BR
Plenty of speculation about what ITV might be up to, but of course C4 has already announced an overhaul of the schedules for the first half of 2008, with Celebrity Big Brother being hijacked by E4 to clear the schedules.
Of course though even if C4 is doing what people say it should be doing, that inevitably means less people will be watching. The interesting thing is whether the lost viewers will follow Big Brother over to E4 or not?
And it's not only 9pm's ratings that will be affected - Celebrity Big Brother had been used to build an audience for it's 10pm shows in the last couple of years, so it's possible ratings for shows like Shameless (which after record ratings last year has an extended 16-part fifth series) and Desperate Housewives may be hit too.
Anyhow, the key points:
Celebrity Big Brother moves to E4 and is revamped as Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. This means with the exception of "First Look" showings of series like Shameless, E4 is screening BB every night from 9pm to 6am. Don't worry though - still time for Friends at 8pm.
Also on E4, interestingly BB: Hijack isn't airing live coverage in the mornings - but rather than keeping E4 Music they're screening repeat runs of US series instead.
ER moves from E4 to More4, airing Thursdays at 10pm. C4 will screen it on Saturdays at 8pm.
Desperate Housewives isn't scheduled to return in the first couple of weeks of January but will probably follow later in the month. Due to the WGA Strike, most US imports will probably only be half the length of regular series unless it's resolved shortly - and hence the second half of Ugly Betty can be forgotten too. Talk shows though are getting back on air, so The Daily Show will be back on More4.
As mentioned, Shameless is back for a 16-week run - and having watched my series 4 DVD over Christmas, I can't wait. I do think though they'd have been better off splitting it into two parts and airing eight episodes in the autumn.
On to what's on at 9pm:
C4's Big Food Fight dominates the first couple of weeks, with Hugh's Chicken Run (Mon-Wed 9pm), Jamie's Fowl Dinners (Fri 9pm) and Eat to Save Your Life (Wed 16 10pm), a two-part Dispatches specia (Thu 9pm)l and Gordon's Cookalong Live (Fri 18 9pm).
Grand Designs - the only returning 9pm series, begins on Wed 16th Jan. No info yet on if Grand Designs: Trade Secrets will return to More4. Relocation, Relocation also returns at 8pm.
City of Vice (Mon 14 9pm) - a new five part historical drama set in Georgian London, telling the story of the Fielding Brothers and the creation of the modern police force. Certainly sounds like the sort of drama C4 should be doing - but will be lucky to get much more than 1.5m viewers.
plus...
The Convention Crasher (from Thu 17 10pm) - Justin Lee Collins crashes conventions
Only thing to add really is the death of "4 Learning" has been greatly exaggerated. It returns on Mon 14 Jan with reruns of "TV is Dead?" and "Get Me the Producer".
Obviously C4's food season means there's only really one new show being established at 9pm in early January - but the problem is whatever you think C4 should be showing, you can't deny nothing gets talked about on anywhere near the level of Celebrity Big Brother.
I guess though you could look at it as a win-win situation for C4. If there new shows at 9pm do well - great, but if not they've got more justification for bringing back Celebrity Big Brother and it's ratings this time next year.
Similarly for Celebrity Hijack on E4 - the move to "digital" means nobody really is quite sure what ratings it should be getting. If it flops, it probably doesn't really matter - but if it succeeds does that mean in the future they should stick with Hijack on E4, or is it a message to say the full Celebrity Big Brother should return?
P.S. Also now 4oD is opening up it's archives for free - and for good!
Of course though even if C4 is doing what people say it should be doing, that inevitably means less people will be watching. The interesting thing is whether the lost viewers will follow Big Brother over to E4 or not?
And it's not only 9pm's ratings that will be affected - Celebrity Big Brother had been used to build an audience for it's 10pm shows in the last couple of years, so it's possible ratings for shows like Shameless (which after record ratings last year has an extended 16-part fifth series) and Desperate Housewives may be hit too.
Anyhow, the key points:
Celebrity Big Brother moves to E4 and is revamped as Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. This means with the exception of "First Look" showings of series like Shameless, E4 is screening BB every night from 9pm to 6am. Don't worry though - still time for Friends at 8pm.
Also on E4, interestingly BB: Hijack isn't airing live coverage in the mornings - but rather than keeping E4 Music they're screening repeat runs of US series instead.
ER moves from E4 to More4, airing Thursdays at 10pm. C4 will screen it on Saturdays at 8pm.
Desperate Housewives isn't scheduled to return in the first couple of weeks of January but will probably follow later in the month. Due to the WGA Strike, most US imports will probably only be half the length of regular series unless it's resolved shortly - and hence the second half of Ugly Betty can be forgotten too. Talk shows though are getting back on air, so The Daily Show will be back on More4.
As mentioned, Shameless is back for a 16-week run - and having watched my series 4 DVD over Christmas, I can't wait. I do think though they'd have been better off splitting it into two parts and airing eight episodes in the autumn.
On to what's on at 9pm:
C4's Big Food Fight dominates the first couple of weeks, with Hugh's Chicken Run (Mon-Wed 9pm), Jamie's Fowl Dinners (Fri 9pm) and Eat to Save Your Life (Wed 16 10pm), a two-part Dispatches specia (Thu 9pm)l and Gordon's Cookalong Live (Fri 18 9pm).
Grand Designs - the only returning 9pm series, begins on Wed 16th Jan. No info yet on if Grand Designs: Trade Secrets will return to More4. Relocation, Relocation also returns at 8pm.
City of Vice (Mon 14 9pm) - a new five part historical drama set in Georgian London, telling the story of the Fielding Brothers and the creation of the modern police force. Certainly sounds like the sort of drama C4 should be doing - but will be lucky to get much more than 1.5m viewers.
plus...
The Convention Crasher (from Thu 17 10pm) - Justin Lee Collins crashes conventions
Only thing to add really is the death of "4 Learning" has been greatly exaggerated. It returns on Mon 14 Jan with reruns of "TV is Dead?" and "Get Me the Producer".
Obviously C4's food season means there's only really one new show being established at 9pm in early January - but the problem is whatever you think C4 should be showing, you can't deny nothing gets talked about on anywhere near the level of Celebrity Big Brother.
I guess though you could look at it as a win-win situation for C4. If there new shows at 9pm do well - great, but if not they've got more justification for bringing back Celebrity Big Brother and it's ratings this time next year.
Similarly for Celebrity Hijack on E4 - the move to "digital" means nobody really is quite sure what ratings it should be getting. If it flops, it probably doesn't really matter - but if it succeeds does that mean in the future they should stick with Hijack on E4, or is it a message to say the full Celebrity Big Brother should return?
P.S. Also now 4oD is opening up it's archives for free - and for good!