Was the Gordon Ramsey show a repeat? If not it really bombed!

YBF beating Merlin again! And another week of fluctuating ratings for Merlin as well. Harry Hill doing really well again, ITV seem to have found shows that can be put up against SCD and bring in a good audience.

I think X Factor might push close to (or above) 10 million next week without any SCD overlap, although SCD ought to do something similar as well. Next weeks schedule is ideal for both shows, allowing SCD to build its audience until the end instead of until X Factor starts.

And the X Factor results show has a better start time next week, so I think it might be up well over 8m.

Disasterous night for C4.

Yeah it was a repeat.

Shoddy scheduling, putting a repeat of something from the night before in the middle of primetime.

Yeah its madness! C4 just gives up on a saturday!

a little off topic, but i find it strange that we get the repeat rating of Gordan's before we get the original rating

Did Merlin improve because it had a fairly free run from 5.50 to 6.15pm with ITV showing an old Bond film?

Formidable performances from both reality shows last night.

I don't want to split hairs.......... but........... ............... are SCD and X Factor reality shows? I would call them talent shows

Anyway their ratings are pretty amazing at the moment and have overtaken soaps as the number 1 shows on each channel.

I've been repremanded before for calling Strictly a talent show.

Here's what the two talent shows are averaging this year, compared to previous years (up until the equivalent date):

The X Factor
2008: 9.1m
2007: 7.6m
2006: 7.4m

Strictly Come Dancing
2008: 8.4m
2007: 7.4m
2006: 7.3m

Both shows have improved significantly. This seems to be the year for talent shows!

I wouldn't particularly say SCD is a talent show, it sort of combines that with a celebrity show and maybe a touch of reality.

X Factor has some reality aspects through the auditions and a talent search which runs through the early stages then a talent show for the top 12.

Although both could also be soaps with the judges!

But I'd just call them entertainment shows, or shiny floor shows (if I had time travelled back to the nineties!).

you can't win!

They are making Saturday the biggest night for tv ratings again, when it used to be Mondays with the soaps.

But C4's done this ages though. It worked years ago whenever it would show repeats of its sitcoms the night before.

It used to have that Top 10 series, like Top 10 Boybands or Top 10 popstars, etc... which worked well. I don't know why they haven't done that since. Maybe adding cult/sci-fi shows could do.

Fantastic ratings for Strictly and The X Factor - they're really on fire this year.

Do you think either of them can break BGT's record final ratings and series average?

I know the question wasn't directed at me, but I'll answer anyway!

I can't see either getting the 10.2m series average, particularly with XF's results show dragging things down a bit. But XF might challenge the final ratings depending on what the scheduling and format are and who is in it etc.

Yeah, although the results are earlier next week, which should boost them.

Prior to BGT, Popstars was the highest rated talent show, with 9m on average.

Here is the top 5/6:

....Series name (year).......................Series Ave......Highest rating
1...Britain's Got Talent (2008).................10.21m........13.88m........
2...The X Factor (2008)*.........................9.88m..........11.09m.......
3...Dancing On Ice (2006).......................9.12m..........11.68m.......
4...Pop Stars (2001)...............................9.11m..........12.63m.........
5...Strictly Come Dancing (2007)............9.05m...........12.09m.........
6...Dancing On Ice (2008).......................8.93m..........12.08m.........

*Note: average will change as series is ongoing.

With such good ratings, why didn't Pop Stars take off like Idol or X Factor?

I'm guessing because the whole reality pop genre kind blew up too quickly. Of course the first series was a big hit. Then come by 2002, we had a successful Big Brother. Then a month afterwards, we had I'm A Celebrity, then a month after that we had Popstars: The Rivals, then a few weeks after that we had the Fame Academy flop. It must have been too much for viewers who have been trying to "recover", from reality tv for a while. Obviously, fans need their quick fix afterwards, like with I'm A Celeb, but then when Popstars and FA cam quickly afterwards, it must been "jeez, give us a break"!

Another reason could be that the public were fed up of manufactured pop groups, and still think they are. Girls Aloud is a big exception, however they have been as successful as they could have been had they been in the business 10 years ago when manufactured pop was at its peak.

SCD most definitely isn't talent show. It is just a few celebs learning to dance & they win a pink glitterball trophy. The fact that nobody is making it out to be anything other than a bit of fun is part of its charm. Nobody is saying that someone is going on to be world class at dancing.

The ratings for SCD & X-Factor prove to me that folks want feel good light-hearted pap as there is so much doom & gloom elsewhere.

SCD is a talent show.... In so much as they are all learning a 'talent'. And dancing is a talent/skill.

In theory yes it should easily manage 6m, but things never seem to rate as well on a Sunday in an earlier slot, particuarly if it is not an established show like BH.

Regarding last nights ratings a fantastic night for ITV1 with HH and YBF holding up excellently against SCD, XF claiming the top spot, Family Fortunes up 0.6m on last week and the XF Results continuing to bring in a huge share and figure for a slot ITV tends to perform poorly in usually.

SCD also put in an excellent performance and would have probably have performed as well as the XF if it was given that slot. Both Casualty and the lottery are down on last week. Just over 5m isn't particuarly good for Casualty, even though it was up against the XF, because a clip show up against SCD in an earlier slot can still manage better. The success of YBF and the slot it is in really shows up a lot of ITV and BBC's programming over the week in general, but it seems there's an apetite for these kind of clip shows.

BBC2 held up well until 9.40pm, though this was as expected. Absymal night for CH4 who always struggle to get a look in on Saturday nights. Good night for FIVE pulling in 3 strong figures over 1 million for repeats of US imports. Also 2 very strong figures for the Xtra Factor.

Strictly Come Dancing - UP 0.71m on last week.
The X Factor: UP 0.41m on last week.
The X Factor - The Result: UP 0.18m on last week.

All three up, but SCD has the biggest gain.

X Factor's result show is on a bit earlier next week, so hopefully it'll go up quite a bit then.