What was it before?

How can you enjoy it and then suddenly despise it? I'm confused.

Sorry, didn't realise people remain the same from birth to death.

Well i mean i don't think they are that bothered about it being the No1 show in Saturdays any more, but more just a way to make money to invest in better programmes. XF has produced enough popular singers to be remembered for years to come when and if it is axed.

Our likes and dislikes generally remain the same. A person is unlikely to love ABBA on the Tuesday and then hate them Wednesday in favour of Black Sabbath! Is it because you are a bloke and feel embarrassed about admitting liking it? I'm a bloke and I like it!

I don't think ITV often have much of a clue what they're doing; when XF was a huge success you can bet it was almost entirely down to Cowell and his producers.

Not at all; it just feels so fake and full of itself. Very BBC, in other words.

Ah! I see. You believe BBC nasty/evil and ITV angelic/worthy! Therefore all that is shown on BBC is fake, full of itself and rubbish. Whereas everything on ITV is wonderfully normal and lovely, like little dormice swaying in a gentle Autumn breeze on freshly harvested corn!

I dont think SCD is the best thing ever, I dont really watch it. But it seems to be loved by its audience and has entertained them very well for the last 3 series. So SCD becoming number 1 is down to two things: 1. it still being very entertaining to its audience and as strong as ever and 2. XFactor declining.

Nope. In neither camp.

The father with his son last night was everything wrong with Xfactor.
It just makes you want to Mute or turn over.
Shock horror! Father wants best for son so what better way return to a show he was already rejected on have son sit on a judges lap and Queue the emotional music. The guy is 27 years old
young enough to head back to college and give his son the best life he can offer.
Also Barlow really is dragging the panel down his William Hague humour is falling flat.

It's ironic Cowell didn't come back to Xfactor UK hoping finally to make the USA version work and its falling flat over there and in dire need of a Quality head judge here.

You don't watch it? Bullshit!! If you don't watch it why are you so concerned about it outrating XF? Oh Samuel. I used to stick up for you! Now it seems your posts are verging on obsession and are non-sensical! I only ever worry about ratings of programmes I watch and enjoy! Why waste your energy on programmes you don't apparently, even watch?

If you say so Mr. Fox!

I think ITV need to focus less on LE formats (which they have enough) now and more on big rating dramas. I really think they should be looking for a new early evening drama to replace Heartbeat and The Royal, something set in the countryside, which has shown its popularity (ala Countryfile)

On a different note, ITV must make a fortune from I'm A Celeb with its high skewing younger demo. Also what' interesting is that in other coutries it hasn't been much pf a hit, yet here in the UK it is potentially the biggest reality show there is.

So the BBC gets the best "PR" - simple.

I wouldn't go on and on about Strictly's ratings seeing as I don't watch it.

What do you think about the fact SCD's numbers have been decreasing a little each year since 2010? Obviously the decrease is nothing like what we've seen from The X Factor and is similar to what we've seen on BGT, but it never really seems to be picked up on at all. The show is still clearly on great form, but isn't quite as strong as it was in 2010 despite that series having worse timeslots. Any thoughts?

Think he hates X Factor and Cowell more than likes Strictly and or the BBC.

Exactly - if I'm not mistaken the year Strictly overtook The X Factor Strictly was also down on the year before.


Exactly. X Factor v Strictly probably isn't even the big ratings story at the moment - it's probably more about Emmerdale v EastEnders really.

Each year we have these SCD v XF posts and one week SCD wins and another XF wins. While both shows are slowly (very slowly) declining, it suggests that overall both shows are actually doing very very well. I agree. EE v EM is more of a concern at present. Tomorrow we will get from ITVistas "Downton Abbey Crushes By Any Means" headlines as if it was unexpected.

[quote=wizzywick;68794805]Each year we have these SCD v XF posts and one week SCD wins and another XF wins. While both shows are slowly (very slowly) declining, it suggests that overall both shows are actually doing very very well. I agree. EE v EM is more of a concern at present. Tomorrow we will get from ITVistas "Downton Abbey Crushes By Any Means" headlines as if it was unexpected.[/QUOTE]

I doubt it, the person who uses crushes in this thread is Samuel

I'm sure we are more likely to get

"Downton Abbey dented as it is down on last year"
"Social media slams new series of Downton Abbey as not being as good as before"
"Yet another example of ITV's flop autumn as all major shows are down on last year"
etc etc

Silly question I suppose but why do SCD and XF both have to be on at the same time of year - why doesn't the BBC move Strictly to say January if ITV won't shift XF - surely both programmes would benefit from a ratings point of view ?

Of course we'll get those aswell!

Here's Samuels post from tomorrow:

"Downton Abbey was dented last night by By Any Means. While the BBC drama only secured 3.8m viewers, it is clear that without By Any Means being shown, Downton would have achieved far more than its 7.9m in the overnights. I think they should have promoted it more and possibly shown it on Mondays after a Corrie lead in. I think it's time for another ITV in crisis thread. This is likely to the last series of DA. BBC1 were genius in their scheduling last night, and By Any Means performed well enough for it to be recommissioned to crush ITV next year."

Last year the performance shows were actually up year on year, the results however were down quite a bit causing the series average to be down. I think the results shows moving around the schedule more than usual, and facing Corrie once or twice, was the cause of that. Looking at the past three years the main decline has been with the results shows, hopefully they can remain steady this year with the help of a fixed start.

2010
Performances (incl. 1st half of final): 11.21m (10.27m)
Results (incl. 2nd half of final): 11.26m (10.73m)

2011
Performances: 10.92m (9.83m)
Results: 11.05m (10.53m)

2012
Performances: 11.11m (10.03m)
Results: 10.44m (9.92m)

(overnights in brackets)

To be honest, I think the media attention and the rivalry both shows have actually works positively in their favour. Both shows benefit.