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Will ITV bounce back like usual?

(August 2006)

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JE
Jez Founding member
amosc100 posted:
Jez posted:
I dont recall ITV showing an imported drama in the 9pm slot, not on ITV1 anyway (ITV2 had Supernatural, with a 11pm repeat on ITV1 later in the week).

There nothing to say shows such as Prison Break, Lost or Desperate Housewives wouldnt be a hit on ITV1. They would probabaly pull more viewers in than their airings on C4 or FIVE because more people tend to watch ITV1 than those channels


I can name 4 straight of...

Quincy MD
Magnum PI
The Equalizer (with Edward Woodward)

and all 3 had very good ratings for ITV

also don't forget ITV also showed...

Knight Rider
The A Team
Street Hawk
Hart To Hart
Crazy Like A Fox
The Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Battlestar Galactica (old series)

and all did very well during peak time schedule across the old ITV Network


Yes but I was talking about more recently, like the last few years.
AM
amosc100
Dunedin posted:
Dunedin posted:
To be honest, I don't think this is just another ratings blip for ITV- the simple reason is that it's caused a change in culture and programming in two key respects:

1. Event programming- they're going big on this more so than ever before, and are likely to accept the odd failure in order to find successful formats that can survive being stripped across the schedule for weeks on end.

For me this indicates a shift towards less variety on the channel.

2. This coming autumn, ITV1 will screen the US drama "Six Degrees" in a primetime slot. This is the new drama by JJ Abrams, the creator of "Lost". Given that fact, I imagine they've paid top dollar for this series, hence the fact they're showing on ITV1 and not one of the digital channels.

For me if this is a success (and it has every reason to be given the pedigree of the production team), this will be just the beginning of ITV buying in US programming for peak time broadcast on ITV1. I think this will probably make the channel more watchable to many people (including me), but it will further drift away from any public service remit that it barely fulfils today.


Sorry to quote myself and bring back this thread, but I thought it would be better than starting a new one.

MG is now reporting on this shift in strategy that I suggesting in the bold section above:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,1855866,00.html

This is fundamentally why I don't think ITV will just 'bounce back like usual'. Once Six Degrees is a success, it will open the floodgates for ITV to screen many more American dramas- absolutely fantastic news for people like me who literally watch nothing on ITV currently in any given week without Champions League football. BUT bad news for the UK production industry, and arguably for British TV.



another quote from Jay Kandola...
"If there's good US comedy and drama, it has a place on ITV1," she said at today's launch of the US series. "All people want is good TV... they don't give a stuff if it's a UK drama or a US drama ."
is to be honest - very scary - I've read that if needs be they will throw any US rubbish on to the screens due to cheapness as they don't seem to care what the viewer thinks and really wants. A good British production advertised well and in the correct time slot will bring in the viewers and much more revenue from advertisers than a US propduced show. ITV is not SKY!
AM
amosc100
Jez posted:
amosc100 posted:
Jez posted:
I dont recall ITV showing an imported drama in the 9pm slot, not on ITV1 anyway (ITV2 had Supernatural, with a 11pm repeat on ITV1 later in the week).

There nothing to say shows such as Prison Break, Lost or Desperate Housewives wouldnt be a hit on ITV1. They would probabaly pull more viewers in than their airings on C4 or FIVE because more people tend to watch ITV1 than those channels



I can name 3 straight of...

Quincy MD
Magnum PI
The Equalizer (with Edward Woodward)

and all 3 had very good ratings for ITV

also don't forget ITV also showed...

Knight Rider
The A Team
Street Hawk
Hart To Hart
Crazy Like A Fox
The Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Battlestar Galactica (old series)

and all did very well during peak time schedule across the old ITV Network


Yes but I was talking about more recently, like the last few years.


ahh that's because up to the Granada/Carlton merger race, and the eventual merger to the big 2, ITV did produce excellent programmes and made much money from overseas sales so there was no need to import programmes. But more recently the US networks have become very inventive with their drama's and are, to be brutally honest, better than most of what's on the ITV network.
CY
cylon6
In the 70's and early 80's American shows did well in primetime like Charlie's Angels, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kojak, Columbo, McCloud etc, but they don't do well in primetime anymore. Britain has become more parochial with their TV choices.

Strike It Lucky finally became a hit when it was scheduled against The Colbys, Noel's House Party slaughtered Baywatch. Even when Lost is faced with major competition it crumbles.

I think this will be an experiment that will fail, not because the shows are bad but because the tastes of the British public have changed.
BR
Brekkie
amosc100 posted:
another quote from Jay Kandola...
"If there's good US comedy and drama, it has a place on ITV1," she said at today's launch of the US series. "All people want is good TV... they don't give a stuff if it's a UK drama or a US drama ."


I'm sure it wasn't that long ago when ITV were praising themselves for concentrating on home grown drama and saying people did care!

I've no real problem with it, but think the 11pm slot is probably better for US drama, with primetime airings on the digital channels.

One of ITV's strengths I feel is it's primetime schedule is usual pretty much repeat free (apart from Morse, Frost etc.) and pretty much 100% British!


As someone pointed out it's the length of series which make the US versions value for money! ITV need to be looking for home grown series that can air on the network in extended runs - certainly alot more than one six episode run a year!

It's a strange anomoly of British TV that if it's not a daily soap or weekly serial, it's generally a series which airs for just a few weeks!
SE
Square Eyes Founding member
Brekkie Boy posted:
The thing with US programmes is that it's very rare for them to get ratings comparable to the hit homegrown dramas on BBC1 and ITV1.

While C4 and five might be happy with around 3m for Lost and CSI, it's not what ITV would call a hit!


It's not about the headline figures anymore though is it ? ITV could show Heartbeat or Where the Heart is every night and pick up 7-8m, but it's not the kind of viewer the advertiser is looking for.

ITV need to engage with the young and the affluent, and it's those who lap up US drama series in their droves. If this gets 3-4m of the right kind of viewers it's probably as valuable to ITV.
AN
Andrew Founding member
Square Eyes posted:
Brekkie Boy posted:
The thing with US programmes is that it's very rare for them to get ratings comparable to the hit homegrown dramas on BBC1 and ITV1.

While C4 and five might be happy with around 3m for Lost and CSI, it's not what ITV would call a hit!


It's not about the headline figures anymore though is it ? ITV could show Heartbeat or Where the Heart is every night and pick up 7-8m, but it's not the kind of viewer the advertiser is looking for.

ITV need to engage with the young and the affluent, and it's those who lap up US drama series in their droves. If this gets 3-4m of the right kind of viewers it's probably as valuable to ITV.

He's right you know, Visit DigitalSpy and read one of the many threads about ITV that pop up each day, and they are full of young people saying they never watch ITV and then reeling off a long list of programmes they DO watch, none of which are UK shows.

Obviously this is bad news for people who like UK shows, but people obviously like US shows as well
BR
Brekkie
Square Eyes posted:
Brekkie Boy posted:
The thing with US programmes is that it's very rare for them to get ratings comparable to the hit homegrown dramas on BBC1 and ITV1.

While C4 and five might be happy with around 3m for Lost and CSI, it's not what ITV would call a hit!


It's not about the headline figures anymore though is it ? ITV could show Heartbeat or Where the Heart is every night and pick up 7-8m, but it's not the kind of viewer the advertiser is looking for.

ITV need to engage with the young and the affluent, and it's those who lap up US drama series in their droves. If this gets 3-4m of the right kind of viewers it's probably as valuable to ITV.



Obviously a factor - it makes me laugh how sometimes the networks break down the ratings to make themselves look better, so we end up with a statistic of something like "Out of all the 16-34s watching ITV1 at the time, ITV1 had an audience of 100%"! Laughing
CH
chockabloke
ITV1 does appear to be offering some strong shows this Autumn. I'm looking forward to 'Housewife, 49' by Victoria Wood and Cracker. However, I'm wondering how many of their big shows are one-offs or two-parters? They really need strong six-part series to help them out of their ratings rut and although shows such as Prime Suspect are sure-fire rating bankers they may only offer brief success.
JE
Jez Founding member
Brekkie Boy posted:
amosc100 posted:
another quote from Jay Kandola...
"If there's good US comedy and drama, it has a place on ITV1," she said at today's launch of the US series. "All people want is good TV... they don't give a stuff if it's a UK drama or a US drama ."


I'm sure it wasn't that long ago when ITV were praising themselves for concentrating on home grown drama and saying people did care!

I've no real problem with it, but think the 11pm slot is probably better for US drama, with primetime airings on the digital channels.

One of ITV's strengths I feel is it's primetime schedule is usual pretty much repeat free (apart from Morse, Frost etc.) and pretty much 100% British!


As someone pointed out it's the length of series which make the US versions value for money! ITV need to be looking for home grown series that can air on the network in extended runs - certainly alot more than one six episode run a year!

It's a strange anomoly of British TV that if it's not a daily soap or weekly serial, it's generally a series which airs for just a few weeks!


As long as the programmes are of good quality I dont see that it matters whether its a 6 part or 26 part drama. If its good people will watch it. Sometimes its better to have shorter series as people wont get fed up of watching them half way through.
BR
Brekkie
Jez posted:
As long as the programmes are of good quality I dont see that it matters whether its a 6 part or 26 part drama. If its good people will watch it. Sometimes its better to have shorter series as people wont get fed up of watching them half way through.



Like Lost!


But on the other hand it's less risky (and less costly) to have a show running for 12 weeks than having one run for six then having to launch another show afterwords!

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