I think that is coming back for a full series later this year or in 2015? Weird that they showed the pilot and now there's a long gap until the series is actually shown. Why didn't they air it altogether? Viewers will have forgotten about the pilot by now.

Karen Carpenter.

Not the worst idea in the world to be fair. I agree with you on scheduling too, but it's to be expected from C4.


In all due fairness, it's really not a bad idea. As with most Endemol productions it was visually stunning, and Alan Carr was good as a presenter (but he still needs to sharpen some of the edges off).

The problem, as with 95% of entertainment programmes, was the execution. The main problem was that once a singer got to the 'gold zone' and stayed there, it was boring. The real beauty of a format like that is the visualisation of viewer opinions, but a static platform (in a show that's all about the moving track) for most of a contestant's performance is kinda defeating the purpose of the show.

There are a couple of quite obvious ways of strengthening the format, which would definitely take it to the next level both visually and in terms of tension. It will probably rise in ratings next week though, as it won't be up against the Commonwealth Games.

Indeed, she's a big success story for the show right now. Very credible too.

If I'm honest I can't imagine it having too much of an uplift this year, I think most looking forward to Simon and Cheryl's return will have still been watching the show in the past few years. Maybe there will be a bit of a bounce but I can't imagine it will get to SCD levels again.

Singer Takes It All (exc +1)

1.1m
1.0m
0.9m
0.9m

Hardly surprising, it was a bad show.

I gave up a long time ago trying to work out why Channel 4 do anything...!

Do we think it was worth Auntie turning BBC One into the Commonwealth Games channel for 11 days? For all it hasn't rated like the Olympics, 4 million people every day have been tuning in and also BBC Two has received a big boost by showing Eastenders. Also it has given sports like judo and squash, which are very rarely shown at other times, a big window and surely this is what the BBC is about, good coverage of big events.

To be fair to the channel, they seem to prosper with factual programming.

Commonwealth Games on BBC Three for first few days....

24/07
- 09:00 to 11:05 - 93k (1.7%)
- 11:05 to 13:00 - 163k (2.9%)
- 13:00 to 14:55 - 98k (1.6%)
- 14:55 to 17:10 - 84k (1.1%)
- 17:10 to 20:05 - 177k (1.2%)
- 20:05 to 21:00 - 262k (1.4%)
- 21:00 to 21:55 - 231k (1.1%)

25/07
- 09:00 to 11:00 - 90k (1.6%)
- 11:00 to 12:55 - 148k (2.6%)
- 12:55 to 15:35 - 138k (2.1%)
- 15:35 to 17:05 - 135k (1.7%)
- 17:05 to 19:05 - 147k (1.1%)
- 19:05 to 21:00 - 186k (1.0%)
- 21:00 to 21:55 - 128k (0.7%)

Really, such delights as Sexbox, one of the most nauseating and voyeuristic shows ever made, and documentaries about people on benefits, people with deformities and overweight people, harldy what Jeremy Isaacs had in mind for the station.

I think the figures will be the same. Very difficult for sitcoms to grow their audiences without repeat runs. Repeating something at midnight in the week of transmission doesn't introduce new viewers.

To be fair, this seems more representative of Channel 5's current factual output!

Channel 4 is in a bit of a mess, but I can't agree that repeats of Brookside are part of the solution.


Fat, Deformed, on Benefits and Proud

I was thinking more Gogglebox; Educating Yorkshire, Big Fat series etc

Agreed- 4 shouldn't have to rely on repeats of their old, innovative programmes. They should be creating new ones. Can't imagine it would pick up much of an audience anyway- the show started in 1982. It's dated. Move on.






The terrifying thing is... it's not that unlikely!

Brookside was their biggest show in the eighties and first half of the nineties, attracting 7 million at its peak in 1989( same as EE on a good day now), but it went into a steep decline in its last 8 years on air and I doubt many people will remember it well now.

Lol, you say that like SCD has set the ratings bar. Remember when XF was thrashing SCD by a huge margin in 2010? Oh no, wait a minute, we won't mention that.

No matter what happens from now on, XF will always be the winner, because it's the series that picked up the mega ratings of 2010, that SCD has never come close to.

It was in 2009 that SCD had the "bad year". But you can't declare a show a bigger success because of ratings it had four years ago. If that was the case EastEnders is the biggest show because it's Anniversary live episode in 2010 had a larger audience than Coronation street's live episode in the same year!

You could turn the argument around and say that SCD has remained consistent whilst XF ratings have dropped away, that makes SCD the biggest show and winner. But in honesty, both shows are about as big as each other and to suggest otherwise is just daft.

When both shows have ended we will probably look back and see XF as the "winner" considering its huge peak. But for the past two years SCD has (for the most part) been comfortably ahead and I don't think that will change this year.

Just watched Tipping Point which I really like, but I'd like to suggest that Lucky Stars might do better in the Saturday night ratings if ITV stop hiring loudmouth celebrities who are unable to shut the f.f.f.f.f.... up.

Celebrities don't half like the sound of their own voice.

Good points here.

Tom Daley will boost BBC3's ratings tonight following his Gold victory, as well as the women's hockey final boosting bbc3. Might end up denting the BBC1 rating. The BBC need to hire Tom Daley on an exclusivity contract for some kind of tv show, he has charisma and top names like him deserve to be on the nation's favourite channel.

Maybe they could hire him for a celebrity diving show called.....Splosh. You never cease to amaze Samuel - ''some kind of TV show''

My feeling is that Channel 4 nowadays lacks identity - it feels like a mishmash of different things within a confused, incoherent schedule. When I was a teenager in the 90s, Channel 4 was particularly known as the 'go to' channel for high-quality US imports such as ER and their Friday night comedy block of Friends, Frasier, etc. These days, other smaller channels (including its subsidiaries E4 and More 4) perform that function. As a channel which once prided itself on innovation, it seems to be mostly made up of shows which have long outstayed their welcome, and derivative formats like '8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'. There are some exceptions, of course, but just far too much dross.

Not a diving show, but a documentary similar to what David Beckham did recently. People like Beckham and Daley are blockbuster names, the BBC could do with them being on board going forward because they are potential ratings weapons.

By the way, I was very happy to see all the gymnastics on BBC1 throughout the week including the high profile Caludia Fragapane quadruple gold coverage. This kind of extensive gymnastic coverage is going to help Tumble when it launches next week, which has been trailed on significant rotation.