I doubt Everton v Crystal Palace on Friday Night Football was a big draw. Ryder Cup may have taken some viewers but I doubt it would have been that high.

The primary thing that the new producer has done since he took over is announce an endless list of character axings / exits.

Which all gives a decidedly negative vibe to the show.
Maybe its time he started selling the show in a slightly more positive way, concentrate on what he's bringing to the show rather than what he's taking away from it.



I do think the soaps are increasingly chasing after the same audience these days - and with so many hours of soap being produced (and set to increase), I think its likely that overnights will fluctuate as the soap audience migrate to whichever soap is currently grabbing their attention more.

...people being paid at month end and therefore not at home for the evening?

No it probably wasn't smart and they really should have swapped around the Level with Paranoid since one is clearly the better drama.

However, this might be the start of establishing dramas on Fridays and let's not forget its rating was shaved by being on preview. Sky had it as the pick of the day on Wednesday. Reaction to it has been positive so let's see how it consolidates and builds.

A crime drama is good counter programming to HIGNFY and ITV should bring back its old tradition of detectives on Fridays at 9.

As for EE, I'd like to see if Countrywise did well. Soaps are drugs, once people break the habit they often stay sober.

I hope the Ryder Cup did well last night. I watched nothing else.

FNF should have topped 600k. Around 1m between them probably.

Victoria is a success.
Cold Feet increased its consolidated rating and seems to be a 7m show.
XF is no longer declining and has positive feedback.
Too early to tell on The Level.
Nothing else positive.

They need Meet the Parents to hit 3m and, crucially, to be well received.

As for BBC1:

GBBO still over performs amazingly but we know what's happening,
SCD still is scoring great marks,
Poldark has not done as well as expected but still fine,
Our Girl won't be renewed probably,
That's probably it.

Really it's about new rather than returning shows and ITV has had some success. Their key three light entertainment shows are all coming next year though (Voice, Dance, Little Big Shots). If they can score 4,5,6m respectively then hopefully that will inspire the BBC to find 'new' successes.

The supporting programes on BBC1 give the impression it hasn't had a bad Autumn despite dramas being lower. BBC News holds up the evening either end (6pm and 10pm), CF and AR perform whatever happens. The News is the biggest benefit to BBC1 that ITV fail at. ITV can't even rely on the news to bolster their evenings if the 8pm, 9pm programmes ate low.

BBC1 can even get 4m+ for a comedy rpt. 3.4m for a derided Lottery Quiz against TXF. ITV have Go For It getting sub 2m against SCD.

I do feel though, the Lygo will re-engegise ITV's schedule (bar an extra ep of Corrie), and next Autumn will be stronger.

I think, "Our Girl" will be re commissioned if Michelle wants to do it, very positive comments, and many people saying from Episode 2 very gripping very modern day. Yes SCD doing will, Judge Rinders dance has seven million views on YouTube, he is likely to be near the end in the overlap tonight.

Disagree on XF should be doing better, the press is nearly all negative, the forums here, ( that should be pro XF) have increasing negativity, and the fixing claims continue, and the contestants going through were leaked online a while back. XF has arrested its decline so far, that's it, it's still rating very poorly for such an expensive show and little " event TV" feeling. Tabloids are out for XF and tonight's clash from 8 pm will give the tabloids ammunition to shoot it down tonight.

It would have been better to have Newszoids on at 8 pm, and avoid the clash with XF starting at 8.30 to cover overruns on SCD.

Disappointing that both main channels have not really got going until this week, in October, and a bit of A lacklustre September on both.

EE is underperforming, the storylines quite quiet at this time, some big exits coming up but being hurt by stories on everyday issues and not the big storylines.

The Level has issues in feeling very much a clone of Cuffs, Brighton, Police etc, and potential viewers out off, wrong night for it, it will be lost on Friday.

The supposed negativity towards X Factor is all in your imagination. It's all been recieved fairly well. The tabloids might criticise it, but rely on it for views/clicks. Your suggestion it's rating "very poorly" is simply ludicrous, it's doing absolutely fine. If X Factor is supposedly doing poorly, then so is SCD surely?

XF is holding steady despite the press attacks. That's a good sign. The press will decrease their attacks if the show is shown to have turned around. That's what they do, they follow what they believe the public want to read. The Mail won't because, irony of ironies, its readership is more BBC than ITV. Mail readers are SCD/GBBO types rather than XF or the Apprentice types. I'm generalising I know.

BBC1 is still the king channel for the reasons HDV said, its support programming wins - especially the news. It also rules daytime but that probably isn't surprising since ITV skews younger.

ITV has always been the 'younger' channel. It's the Sun whereas BBC1 is the Mail. BBC2 is the Times, C4 the Guardian and 5 is the Express.

The reason ITV isn't ruling anymore is partly because it lost its way and partly because you don't have to watch adverts anymore. I'm pretty sure Netflix and Sky and Facebook hurt ITV far more than the BBC.

Everything is changing (the licence fee is doomed) and this article shows how even Disney isn't safe:

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/es...st-year-080416

Totally safe in its current format for the next 11 years at least

I think there's a chance Our Girl may be recommissioned, it's audience has actually grown from week 2 onwards and 4 million, although not great, isn't awful. It should have gotten much more in the post bake-off slot however.

Have you got a figure for Graham Norton Ray? It was the series opener.

It will fit better on BBC Two at 22:00 if they move Newsnight to 23:00, Younger audience is up later anyway.

Sorry, I don't. Have you got a figure for Question Time Rick?

Except it's not a show just for young people. It's certainly not something BBC Three would make either. That slot would ruin any chance of success.

According to A.D.P. the decision rests with Our 'chelle.

Yeah I know. I'd be amazed if it survives after that. I actually think the BBC would do really well with a subscription service but Lord only knows what technology and habits will be like in 2026.

Not that it matters for years.

Poor start for Level. Next week, HIGNFY will probably get around the same figure as the Terry Wogan tribute, with Still Game getting a lot less, so ITV can't blame tough competition if it drops. I think viewers are just bored of those types of dramas.

I've checked the Ratings Thread store cupboard, but I can't find the missing EastEnders cliffhangers.

What are we expecting for Strictly and what the meerkats call "telebox programme X Factors" tonight?

I think having so many similar dramas (mostly on ITV) at once probably didn't help The Level. The trailers all looked the same. ITV's next few dramas (Him, Tutankhamun and Dark Angel) look a bit different but I can only see Dark Angel really rating.

As for tonight, X Factor has dipped going into judges houses in the past couple of years and the Strictly clash will only make matters worse. Strictly should be relatively steady, it grew in week 2 in 2014 but was level last year and this year did start higher. The clash shouldn't dent it as much as it'll dent X Factor as it will already have been on for 90 minutes.

I'll go 8.5m for Strictly and 6.5m for X Factor.

That's exactly what I've predicted for next Saturday on the Ratings Prediction Game. Sounds reasonable for tonight, too.

Has it really? 2015 doesn't count because of the stupid format.
In 2014, there was a Friday show which was never going to do well - and the Sunday show got 8.8m, a strong number and hold compared to 8.97m the week before. No notable dip there.

Yes it has, for the Saturday shows at least. I know 2015 had the live format but viewers wouldn't have known it was bad unless they watched the Saturday show first.

You've conveniently ignored the Saturday show in 2014 which got 7.32m, a dip from the 7.85m it got for the 6 Chair Challenge the previous week. That looks like a fair dip to me. The Sunday show was down too, albeit not by much. Tomorrow will be down a fair bit on last Sunday I imagine because of the Strictly clash.

Pointless - 3.3m
SCD - 8.8m
Lotto - 3.8m
Casualty - 4.4m
Go For It - 2.2m
XF - 6.6m
Newszoids - 2.5m
Ross - 2.2m

The Saturday show had a 20-minute Strictly clash and then the Sunday show was hit by bad word-of-mouth. And the fact that literally the first half-hour of it was a recap!


And you've conveniently ignored that 500k is still within the range of natural week-on-week fluctuation. Not necessarily a result of the format, could have been weather, who knows?
And no, a drop of 0.17m isn't worth mentioning at all. And yes, of course it will be down this week but due to the clash not the format.