I predicted this months ago. CBB was last chance saloon and it rated diabolically.

Yet time and time again posters on this forum assured me it would never happen, and bombarded me with all these reasons why C4 wouldn't possibly choose to axe their precious BB. Where are they now I ask myself? Perhaps these individuals (and they know who they are) could please enlighten me as to what went wrong!

The fact is, it's a poisoned chalice now and chances of another broadcaster taking it over are slim to nil. Honestly, who would want C4's unwanted leftovers? If they, the home of BB for all these years, can't make it work through their various outlets; C4, 4OD, C4 Online, 4Radio, E4, as well as the various timeshifts, then I'm not sure who can. As far as I can see there's no foundation to this speculation whatsoever, it's just desperate straw clutching by some. Five would not be interested as they only commission quality programmes and Big Brother is no longer a quality programme.

At this point I'd like to point out that even I was a Big Brother nut back in the day, but poor execution time and time again made it easy to fall out of love with this show. For me personally it was the whole race row which sealed it's fate but it was already losing it's way long before then, that just clinched it though I think. It has become a shadow of it's former self.

As for the "Expect Channel 4 to sink" comment, well, I very much doubt that. Honestly, they could commission a shed load of new CDWM and strip it across Monday-Friday at 9pm for several weeks during the summer and it would probably rate about the same, if not better, than what BB was getting during the last few runs.

That should definitely have been broadcast in the summer.

Remember, ITV are losing The Bill from their pre-watershed arsenal as well, so the week is going to look very weak (no pun intended ) if everything starts shuffling around with Emmerdale and Coronation Street moving back to Sunday. For example:

Sunday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Kingdom
9.00 Midsomer Murders

Monday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Tonight
8.30 Coronation Street
9.00 The Fixer

Tuesday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 House Guest
8.00 Cops on Camera
9.00 Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire?

Wednesday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Homes From Hell
9.00 Taggart (rpt)

Thursday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 The Krypton Factor
8.00 Doctors and Nurses at War
9.00 The Bill

Friday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Tonight
8.30 The Music Show
9.00 Blue Murder

Sunday has no doubt been strengthened. But bar Monday the 8pm slot across the weekday looks really poor, with no hook, no attractive proposition that'll sustain the 9m+ gained by Coronation Street. Of course, when The Bill moves this issue will be retained on Wednesday and Thursday's, but at least with the schedule how it is ITV would keep 6m+ until 8pm on Tuesday, where Cops on Camera would do a respectable job, and Friday's would maintain 9m+ up to 9pm.

The Sunday dramas need to start pulling their weight IMO. They have had enough time to establish themselves in their own right, and have a lot of money thrown at them. If they can't sustain an audience without a terrific lead in then maybe they do need to be axed.

rzt - I agree, Millionnaire may do better in the 9pm slot, with the documentary filler at 8pm. Wonder wat ITV are planning for Friday's after Blue Murder finishes, then? As you say - Monday night thriller repeats? The Bill should do ok against Hotel Babylon, though I fear for The Fixer against New Tricks.

Just to add, BB wrapping up is bleak news for Digital Spy as traffic here increases ten-fold during BB season.

Might have to slip in a fourth banner ad at this rate!

Maybe DS will run an online Digital Big Brother using a webcam and some sticky back plastic?

In the last couple of years, I don't think DS has seen those sorts of rises during the BB season. According to this Traffic graph, it rose a little bit in January but not by too much. It's about the same as when The X Factor was on.

Also, looks like DS is worth more than ITV.com . Looking at ITV.com's traffic graph, and The X Factor did wonders for their website with loads more people visiting the site than any other time. Similar big boost for Channel4.co.uk when Big Brother was on.


Would be an improvement on CBB6 .

Well, what my idea does is put Sunday nights at the forefront of ITV's success. It relies on its past, with drama & soaps heavily featuring.

Tuesday's, Wednesday's & Thursday's are already unreliable, but without The Bill, it opens them up so ITV can vary it a bit. Because with all of ITV's sport, they will have to vary it a bit.

Here's a fantasy schedule for next year, for example. Here's some predicted primetime shares to go with it

Sunday ~ 25%
7:00pm Emmerdale ~ around 30%
7:30pm Coronation Street ~ around 40%
8:00pm Heartbeat ~ 25-30%
9:00pm Piers Morgan with...Tony Blair ~ 25-30%
10:00pm News at Ten ~ 15%+
10:30pm The South Bank Show ~ 10%+?

Monday ~ 26-27%
7:00pm Emmerdale ~ 30%+
7:30pm Coronation Street ~ 40%+
8:00pm Tonight ~ 15-20%
8:30pm Coronation Street ~ 35-40%
9:00pm U Be Dead ~ 25-30%
10:00pm News at Ten ~ 15%+

Tuesday ~ 17-19%
7:00pm Emmerdale ~ around 30%
7:30pm House Guest ~ 15-20%
8:00pm John Sergeant's Tourist Trail ~ 15-20%
9:00pm The Bill ~ 15-20%
10:00pm News at Ten ~ 10-15%

Wednesday ~ 23-25% (vary with football)
7:00pm Emmerdale ~ 30%+
7:30pm Coronation Street ~ 40%+
8:00pm A Touch of Frost ~ 20%+
10:00pm News at Ten ~ 10-15%

Thursday ~ 22-23%
7:00pm Emmerdale ~ 30%+
7:30pm Countrylife ~ 15%
8:00pm Torvill & Dean's Ice Champion ~ 25%+
9:00pm Who Wants to be a Millionaire ~ 20-25%
10:00pm News at Ten ~ 10-15%

Friday ~ 23-24%
7:00pm Emmerdale ~ 30%+
7:30pm Coronation Street ~ 40%+
8:00pm Tonight ~ 15-20%
8:30pm Live at the South Bank ~ 20-25%
9:00pm Whitechapel ~ 18-20%
10:00pm News at Ten ~ 10-15%

Saturday's will vary, but 20% should be the minimum target with rises depending on the reality shows

Why do people make up stuff like this... The Sun is no credible source and DS had an article yesterday clearly stated the producer woman said they were contracted until next year but no decision has been made!!! Where does this say axed? oh yeah - it doesnt!! however likely it m ay be!!

The Truth About Super Skinny Pregnancies - 2.5m (11%)

The Mentalist (FIVE) - 3.6m viewers (16.3% share (source: Broadcast)

bravo Five - they were predicting 3m so will be delighted with this.

Very good for The Mentalist, I was expecting just a little more with the lack of competition though

Amazed by that Mentalist figure. More than what CSI got this week.

Well done Five.

I am amazed The Mentalist had 3.7m and 16.7% share... i never thought it would perform so well!!

Hopefully Five have a hit on their hands...

So, it won it's slot I trust? Or did the BBC edge it?

Edged!


K

Thursday 26th March Roundup
BBC One
13:45- Doctors: 1.67m (23.6%)
19:30- EastEnders: 8.58m (39.4%)
20:00- Rogue Traders: 5.52m (25.4%)
20:30- Traffic Cops: 4.96m (22.3%)
21:00- The Hottest Place On Earth: 4.02m (18.2%)

BBC Two
20:00- Natural World: 1.7m (7.8%)
21:00- Oil Spill - The Exxon Valdez Disaster: 1.35m (6.1%)

ITV1
19:00- Emmerdale: 6.47m (31.9%)
20:00- The Bill: 4.34m (19.8%)
21:00- The Truth About Superskinny Pregnancies: 2.51m (11.4%)

Channel 4
18:30- Hollyoaks: 1.59m (8.3%)
20:00- Ten Years Younger: The Challenge: 1.85m (8.4%) , +1: 170,000
21:00- Trophy Kids: 1.41m (6.5%) , +1: 150,000
22:00- Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA: 1.45m [inc. +1]
23:05- Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA: 1.03m [inc. +1]

Five
17:30- Neighbours: 1.48m (10.7%)
18:00- Home and Away: 985,000 (5.6%)
20:00- I Own Britain's Best Home: 1.12m (5%)
21:00- The Mentalist: 3.6m (16.3%)
- peaked with 3.8m (17.1%) between 21:15-22:30

BBC Three
22:00- EastEnders: 807,000 (4.7%)

E4 [inc. +1]
19:00- Hollyoaks: 602,000
22:00- Skins: 875,000

Film4 [inc. +1]
18:45- Crocodile Dundee 2: 402,000
21:00- Crash: 302,000

Fiver
18:30- Home and Away: 585,000 (3.4%)
19:00- Neighbours: 207,000 (1.1%)

ITV2
22:00- The Justin Lee Collins Show: 277,000 (1.8%)

Living
21:00- Jade: With Love: 531,00 (2.6%)

More4 [inc. +1]
21:00- ER: 620,000
22:00- Brothers and Sister: 248,000

Primetime Shares
BBC One: 24.5%
ITV1: 16.2%
Five: 7.8%
Channel 4: 6.6% , +1: 0.7%
BBC Two: 6.1%

All Hours Shares
BBC One: 22.5%
ITV1: 17.1%
Channel 4 [inc. +1]: 8.4%
BBC Two: 6.4%
Five: 5.9%

Sources: Broadcast, Channel 4 Sales, DS (1), DS (2)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Fantastic start for The Mentalist on Five. I thought it would rate well, but it definitely exceeded my expectations of something around 2-3m. Glad that Five now have another potentital hit in their schedules. The BBC1 8pm hour was strong, comfortably beating The Bill on ITV1. Low figure for Home and Away on Five at 18:00.

Shame about The Mentalist, would have liked it to have won it's slot but still a strong performance.

Home and Away seems to be down both here & Australia at the moment. I must admit it's probably not quite as sharp as usual just lately, but it's still very good. In fact the only soap I watch now after I gave up on EastEnders.

The Ramsay repeats performed well for C4.

Quite poor for ITV1. They will be hoping the 9pm slot change will reignite interest in The Bill as at the moment it looks fairly dead.

What like that mind-numbingly dull bring back of the classic show Minder?

Quick question for those with all the stats in their heads...

How often does ITV1's all-hours share beat their primetime share? (not counting large sporting events...)

K

Well it stayed above 1m for the duration of it's run. Clearly not everyone shares your view!

Perhaps the public weren't ready for this show to be brought back. Shane Ritchie was also a dodgy casting decision.

What are all these traffic cops, cops with cameras type shows doing in primetime 8/9 o'clock terrestrial slots these days? It's ridiculous, at least the nature type docs are interesting and easy on the eye (especially if you have HD), these slots should be used for dramas, comedies or films, not unscripted rubbish like that. You know TV's gotten bad when your looking to repeats on digital channels to entertain you during primetime. This credit crunch doesn't help things I suppose.

I think people are fine with it being remade and I personally can just about put up with Mr Ritchie, it's just so slow paced and uneventful.

Skins ended quite low didn't it? Not surprised though, the penultimate episode was brilliant but last night's final was crap even in comparison to a normal episode. They really could have just ended it with last week's episode and written a better roadtrip for Cooke and Effy at the beginning of series 4. I was so disappointed because I had been looking forward to it all week.

ABC
18:10 Grand Designs (R) 552,000
19:00 ABC News 1,063,000
19:30 The 7.30 Report 763,000
20:00 Catalyst 659,000
20:30 Bombora: The Story Of Australian Surfing 648,000
21:30 Q&A 465,000

Seven
17:30 Deal or No Deal 735,000
18:00 Seven News 1,413,000
18:30 Today Tonight 1,268,000
19:00 Home and Away 1,040,000
19:30 Ghost Whisperer 1,094,000
20:30 Grey's Anatomy 978,000
21:30 Private Practice 703,000

Nine
17:00 Antiques Roadshow (R) 458,000
18:00 Nine News 1,038,000
18:30 A Current Affair 997,000
19:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 1,053,000
19:30 Getaway 857,000
20:30 Adults Only 20 to 1 1,036,000
Northern Markets (Sydney and Brisbane):
21:30 The Footy Show 321,000

Ten
16:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 422,000
16:30 The Bold and The Beautiful 493,000
17:00 Ten News at Five 845,000
18:00 The Simpsons* (R) 414,000
18:30 Neighbours 625,000
19:00 The Biggest Loser 1,090,000
Northern Markets (Sydney and Brisbane):
20:00 Bondi Vet 532,000
20:30 Law & Order: S.V.U. 609,000
21:30 Life on Mars 338,000
22:30 Ten Late News with Sports Tonight 154,000
Southern Markets (Melbourne, Adelaide & Perth):
20:00 AFL Premiership Season 2009: Round 1 - Richmond V Carlton 1,036,000
23:00 Ten Late News with Sports Tonight 279,000

*Not shown in Melbourne

Shares
Last night: ABC 16.2%, Seven 25.0%, Nine 23.6%, Ten 30.6%, SBS 4.6%
Week so far: ABC 16.3%, Seven 28.3%, Nine 26.3%, Ten 24.2%, SBS 4.9%

Depends how you look at it. I was expecting higher ratings, but last nights figures are in line with the series average and it's the first series of Skins that has ended with more viewers than it started with.

I think it was at its strongest from episode 3-8. "Pandora" with her party and "Effy" in the woods were the best, IMO. Last weeks wasn't up to much and this week wasn't really a proper concluding episode. They shouldn't have split the conclusions because last week became a bit Hollyoaks (maybe Hollyoaks Later at a push) with no Cook and Effy but this week was too narrowly focussed on Cook and the plot for the episode (road trip) wasn't well done. Hard to say whether or not the ratings are a reflection of the episode itself or the episode that came before it (though probably a bit of both).