Was very surprised to see it on a main channels too. To me it's too deep for midweek on C4.

Been seduced by the US ratings I guess. I'm not sensing any buzz for it at all over here.

But if the plan is to keep it at 9pm for the first 4 episodes only, then I suppose that takes a lot of the pressure off given Four's ratings have fallen off a cliff at 10pm in the past few years to the point that even 800,000 a week would be perfectly acceptable.

There seems to be no social media movement though so I'll be surprised if it even gets 700k!

That's a bit lower than I thought. Wonder if Ball And Boe will fare better on Friday. I suspect they have more of an overlap with the Corrie audience that Robbie. I know my mum, who watches the soaps (and is in her 70s) will watch B&B but was not remotely interested in watching Robbie.




I know this is a ratings thread but people need to remember that the BBC are not supposed to be chasing ratings all the time. They have PSB obligations.

They have also been a bit under pressure from the government not to compete hard all the time with ITV. I think a much less competitive Monday has been a kind of pay-off for BBC1 moving Poldark into the Autumn and creating a Sunday night ratings battle with Victoria on ITV. Also BBC1 has had drama on Wednesdays this Autumn. That's how it used to be back in the days of the 9 o'clock news. The 9.30 slot was:

Monday: Panorama
Tuesday: Drama
Wednesday: Documentary
Thursday: Comedy (and Crimewatch once a month)
Friday: Drama

So only two weekday post watershed slots given over to drama. Just like this Autumn.

Yeah, it's scary quiet for This Is Us on social media. Doesn't automatically mean it's going to bomb of course, but you'd expect a little more comment ordinarily about a big new US show starting on one of the main channels.

Should the BBC be about competing though? Obviously they shouldn't just give in to all the other channels, but 'ratings battles' shouldn't even really be a thing.

The BBC should be creating programs that commercial networks can't take the risk of commissioning. This is done pretty well already, but it could be done a lot better.

I waited for the final 5 mins to see a boost and I was right. Boost in tweets there after the twist and ALL positive. Really hope it does well here but I'm not too sure.

It's trending #2 now.

BBC can't fricking win then, can they? If they devote themselves purely to high risk, low audience projects as you seem to be suggesting then everybody asks what they're paying the licence fee for. If they make popular programmes which challenge ITV ratings they're somehow betraying the PBS ideal. On the whole it seems to me the reality is that they're doing an impossible job extraordinarily well.

I really enjoyed This is us it was quite heart warming.

It gets better too. The intertwining plots and characters are all so relatable.

Talk about putting words in somebody's mouth! Why are you holding me to account for comments made by OTHER PEOPLE?

On a different note, I tried This Is Us, but didn't really 'get' it. I might have to watch it again.

Did you watch it to the end? You needed to do that to get it.

Unusual to launch a multi episode drama so close to Christmas. Caught me out!!

BBC 1 always seemed more about entertaining and really was very much like ITV. If anything the gap has widened as itv has gone younger.

The main difference to the last century to me seems to be that BBC 2 is less educational and informative now. I might be wrong but it seems that BBC2 has moved it's more 'cultured' programmes to BBC 4.

RayT will know better but my memory's eye pictures ballet, opera and documentaries on BBC 2 on Saturdays.


EDIT

Having looked at Saturday's shed - BBC2 does have plenty of documentary on it so maybe it's just mis-perception.

Obviously done so that you could watch the Thanksgiving episode in February whilst it's still wintry enough to pretend it's November if you put all your imagination into it rather than April! Let's just say that I have decided not to be dependent upon the whims of C4 scheduling with this particular show!

When ITV launched in 1955 and the BBC's ratings tumbled they had a meeting. Bill Cotton, the greatest Head Of Light Entertainment they ever had, said there was nothing wrong with being popular. The BBC have always had popular high rating shows alongside their PSB programming. Saying the BBC shouldn't be involved in ratings battles is a nonsense argument that has picked up steam in recent years. Saturday is always a battle. Swap Shop v TISWAS, Grandstand v World Of Sport, Noel's House Party v Blind Date. Choice isn't just putting some dull factual opposite a drama on ITV to give it a free ride. What about Miranda & Mrs Brown's Boys opposite Lewis or The Night Manager opposite Doctor Thorne? If anything it improves all channels when you get hits, as channels try harder to compete against them.

It's also very hard to create programmes other channels won't do. You could say they did that when they commissioned Bake Off.

Did Jack Whitehall present The Royal Variety last year? I'm pretty sure he did because it had its lowest rating ever. Perhaps that's why David Walliams is back hosting it.

Poor choice last year.

I think it is. I believe BBC4 has added to the sum total of cultural/educational output rather than poached from BBC2. On the equivalent Tuesday of 1996, for example, BBC2 offered ..


... arguably more fluff than tonight's BBC2 offerings!

And what ridiculous reason are you going to suggest when it's still lower this year as I suspect it will be?

Let's hope you are not as rude away from a computer as you are on here. The way you speak to people on here is wearing thin.

Oh, I'm sorry! I keep forgetting that the serfs aren't allowed to question their masters no matter what bollocks they're talking it being 1216 and all. Oh, wait, silly me. Got the numbers mixed up. 2016! Who'd have thought it?

Strictly has been going well this series, it has been lost amongst all the Bake Off/Planet Earth 2/I'm A Celebrity talk. Can the final top last year though?

I am not arguing against BBC1, or even BBC2, making populist programmes. I believe that whilst the BBC is funded by a universal licence fee then it has a duty to appeal to as many people as possible and they can increase their reach by making populist fare for BBC1.

But some people on this thread keep moaning because BBC1 hasn't made any effort to storm the ratings on Mondays this Autumn. But the BBC don't need to chase ratings ALL the time.

In fact, they shouldn't be chasing ratings AT ALL. They concentrate on making the best possible programmes they can and if they do that high ratings will be a natural by-product for some genres. Equally, there are programmes like last night's documentary on Mark Duggan that are not going to get big ratings however good the programme may be. But the BBC shouldn't be criticized for making those programmes or scheduling them on primetime BBC1.

^ On a similar note I think C5 should have been bolder and scheduled Slum Britain at 9PM where I think it was originally. There's a slot free on Thursday they could have used.

A very important PSB piece and deserved the biggest audience possible. Sod the ratings for one night.

Some ITV trailers:

The Halycon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gThhAxO3ZFs
Les Dawson Forever:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_otWercDlw