Is Paul O Grady's dog programme just dogs and nothing else? Diversity were shock winners of BGT for me. Should have been Susan Boyle. Hardly anybody is interested in Diversity's dancing, Ashley Banjo should just do more on his own.

Sherlock would most likely see off most competition anyway.

The premiere of The Dark Knight two years ago got a worse rating than the last Diversity special so I'm not sure why The Dark Knight Rises would improve matters.

ITV's Q1 weekend scheduling remains a mystery though. There's Ninja Warrior, Take Me Out, Dance Dance Dance, The Voice, Through The Keyhole, Saturday Night Takeaway and some sort of Sunday night drama (Endeavour?) all to fit in, but it's difficult to see how it all fits in.

No. As you say, she was only 12 when Eric died.

In both schedules it just has ITV as a one show network. Coronation Street and nothing else doing very well.

That aside trick also used by Ant and Dec. You also get Dec saying he will smash your face in which I'm sure either M&W or L&Large used to use.

I think the granddaddy of that look at the camera thing is Oliver Hardy; I hope BBC 2 has some Laurel and Hardy on this Xmas.

I presume that's what the POG show is, I can't imagine it'll stray from the usual format.

Diversity were better than SuBo on the night, hence why they won. Got to be one of the biggest ever shock results on any talent show though, but they deserved it. They've forged out a good career for themselves too, still around all these years later. Definitely a talent show success story. Ashley Banjo does stuff on his own too, he's judging Dance Dance Dance in January.

Agree that Sherlock will see off most things. I think it might be down slightly though after how bad the last episode was.

It does exactly what it says on the tin!

She never met them to NY knowledge. The title is designed to get viewers through the door. It's like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The one person they didn't meet in the film.
Eric Morecambe took the look to camera from Oliver Hardy. He mentioned that in a Parkinson interview.

"I'll smash your face in" was the catchphrase of Bernie Winters from the sibling comedy duo Mike And Bernie Winters fame.

BIB I never knew that.

Not seen an awful lot of Abbott and Costello in my time.

I know you thought ITV would only schedule rpt's on NYE, but do think they are wasting NWUK on this day? It seems daft, when in all likelyhood it'll be under 3m.

The Dark Knight looks like a better offering than another clip show to me personally. If it was a doc on M&W then it could do well. The Dark Knight did 2.9m in 2015. I think the M&W thing will be under that, but I am open to being proved wrong.

Not everyone likes Sherlock, so there must be an audience there who will watch an alternative.

In regards to ITV's weekeend, Take Me Out doesn't deserve a slot in the 8pm hour. I think ITV might go with:

Saturday:

7pm Ninja Warrior UK
8pm The Voice UK
9.30pm Through The Keyhole

Sunday:

7pm Dance, Dance, Dance
8pm Endeavour

But personally, like you I think they should be attempting to take advantage of the increase if viewers on Sunday and target the 7pm slot. Then Dancex3 can slot in on Saturday.

Late January
Ninja - Voice - Keyhole
Dance - Endeavour

Late February
Catchphrase - Takeaway - TMO
7pm LE show - Vera.

??

That's assuming LBS is wasted on a Wednesday and not preceding Vera, Dance is on at 6:30 and they run little v Sherlock. If they do go against Sherlock then maybe Vera first up before Endeavour.

Yes, your schedule has much more weight to it and could be a decent hit.

Thanks

I think on days like this, ITV should be lookking to get the jump on BBC1, hence the M&W doc starting at 6.30pm to grab the older viewers, towards Corrie at 8pm.

Though TDKR wouldn't fit with the older viewers watching Corrie, but might pull in a solid 3m-3.5m who don't watch Sherlock.

Sherlock surely appeals to a similar demo as Batman? They're ComicCon catnip. A best of M&W seems perfect against Sherlock and following Corrie.

Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Sherlock Holmes. You'd see those movies a lot in the afternoon, early evening and late night on BBC2. I miss those films. I miss the short comedies from Leon Errol and Edgar Kennedy too. Never on nowadays.

If one Abbott and Costello should be shown more regularly it's is definitely Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The definitive Universal horror monsters with Bud and Lou.

They probably didn't fancy starting Ninja Warrior on a Sunday then moving to Saturday. I don't think it'll do much worse there than it would against EastEnders. 7pm is relatively early so the total audience shouldn't be *too* low.

That schedule might well be what they go with. Take Me Out was filmed a few weeks ago though so will definitely be somewhere. I would also prefer The Voice on Sunday. Dance Dance Dance would be a weird fit there and if The Voice is on Saturday the scheduling gets complicated when Takeaway comes along.

I'd go with:

Jan-late Feb:
Sat: 19:00 - NWUK, 20:00 - Dance, 21:30 - Keyhole
Sun: 18:30 - The Voice, 20:00 - Vera/Endeavour

Late Feb - March:
Sat: 19:00 - Takeaway, 20:30 - Take Me Out, 21:45 - Keith & Paddy (or Play To The Whistle)
Sun: 19:00 - The Voice, 21:00 - Drama (Good Karma? Grantchester?)

I guess the other possibility is that Dance Dance Dance goes on a weeknight (Fridays at 9pm?) but that seems unlikely.

Older viewers love Mrs Brown's Boys too. They'll likely pick that over a clip show.

I assume Vera and Endeavour will fill Sundays during January and February. March I suspect will be The Good Karma Hospital although if they want to pair with The Durrells in April, they could put either Tina and Bobby or Little Boy Blue during March

You do know they already did Love Your Garden with Titchmarsh which rated okay, property shows have been on a decline and I think they would flop on ITV.

Not forgetting the great Harold Lloyd!

Yep and since it does okay maybe a spin off home show could do similar. I imagine it'd do better than Cops Chase Traffic Warden's Neighbours and it'd certainly be more credible.

A pair of glasses and a smile!

Well Im all for the effort, but we were also ran's before Brexit, we might as well be invisible now.

Exactly, Sherlock will be promoted all across Christmas as a massive TV event, and I bet it will be the front cover of the new year Radio Times, so whatever schedule ITV show will rate low and you are talking about a million either way. No amount of 'getting a jump on the BBC' will change this, as ITV give viewers an opt out point every 15 minutes.

Of course some in this thread will say that half the Sherlock viewers only tuned in as last resort due to nothing else being on rather than being fans of the show. If only they aired an episode of The Chase against it.