Probably not, especially if Morgan gets his precious exclusive with Goody.

Moyles struggles with this idea that he has 7m radio listeners but all his various TV projects seem to flop. He'll probably fair a little better this time though, as the format sounds a bit stronger than previous incarnations, or at least better suited to him and his style.

On a Moyles related note, the BBC messed up somewhat I think in choosing to air these Comic Relief specials back-to-back in one night in a few weeks time, to be honest I think the mountain climb was worthy of a 9pm slot as well as The Apprentice and together they would have easily taken out the competition two nights running (three even including CR night itself) but hey-ho.

Ant and Dec need to work for the BBC again-SNT is tired and with the Beeb they would be Christmas Day stars. They are just bit players in BGT and IAC - the time is right for a change in direction.

ITV does produce some good tv from time to time but its a shadow of the channel it once was imo. The BBC is the standard bearer of British tv over its four channels and I cant see how anyone could say otherwise.

Looking at the soap ratings for last night Corrie seems to perform quite decently in repeats for ITV2 and it would probably benefit from a stable 11pm slot every night.

Also I'm just waiting for the time that the FIVER episode of H&A beats the FIVE episode-surely it's only a matter of time with the gap getting close each week!

Adding NaT to Fridays has come at the worst possible time and it will be looking at its lowest ever audience because it will have a shockingly poor lead in and BBC News is sandwiched in Comic Relief which always boosts it. Silly ITV again. They should have started it when they started the crime dramas at the beginning of the year so it would have got 2.5/3m.

However adding NaT to Fridays will prevent ITV from airing 2 hour repeat dramas which tend to perform a lot better than many shows in that slot, and with ITV's budget for programming likely to go down I would have thought ITV would like a solid 4/5m for 2 hours on a Friday night?

An energency fix to ITV's schedule problems now would be to move MW and AM to Monday at 10.35pm where the repeat of AM is currently airing and to replace them with a Taggart repeat for the next 5 weeks. Let's face it...there's no point in trying to save the shows now. Moving Piers would be silly I think when it could damage his audience in what could become a long running show for ITV.

Oh yes. I forgot about Hole In The Wall. Another benefactor of the TV Burp effect.

Harry Hill doesn't overly criticise anything, it's all done in a fun way. If he has any effect on ratings it would be to increase them. I can't see anyone stopping watching a programme because Harry has made a joke about it

The Moyles article above seems to be based on what a 'Channel 4 insider' said in the Daily Record, i.e 99% likely to be completely made up.


The Beeb need to work on their own 'Christmas day stars' and Ant and Dec need to work on their own ideas to improve Takeaway or develop new formats for ITV1

Pokerface was a brilliant format/programme and pulled in viewers, guess what happened to it, it got axed

TBH I thought the way Harry Hill promoted Colour of Money it may bring in a few extra viewers. The way he displayed it was very much like he displayed Hole in the Wall. Now the Paris Hilton show - that was how to bitch about a programme.

Last night's ratings were...making up for Snow Monday I guess. Very strange all round - possibly partly down to the rugby. When I first saw Moving Wallpaper and Al Murray at such a low rating I thought QI and Not Going Out would be the benefactors, but seemingly not. I'm sure Robbie's prediction of a three programmes claiming under 2m in primetime for ITV1 will come true soon enough (March 13th if not before). Unfortunate because I love Moving Wallpaper and Al Murray was ok - not a sub 2m programme, that's for sure. The only good thing about them doing so poorly was getting ratings on a Saturday!

The last time I've seen ratings like for Coronation Street was against Children in Need last November! Everything was low, though, so it can just be dismissed as a one off.

I think ITV's News at Ten move is blind panic, nothing more, nothing less. It makes no sense, and just moves another potential ratings flop in to replace another with no support. Especially as they are kickstarting it on Comic Relief Night. It'd be better if they broadcast Taggart repeats in the 9pm slot, Moving Wallpaper at 10 and Al Murray at 10.30, moving Pushing Daisies to another night altogether (maybe Monday after the News). At least Taggart should bring in at least 4m a night. Also it keeps the crime theme up, for when Blue Murder predictably replaces MW/AM after the 6 weeks is up.

Moving on to tonight, and I can see Colour of Money getting a slight boost from the Harry Hill portrayal of the show. I thought tonight's episode was better than the first TBH, but we'll see what comes of it. It didn't help it being against a tight rugby match on BBC1. Let's Dance, the Lottery and Casualty will do well, no doubt, while Ant and Dec will no doubt take another hit from a weaker lead in.

EDIT: I agree with Pokerface, great show. They should've cut the prize money and kept it going. In the place of, say...Colour of Money?

I noticed on the Radio Times and UK-TV-Guide websites that Comic Relief 2009 on Fri 13th March is separated as 3 programmes before 10pm. So instead of one programme from 7pm-10pm, it's currently put as:
7pm-8pm: Comic Relief 2009
8pm-9pm: Comic Relief 2009
9pm-10pm: Comic Relief 2009

Does that mean we might get 3 official ratings for this instead of the usual 1? If so, I can see the 9-10pm hour rating becoming the BBC's top show of the year so far. I think it could get 11/12m in the 9pm hour like previous years, especially since it looks like it's going to be up against poor opposition.

Thats going to take alot of work with regards to light entertainment-the Beebs current Christmas Day stars are made out of clay and love Cheese!

Well, Rugby aside, Friday nights ratings were pretty terrible! BBC One did poorly, and ITV1 collapsed entirely.

What seems bizzare is that ITV sacrificed a very strongly performing drama audience to try and share about a maximum 5 million comedy audience with BBC One.

And I expect we'll see more Six Nations on Friday nights in the future if they pull those kind of figures...

Is it far too rude to say ****less on this thread too?

Is it far too rude to say F-E-C-K-less on this thread too?

I watched MW tonight.

"It was shit and nobody watched it"

Best gag on ITV1 in ages. And never a truer word been spoken.

But after that belly laugh in the first minute, it didn't raise a smile. At least it tried to be a comedy in series 1. This what utter tripe, and a waste of an inevitably talented cast and writers.

I stuck with s1 to the death. I won't be watching any more of s2. It's off my radar now.

why does it make no sense? it always looked strange and non-commital bringing back News at Ten for four days in the first place.

it's hardly as if they're putting it there to win a ratings war either so it doesn't really matter when it 'kickstarts'.

It makes no sense doing it now. They had ample opportunity to switch it during Trial and Retribution, when News at Ten would have had a half decent lead in and would've been able to build some support. Now they're switching it on ITV's weakest night of the year, after Christmas Day and on a par with Children in Need night.

I think they need to stay with BGT and IAC. Even if they are bit players in the shows, being associated with them raises their value. And I actually think they are vital to IAC, their commentary is often the best part and makes up for any slow episodes. Big Brother could really use someone like them.

Everyone seems in agreement that the problem with SNT is not Ant and Dec, but the format. However, trying to find a new one is going to be difficult. Even then, I wouldn't be surprised if they did it with ITV.

One advantage of ending the ITV deal is that their shows can go elsewhere. That means shows like Pokerface and Duel could potentially be sold to other channels even if they don't actually appear on them. That's something that I could see Simon Cowell doing. I don't expect to see him on BBC1/Five/Living anytime soon, but he could put a show on there.

It doesn't matter when they do it. NaT will have still flopped on Comic Relief night had they moved it there last year. The move isn't to temporarily make up for Pushing Daisies' performance. It's a long-term measure that will reap the benefits with stronger lead-ins. It will now, finally, have a fighting chance of bringing some stability to the schedule post-CR when BBC One's ratings will die down again.

That won't be until after MW and AR end though.

I'm also not so sure that ITV will move them mid-run. Their recent policy seems to be 'stick with them even if they're doing awfully'. Although if they start to decline steeply then I suppose a shift will be on the cards. Moving 'Moving Wallpaper' will be more embarrassing though than moving Tycoon, and I'm sure it won't be a hasty decision on their part.

It wasn't an out-and-out attack (TV Burp's never been like that anyway), but the digs regarding the sob stories and the similarities to DOND were present, and have been just two criticisms of the format by people on this forum.

It would've made sense to do the switch during Trial and Retribution. Pushing Daisies ratings were a disaster from the off, they weren't benefiting from keeping it there, yet did. That's what confuses me. Unless they sold ad space from the off, I guess.


I think for ITV it's gone beyond embarrassment already. 2.1m for a launch? 1.9m? Rock Rivals, Brittania High and Tycoon all did far better than that (so did MW series 1). I guess it's harder to switch schedules around then just saying let's move episode 2 to 10pm but I think it should be considered. It's losing the channel money where it is ATM - I'm sure advertisers would pay more for a lot between a 4m rating Taggart.

Anyone want to guess what timeslot The Colour of Money is on next Saturday? Oh, wait.... that's right it's not on Saturday next weekend! It's on Sunday at 14:25 to accomodate The FA Cup on Saturday tea-time!

If you ask me, that is absolutely pathetic scheduling.... why not hold in back for a week? Seems like it's destination is now "flopland".

What stupid scheduling! The only reason I can see for that happening is that ITV want to get it out of the way, but I can easily see it getting 4.5m in a 9pm slot.

In other scheduling news ITV seem to have scheduled an extended repeat on 9pm Monday ITV2 of the Katie Price & Piers Morgan interview. Good scheduling I think as a lot of ITV2 viewers will be interested as Katie & Peter have a large fanbase on there.

Well... some people are predicting a substantial drop in TCM thread! Surely not under 2.5/3m?

Interesting interview with Head of ITV Drama Laura Mackie

Laura Mackie, ITV director of drama

The Prisoner sounds good.

Oh, I feel it might be something like 2.5 million viewers, along the lines of what 'The Feelgood Factor' was getting.

The slot is ridiculous, especially when this kind of show CAN be scheduled at 9pm.

ITV need shows in their Saturday 9pm slot, so why not put 'Colour of Money' there?

The sandwich between HH and Saturday Night Takeaway has actually had no benefit and decreased the other shows ratings.

Also, ITV can easily pull it if they scheduled it in the 9pm slot, without having to fanny around with a stable early evening slot.

The movies from 9pm on Saturday nights are annoying, because they're split up by the news. And noone really wants that, also ITV have awful issues with editing movies, so their reputation on ITV1 isn't great.

Apologies about a fantasy schedule, but if ITV1 need an easy fix, they need to play to their strengths. Harry Hill is gaining over 7 million viewers when it's later in the schedule:-

6:45pm You've Been Framed
7:15pm Harry Hill's TV Burp
7:45pm Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
9:00pm The Colour of Money
10:00pm News at Ten
10:15pm MOVIE