On that basis a whole range of Celeb stuff is a talent show - learning to be a circus act, holiday rep, airline attendant, hairdresser etc. etc. What haven't so called celebs been been filmed learning to do!!

Louis called X Factor a reality show on Paul O'Grady.

Not that it even matters.

Channel 4 really needs to sort their Saturday Night schedule as it's very poor and it seems only films and Big Brother can give them decent ratings on that day.

NCIS is popular considering its in repeats both on Friday and Saturday but I worry that Five may be overdoing it with the repeats and it may damage it ratings when it returns wth the fifth season in December.

Does anyone know where BBC One are going to slot their two final dramas of the Autumn? There is Wallander, which is three 90 minute episodes and Survivors, which is six 60 minute episodes.

I think that Wallander will probably go out on a Sunday due to its length and Survivors going out on Thursdays at 9pm, because there is a Crimewatch on Wed 19th November but I'm not exactly sure.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a1337...th-ramsay.html

No real surprises on Friday night. Al Murray ending a bit higher at 2.61m

I know this particular posting has become the highlight of some people's Sunday afternoon, so here goes...

BBC1 will be happy:

- SCD a million ahead of XF when head to head
- SCD up on last year's performance
- a virtual dead heat between SCD and XF on the averages and peaks
- XF not getting the massive ratings boost when SCD finishes as has happened in previous years when they overlap and SCD finishes first
- Merlin doing very nicely at 5.50pm, with the promise of a better performance next week after SCD
- XF Results underperforming, frankly, when the main show is peaking at near 11m - probably going to be 1m off the SCD Results too
- Casualty sensibly will start after XF finishes next week, so should put on a million and beat Family Fortunes

As for the talent/reality show debate, I would say:

- XF - talent contest/reality TV fusion
- SCD - Reithian family entertainment extravaganza, with elements of documentary thrown in...

On XF generally, one of my mates (who was forced by his other half to sit through the results instead of MoTD) tells me that there was clear evidence of miming by some contestants last night. I don't watch it, so can't comment, but if that's true and has now been exposed, could that have a knock-on effect if viewers start to think it's a bit of a fraud?

It was the best Happy Hour of the series, with three strong guests (Cilla, Des O'Connor and Philip Schofield) and little shameless plugging. If it was like this each week, the show would soon grow an audience.

Surprised HIGNFY and LB USA lost a million, probably the competition from Ramsey's new show, but still reasonably strong.

Corrie not great - wonder if the Rosie Webster storyline is being spun out a bit too much?

Sundays will probably go:

8pm Wallander
9.30pm Vicar of Dibley (rpt)

Mark my words...

Robbie,

If only BBC1 had as good comedy writers as your good self I think you are lord Mandleson in disguise the way you are spinning.

Yes it must be great to be in second place. Well done BBC1

I predicted this last week as Fern Brittain was a big pull in week one

Hehe, I like your posts Robbie . Here's my counter argument, if you don't mind .


Well, 99% of the time SCD is ahead of XF during the head-to-head anyways. Due to having the advantage of starting well earlier and building up its audience. I notice that the audience of SCD dropped about 2m once XF started.


That's good, but so is X Factor.


No- X Factor was 0.3m ahead and 1% ahead. So fact is, X Factor won. Once the official ratings come out, X Factor will be about 1m ahead.


The ratings boost XF has yesterday was better than previous years. It went up from 8.2m during the clash to 10.1m post-clash.


Merlin got beaten by You've Been Framed. Not as nice as the BBC would like it, I'm sure.


Hardly struggling considering its late time-slot. 38% is fantastic, and the results rating is actually well up on previous years for the equivalent Big Band show. If The X Factor Results was on Sunday, it would probably have got 9m+ due to a far bigger television audience available.


Wouldn't be too hard for Casualty to put on a million or so next week compared to this week. Getting just over 5m in late October is not good.


They were miming to the group performance which will be released as a charity single. I doubt that will affect the number of viewers tuning in next week

Though BBC1 overdid New Tricks repeats, and it still did well. Sometimes, when you get a strong core of supporters, you can get away with showing endless repeats.

Great night for both The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing. It'll be interesting to see how they do when they're away from each other. You've Been Framed and Harry Hill's TV Burp are doing excellently, though I'm still surprised the former is beating Merlin. I think next week will be make or break for Merlin. If it loses a lot of viewers to X Factor, considering that on the first clash between the two it held it's own, then I think BBC will cut it's losses.

Saying that both channels will be delighted with their Saturday night. While Robbie's ever so eloquently posted why BBC1 are pleased () ITV...

- saw You've Been Framed defeat a highly rated drama
- Harry Hill's TV Burp perform excellently again against Strictly Come Dancing
- The X Factor get a decent rating when Strictly Come Dancing held momentum, and defeated it in the overnight average
- Family Fortunes did really well with The X Factor lead in
- The X Factor Results performed highly considering the time slot

The X Factor and miming: The charity single song was mimed seemingly, but there doesn't seem to be much outcry on the forums so I don't think it'll affect the show too much. The individual performances were sung live.

BTW - rzt: I'm amazed at the ratings you listed. I was under the impression Dancing On Ice 2008 was the highest rating series for that show, I didn't realise 2006 was better. Interesting...does that put the January performance into perspective?

None of the soaps above 9.2m on Friday.

Hmmm......

That I agree with and it seems BBC1 has finally seen sense in starting Casualty as soon as XF finishes, although this might just be luck that the timings fit, however with Casualty inbetween the XF's it will definetely knock FF a lot.


I agree with that aswell. ITV will be very pleased with the results from Friday night, beating BBC1 over the 9pm hour and Al Murray on one of the best audiences of the series, for the best episode of the series. It deserves to be recomissioned imo and put in a different slot. Also WITB has been extremely stable all series which surprises me and has held up against different competition every week!

BBC1 seemed to be hit hard from Gordon Ramsay and that's not a very good rating for either HIGNFY or LB:USA. BBC1 aren't having much success with comedies lately.

CH4 will be pleased it managed to dent BBC1 with Gordon Ramsay and that Ding Dong was given a slight boost. Decent enough night for BBC2 and FIVE.

Hollyoaks and Home & Away going head to head managed to dent each other significantly it seems.

Yeh, I alsot thought DOI2008 was the highest one until I checked 06's ratings, which were even mroe impressive! 2007 was well down on the previous year, averaging 8.0m.

The real difference between 06 and 08 were the performance shows. 06 averaged 9.8m while 08 averaged 9.3m. The results shows were very similar: 06- 8.4m, 08- 8.5m.

I think the early starts for DOI2008 might be a reason why they rated less than 06, but they are still very good nonetheless!

With the Friday ratings does anybody know what The One Show got. And now that After You've Gone is the sacrificial lamb against the second Coronation Street, what did it get at 8.30pm?

Well, with a strong 2m from the extended Saturday night version, timeshift figures to come, and tomorrow's BBC2 repeat, this week's HIGNFY can expect to pull well over 8m. It has 7.1m already.

I think the Beeb should axe the extended version. I will generally always watch on Friday if I'm in, but am not going to sit through it again on Saturday for the extra ten minutes - but I'm sure some people will just watch the longer version on Saturday, hence the high 2m figure, and a knock on Friday.

decent ratings for Cookalong though it will be interesting how it will fare for the next few weeks.TBH, I think it would perform better in a midweek slot rather than Fridays.

True, I forgot about the 2 terrestrial repeats and both repeats do tend to rate at around 2m each, which makes it look much better. However timeshift figures sometimes seem to be lower and isn't this because it isn't shown at the same time in Scotland/Wales?

Fantastic ratings for The X Factor and SCD. Compared to last year, the ratings have increased for both shows so much! I wonder why..I do think Hayfever might be right in that viewers just want to sit down and watch something light hearted on a Saturday evening and The X Factor and SCD can easily provide that to the viewer.

No. How is it a fraud? They were miming to the charity single, not in the performances for which viewers vote.

I think back in the days of Idol and Popstars-at that time-there was more of a feeling of star creation and that the ultimate point of the show was who wins. What Simon Cowell has created in X Factor and BGT is a bit like the feeling of looking forward to the Morecambe and Wise Christmas show in the seventies for alot of people. Its a format no station can now easily copy and will rule the roost for a good few years yet. And yet the chances are that the show will produce nothing more than a pretty face who will command the attention of a million or so teenage girls for a few months or so. Whoever wins is almost an afterthought-its the journey Cowell has masterminded that transfixes people.

Someone mentioned Fame Academy-it was only a flop in comparison with Idol-it got fairly decent ratings but ultimately failed because it did what most talent shows in the past had done with much success-took itself seriously.

A big thank you to Neil for typing up four nights' worth of ratings today. They are damned tiring things to type, so I'm sure we all appreciate his efforts.

Seeing as no one's made much mention of Thursday night, well done to EastEnders for coming out on top against a double-length Emmerdale. All the more impressive as EastEnders usually suffers more when the clashes are on Thursdays rather than Tuesdays, presumably because of the UEFA Cup bonanza on Channel Five.

Good going for the two reality/talent/shiny floor shows last night.

X Factor results show is somewhat down on what it could get but its share gold when you can get approaching 8 million so late on.
As far as SCD is concerned, from a ratings point of view it should run into X Factor 40 mins and leave the lottery show against the next 50-Casualty then starting at the same time as Family Fortunes. Shows like Merlin, Robin Hood and anything else the Beeb spends alot of money on should imo run at different times of the year or even on different days. Having to contend with the X Factor juggernaut gives these shows a very difficult birth. Merlin is atmospheric entertaining hokum, but its not hitting its target audience by all accounts.

Popstars and Popstars: The Rivals were very successful, as was Pop Idol. However with the X Factor allowing both solo artists and groups, Popstars and PS:TR became redundant and there are no plans for future series.

Fame Academy was one which could have done well, but it was too similar to Pop Idol. The celebrity version for comic relief did well, but I hear it's been scrapped next year for Comic Relief does Britain's Next top Model. I wonder why?