ITV Discussion Thread

They only got 2-3m last time though despite putting in quite a bit of effort - Emmerdale or Corrie against the BBC's coverage would get 5-6m even on a bad day.

I do think though if not on ITV1 they should screen it on ITV4 - I've generally always preferred ITV's coverage of such events.



As for Pushing Daisies - is it actually any good? I've not heard much buzz about it, and let's face it, ITV are only considering a 9pm slot because none of it's own stuff works there.


Dexter on the other hand deserves a much more prominent slot -OK, 9pm wouldn't be appropriate but 10.35pm one night would be ideal, and better than after the Late News on a Friday. Yes, it's been on FX - but watched by less than 250,000 - and it's one of the most talked about new US shows in the last year.

And BBC2 didn't do too badly with Heroes at 9pm - and that had aired previously on Sci-Fi.

One of the most critically acclaimed shows of the new US season. That may be a reason [none of their own stuff working] but at least it's getting a great slot. Quality drama should not be shunted to a graveyard slot simply because it's American.



Yes, I agree. A 10.35pm slot would be perfect. It definitely deserves a wider audience.

I'm sure people will be recording programmes during the week and keeping them for the weekend..

Will Saturday Night Takeaway take the Primevil slot in Feb?

Duel only got 2.6 million yesterday!

Surely, ITV will axe it before this coming Saturday and replace it with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Or bring back The Vault!!!!

I hope not - it's a far better show than the ratings it's getting.


Dancing on Ice is the problem here - yes, it's working on Sundays but Sundays were doing fine for ITV before anyway. It's absence from Saturday night though has killed off ITV's Saturday night schedule.


If ITV had any sense first priority now would be Dancing on Ice back on Saturday nights. Duel then might be worth a try on the Sunday before resorting to the soaps - and perhaps move Harry Hill with it to boost the schedule a bit more..


So Saturday:

6.30 Dancing on Ice
8.00 Primeval
9.00 Dancing on Ice
9.30 Thank God You're Here


And Sunday:
6.00 Dancing on Ice: Make Me a Star
6.30 Harry Hill
7.00 Duel
8.00 Where the Royal Wild at Heartbeat Is

... to be honest though that might need Corrie as well for the extra support.


This schedule though really has gone wrong - and it's weak points have been exactly in the places we identified before hand. There isn't really a single change made where you can say it's been a good move.

I do feel sorry for ITV but in may ways they have been the architects of their own downfall.

Their obvious error has been scheduling NaT only four nights a week. On Fridays, when viewers tune in at 10pm and NaT is nowhere to be found who will they turn to? An easy way to lose newly gained viewers to the BBC.

Another calamity was the decision to begin the series of Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach on a Thursday then move it to Friday the next week. The casual viewer who may have watched MW/EB only to find it missing next week is not going to bother trailing through the TV listings to find where it has been shunted to. They will most likely forget about it and move on.

They have also commissioned to many 'safe' dramas which have fallen flat on their respective backsides and serve only as a terrible lead into NaT.

It's sink or swim time for ITV1, someone or something needs to hand them a life jacket.

I don't think anything in a post 9.30pm slot on Saturdays on ITV1 has scored highly in the last few years, even with Results on just before them

Al Murray followed Dancing on Ice results this time last year and didn't perform well

That is poor for a Saturday night. Actually thats poor for any night. It seems ITV is trying new things in their schedules throughout the week but very little is getting the required ratings. I doubt many of the new series will be recommisioned for further series.

Someone over on DS said The Royal Today has been recommisioned but then thats daytime so it wouldnt need a particularly high audience like the peak time shows.

The other problem is some people who aren't TV will have no idea where their programme has gone, or may not be available to watch it on a Sunday. I've spoken to a few people this week who completely forgot Dancing on Ice is on tonight because ITV has changed the routine.

TV bosses get into the blinkered mode of assuming that we're all avidly watching the TV schedules to find out when our favourite programme is on, or assume that we're going to get as excited about a new programme as they are (a mistake which I fear will do for STV's new 5.30 show).

In reality people have got lives to lead and 99% have about four or five programmes that they watch avidly. Beyond that it has to be scheduled correctly, or they'll completely miss it.

Well it's had a few weeks, and I think they've suffered from too many new programmes too soon. The programmes aren't individually bad (apart from The Palace), but the scheduling is.

Moving Wallpaper is a post watershed comedy, but it's linked with a daytime soap. They should revert back to the original plan, with MW on ITV1 and EB to ITV2 straight after.

Trial & Retribution is the strongest weekday programme in the line up, but two part stories should be shown over successive nights, as proven by the BBC. Otherwise you stand to lose a lot of your audience a week between a two part story.

Thank God You're Here should be in the Sunday night slot, the Spitting Image / Hale & Pace / News Knight type slot.

Saturday has become weak, and didn't need to be, so DOI should return. Duel seems to be a reasonable format, but should perhaps swap with Millionaire on a Tuesday. It would have been preferable to bring back Poker Face. The 30 minute DOI show should be a review show, not a preview show and go out in the old Emmerdale Sunday slot.

Corrie should go back to Sunday for the good of the schedule, although I do like the idea of a soap free weekend. Emmerdale stays hour long on Tuesday, as that does appear to have had some success. Kingdom goes to Thursday where the schedule is less crowded.

I think there may need to be some swallowed pride and and whilst I'm not a fan of fantasy schedules something like this would be a whole lot better IMO.

Sat

17:30 All New You've Been Framed
18:00 Dancing On Ice
19:30 Primeval
20:30 Dancing On Ice : The Skate Off
21:00 Who Want's To Be A Millionaire ?
22:00 Al Murray's Happy Hour

Sun

19:00 Dancing On Ice : Make Me A Star
19:30 Coronation Street
20:00 Wild at Heart
21:00 Trial & Retribution (Part 1)
22:00 Thank God You're Here

Mon

21:00 Trial & Retribution (Part 2)

Tues

20:00 Duel

Wed

unchanged

Thurs

21:00 Kingdom

Fri

20:30 Harry Hills TV Burp
21:00 Moving Wallpaper
21:30 something else ? Airline (EB on ITV2)
22:00 News at Ten

The Palace would have to go after 22:35 sometime. I expected it to be more worthy, but it's about as trashy as Footballers Wives.

I think the problem is though that is isn't! It either needed to be a brilliantly scripted drama - or a trashy guilty pleasure, but it just floats somewhere in between in obscure mediocrity.

With Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach being 30 mins long, I suppose they could air at 10.35 on 2 different nights. Move The Palace to Fridays and stick on a drama repeat on a Monday

I'm not sure Duel on Tuesday would work as nothing does well in that slot opposite Holby City. I wonder, will it return as a 2nd series for the 5pm slot, obviously with lower prize money?