I think TXF is strong for the next few years, but ITV should be looking to a time when it will need to be replaced. It's inevitable ratings aren't as great as they were, as the format is getting old, but it shouldn't be left to drag on forever like Blind Date did and a replacement should be found.
Of course, might that home of fading shows, Channel 5, be interested when ITV say goodbye to it?

Is it me or is Glenn A's definition of "fading" more than a little bit questionable? Sod it, I'll just post the facts so that discerning readers can make up their own minds.

Big Brother 13 average (2012): 1.6m
Big Brother 14 average (2013): 1.9m

Jenny Cummings et al would love to have "fading" shows that fitted this trend.

To be fair to Glenn, it was fading on Channel 4 when they dropped it (well, BB11 saw a slight uplift but that was after the axe announcement).

I didn't wish to be fair or considerate in this instance. I've lost my patience with him completely as now I'm afraid he's just trolling and expressing his dislike for a show.

We could all do that but it would make for a desperately dull and highly unconstructive thread where nobody would learn anything except what Glenn A likes and doesn't like, for example. I daresay that's not what people come to us for.

I think a lot of people's personal likes and dislikes are exposed on the thread; that's what makes the discussion on here so, um, varied.

I'd still suspect there were political reasons* for C4 dropping BB, though it was stale at the time.

*If C4 were trying to argue they are a valued PSB to the tories to try to prevent being flogged, having a show as overtly commercial as BB was probably a bad idea.

What Australia Watched: Sunday, September 8

Seven
18:00 Seven News: 1.58m
18:30 The X Factor: 1.56m
20:45 Sunday Night: 1.08m
21:45 Castle: 628k
22:45 Castle (R): 381k

Nine
18:00 Nine News Sunday: 1.34m
18:30 Australia's Got Talent: 1.11m
19:30 60 Minutes: 1.07m
20:30 New Series: Power Games: The Packer Murdoch Story: 793k

Ten
19:00 Modern Family (R): 549k
19:30 New Series: The Bachelor Australia: 669k

Seven very strong here with Nine unable to pose as much of a threat as they would like, although at least for Nine 60 Minutes rated about the same as the Seven equivalent.

Both new shows launched lower than ideal, especially The Bachelor.

It was brilliantly written un its first few years and challenged the government on NHS. Dont think it would take too much tinkering with to get that back into it but depends what the BBC want to use it for. I haven't watched in years but clips I have seen makes it look a shadow of its former self. It had a wonderful cast at the beginning too. Theres a case for restoring it to a 13 part series and getting someone like Sita Williams to produce it, who won awards for "The Street" but its too much a ratings war horse now for the BBC to consider the actual principal of the programme rather than beating Johnathon Ross or Keith Lemon. Id rather see repeats in that slot if it meant getting a proper 13 week series of drama.

The Super Bowl next February, as well as being on Sky Sports, returns to Channel 4 for the first time in 15 years.
C4 have NBC's Sunday Night Football games, and Vernon Kay (who plays the game) will present a Saturday morning magazine show.

EDIT: Sky and Channel 4 will also show the 2 NFL Wembley games live on September 29th and October 27th.

BB was getting peak audience of 7-8 million on C4 in its heyday compared to now where it barely manages over million viewers most nights.

Lost its spark ten years ago and never recovered. Its not must see TV anymore the papers don't even cover it accept for Daily Star.

1.9m average > "barely manages over million viewers"

Everything's down on its peak. News. Soap. Consumer. Gameshow. You name it. TV choice has increased, tastes have evolved.

It's too lazy to say "it once got 'x' so its current ratings are shit." Especially when this one suffered a massive controversy and moved to a channel with lower ratings expectations. 12 year olds could come up with a more credible argument than this.

The salient point to consider is not what it got one night 7 years ago on a bigger channel but rather are the current ratings for its new home good enough for it to continue. And the answer is yes. With ratings trending upwards again, you could only really say it's a "fading" show in terms of its cultural impact.

But this isn't The Cultural Impact of Shows Thread. It's just an entertainment show now, which there's nothing wrong with, and frankly, it's doing its job.

The Monday night ESPN games have gone to British Eurosport.

Must admit I didn't see that coming. BT apparently weren't interested, and those whispers around ITV turned out to be just that, whispers.

I'm going to miss staying up late to watch these on BBC Red Button with Darren Fletcher and his pundit guest squeezed into that ridiculously tiny and cheap looking studio. Truth be told apart from the one day of the year when it pretended to care (Superbowl day) the BBC never gave the NFL a chance to gain any sort of popularity, tucked away and without the professional presentation we expect from the Beeb.

Good luck to Channel 4 who are at least trying.

Makes you bit hypocritical then criticizing how much X Factor ratings have fallen when Big Brothers rating decline is even worse.

My comparison is spot on mate don't diss it because you have soft spot for the show. BB used to attract big attention with all newspapers who covered the show inside and out, but now only Daily star bother printing anything interesting about it reason being? Its owned by Richard Desmond the controller of Channel Five.

I understand totally where Glenn is coming from. It makes good profit for channel 5 lead-in's etc, but that's about it really.

I would suspect the Monday Night NFL games have little to no value here, being on at 1am on Tuesday and all.

Bit of a shame for C4 that the London games this year and next involve Jacksonville; being that themselves versus the 49ers will likely be a complete squash.

When John Birt was DG he ordered the producers to cut out all the stuff about NHS politics as he didn't want a confrontation with the government ( the story of John Birt's reign at the BBC).

Really! I didn't know it was censored at the time but did know it came to the attention of Westminster. Wonder what the attitude would be now given all the NHS reform! I guess they prefer "Casualty" to be quite soap driven now, its a pity they feel the need to dilute everything now with endless episodes of everything. It attracted a huge audience at one point in its peak because it was quite powerful and characterisation was good. I dont know when television execs decided we need multiple episodes of everything. Theres just to much schedule padding now. Less is more.

X Factor 9 million. CBB 2million

Is that your prediction?

It's still in the top 3 shows on ITV isn't it? It's not going anywhere for now.

I'm surprised Channel 5 haven't thought about reviving Pop Idol though. It'd be tricky to find a suitable time in the year to do it but it might do quite well for them if they could get a decent price for it.

Here we go with the 7-8m debate First of all, we are talking averages and the highest average it ever got was 5.8m. And the next highest was 5.1m. Secondly, that was on Ch4.

Move Corrie to Channel 5 and lets see if it sustains it's 8m...

XFactor fell 0.3million from last week, second episode in a row to rate lower week to week.

Equally though dancc, Glenn is correct. Your facts do speak clearly. But you can't deny how BB did indeed drop in popularity when C4 aired it. C4 saw sense and let it go. If they had carried on with it for another year or so then C5 would have been unlikely to pick it up. You could argue that C5's positive promotion of it has saved it from the waste bin but even C5 must know that it can't go on forever. You need to stop taking things so personally. I myself don't understand the appeal of BB. I watched it once when it was on C4 and really did believe I was watching the worst single thing I'd ever watched on TV. Of course, this is just personal taste. But surely you can understand that there are many who don't like it and as such do have a right to slag it off if they want. This isn't a dig or an insult to those who do like it though. Each to their own.

Slipping behind Corrie and I'm a Celebrity at the moment.

I'm not. The key to Pop Idol's success was a) people's interest in talent shows; b) Ant & Dec; c) Simon Cowell. A Channel 5 version of 'Pop Idol' in 2013 wouldn't have any of those.

More importantly its pulling in very good demographics which the advertisers love, its still making money for ITV allowing them to produce better programmes.

So 9.6m? That's not too bad.