

ITV4 (inc +1)
Fri 19:00 - 184k (0.8%)
Fri 19:30 - 199k (0.85%)
Sat 07:00 - 20k (0.6%)
Sat 07:25 - 21k (0.4%)
Sat 07:55 - 21.5k (0.3%)
Sat 08:25 - 17k (0.2%).

The primetime showings were in line with the slot averages; the early-morning ones were all more than 50% down on the slot averages.


I think it's a bit of a stretch to call Secret Service, aired initially at 18:30 (then 18:00) on Saturdays, a "massive winter programme". I do agree about Hammond's other programmes, though. His narration of popular-science documentaries on BBC One grates on me.


1.96m (8.3%) inc HD.


See here.

They commissioned it because hidden camera shows have a track record - the TV legend that is Candid Camera, the ratings smash that was Beadle's About.

I caught a bit of Secret Service yesterday (TV on in the background). The links were idiotic - even a 5 year old would have been shaking his head in despair at them - and some of the acting from the actors in the pranks leaves a lot to be desired. I sometimes think how can anyone fall for this, they must be able to tell these people are actors.

Of course, some of the acting in Beadle's About was a bit dodgy as well, but somehow that programme got away with it.

Exactly, Secret Service was dire and not as gross but still unmemorable, Animal Antics, was a cheap cash in on YBF. It seems apart from SCD, Casualty, MOTD and DW the BBC are beaten for decent shows on Saturday nights. Such a contrast from this time in 1979 where there was DW, The Generation Game, The Two Ronnies, Starsky and Hutch, MOTD and Parkinson and ITV was completely obliterated in the ratings.

Thanks for the roundups for yesterday!
Do you have any ratings for Channel 5 yesterday?
Many thanks!

To be fair, though, what have ITV got? The X Factor (declining), Britain's Got Talent, Saturday Night Takeaway and...? The Cube was out-rated by the Lottery last night and You've Been Framed fluctuates depending on the opposition. Splash, I suppose, did ok but I have the feeling it's going to be a one hit wonder; if 5m can be considered a hit.

Biggest flop?

With Lightfields, Cowell's Great British Rip Off, the giving birth rip off the other night where it would have made more sense to bus viewers to the maternity ward, other tosh too little watched or memorable to remember, and a landmark documentary about the Queen falling 14m shy of the last one, also on the shortlist?

Hm, can't see anyone remembering Secret Service in the end of year round ups.


An open goal then you would think for ITV to clean up?

No?

Would anyone happen to know what NCIS got on Wednesday on Channel 5?

Does this mean:

a) The winter was "massive"?
b) BBC One's winter was "massive"?
c) Secret Service was "massive"?

Not one of those options makes any sense to me.

The Itv shows though do appeal to a family audience which is tough to do. Its a shame that BBC dont have as many Saturday night entertainment series for all generations to sit down together and watch from kids to grannies, Strictly and Voice are the only ones which I can think of just at the moment. When I was growing up, bbc one had quite a lot of shows on saturday bringing the whole family together, but somewhere down the line this has sadly been mostly lost. The National lottery quizzes and Casualty still have their place in the schedules because they rate well but I would also like to see the bbc doing more shows on saturday for the whole family, it's tricky getting it right though.

I think the Lottery and Casualty restrict the Saturday night schedules; every time BBC One draw up a schedule they have to put 100 minutes aside for those two shows. I'm not saying they should be axed but they should be rested to give more flexibility to the schedules.

Regarding the Champions League, it looks as though ITV have elected to air Paris St. Germain v Barcelona on April 2nd which surprises me a bit; I thought Bayern Munich v Juventus looked the tastier tie. On April 9th they're, somewhat unsurprisingly, going for Galatasaray v Real Madrid.

ITV do have a reasonable roster of shows as you can add TMO, YBF, which can go iup to 4 million on a good night, Splash, ASFF and the Saturday showings of IAC. Also Piers Morgan and Ross can deliver with good guests.
However, the main worry now must be if TXF's decline continues, the show is 4 million down on 3 years ago, and there is always the danger BGT could fall out of favour. ITV do need alternatives lined up as these shows are hard to replace.

That's why Cohen bought the voice. It's an area they just need to focus on for a couple of years. find some decent hit's and freshen the Saturday line up a bit.

They need a main show for January, The summer. A Let's dance replacement. Spring should be fine unless the voice flops really badly. They could do with some new gameshow formats to replace the tiring National lottery shows. And maybe a few more Saturday dramas. They have already commissioned Atlantis and The Musketeers. So there is good news their.

A couple of years of hard graft and they could have Saturdays looking good all year again. I know I making it sound easy but more effort wouldn't go amiss.

Ken