Channel 4

RE: Duncanville, I recall a tweet that said the overnight rating for the first episode was 550k. Not bad, not great; it was on after Friday Night Dinner, which I think was over 2m at the time.

It was probably poor ratings that caused Duncanville to be pulled after episode five. I would say they should've just put the rest of the series on E4 or All4, but there must've been some contractual thing requiring a C4 showing first; that's probably why the sixth and final episode of 2017 sketch show Britain Today Tonight has never been made available on All4, despite the fact they could've put it on there to compensate for a planned C4 showing that was pulled, as I believe it would've been inappropriate to air given current affairs (that right now I can't recall) at the time of its intended airdate.




That was Maxxx, and it was pulled after one episode. IIRC the excuse was that during these unusual times they didn't feel it was appropriate or timely to premiere a new series... though I think this was to cover up the fact the first episode flopped (under 200k after 7-days I think, with a lead-in from new Brooklyn Nine-Nine around double that). It's probably just convenient they were able to pass its rescheduling under the guise of content rationing, which is why we haven't seen s2 of Dead Pixels as we should've this spring.

I think Dead Pixels is getting an airing in the US on the CW too.

Maxxx is now part of the C4 Autumn schedule, so has arguably been promoted as a result - though TBH they could have got away with airing it on E4 as scheduled then rerunning it on C4 a few months later. Surprised C4 have never (to my knowledge) aired Chewing Gum on the main channel either, especially as Michaela Coels' star is on the rise.

Junior Bake Off appears to be coming back despite C4 previously saying they'd have to axe it as they couldn't justify the cost in daytime when their post Covid budget. I've got a feeling they'll air it in primetime instead of daytime as the ratings were good at 5 and will only be better at 8. Prue won't be coming back because they can't quarantine the kids like they can with the regular series contestants.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/12208188/bake-off-prue-leith-junior-version-coronavirus/

There was a very random pilot on last night at 8pm called It Pays To Behave which I didn't see any sort of promotion for. An amazingly low energy sort of game show hosted by Rylan where 2 parents have to get their annoying teenagers to behave in order to win cash. Very much feels like another Covid slot filler, the boy mentioned Brexit had just been delayed again so it's been on the shelf for some time.

They got a daytime run and an E4 primetime rerun out of Junior Bake Off so you'd think it would pay for itself and could easily run weekly in primetime or stripped across three weeks again if needs be. Indeed had Bake Off not been able to get filming to air in the autumn I'd expected Junior Bake Off to find itself getting a primetime C4 rerun anyway.

Would be interesting to move the judge over from The Professionals.

I saw a bit of that, it was awful! Channel 4 aired a very similar programme called Britain's Best Parent? only a month or so ago, I wonder if this was the original concept.

I don’t think this would work - the Professionals as a brand is much harsher on the judging side, and as such those judges are set up to be less approachable and friendly. Cherish would probably be the obvious one to move across, but I just think the persona that’s been set up for her is completely at odds with the regular Bake-off brand - let alone the lighter Junior edition. Liam is different as he fulfils a different role in each show, and is still providing a friendly face across both. I can see them going for a previous contestant like they did with Nadia and later Liam.

I always found it a shame they didn’t move Sam and Mark over when Junior Bake-off went to Channel 4. They were very good on the CBBC incarnation and more suited than Harry Hill IMO.

I could see Nadia getting the job but Cherish might be interesting as it would be interesting to see a lighter side to her.

Exactly - that is why I think it would be interesting. I think the juxtaposition would actually work well. We've seen it on other shows such as Junior Masterchef in the US bringing out a different side to Gordon Ramsey.

Maybe Channel 4 are worried Cherish would make the children cry.

Didn't see it, but you raise a good point it could've been the pilot for BBP. Either way, it flopped abysmally (below half a million), actually rating lower than the Jamie Oliver repeats and Celebrity Snoop Dogs that had aired in that slot during the previous weeks (and they also didn't rate that well). On a tangential note, I doubt BBP will be coming back either, as that also fared poorly in viewership

Minor update: not heard from Channel 4 in regards to Duncanville... what’s the point in sending email (yet they advertised it on one of their ads a while back), I get to use twitter for possibly quicker response but email is just the same... so I guess I can now write off Channel 4 for queries just as much as I did MTV... yet it wasn’t even a complaint 🙄

All you'd get is a comment saying it isn't currently scheduled anyway. To be fair though to the 4Viewers account on Twitter they usually respond quite quickly to reasonable enquiries, even if the comment doesn't provide you with the info you're after.