Yes too early to say how this will fare yet, either way a very dissapointing season with only AOS, possibly The Goldberg's and Resurrection as returning shows is not very good IMO.

Other US news and Fox have cancelled Raising Hope after 4 seasons, Sky1 have just dropped it as well leaving the last two seasons without a UK home.

It won't create that big a hole, with or without Rising Star. DOI is very expensive to produce, so that would offset the difference of a replacement show averaging 4m. Basic production costs before the show is even on air are quite high; they have to put the contestants into training months before the show airs (they often start in September/October and also 'audition' celebrities before deciding who to take), they also have the professional fees in addition to maintenance, ice rink hire etc. The insurance bill is probably fairly high too. Meanwhile they can put Catchphrase on to get 5m viewers. 'Breaking even' with 20 hours of replacement programming won't be that difficult, even if the figures are well below the 5-6m DOI got. It was axed when it was averaging 6.2m/6.5m (using the above figures), which is a very healthy figure for an entertainment show, and ITV probably expected a 'last ever series' uplift from it.

No higher than 537k according to ITV Media. Can't do any better than that unfortunately.

Call The Midwife versus Rising Star next year looks likely. Who do you back to win that showdown?

Let's see what happens in a few weeks. Will it act more like The Balcklist or Agents Of Shield/Revolution?

It all depends on who the judges are, the promotion and overall feeling of Rising Star when we know more. If its promoted well and has a strong push it could knock CTM down to low 7million taking away its younger audience. I think as its likely to skew young, it could do well opposite an older skewing drama.

It all depends on Resurrection, IMO. If it holds well and is a genuine hit then it's not a bad season. I've seen it said a few times that so long as a network exec delivers one hit (a proper hit, not a "face saving renewal" like Shield will be) then they'll keep their job. One hit could make all the difference in this case. But we'll see where things are in May. ABC's season to date had been abysmal however.

Thanks for the ratings update Neil. Disappointing to see The Paralympic ratings so low and beaten by Crufts. At least they're in primetime. And Crufts rated better than John Barrowman's dog show that led up to it. Not every dog format will work TV bosses.

It could do to Call The Midwife what Call The Midwife did to Dancing On Ice. If Call The Midwife is unaffected and towers over Rising Star that could be a problem for the latter.

Cheryl Cole has confirmed she's back on The X Factor this year...

I would bet Rising Star will cost ITV more than Dancing on Ice, especially as (I think) Dancing on Ice is an ITV Studios show. 4m week in week out though might be as profitable as 6m for Dancing on Ice, but it makes it more difficult to launch new series such as Mr Selfridge in the 9pm slot.

Rising Star is a very difficult one for ITV. They can plough money and promotion into it, but it could end up damaging X Factor further, or X Factor could perform well (especially with tonights Cheryl Cole confirmation), and then be damaged again come new year through no fault of its own. If they under promote it and have rubbish judges, it won't be worth them doing it. They need better and bigger judges and production than The Voice, but not as big as X Factor. It's all about striking the right balance. It would be a very wise move for them to get Gary Barlow & Nicole Scherzinger involved, as that would generally get around the right 'status' balance and should make X Factor viewers looking for something new to watch in the new year gravitate towards Rising Star than The Voice.

It might not also damage Call The Midwife but still be able to pull in a respectable audience. The Voice and SNT happily co-exist with healthy figures, there is no reason why Call The Midwife and Rising Star won't be able to. Its just that CTM and DOI had a big overlap.

Thread meltdown in 3, 2, 1....

Ah ok thanks Neil.

Oh for f***k sake really this just stinks of desperation. She left because she thought she was to good for the UK version now US don't won't her she's back with her stale between her legs.

Is that some sort of Freudian slip?

Well am liking the start of MM chat show. Let's see how it goes.

Lol whoops I meant tail

Rising Star is going to be produced by ITV Studios as well (although it will be licensed from the Israeli company). And being in-house doesn't make it cheap for the broadcast side anyway. They'll have to spend money on Rising Star - just as the BBC had to spend on The Voice, it's the by-product of Simon Cowell relentlessly pushing for bigger and more on X Factor and BGT. But DOI has had a lot of money invested in it in recent years as well as they try to revive the flagging ratings.

I'm not sure what the format is after the auditions. But I'd launch Rising Star around this time, when The Voice is going to the battle stages. Strip it across the week, mainly auditions but with maybe a couple of semi-finals and a final. Alternatively, go for The Voice in January. I'm not sure many people are going to watch The Voice on Saturday AND Rising Star on Sunday. It will be one or the other regardless of scheduling and spreading them out will only increase the "talent show saturation" feeling among casual viewers. The Voice got some mileage out of challenging BGT in 2012.

She left at the behest of her boss for a bigger opportunity, more money and to work with the same people (who were also moving on to the US show). The same reasons most people move jobs. And as with many job moves, it didn't play out as she might have hoped. That being said, she got a nice package from the US show and apparently won't be doing too shabbily out of the UK show this year. So as far as "failure" goes, it's all relative. I'd kill to fail like that!

This thread seems to have real issues with people leaving jobs! Everyone's just meant to sit and be happy in the same job forever, never trying new things, new opportunities, promotions, more money. Maybe the ratings thread reunion in 2030 will just be full of people still doing their part time student job?

With her and Cowell back, they've relieved themselves of that shadow that has hung over the show since 2010 with the general sense that Barlow and whoever else were only ever keeping the seats warm. They could have hired Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston and two months down the line the press would be speculating on whether Simon and Cheryl might be back next year! Whether it works... we'll need to wait and see. What plays in its favour of course is that the dynamic between the two has moved on since 2010 so it won't be a re-tread. And that's part of the reason that the press are so keen to see it happen.

Its March and we are talking XF and what ITV will have on in a years time - what next Xmas schedules?

Wonder if MM tonight can outrate Ross?

Weren't the hypothetical ratings thread 2014 Christmas schedules already done last December?

It will be slightly embarrassing if he did surely. Are you watching it yorkie? What do you think of it?

In the self satisfied stakes its certainly neck and neck!