Yeh, it doesn't do anything anymore. I'm sure these stories are given to the tabloids by the producers/ITV but they probably just do more damage in the long run. X Factor producers just need to concentrate on making a fun, entertaining show rather than chasing these sorts of headlines.

I totally agree. These sort of headlines don't make any impact anymore. Frankly its boring. The X Factor would be better if there were no mention of the show in the newspapers at all.

If the producers continue with this nonsense then frankly TXF deserves to meet its maker.

Isn't it their equivalent to X Factor's Deadlock?

Lots of good dancers have been sent home over the years due to the public. One thing about Strictly judges is that they have been fair with the dance off. Last year Mark Benton was kept instead of pin up rugby player Ben Cohen.

We did that last week !!

I said last night I dont think it will - it looked to me that it was pretty well tied up.

Oh, i don't know.

Her appearance on SNL recently saw a ratings increase, and she went down well on the Graham Norton show last time.

Like a lot of stars, record sales are down but people are still interested

Things arent that bad for XF though are they? Its down on last year which I dont think was in the script but so is SCD.

Homeland is the alternative Sunday night viewing now.

When X Factor is lower than the competition Mark Sid away won't tweet the ratings. Just like every PR. Which is why the BBC PRs were quiet last Sunday. I doubt anybody associated with X Factor will think "We're lower than Strictly but they're down on last year."

I dont disagree that they wont be doing cartwheels over the ratings but as was pointed out to me yesterday did they expect to be infont of SCD this year? They have not been in front over the last few years either.

Expected to be in front no, but from some of Simon's interviews pre launch you could think otherwise. But I think they expected to be level-ish and up a good bit on last year after they slagged off the old judges and said Brucie leaving would cause some massive drop

Only for 1.3m of us.

Not thus series it isn't. Ratings are down in Britain and America.

That's it in a nutshell. All the pre series hype and talk in interviews was about X Factor bring way up on last year and being number one.

it's because they never go out.

We need the US networks PR people, they can spin bad numbers like no one else, ABC in particular!

Before timeshift related adjustments Homeland is down year-on-year by almost as much as TXF and Strictly combined, which means in percentage terms it's easily the most dramatic faller given the much smaller starting base.

It's so hard to keep UK viewers interested in some of these US dramas. At least Homeland had three strong years which is three more than many experience.

Under Ofcom rules, ITV are only allowed to run a certain amount of advertising minutage from 6.30pm - 10.30pm. Currently, on Sundays, they maximise the value of those minutes by running them all during the Chase, TXF and Downton.

So, from a money-making perspective, the airtime that surrounds those shows is 'dead'. That's why it makes commercial sense to play ultra-cheap filler like YBF repeats/re-versions there,. If ITV ran something like Tipping Point (which costs more to produce), it would lose them money. Last night's YBF contained a commercial break but it would have been filled with trailers, not ads.

They could just run repeats of Tipping Point instead (probably the celeb ones). They'd cost next to nothing and would still rate a fair bit better.

The way American TV PRs can spin the shittiest of ratings into a positive is something that could be taught at universities!

The previous series of Homeland was weak plus without Brody I'm not particularly interested. They tried to tell the story for too long. It feels like they're trying to stretch out the series.

It's an option - depends on the deal with the production company re repeat fees, I guess.

Fascinating stuff. It's depressing that TV now in some cases is more about cost effectiveness rather than quality.

BARB has just updated their ratings charts.

I do love reading ABC press releases