Originally Posted by cylon6:
“The 10pm comedy on BBC2 can be isolated as they programme beforehand isn't always compatible. This is why some new sitcoms have trouble there.”
But that can't make that much of a difference because there's a massive audience churn at 10pm with millions of floating viewers who don't want to watch the news. I think the idea of a lead-in on BBC2 is pretty minimal in any case because more than any channel there's such a big variety of programmes (with the odd exception like University Challenge to Only Connect). When Shooting Stars was in its pomp in the nineties it was following Gardeners' World.
Originally Posted by cylon6:
“Established panel shows. Where are the successful new sitcoms? With DQF there are only so many low rating programmes that last past a series. It's Kevin is a perfect example. But that wasn't helped by zero promotion. Have you noticed Sky moving away from low rating vanity project comedies and going more mainstream? Big School is flopping partly because it isn't very good and partly because it should be paired with a successful show at 9pm to lead into it.
Grandma's House had a chance to establish itself. Couldn't find an audience. Gone. That's television.”
But again, that was the case in the past. In 2001 they did World Of Pub, a brilliant series, which was shown on Sundays at 10pm and never came back. It's always been the case that BBC2 shows esoteric programming because that's what it was intended to do. It's Kevin was never going to get a big audience but it had a loyal audience. Same with Grandma's House. Simon Amstell didn't want to do another series anyway, and if he had they'd probably have commissioned it.
Again, in the nineties they were relying on a lot of old brands, HIGNFY and Shooting Stars were established series in the nineties and loads of nights were padded out with repeats of Red Dwarf, Rab C Nesbitt and Absolutely Fabulous, they used to be on all the time. No different to repeats of QI and Sarah Millican now.
As for Big School, how much more support does it need? Sitcoms starring David Walliams, Catherine Tate and Phil Glenister and getting Radio Times covers for their first episode shouldn't be relying on lead-ins. And half of the episodes have had HIGNFY lead-ins.
Originally Posted by AlexiR:
“Doesn't almost everyone though? If only because typing BBC1 is a second quicker than typing BBC One. And its not like its a completely different word on the end of BBC. Not that I'm suggesting the data isn't right. Just that BARB is really lazy really. Much like me.”
The thing that most surprises me is that the Radio Times has always referred to it as BBC1. I know it's not owned by the BBC any more but they didn't even do it during all the years it was owned by the Beeb.
Originally Posted by ronant:
“A scheduling change for BBC1 tonight, print listings show -
8.35 Doctor Who
9.20 Casualty
10.10 Lottery
It is now -
8.35 Doctor Who
9.25 Lottery
9.35 Casualty
Then the rest of the schedule 5 minutes later than originally billed.”
Funnily enough I had no idea about the lottery and Casualty switch until 10.20, after I'd switched off after Doctor Who and after switching back on wondered why Casualty was still on. I know the announcer said before Who that Casualty was at "the later time of 9.35" but I assumed they meant 9.25 and had misread it. The Freeview EPG had changed but the Virgin EPG hadn't (it's normally the last to be updated, but will normally catch something 24 hours in advance, which shows how last minute it was). I have absolutely no idea why they did that.
Amusingly my mum had no idea about it because she actually fell asleep just before the end of Doctor Who and woke up just after Casualty had started, and told me this morning she was totally baffled as to why they were overrunning and where the lottery had gone.
As for the extra five minutes on Who, this wasn't too much of a surprise because they do seem to be a bit flexible on a Saturday night and it is often a question of rounding up or down. Last night was the first time this series I think Pointless started on time, normally that's always on a few minutes late.
Originally Posted by Zac Quinn:
“There are rules around imported content which I think might prohibit that??”
BBC3 have got more rules regarding imports than BBC1, so if they can show Family Guy every night on BBC3 they can certainly do so on BBC1. They'd often show a film every night in the past anyway.
Originally Posted by D.M.N.:
“17:40 - Pointless Celebrities: 4.30m (27.1%)
18:30 - Strictly Come Dancing: 8.65m (39.2%)
20:35 - Doctor Who: 5.08m (22.1%)
21:25 - Lottery Draws: 2.90m (13.1%)
21:35 - Casualty: 4.33m (21.5%)
22:25 - BBC News: 3.45m (20.7%)”
Regardless of the last minute switcheroo that's a dreadful number for the lottery, I can't imagine what kind of audience it would have got had it been after Casualty as scheduled. It illustrates that shows like In It To Win It and Who Dares Wins get the ratings they do in many cases in spite of the lottery rather than because of it, because the number who switch on just for the draws is tiny.
Originally Posted by AlexiR:
“It just feels like an odd choice to air Surprise, Surprise during the week. Its one of those shows that just doesn't really feel like a weeknight show.”
But in its original run it was frequently on Fridays, certainly that's what I associate it with. It would seem odder for it to run on Saturdays which the original run never did.
Originally Posted by AlexiR:
“But how much of this is a problem of Strictly's own making? As I already noted the first contestant didn't start performing last night until the 12 minute mark. Is it any wonder then that audiences don't immediately tune in as soon as the show begins? We're all familiar enough with the format of the show now to know that there's a whole heap of filler at the top of the show. The same is true of The X Factor last night where the first contestant didn't start performing until 11 minutes in. I can't help but feel the best thing both shows could do at this point is get to the first act much quicker. That would actually encourage audiences to tune in from the actual start time of the show rather than knowing they can easily skip the first 5-10 minutes every week and miss absolutely nothing of value or importance. And frankly given how horribly bloated both shows are and that they clashed for an hour last night its absurd that neither show managed to make it to the first contestant performance of the night until more than 10 minutes in.”
This argument is based on the idea though that people only want to see the actual business of singing and dancing which, I think, is wrong. If people are only watching it for that and don't want to see any other bits of business I wonder if they even like the shows if it's so much of a chore. You could do Strictly in half the time, yes, but why would you want to? It's not a bit of admin that has to be completed, it's an entertainment show. If Strictly was to start and Tess just go "Hello, welcome to Strictly, there are the judges and now here's Alison Hammond with the first dance" it would be unbelivevably boring. I thought the opening dance was brilliant, probably my favourite thing on the show last night. No, there was no point to it, but so what? Light entertainment is inherently pointless.
I don't think there's a huge number of people sitting there during the group dances or the comedy bits of business looking at their watches and going "come on, come on, get on with it". If they're doing that I wonder why they're even watching it. It's no less important in the grand scheme of things as whether Scott Mills gets a 2 or a 3. It may be the case that people are happy to join it a few minutes late after they've done the washing up (there's still plenty of things to do at 6.30 on a Saturday) but I can't buy they're actively avoiding it or that it would bump up the viewing figures if they got rid of all that. If anything they'd go down as the show would be boring.
Originally Posted by H of De Vil:
“Oh absolutely they should be doing better. However the BBC has a line-up of old skewing shows; Pointless, Strictly, Lottery, Casualty etc, only DW bucks the trend. This in turn does support the schedule as the older generation watch more TV.
I imagine if ITV put something old skewing on before and after TXF they would be over 4m.”
That's to suggest You've Been Framed and The Chase don't skew massively old, which I'm pretty sure they do. It's not like they're putting Celebrity Juice and TOWIE there. The last three episodes of The Celebrity Chase have featured Bob from Emmerdale, Ken Bruce and Esther Rantzen. Don't see them in Heat much.
Originally Posted by Jaycee Dove:
“Interesting to see that you all hated Donny Osmond on Strictly. I thought he was lovely and it made a nice change to have someone who had actually won the show on the panel to empathise with the contestants.”
Well, of course, they had that with Alesha. My mum thought he was alright. But then, she is of that certain age.
Not according to RadioTimes.
”
