Wednesday 9pm hour for the new comedies?! What the...??? Oh well, they're going to be a write off there. Think I would have given Delivery Man the lead in from Britain's Got Talent and Newzoids the Sunday 10pm slot, hoping that people remember Spitting Image and give it a go. Alternatively they could have kept it clean and placed it between two Coronation Street's or the Thursday 8.30pm slot.

So Ninja Warriors UK is going to have to self start opposite Pointless? Hardly helpful for it. At least give it a Thunderbirds lead in and try and make a special night of it. I wouldn't be surprised to see ITV pull their schedule back by 15 minutes so Britain's Got Talent starts alongside Atlantis and Ninja Warrior gets a headstart on Pointless. ITV News at 10.05pm... is Jonathan Ross finishing then?

IMO, they should start the comedy on Tuesday primetime on ITV. More serious things/dramas etc... always fail in that slot, so maybe comedies would be better there, maybe it will work. Probably not, but it could do. Wednesdays is an odd day to launch comedies.

Soap Officials w/c 16th March 2015

Coronation Street:

Mon: 8.37m [+880k] / 7.58m [+830k]
Wed: 8.04m [+1.24m]
Fri: 7.69m [+1.1m] / 6.67m [+800k]

Avg.: 7.67m [+970k]

EastEnders:

Tue: 7.62m [+950k]
Wed: 5.86m [+920k]
Thu: 6.94m [+660k]
Fri: 6.76m [+430k]

Avg.: 6.8m [+740k]

Emmerdale:

Tue: 6.57m [+350k]
Wed: 6.49m [+500k]
Thu (7pm): 6.09m [+590k]

Avg.: 6.38m [+480k]

TOP 10 OFFICIALS W/C 16TH MARCH:

Figures inc.HD and exc.+1.

Source: Barb

Sick of Masterchef popping up everywhere. What's the betting the Wednesday 7.30pm TBA turns out to be Masterchef too? Disappointed to see Mrs Brown's Boys popping up on Thursday and Friday. Is Car Share really too bad to go on Fridays at 9.30pm? If they leave it any longer, it's going to end up against Talent results.

Looks more like an August BBC One schedule than an April one.

Neighbours: The Stars Reunite consolidated to 1.33m and 119k on +1 at 10pm on Wednesday 18th March, up from 789k in the overnights.

But...why ? Why is it any more odd than a Tuesday? I don't follow.

ITV shows so little comedy (a shamefully low amount for a leading commercial network IMO) that you could argue they would look odd in just about any timeslot.

Putting them on a Tuesday would be giving them no chance whatsoever looking at their run of form in that slot. They just don't fire there for whatever reason, we know that. Comedy is a hard genre at the best of times, so don't make it even harder than it has to be when results are needed !

What did they show last year against BGT?

The only Comedy that would work is these who start off on niche channels.

Very good slot pity it's being wasted on Floplantis.

Easter tv is rather pants this year, I hope it's BBQ weather this weekend.

Exactly, I don't see how Tuesday is worse than Wednesday. Wednesday isn't great but then I don't know where would be. Monday I suppose but I can see why they are reluctant to give up their main drama slot.

Although I would point out that so far this year they've aired more comedy than most other networks, with Benidorm and Birds of A Feather already aired, the new comedy hour coming up. Plus Vicious is due back soon (I know it doesn't rate well but still). If you extend comedy to include comedy entertainment there's the new panel show Play To The Whistle and Off Their Rockers, so they are attempting stuff. The only stuff BBC1 has aired this year is Still Open All Hours and Count Arthur Strong and the latter was buried outside of primetime. HIGNFY is back soon but they aren't even pairing that with a new show this time either (more Mrs Brown repeats)!

As Steve keeps pointing out on Twitter ITV keep having the number 1 comedy show of the week at the moment with Off their Rockers in the top spot.

This kind of shows how few comedy shows are actually on TV thesedays. So far on BBC1 all we've had is Open All Hours and Count Arthur Strong and the latter wasn't in prime time.

Showing repeats in prime time isn't the best, but showing the same show in multiple slots in the same week is particularly bad.

With Mrs Brown as you say airing twice that week and New Tricks airing twice last week. At least vary the repeats and show different programmes.

Filling the Graham Norton slot with a Would I Lie to You repeat on Good Friday isn't great either.

Walking Dead finale night has arrived. I could see it posting its best overnight number of the series for this extended episode, perhaps denting Gotham further - I for one will watch TWD live and Gotham later on Demand 5.

I wonder if viewers will stick around for the spinoff show after?


That's a very valid point. Steve Williams' comedy chart a few weeks ago made grim reading, but it told a story or two about the state of the genre generally across the channels.

No excuses then if ITV don't clean up, right ?

Why didn't the BBC do a Open all Hours for Easter Sunday? This laziness by broadcasters is driving people to boxsets, DVDS and internet.

It's true.

I know broadcasters have limited budgets but think where you are putting repeats and filler. Over Bank Holidays is a no no in my view.

9pm battles w/c 13/03/15: BBC One v ITV
Monday: MasterChef v Code of a Killer
Tuesday: Ordinary Lies v Champions League (presumably the Madrid derby)
Wednesday: Secret Britain v Newzoids/Delivery Man
Thursday: BBC Election Debate/Mrs. Brown's Boys v Ice Rink on the Estate
Friday: Have I Got News For You/Mrs. Brown's Boys v Slow Train Through Africa with Griff Rhys Jones

We should be used to this by now - BBC One packs Quarter One and has a quiet Quarter Two whilst ITV generally does the reverse. Ice Rick on the Estate could really do with Torvil and Dean in the title to give it some gravitas, though. To be fair Newzoids/Delivery Man could have tougher opposition than they've been given.

By the way, this is the second week in a row where BBC One airs two Mrs. Brown's Boys repeats; next week it's airing at 9.30pm on Monday (after an hour long MasterChef) and 9.30pm on Friday, post Have I Got News For You.

IT'S TIME FOR A NEW SEASON ON THE DSRPG!

The Ark graces our screens on Monday but will it sink or swim? Could the Leaders' debate poll well? Will Michael McIntyre's Easter Outing be a post-Lent pick me up or heavier than a hundred Easter eggs being devoured by Vera?

Thunderbirds returns; how will it launch? Both Only Connect and The Voice UK reach their final stage but, unlike at Strangeways, there shouldn't be a riot. I can't be so sure about Italy v England, though. Breaking Dawn combines kissing and blood sucking but will it suck in the final figures? Eurovision makes an early appearance but will it be number one in the hit parade?

Whether you're a regular, a lapsed player or brand new to the game why not take part? Just left click HERE, hit 'Quote', delete the Quote marks and get predicting!

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Well The Arks certainly causing amusement.

No because the BBC know the repeats will still do really well, which is why they do it. When you are in front you can do this. Would they show Pointless repeats in peak season at teatime like they did last Oct/Nov if they were 1-2m behind. I think not.

Shocking, but the viewers will lap it up.

I wonder now Miranda (the other comedy repeat stalwart) has finished and had its very public finale, is this now done with no more repeats on BBC1?

They spent the budget on the script not the effects. You never even saw the flood! This was The Flood (the one that happened oop north): The existential version.

Very easy to see why it was pretty much tossed away in the schedule. Though given what else is on over Easter they could have run it there anyway as a sitcom. It was funnier than anything else that will be on once you got used to how seriously they (not the audience) were taking it.

I give The Ark a 4 out of 10 was a little slow and not much happened till the last 15 mins.

Even then there was more of a flood in our garden tonight than wherever this politically correct concoction was meant to be set.

Seems odd Still Open All Hours hasn't been re commissioned after a very successful series.

The most popular BBC sitcom is now 40 year old repeats of Dads Army and afternoon showing of classic 80s sitcoms .