The one thing I'll say in Demon's possible defence is this:

Remember the reaction to the "plot holes" in the first episode of Primeval? They weren't explained until the last episode. So maybe, just maybe, the "raison d'etre" of the demons will be brought in later in the series.

Having said that, though, I watched ep1 with one of my 15yr old sons and haven't decided whether to bother watching any more yet. They're on the Toppy for a rainy day, but no sooner than that...

K

I really don't understand the scheduling for the show really.

7.40pm - 8.40pm?
Why?
It just doesn't seem witty enough, clever enough, or have enough grit to it to draw adults in.
So 7.40pm - 8.40pm looks to be completely insane scheduling.

It would be just too embarrassing for adults to admit that they watch it at that time as a primetime type show.

Surely something like 5.30pm or 5.45pm is a more natural slot for it where adults can watch it with their very young children?

My guess for next week then is 3.9m (17%).


Problem is though that when the FA Cup is on, it'd have to shift back to 7.45pm.

So good news for Total Wipeout, Harry Hill, Casualty and In It To Win It. bad news for Eurovision, Demons and Family Fortunes.

Decent ratings for Casualty , ITTWI , TW and Harry Hill

Any news on Friday Night ? Will CBB6 make 4m for any eviction ?
Sorry, no time for further posts. Hope these are helpful. have a lovely day y'all x[/quote]

The thing with Primeval though is that by the end of the very first episode it gave hints that it was going to actually be a drama with a taste of intrigue and mystery to it.
Plus with Primeval you'd always get plenty of set piece action scenes at several key points in each episode.
In Primeval stuff did actually happen, and often quite frequently.

Primeval obviously isn't heavy drama, but it did have interesting enough character development, had a little bit of depth to the stories (Enough depth), and did a good job of setting characters up.

Although it's not my favourite fantasy/sci-fi show I think Primeval was pitched absolutely perfectly and achieved exactly what it was hoped it would achieve.

Demons on the other hand has nothing.

The Feelgood Factor is some Eamonn Holmes diet programme apparently with other zelebs, I don't know why it gets an 8.45 primetime Saturday slot but I haven't seen it yet.

A bit belated, but after watching it recently I totally agree that Around The World in 20 Years was totally wasted on 30 December, it could have got 7-8m with Palin fronting it. I suppose they had to air it in 2008 for the 20 Years title

I agree with this. Primeval has been one of the only new dramas in recent years to actually hold onto its audience. Series 1 officially averaged 6.39m, while series 2 was 6.29m. Just a 0.1m drop, which is very impressive (especially since the series 1 premiere got over 7m).

I wonder how its ratings will be when it returns this March, because it's usually on in January. I'm guessing somewhere between 5.5-6.0m, which ITV would probably be happy with.

I'd be tempted to say around 6m - depends though what shows BBC are planning for Saturday's..... we have a good idea of what ITV are planning, but not much on the BBC end of things... anyone know just what they are planning?

I can't see it being on in March having too much of an effect. Here are the ratings for the last two series (officials in brackets):

Series 1
6.7m (29%) (7.09m)
6.0m (27%) (6.29m)
5.8m (25%) (6.17m)
5.6m (24%) (5.81m)
6.2m (28%) (6.46m)
6.1m (27%) (6.52m)
Average: 6.1m (27%) (6.39m)

Series 2
5.7m (26%) (6.32m)
5.6m (25%) (6.05m)
5.7m (26%) (6.27m)
5.7m (24%) (6.39m)
5.9m (26%) (6.33m)
6.0m (27%) (6.44m)
5.6m (26%) (6.20m)
Average: 5.7m (26%) (6.29m)

A very consistent show.

I absolutely cannot see it. Not this series.
It just hasn't got anywhere near that kind of figure of 4m since it started this series.
Last Friday's eviction was the lowest rated eviction ever I think.

Don't forget that the new series will run for ten weeks.

Yes it has. It achieved 3.8m for the first show of the first eviction and 3.7m for the first Monday episode. It is very likely that with officials those figures will be over 4m.

It was the eviction itself that was the lowest rated ever, although this was only in overnights, and was only the lowest rated by 0.1m less than Belinda during BB9.

I think it will struggle tomorrow because it is up against Corrie and Eastenders, although if it does surprisingly well then hopefully in the summer they will have the confidence to let the show reclaim the 8.30pm slot so the eviction can be at 10pm. Tomorrows second show should do alright at 10pm, should definitely be the highest eviction so far this series if BB9 10pm highlights are anything to go by (which this series is only just slightly down on). Wednesdays eviction should do well- its main competition is Waterloo Road and The Bill which I doubt will have too much of an impact. But its worth noting that tomorrow and Wednesday are both on at 8pm so perhaps Channel 4+1 will have inflated figures with people expecting it on at 9pm on Channel 4.

Interesting how for Series 1, from Overnights >> Officials, the average only went up by 290,000, yet for Series 2 from Overnight >> Officials, it went up by 590,000...

I agree about going out in March not affecting Primeval's ratings too much. After all, Doctor Who went out in April.

I have a feeling that Primeval will be going up against Robin Hood.

I hope so. Because I'm quite fond of Primeval.
I could easily point out flaws in it or things that I'd have preferred to have been done differently. But I think it's a well made, well produced show that deserves to do well.

The thing with Primeval is that yes it has the demographic box ticking elements, which it in fact is shameless about and has on occasion ironically made it obvious to us in a fun tongue in cheek way.
But I always got the sense that as soon as they had these insurances put in place they really wanted to try to make a good show which they'd be proud of.

It might not have always succeeded, but they were learning on the job, and appeared to be TRYING to do a good job for us.

I always got the sense that behind Primeval there were people working on it behind the scenes who loved what they were doing and who loved their show, and were actually trying to create things in the show which would hopefully be interesting for us. You could see it in the little twists it would put into the plot for our benefit. I think it's a pretty well crafted show.

But, and it'll be my last word on Demons today, I get the sense from Demons that there is no labour of love behind it, the makers are just going through the motions, and that it's just an exercise in demographic box ticking. Nothing there that seems to indicate that they genuinely care about providing real interest for us in the stories. The stories are too flat and too generic to indicate that the makers even care enough to TRY to make it good. No soul to it.

Shame about Demons. I did give up on it after the first episode though. There was absolutely nothing there to draw you in at all. It's as fluffy as it gets. I've seen better written CBBC dramas.

Move Harry Hill into a later slot ITV! I think he's proved his worth now and should no longer be used as a lead-in for programmes nobody wants to watch.

It has a series average of 3.1m.
This week's average is 2.8m.
Last week's eviction was 2.4m.
This week it has only gone over 3m twice, both times at 3.2m.

And I don't really think we're talking about officials, we're talking about overnights on here as they come in.
Otherwise every comment on every broadcast in this thread would be wrong and every post about every rating as it came in would be a moot point.

I find it very interesting that it's series percentages are almost identical. 26% and 27%.
Very consistent.

I agree with you.
You could probably build the night's scheduling around 'TV Burp' with it being the night's anchor show.

I am confused as to why ITV didn't line up their biggest hitters for the peak period after Christmas. Multi-channel must be doing well on Saturdays just now because before Christmas, Strictly was getting 9m+ and X Factor was getting 10m+ every Saturday and it's still a pretty similar number of people watching TV, just not watching the big 2.

Poor for Demons, it won't last at those numbers and poorer still for Family Fortunes. BBC won't be thrilled at Eurovision either. The One and Only was getting 1 million more than that last year.

Dread to think what the CBB ratings will be. Wouldn't be surprised if it was below 2m and Snakes On A Plane beats it. It was actually one of the better shows as well, the tarantula thing was really good. But overall, this week has been poor compared to a bright first week (which still didn't rate well anyway).

It'll be a long week for CBB. Channel 4 still seem to be under the illusion that it provides an incredible lead-in but it doesn't and they need to start protecting it. It's going to get slaughtered at 8pm Monday, I think. Then a timeslot shift for Tuesday to 10pm, 8pm Wednesday again but then back to 9pm Thursday. Jonathan Ross will do well on Friday night (5m anyone?) and that'll knock it as well.

JR will do very well indeed. Big Brother has no chance.

Evictions almost always performed under 3m because of an early finish and Lucy's eviction followed the trend. But you said it hasn't come anywhere near 4m this series, when clearly that isn't the case

Also your phrasing suggests that the majority of the week it has been under 3m but you can't really say that without seeing the figures for Friday, Saturday (unlikely though) and tonight. It has been over 3m twice, but it has also been under 3m twice.

I wouldn't be so sure ... his show never usually sets ratings alight and I'd imagine he has somewhat of a different audience to Big Brother. If he doubles his audience with all the controversy last year then based on his average figures he will still only get about 5m. It will have an impact but I doubt it doesn't stand a chance. Remember Big Brother starts first, so people will probably be more likely to stick with that.

Its a shame in a way that the BBC couldn't have held Merlin back to January - it could certainly be pulling a regular 6-7 million at least. I suppose they needed something that wasn't going to get crushed against the X Factor and it did fit the bill.

I'm going to be really interested to see how Robin Hood rates in the Doctor Who slot this year, because that too has always had XF to contend with in the past. It'll be hard for it to build a much bigger audience seen as its now in its third series - but it may well find itself hitting a little above what we've seen from it in the past.

On Demons, I'd agree that re-commission is hanging by a thread. It seems like its not caught too many imaginations - certainly I found myself absent-mindedly turning over half way through the first episode. The repeat figures work in its favour, but it'll need to hang in and not fall any further.