Very disappointing for Grantchester - I swear I'm a curse; everything I watch has either flopped or is falling!

It was a very crowded night of TV in the 9pm hour. I think tonight will be the same with The Apprentice back in the mix.

Hollyoaks is flying. DS even had to quote the Channel 4+1 figure as it was over 100k for the first time that I can remember. A total of 2.44m across the four outings on C4/E4 and their respective +1 channels.

Its a case of the week procedural the whole point is that it resolves its story by the end of each episode. There's nothing wrong with the basic format which has created an endless list of incredibly successful shows.


The problem with fast tracking a broadcast show from the US (as Sky and Channel 4 have discovered) is that the US networks have very different scheduling patterns to the UK and slip into repeats sometimes seemingly at random and for no apparent reason. UK audiences aren't accustomed to that and by following that scheduling pattern you risk breaking viewing habits and damaging the show. So the question becomes what does more damage, waiting a few weeks (or more) to give yourself a comfortable episode cushion or having to take random breaks 5-7 weeks in because the US networks have gone into repeats?

I'll also just say that I think the pirating issue is largely overstated. I don't think it has any significant impact on viewing numbers for shows in the UK or anywhere else really. I don't think Gotham's numbers would have been much higher, if at all, had it aired three weeks ago and I don't think they'd have been much lower, if at all, if Channel 5 had delayed the start until the New Year.


I can't say I'm too surprised. It was an entirely odd piece of commissioning.


One of more than 200 regions both shows have sold into which quite nicely demonstrates what valuable and powerful brands both CSI and NCIS are for CBS Productions.


I'd quite like to see it jump to BBC1 to be honest. I think its probably a better fit there.

I thought that was me.
I loved Ripper Street and recently Our Zoo and everything I could not care less about is massive - Cilla for instance.

So the actual live audience has pretty much settled at 3.5 million and judging from The Caretaker running it out of Strictly doesn't change that in any substantial way nor does pushing it later in the schedule it would seem. I'm not really sure what to make of any of that at this point though beyond the move to the Autumn and the pairing with Strictly doesn't really seem to have done much of anything for Doctor Who's ratings (but I guess we already knew that) which does make you wonder if there's really any point keeping it there. Would Doctor Who fans revolt if they didn't get a series next year because the BBC pushed it to Q1 2016? Probably but it might be worth doing since it looks like it'll just pull the exact same numbers wherever it is. Maybe another split series? Half the episodes in Autumn 2015 a Christmas Special and then the other half in Q1 2016. Although I wonder if that's a schedule Moffat would be able to keep to given that he'd presumably be prepping Sherlock for Q1 as well. Although Doctor Who, The Voice, Sherlock and Call the Midwife is a pretty astonishing weekend line-up for the BBC on paper...

On a related note do we know what the actual live viewing of Strictly is? It would be interesting to see how big the live drop-off is from Strictly to Doctor Who. It must be pretty sizeable since I don't imagine that many people are shifting it.

Yes I may have been doing that too. No time left to watch and relax!
Easier and more enjoyable when we had three channels!

I think DW fans have been messed about enough over the years although moving it to Q1 sounds like a good idea to me.

I'm Intriuged to see how the apprentice does tonight. Will the slight hiatus make the show feel fresh, or will viewers be over it? For me, it seems like the show has been away for a long time (probably due to the large amount of reality shows to air since the end of the last series), and I am quite excited, which hasn't been the case for a few years!

me too, I think comes across really well. I never saw in Happy Valley, so he just seems like a vicar to me


Haha, there's something about a sleuthing vicar that screams 'Sunday night drama' to me

After missing out on first run rights to NCIS Los Angeles, I'm not surprised they've secured both NCIS NO and CSI Cyber. I think NCIS NO will end up on Fridays and CSI Cyber on Tuesdays.

I'm hoping they pick some comedy, Black-ish would be a good one, not sure about another

Certain shows that skew young need to be fast tracked as they have the type of audience most likely to download. It's the non US main network shows that are easy to do that with as they don't take several breaks a series. Game Of Thrones on HBO, The Walking Dead on AMC and Homeland on Showtime are shown without breaks in America. It's the 20+ episode series that are the real scheduling nightmare.


I'm no expert, but I assume the audience that watch Sunday Brunch aren't around on weekdays.

The original CSI still sells around the world and is very popular. I can see CBS continuing production for a few more series yet. Has NCIS become the new CSI brand for CBS? Several spin offs that help prop up the schedule. The NCIS success is fascinating.


BBC1 don't put imports in primetime anymore. BBC2 does and wants to try*and get a younger demo. Could work for them on a Saturday or Sunday I think.

I think that because The Apprentice has been off for so long, along with no Junior/Young Apprentice inbetween, it makes it feel fresher. I'm looking forward to it a lot more tonight than in previous years.

Gotham is a much better viewing experience then Grantchester, Well deserved ratings last night for Channel 5. I wonder if it will boost there other shows too.

Got to remember though that recently most returning shows are down. I dont think anybody could be confident about how its going to do tonight.

To be fair he is almost unrecognisable from his Happy Valley role. He certainly was no vicar in that though - he was absolutely terrifying.

First thought when The Apprentice was mentioned is same old.

You could say that about the whole years schedule on most channels though. Maybe its one of the contributing factors to recent audience declines.

Didn't someone on here once say that overnights were becoming increasingly irrelevant?

I think it might've been you who said that Robbie

Those timeshifts are amazing though. Christmas will be exciting, have a feeling timeshifting records will be broken once again.

Broadcast does seem to adopting cable style orders with The Following and How to Get Away with Murder doing 15 episodes per season. I think 22-24 episodes will always be the norm, I could see more dramas sharing the time slot.

NCIS has been the little show that just took off, it didn't start doing 18-20m until about Season 5 or 6 but after being repeated on USA and syndication, it had a halo effect on new episodes, same thing is true for Big Bang Theory.

CSI I think with declining ratings in the US will get a final season, there's enough goodwill for CBS to give a good send off

Not sure if UTD was boosted: 771k (5.0%) exc +1 last week.

Just wondering whether thats a good thing or not. It does seem people are becoming increasingly averse to actually sitting down and watching things as broadcast. Could it be the end eventually of broadcat tv as now and most braodcasters going down the Netflix route?

Poor for Corrie really, but what do you expect. As we've seen with EE viewers will not com flooding back for a storyline nobody gives a toss about. Its now on a very slippery slope.

GMB is doing poorly. But if you've seen the trails for it, then you you don't need to wonder why its dropping. They're off-putting. It more than likely making viewers want to turn off, not on. They should just stop promoting it because it is clearly not working.

Looks like Release The Hounds got dented by Gotham and The Walking Dead last night at 9pm. Plebs did well.

Grantchester is just too slow and boring. The writing needs a good kick up the backside.

Of the new comedies Marry Me looks like the only other sure fire full season order this season (thanks to its scheduling) but I think Channel 4 have that already. Did anyone in the UK pick-up The Goldbergs yet (I feel like someone must have done but I don't remember who)? That might be a good buy especially now its blossoming in its Wednesday slot on ABC.


The majority of the big cable shows are now fast tracked though. Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead both air within 24 hours of their US airings. Even Boardwalk Empire a show that doesn't appear to have the most rabid fanbase either side of the Atlantic is fast tracked. Homeland will now be two weeks behind the US but that's purely because in the US its down to take Thanksgiving weekend off and obviously Channel 4 didn't want to mirror that scheduling.

Of course in theory fast tracking of the US broadcast shows should be getting easier. The networks are increasingly committing to (trying) to run their big dramas at least in two blocks of uninterrupted runs. ABC are planning that with Grey's, Scandal, Once Upon a Time and Agents of SHIELD this year and NBC will do it with The Blacklist and I assume State of Affairs will run basically without repeats if it doesn't get pulled. And then you've got stuff like How To Get Away with Murder, Gracepoint, Wayward Pines, Resurrection, Agent Carter, American Crime that are designed to be short orders that just run for half the year (if that).

In general though I think there are very few shows where fast tracking makes much of a difference. My general thought is if someone's going to pirate a show short of a simulcast there's probably nothing broadcasters can do that's going to stop them. I don't imagine for example there's many people waiting a week or two to go and track down a copy of Gotham. In truth the chances are 99% of people that pirated it did so on Tuesday almost immediately after it had aired in the US. Maybe you stop a few people if you air it Tuesday night but I think that's likely to produce a negligible difference. On this note though I wonder if it might be worth commercial broadcasters dipping their toes in the water of putting these shows online themselves immediately following their US debuts. So you'd have Gotham running a couple of weeks behind on Channel 5 but for the audience that really doesn't want to be behind the US pace you offer an advance (limited time) screening online at the Channel 5 website. They'd at least be able to get some revenue out of that if its something they're really concerned about and it also means that they don't have to worry so much about the US scheduling disrupting their own scheduling.