Well at least with Tipping Point you actually need a bit of intelligence to answer the questions. Deal or No Deal really is just opening boxes with no skill involved at all other than pretending you're psychic and you can see what's in the box. How it lasted 10 years is beyond me.

$50m in 1985 would be like $150m today, only Superman the Movie had cost more before then. I find it dated but enjoyable but there are much better Christmas films out there.

Tomorrow's Emmerdale looks like one to watch.

I had no idea Davina did a chat show. Shocking that that didn't work.
I also had no idea Walsh could sing till I saw his LP advert. That's what made me think of it though I'd forgotten about the Nightly Show.

Just because Davina flopped a decade ago should not put them off trying again. I'm assuming her show was little like Des's.
A rating of 3m for ITV, especially on a Tuesday, would be pretty good.

It's all moot if Nightly Show sticks, yes. Well, I say that but Walsh (or someone) could go after the silver viewers whereas Nightly I would expect to be much edgier.
It would also be targeting an older audiences than Norton does and could be a nice fit for BBC1.

Oldest and wisest showbusiness advice in the world ... always leave them wanting more! It's a sad state we've got into that we're constantly demanding another series as if that was the only thing that mattered. Consequently more and more things are being written to sustain the next series rather than telling the story properly in the current one. Having resisted this temptation the writers and producers of Humans should have been content with a highly successful one and done.

Given that the Christmas stock has been on the shop shelves since September and all the major Christmas ads were launched mid-November, I'd hardly call a week 'well before' any more, if ever!

Greatest Ever Christmas Ads on Channel 5 right now is great fun. You can't whack a bit of TV nostalgia especially when it's old television commercials.

Cheers for the tip. It's On Demand so I've just downloaded it.

You do?

The quiz element to Tipping Point doesn't do it for me at all because the questions tend to be ridiculously easy.

And the rest of the "format" does nothing for me whatsoever either. Crushingly dull television. Indeed if I had to watch an hour of that every day I think I'd lose my love of TV quite quickly actually!

Why have I never seen any of the recent "epic" Christmas adverts? Never seen the original John Lewis advert, never seen any of the recent Sainsbury's adverts. Either I don't watch any commercial television at Christmas time or I'm an expert at channel-hopping during the commercial breaks.

The early questions are very easy, the later ones are normal quiz standard though.

I used to love DOND but they started to introduce gimmicks which put me off.

I personally like Tipping Point although judging from the Tipping Point thread, the questions can't be that easy since some of the contestants tend to give really stupid answers 😄

When you look back on last year ITV Christmas schedule, you do notice how much this year has improved. Yes the Harry Potter marathon is a bit much for anyone who doesn't like it, but they are popular films.

Last year this Tuesday, ITV showed a rpt of Midsomer Murders. This year its two new factual series at 8pm and 9pm. On Wednesday last year it was Jekyll & Hyde at 8pm with Prey at 9pm. This year at 8pm is This Time Next Year and In Plain Sight.

On Christmas Eve in 2015 was:

1.45pm Film : Small Soldiers (1998)
3.50pm Film : National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
5.40pm All Star Mr & Mrs (Repeat)
6.45pm ITV Evening News
7.00pm Emmerdale
8.00pm Coronation Street
8.30pm The Abba Christmas Party
9.45pm Through the Christmas Keyhole
10.45pm ITV News

This year:

1.30pm Film : Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
4.20pm Film : 101 Dalmatians (1961)
6.00pm Regional News, Weather
6.15pm ITV News, Weather
6.30pm Blankety Blank
7.30pm Coronation Street
8.00pm Birds of Feather
9.00pm Grantchester Christmas Special
10.30pm Through the Keyhole

and so on.

There is a massive improvement from ast year. From daytime schedules last year with flop quizzes and overreapted films, to this with some newer titles and classic Disney

Christmas Eve in particuarly is a massive step up. The rpt of ASM&M at 5.40pm is really poor. Last year I watched nothing on ITV on that day. This year I could quite happily sit and watch from from 1.30pm to 10.30pm.

The first chance I got I downloaded it so that tells me why I don't know some of the adverts!

Didn't we lose the big Xmas adverts in the 90s and see only basic ads advertising products rather than the retailer? I feel that Boots and Woolies were the only ones left doing Xmas adverts and all you seemed to be getting was the 'look at how cheap our x and y is' advert.
Then someone like John Lewis brought the whole thing back.

One notable exception to this idea being Coca Cola.

I agree, they've made a lot more effort. Their Christmas Eve this year is very good, Christmas Day good, Boxing Day okay.

But after that it's just soaps and Harry Potter for the week which I find disappointing.

Well I agree, but I suppose something's got to give. They made more of an effort on the three main days which is preferable than the dead zone in between.

They have scheduled Pompeii with Michael Buerk at 10.45pm next Thursday, where they could have shown it at 9pm.

It's strange because the Eve's are very strong. H of De Vil's already posted the Christmas Eve schedule; the New Year's Eve schedule is:

17.00 World of Sport: Wrestling
19.00 Ninja Warrior UK
20.00 Take Me Out
21.00 Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part II

After Peter Pan Goes Wrong, BBC One has clearly put in minimal effort, maybe thinking the audience won't be there:

18.20 Peter Pan Goes Wrong
19.25 News and Weather
19.45 Pointless
20.35 Casualty
21.25 Lottery Draws
21.35 Mrs. Brown's Boys (Repeat)
22.05 News and Weather

The channel of course then takes off with Graham Norton and Robbie Rocks Big Ben which will pull in the viewers.

ITV has turned up on New Year's day as well, though BBC One is also putting in a massive effort then too:

19.00 EastEnders
20.00 Still Open All Hours
20.30 Sherlock
22.00 Mrs. Brown's Boys

against...

19.00 Diversity Presents Steal the Show
20.00 Coronation Street
20.30 Morecambe and Wise's Funniest Moments

But Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is a pretty poor showing from ITV; BBC One looks far better.

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It's Christmas Time which means the most important time of the year has arrived for... well, at least one of you, possibly... as the Christmas DSRPG schedule has been published!

So can you beat the bookies and predict which show will top Christmas Day? And how about the build up - which show will win the run up to to the big one itself?

Simply click HERE, delete the quote marks and get predicting!

Best of luck and thank you to everyone who takes part.

New to 2017 ITV:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnDcHUzQHec

Dancex3 actually looks impressive from those clips.

Blankety Blank:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyGvENSqR2U

I caught the end of the new to 2017 drama trailer with The Good Karma Hospital, Little Boy Blue and Fearless but it's not online yet

Well that's sent me chuckling to my bed. Ever thought of doing stand-up?

One thing I will say is that ITV are really trying with their LE offerings next year, The Voice is obviously a big acquisition and they seem to have given it a bit of revamp in those clips. Suprisingly Little Big Shots and Dance x 3 both look potential hits too and obviously haven't been done on a shoestring like Stepping Out.

I did think Blankety Blank looked rather ropey from those clips though if it is a pilot for a full series.

Is that a repeat of the old BBC series?

True.

And the Only Fools special was poor that year.

I agree with all of that and also thought Blankety Blank looked like a pokey set and then I remembered what someone said on here... It's Blankety Blank and it should look a bit cheap.
All of the shows should be successes but should and will.....

Meanwhile I have stumbled on to Carry on Camping. Ah Christmas.

I recently discovered the 1986 OFAH full episode on a VHS tape. Having watched the cut version on Gold the original is far far funnier. I know John Sullivan wasn't happy but thought it wasn't bad. Strange though watching OFAH without the usual studio audience...