Well using my model, X Factor would move on the Saturday too.
An 6.45 on a Sunday is closer to the Saturday start time; this could help ratings by avoiding timeslot, and hence viewer, confusion.
Good idea, no?

How long does a dance last?
One of the better things about TXF this year is that they've been willing to show two or minutes of one song. In the past you often got 30 seconds.

Not really, no. The X Factor should not be on before 20:00 on a Sunday and a 10min overlap on Saturdays isn't any big deal. Start 3mins late and you know many will turn over before the phone numbers bit on SCD.

In an ideal world, I agree. But then where does the 9pm drama go? Moving Celebrity Chase to start XF early will have less of an impact on the schedule than moving, say, Victoria.
Also, going far beyond 9pm on a Sunday night may risk losing the family audience to bedtimes - unless it's a final. Ideally Sunday shows should be 8-9 period, as it's lose-lose whichever way you choose to schedule a longer episode.

Move Vicky to 21:30. I'm not sure it'd hurt it much, if at all, and she'd get them all back after 7 days.

If it does help Poldark, so what, it's an ITV programme and is trending south. The XF rating matters more than Vicky's now that she's already claimed the crown.

The BBC isn't shifting SCD. They pad it out as much as they can for this very reason.

YBF always has a programme sponsor who presumably meet the miniscule cost of making the programme with perhaps a little bit left over for ITV coffers. It also fills up vast hours of air-time on ITV2.

Cold Feet had its best episode tonight I thought. To answer the earlier question, I think Cold Feet will be up slightly to 5.2m from last week.

Its interesting isn't it. Pre-2014 Corrie used to give solid leads in to 9pm dramas, often of 8m+ at this time of year on a Monday. Now its hovering just over 6m even on a Monday.

Kate Oates really needs to sort out Corrie (if she does at all) or it'll trundle on, continuing to lose viewers, and it will never recover. I already think its past the point of no return now. Especially seeing as all soaps have dropped due to bad patches and knock on effect to each other.

I think Channels 4, 5 and Sky might have something to say if BBC1 and ITV started collaborating to draw up mutually beneficial schedules.

That is somewhat disappointing for XF last night. I know Bootcamp is a tricky episode but it was enjoyable enough. The early start really dragged it down and it court viewers out, which surprises me to be honest that fans of the show never know when its on and just presume it's 8pm. Hopefully it can bounce back next weekend for 6 Chair Challenge.


Crikey! That's good going. Expect that to be 1.0m+ in the officials. Question is, can it hold all those viewers?!


Yes Cold Feet is excellent isn't it. Didn't think I would be this in to it. I'm hoping it can bounce back tonight. I reckon 5.5m is possible.

Agree about Corrie. 6m on a Monday in September is totally unacceptable. The only good storyline for me is Todd vs Phelan. I'm hoping they can turn that into something really good. But she's only done about a month on the soap (well, that's hit our screens anyway), and an instant turnaround was never going to happen. The question is how can she bring back what made it brilliant in the first place. It's no easy job that's for sure. Corrie should be at least be at 7m on a Monday night now.

Not that they moaned when the BBC used to finish Strictly by 8pm and ITV tended to start The X Factor not before 8pm. Though of course, in the early days, the two shows used to clash head to head.

I just saw the schedules for the last week in September and BBC1 is looking the worst I can ever remember, just one drama from mom-fri and no new comedy, crime watch,ambulance, our girl, the truth about..., and a terry Wogan tribute, all in the 9pm slots. I'm a supporter of BBC, but with this as offerings I can see why people aren't.

The BBC always crams everything in in Q1. Then the rest of the year if often thread bear.

But the BBC had some excellent years in 2012, 2013 and 2014 with some strong schedules in A/W. Now its reveresed and ITv is in a stronger (potentially) position.

They'll have drama on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Also ITV have started trailing HIM (3x60 drama).

I think it's unrealistic to expect the soaps to claw back many viewers. With the additional episode of Corrie upcoming you will be asking people to recommit to spending six hours of their week watching the show. That's a big ask. I don't think it's particularly realistic. Big ratings will be reserved for special events and outstanding storylines.

I don't quite know what ITV were thinking adding an extra episode to Corrie. They should be going in the opposite direction ideally!

Him will probably replace DCI Banks on Wednesdays, Victoria will finish on the 9th October but I reckon that will replace by Tutamkahmen. There's a two week slot after Cold Feet finishes before I'm a Celebrity starts which I reckon they'll use for Dark Angel

ITV have a maximum of 40 minutes of commercial advertising allowance between 6pm and 11pm. This is why they will have at least 1 hour most days during this time period where ad breaks only have program trailers in. Usually this will be during the lowest rating program or the news bullitins. When something like X-Factor is airing for 2hours or longer that will suck up all the commercial air time, leaving no insentive to put a decent rating program on at 6pm-7pm, hence they put You've Been Framed and the like in there.

Except that they are all broadcast/performing/talent-spotting professionals.

Alesha Dixon won Strictly, she could dance, she came across well on TV, but she was clueless when it came to judging.

The viewers won't penalise them for this and a weak line up with end up rating just as well as a major drama, like we see on Saturdays with Pointless and MBB repeats.

Looks like the Apprentice is starting a week earlier - October 1 - 7 as it appears in Radio Times next week section

Also starting that week Who Do You Think You Are?

But she's okay judging a juggler or dancer on BGT? Cowell knows his street dancing? Piers Morgan was a good judge of comedians? Well actually.....

Just because Dixon was not great on SCD does not mean this year's Bake Off winner won't be a good judge on GBBO. He or she might be a natural on the show. They certainly will offer new insights and will know more than most people.

As one of three judges, I'm sure they have a chance to be good. If Danni Minogue can judge singing ....

I guess what comes across as being entertaining is what is judged. But I doubt that they are judging on the finer, more technical aspects of what they are seeing.


Of course, but the precedent is not encouraging (even if "being a natural" does not mean that they will be any good at judging to a competent level, or even a level which is deemed acceptable to the viewer).

And, getting back to this thread, lets face it - BGT and XF are all about cashing in on someone's perceived "talent" and getting the maximum media exposure possible which will lead the bigger ratings. I would suggest that using those programmes as a yardstick by which to measure GBBO is rather suspect.

Thank you. That's a stupid system for the very reason you've laid out.

Also, 40 minutes isn't a lot. That's eight minutes an hour or two minutes a break. Would not it be better to increase the allowance to 60 minutes but insist on no one hour having more than say, 14 minutes?

They could even not be a judge; they could be a mentor or analyst. They could talk to the host explaining what the contestants are thinking, why they're panicking, what is hard about this task, how they felt when such and such happened.

They could talk to contestants offering limited advice or just chatting to pick up little TV moments. Especially if thre is only one new host.

There's lot of possibilities. The chances are they would only last one season unless they're really good. It would make it feel more like GBBO to the casual eye and they could do a lot of media publicity.

People buy DVDs of celebrities doing work out exercises just because they know the face.

Maybe next year they shouldn't wait a year and half between series, bound to be bad for a show. That's what killed Survivors a few years ago, there was such a big gap no one cared when it returned and I bet there is a bit of that with Poldark

Except that C4 stated that the programme would not change, that it would be the same programme. What you suggest would indicate a fairly big change in the programme, both its look and feel as well as its thrust.

Paul Hollywood, if he is there, is not known for his cake-making skills. So it would e a big change for him to judge alone.

Nor sure if I'm allowed to post this but I thought this might be of interest to some of you:

http://m.gsmarena.com/deal_amazon_fi...blog-20597.php