I agree with that though it does beg the question how the same production company can get create a softer tone for Britain's Got Talent than The X Factor. Especially when the former started off as the far nastier show.

EDIT: 2.3m for Celebrity Squares? I guess they're hoping to get a boost once Bake Off finishes. What's following it on BBC One, does anyone know?

Waterloo Road

The Job Lot got only 300k excl+1 last night. Pretty poor really.

Thanks. Struggler against flop - could be an interesting battle.

Another poor figure for ITV2. Will Celebrity Juice see another decline tonight?

Its seems to me that viewers are not used to comedies on ITV2 and therefore forget they are on. Perhaps over time this will be rectified as the channel changes.

No point commissioning another series of Celeb Squares. Its a lost cause. 2.4m against 8M+ is not good enough, its lost 1m from its premiere. Even if it rises over 3m, its not worth keeping another middling show on the main channel. We have enough of them presently (The Cube, Mr and Mrs, Big Star Little Star, Life stories)

Over 10m for Bake Off next week then

Its lowest point was 3 98m for episode 3, so only fractionally under, but yes, the BBC were probably expecting more. How much more, when it faced S&B from week 2, it's hard to say. With a 21:00 slot the family audience was limited. I feel sure it will get a repeat run, maybe Sunday teatimes or over Christmas.

I think there was a lot of wishful thinking about ITV2 turning itself round. A lot of new stuff started together but all seem to be falling now and when they have finished whats on then? If it can imporve it will take a long time and maybe needs a real new vision.

I agree that its something that needs addressing but I'm also not entirely sure what the solution is. There appears to be only three options here. Either they continue with the current strategy that doesn't appear to be working or they try airing things like Our Zoo on Sunday night opposite The X Factor or Downton Abbey (how do people think Our Zoo would have done on Sunday night with a Strictly lead-in?) or they just abandon airing these kind of dramas during the Autumn. None of those seem like particularly great options. I suppose in a perfect world what the BBC may have been hoping for here is that Our Zoo establishes a big audience on Wednesday night in series one giving them the confidence to then move it to Sunday night for series two but that obviously hasn't happened here. It didn't happen with The Paradise either. I suppose the other alternative might be to try moving an established hit to Sunday night in the Autumn although the BBC is rather short on those these days.


They do seem to be having a rather tough time of it with drama as of late. Its a shame really because I think their instinct of trying to broaden their drama appeal is the right one it just hasn't really paid off with shows like Dallas, Under the Dome and now seemingly Wentworth. Although for at least two of those I suppose the quality of the show hasn't exactly helped them. It'll be interesting to see how Gotham does for them. As you say if it doesn't work out then I suspect they'll have to go back to the drawing board.


I think all the noise about the edit is just a sign of how big the show now is. I suspect had that exact incident unfolded while the show was on BBC2 it would have gone largely unnoticed because the press wouldn't have jumped on it in quite the same way but now its pulling such big figures and very clearly become a big mainstream hit they want/need to write about it. The same is true of shows like The X Factor, Strictly and Big Brother back in its height. Incidents that ultimately aren't that out of character for the show in general get blown out of all proportion because writing about it sells more papers/brings more hits.


But they made a very focused effort to make Britain's Got Talent nicer. Having kids breakdown on live television and making everyone feel very uncomfortable about the show will do that. With The X Factor I think the 'nastiness' (although I'm sure the production team have a better word for it) has just become awkwardly fused into its DNA. Just as importantly I don't know that they can substantially walk it back now that The Voice is out there as 'the nice singing competition'. This is ultimately one of the major problems the US version of the show had. At a time when audiences were clearly embracing the more feel good factor of The Voice (at least in the US) it debuted full of that rather nasty X Factor undercurrent and it just didn't work but they then couldn't ever effectively walk it back without it looking like they were trying to mimic The Voice's tone. To be honest I'm not convinced the show needs to be nicer I think it maybe needs to blunter or more direct. Mel B's handling of the 6 Chair Challenge has gotten rave reviews from fans not because she was nice but because she was just straight to the point and quite blunt about thinking certain acts weren't good enough. That kind of bluntness is what endeared Simon Cowell to the public in the first place as well and I suspect its something the show needs to bring back in force rather than playing up indecision for drama.

Also the first episode was up against a Scots opt out in the run up to the referendum so all in all it was not an advantageous slot for a new drama. Everybody saying it had a 8m lead in and should have done better say the same thing everytime after a big show. But what has ever done well in those circumstances - I am certainly struggling to think of anything.

Key changes to watch for on ITV2 when ITV Be launches next week:

* Most of the crap moves across to ITV Be overnight, except The Jeremy Kyle Show;
* Up to four hours a day of You've Been Framed! to fill newly vacated slots;
* US sitcom Two and a Half Men returns at a new time of 7PM;
* Royal Pains (which airs first on Universal) receives Freeview premiere on weeknights at 6PM;
* Repeats of flops like Winners & Losers and Up All Night air on weekday mornings.

Is Celeb Squares something Waterloo Road can actually beat ?

Scott & Bailey after BGT, Downton after The X Factor, Atlantis after Strictly, The Musketeers after CTM.

Our Zoo didn't even match any of these, even Atlantis had 5.5m

Any soap ratings? No DS report yet.

I wonder if regular soaps reporter Daniel Kilkelly is still recovering from last night's Inside Soap Awards. Not like him to be this late !

If I was in charge of ITV2 I would be getting the rights back to TV Burp and repeating that from series 1 at 7pm on weekdays with YBF at 6pm for 1hr.

I'm pretty sure repeats of TV Burp would would do over 700k at 7pm.

I would also get the rights to more films, Disney films, Dreamworks etc. Put some real effort into making the channel a comedy, family, entertainment channel.

I think Gold already has TV Burp covered. Although personally as much as I liked this show back in the day it would most certainly not work for me in repeat form with clips that are no longer current or relevant. I thought it was a strange buy by Gold but it must be working because it's still a key part of their schedule AFAIK.

A greater emphasis on films seems inevitable for ITV2 in the long run to shore up share.

Bet the repeat on ITV on friday at 10.40 gets at least twice that.

Does not that just highlight that there is not enough programming for ITV2 and ITVBe?

Maybe I'm a little bias (because TV Burp was my favourite show), but I watch it all the time on Gold, and to me it is as funny as it was first time round. I just wish ITV could convince Harry Hill to bring it back even if it only for a couple of episodes per year (review of the years tv type of thing).

What did it get there last week, does anyone know ?

No great surprise to see it struggling. It was recommissioned more out of hope than expectation as the numbers it was getting were nothing short of abysmal for a Monday at 9:30 on ITV.

It's a shame really because it is a decent sitcom. The public just haven't taken to it for some reason.

Your spot on. ITV2 in no way has enough programming that is strong enough to support the channel. The Housewives program might have been reality rubbish, but it did usually get 200k-400k during daytime and strengthen the channel.

Now they are just throwing in flop imports into daytime and early evening.

They also rely on the same films; Evan Almighty, The Mummy 3, Despicable Me, About a Boy, Scooby Doo 2 etc.

Yes DMN if possible could you get hold of the rating for The Job Lot on Friday please? Of anyone else who has access

Thanks

I can't see 5 dropping drama anytime soon but its apparent their current slate isn't working, I would stick with Wentworth for a while and I agree that the broadening of the drama hasn't especially with the non US dramas. Gotham should premiere well but whether it can stick remains to be seen. They do have their work cut out as CSI is aging and The Mentalist is ending next year so there is going to gaps that need to be filled. If I were them, I would consider commissioning another original drama to along with Suspects with the aim of having more than one returnable series.


The airing of Neighbours and Home and Away on Viva makes me wonder whether Viacom are considering merging Viva and 5*, to me, it would be good as 5* has struggled with competing with the likes of ITV2 and E4 and merging them and creating a new channel would help be competitive although I would move certain shows like The Walking Dead to 5USA.