Originally Posted by AlexiR:
“Our Zoo appears to have fallen victim to the BBC being entirely unsure on how to schedule opposite the X Factor and Downton Abbey combo on ITV. Its not the first show to get hit with this problem and I doubt it'll be the last. Like The Paradise a couple of years ago its a show so clearly made for Sunday night that the BBC just can't or won't air on Sunday night because it would mean it going against The X Factor or Downton Abbey. The irony being that they schedule shows that would probably play better during the week opposite Downton. I can't for the life of me imagine they commissioned By Any Means for a Sunday night run and yet last year that's exactly where they put it and I'm not convinced Our Girl was taken to series with a Sunday night run planned. Its such awkward scheduling and they must surely recognise that its not working but by the same token would Our Zoo have held up as counter scheduling to The X Factor Sunday nights at 8?
Although in the BBC's defence I can kind of see how they might have convinced themselves that Our Zoo would work on Wednesday night. On paper it feels like it could match-up with Bake-Off quite nicely. It feels a bit like a Sunday mid-week bit of scheduling but it clearly hasn't worked the way they would have wanted it to. I'm also not sure they have a better lead out for Bake-Off at this point. Our Girl and The Driver both would have felt quite jarring in the slot I suspect. The Driver in particular. They should probably look into finding something that will sit more comfortably mid-week alongside Bake-Off next year. That may be the slot where they should launch a potential New Tricks replacement.
Where else could they have put it though?
Sunday night is taken. Monday night has rightly gone to the potential returnable series. Tuesday isn't an option. Wednesday would have put it against The Apprentice. Friday feels like the worst night possible for a big event series. Saturday out The X Factor would have pushed it into horribly late slots and not been the best use of their ad allocations. Although I suppose if they could get away with it pre-watershed Saturday before The X Factor and opposite Strictly would have been interesting scheduling. But Thursday really seems like their only option unless they pushed it to the Christmas/New Year period I suppose.”
I think I agree with all you've written. The X-Factor dilemma is a tricky one but also a worrying one. It demonstrates further just how weak British television is these days if just one day's schedule is causing such problems. As few as just twenty years ago you would have monster schedules on both channels at the same time because there genuinely was far more choice on the two main channels back then. Okay, ITV would usually have around 4-5m more viewers but if an ITV drama got 13m you could bet that BBC1's opposition got a healthy 10m to counter it. Now we have both BBC1 and ITV running scared of a just a handful of hits. I think that is something that needs addressing.
Originally Posted by johnnymc:
“It sometimes only takes a couple of episodes for a drama to suddenly break through the ratings once the audience finds it its off and running. I haven't watched "Our Zoo" either as it wasnt for me, but love "The Great British Bake Off" so the crossover to it appears not to be there. In fact it was only when I looked at the trails I thought it had many elements of a runaway winner drama. But I wonder if it should have been launched on the nearest Sunday to Christmas and run from there until "Call The Midwife" returned as this may have captured more ratings for it. Its one of their more expensive dramas so I guess will need to justify the costs, as I think maybe "Upstairs Downstairs" had to. Anne Reid also appears in both period dramas so blame her!!!”
Yes, I wonder that had the BBC scheduled Our Zoo later in the Autumn, when it is colder and darker and you had the TV audiences fullest attention, it may have been that hit it so deserves to be. The timing of the start of the series was a bit odd. perhaps launching it at the end of October or mid-November to take us up to Christmas.
Originally Posted by Mr_Eye:
“It's obvious with hindsight to say Our Zoo is badly scheduled, but I can totally see the logic in it being scheduled where it was. Its just a gamble that hasnt paid off.”
Again, I agree. But I do think that it may have worked had it been scheduled later in the year.
