They've perhaps had more success but I'm not sure its fair to say they've put in more effort. While the BBC has undeniably put some absolute stinkers on the air over the past couple of years they've at least had a pretty varied line-up of stinkers. ITV's offerings have really all been slight variations on the same theme really.

One of their most successful stinkers was Total Wipeout which achieved over 5m viewers at its peak. So the BBC axe it and replace it with...............??????

I agree and I'm a fan of the series but sometimes a film that was a hit in the cinema does not necessarily translate as a hit on TV. The Inbetweeners Movie for example was a huge hit but its premiere on Channel 4 only did 2.8m. I expect if Channel 5 air The Hunger Games to coincide with Mockingjay part 1 then it'll likely do 3-4m.

ITV has Skyfall this year and hopefully it'll do well but neither Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were big ratings winner but both repeat very well.

Pointless Celebrities.

Although it should be mentioned that while Total Wipeout could pull 5+ million at its peak it certainly wasn't doing that when they axed it which is much more important.

I don't particularly want to defend the BBC's Saturday night output here (for obvious reasons I suspect) but I do think they at least deserve some credit for trying slightly different things even if they didn't work. The likes of Don't Scare The Hare and That Puppet Game Show where attempts to do something a little different on Saturday nights and that's repeatedly what people in this thread say they want rather than yet another talent show.

I don't hold out a lot of hope for Skyfall to be honest. Its nearly 2.5 hours long without adverts so presumably with them it'll be pushing toward a 3 hour runtime. Do we think they'll be able to start it pre-watershed? If not they're potentially looking at a near midnight end which doesn't bode especially well for it.

Don't forget we have Mac Factor with Michael McIntyre supposedly coming soon to Saturday nights on BBC One. Run-throughs took place last July according to this, but I can find nothing about it since.

TV critic Kevin O'Sullivan has announced on national television today that the Voice is a "breath of fresh air" this series, praising the new panel of coaches and saying that "Kylie puts her all into it". For someone who didnt like the show before, his opinion has completely changed now hes seen the first episode on preview. Looks like this series is going to be an even bigger success than last year's one. Everyone's raving about it.

Skyfall is 143 minutes but credits are usually shortened and PAL conversion will mean its slightly sped up, earliest it could air is 8.30pm but it would have to be a Weekend slot if they wanted it to uninterrupted.

Take it he finally found his heart then. Any positives for EastEnders since its transformation?

Any indications to when American Idol will air and on which of C5's channels? C5 would be better for it, as it rated near to 1m when it was simulcast last year. It starts in America this week.

I do think the BBC's hand was somewhat forced with Total Wipeout. I think since the BBC stopped filming there have only been two or three series filmed on the international course, and I don't think anything has been filmed there for a good year. Basically to continue the series the BBC would have essentially had to solely fund the course, and that's something they probably couldn't justify considering it was set up with around 15-20 countries using it to start with.


Kevin O'Sullivan talks a load of bollocks - everybody knows that.

It's not just Kevin,but all the critics are saying fantastic things about the Voice as theyve watched the episode already. It is getting very good previews from them.

Everyone knows The Voice will probably get 8m. Doesn't change the fact that its legacy (when axed god-knows-when) will always be that it was "that show that was rubbish for 2 years & then improved slightly & still didn't find a star."

I want to be blown away but it's too late. It hasn't been produced well and I expect that to continue, after the auditions. That novelty has worn off now too.

Thanks for looking into your crystal ball there.

By my calculations they could probably get it into a 2h30min slot, so perhaps 21:00-23:30 on a Saturday could be most appropriate.

Workings:

Oh sorry, didn't realise I couldn't make a prediction/comment.

Celebrity Big Brother has had the most amount of press since moving to C5 over the past week, and today, it's on the front pages of 2 newspapers - with the main headlines.

Why isn't it boosting ratings much though? Or is it, but it's too small to notice? Does anyone have a comparison of Week 1 last series and Week 1 this series? Thanks if you do.

Dancc posted a comparison with the last series but one (in January 2013):

Thanks. It's doing well, but would've expected it to be over 2.5 every night. It deserves to be. After a dramatic first few days, it has slowed down a bit in there, but there's a big fight tonight (Dappy V. Luisa/Jasmine), so should keep people watching for the next few days.

EE on five nights again next week, is this now the norm ?

Doubt it, the BBC trust would be aghast at it being five nights a week and as we know permission to fart at the BBC requires a BBC trust sign off.

Seriously EE five nights a week is overkill and smacks of ratings chasing.

If it is ratings chasing a) its not working because the extra episode is not rating that well and b) its only the same as ITV have already done in increasing their soaps.

Like others have said though there has been no need for these extra episode they should wait until it is stronger before doing these.

Im not sure it is about rating chasing, imho its about restarting Eastenders. I think they are giving it the extra episode of a way to get people familiar and emotionally attached to the new characters quickly, get used to the new dynamics and character interaction circles, and as a way to launch new storyline quickly, that they can use through the year.

In the later years they did not seem to know what to do with Wipeout - they pushed it to 5.15pm and the ratings fell and it looked as though the were burning it off - but it deleivered good numbers when scheduled well.
Their recent efforts have not produced much but even so I dont believe that what they have even now is so much worse than ITV - its just that ITV have more returnable formats even though they are as you say very samey.

The BBC seem to announce lots of shows which then disappear into a black hole never to be seen. Car Share anyone? - and are we ever going to see Quirke?