ITV Autumn Schedule

But we don't know what the autumn schedule will be yet!. All these programmes mentioned here will probably be shown on Saturdays. It isn't as if this is even an ITV press release saying that these are the best they are to offer. We don't know what they will show during the week or on Sundays or during the daytime!

You sound just like the Xroads fans of old.

SS at 5pm isn't going to happen but even if it did: Basically, a few months after pretty much all Carlton regions jumped forward a few months in the Shortland Street saga to be company networked, you now want them all to jump back four years?

And the point of that would be... :

The point would be those episodes are much better in both characters and storylines.

Neil the reason I want SS to go back to 1998/1999 is because storylines were so much better back then and all the good characters were in it (People like Caroline, Moira, Frank, Fergus etc) - the 2001 episodes are definately not as good, still enjoyable but most of the cast are new apart from 4 or 5 people and it just isnt the same so thats why I want them to go back. The show has also toned down a bit and there arnt as many gripping cliffhangers etc

And I havent said anything bad about SS - Ive just highlighted the fact that 2001 storylines onwards are generally considered to be not so good compaired to 1997-2000 storylines.

But from a viewer point:

Is it not going to confuse everybody if you suddenly jump back to 1997 episodes at some seemingly random point? Also, is it not going to confuse also if you have essentially two different unrelated episodes on a day, assuming 5pm was going ahead? If Carlton dropped SS from 2:30, it wouldn't have very much to fill that slot with I reckon

I think ITV1 should show The Bold and The Beautiful at 5pm, it would get a massive following, because its so tacky, easy to follow and only 18mins long so not a great demand on anyones time, and is really very good if you dont take it too seriously. Sunset Beach was very popular when it was on 5 as was Days Of Our Lives and B and B.

Maybe Bold and Beau at 5.05 and Shortland Street at 5.30

And im pleased to see the return of the corrie double bill it really made monday night tele very good. Should be a permanant feature. Either that or corrie should become a 45 min show, coz its not long enough at the moment!

Take it you didn't read the recent ITC report into the variety (or lack of it) in ITV1 prime-time then which criticised the network for its over-reliance on soaps in the 6-10:30pm time-zone.

I mean Mon night is just most likely going to be in the autumn:

7:00pm: Emmerdale (Soap)
7:30pm: Corrie (Soap)
8:00pm: The Bill (Soap wannabe)
8:30pm: Corrie (Soap)
9:00pm: Probably drama of some sort
10:00pm: News at When

Now that's not variety, I remember when it was more diversified. Often had quiz shows at 7 (Family Fortunes, Play Your Cards Right, etc) or 8 (Strike it Lucky/Rich, etc) or 8:30 (Take Your Pick), or Mr Bean, or maybe a movie or something.

Now its just soap, soap, soap. Only variety is in the names. To me its the cheap way out and shows a lack of imagination but they can only do it since the ITC has no teeth (and if its true what they say about OFCOM being an even lighter touch when it starts then God help us all when it's all Granada-owned).

No it won't as The Bill is on an hour and Tonight with Trevor McDonald is on at 8pm on Mondays. If you are going to have a go at ITV at least be accurate

Yes, anything COULD be scheduled, but the most likely outcome is yet more Trisha, Millionaire spinnoffs, Millionaire repeats, and You've Been Framed!.
ITV's problem is that it's so desperate for more £££, that it resorts to producing lowest common denominator stuff to attract viewers and therefore advertisers - however, innovation is needed, and because of a lack of it, the network is losing viewers.

I agree Carlton/ITV are never going to move SS to 5pm or go back to 1997 - I was just saying what I would personally like to see. I missed a lot of episode from 1999/2000 due to HTV skipping so many episodes and its on through a few videos that ive seen the major stuff. 2001 is just generally considered to be a weak point in the series by fans in NZ mainly because for the first 4 months 75% of the cast were written out and lots of new people came in and it took a while for everything to settle down.

I saw some eps of The Bold and The Beautiful on C5 and it is quite good - Sunset Beach was better though. They could do worst than show one of those at 5pm however ITV seem too keen on showing homegrown British quiz shows or docos and stuff like that so I doubt we will ever get any imported soaps on ITV1



Yes that would be good but I cant see it EVER happening on ITV - SS will probabaly remain at 2.30pm on Carlton assuming they keep the slot regional

Well if *I* was director of programming at ITV1, I would move Des and Mel to 5pm Monday to Friday. A really good live chat show would work well at that time, probably beating the socks off Richard and Judy, and would attract a very wide audience. A schedule like this would work:

9.25 - 10.30: Trisha
10.30 - 12.30: This Morning
12.30 - 1.00: News
No need to change these, they seem to work as they are
1.00 - 1.30: Gameshow, something like Supermarket Sweep or the things they used to show at 9.25
1.30 - 2.00: Regional magazine show like before, ie. Lunchtime Live
2.00 - 3.00: Drama, like Blue Heelers or Heartbeat
3.00 - 3.20: News
3.20 - 5.00: CITV
5.00 - 6.00: Des and Mel

It's not really a major change I'm suggesting, but there are no makeover or DIY shows. Dramas like Heartbeat and Blue Heelers tend to do pretty well. Regional programmes were always good, at least on Granada they were anyway. The 5-6pm slot could also be taken up by a CD:UK spinoff or something on a Friday.