ITV - Is enough being done?

They made a fundamental error with Tycoon. The first episode should have all been about the applicants and their pitches to Peter Jones, a bit like the X-Factor auditions. They'd obviously gone to a lot of trouble to film them with Jones and his gimmicky egg timer, but we didn't see this last week.

They failed to show any of this in the first programme, and so the viewer had no real idea why the decision to go for this final 6 had been reached. It seemed like they were back tracking a bit tonight.

The one thing missing form ITV apart form GOOD gameshows is a programme like

First Tuesday
World in Action

that's what we need:

Can't see Tycoon lasting the full six weeks - it'll be dumped to 11pm sooner rather than later.


They are beginning to learn (once again) that ITV need to concentrate on what they are good at, not at what other channels are good at - i.e. the big Saturday night formats and 9pm dramas.

You know, if this comment wasn't completely true it would come across as utterly unbelievable.

The idea that ITV have lost their way so much that they have to "learn" the trade they themselves introduced to this country is such a ludicrous notion.

I was shocked myself I have to say at the Tycoon showing of the silly entrants in tonight's programme. If this is their idea of quality television they should just give up now. Brain-dead sections like that have no place in what is supposedly a more up-market reality show, and one that I otherwise would quite enjoy.

ITV pull any more tricks like that and Jones would be well-advised to pull an Alan Smithee on this one, if it wasn't already too late.

They really haven't a clue have they?

Are they any good at 9pm dramas any more though?

90% of them are either very old formats (nothing wrong with that, but where's the innovation?), or tired formulaic ideas with washed-up soap stars in the lead role. And hardly any of them last more than 4 weeks, denying the company any head of steam for their more expensive productions.

ITV are *good* at only one thing that I can put my finger on that isn't relying on an old programme franchise, and that is the Saturday night vote-off chavathons like X-Factor and Dancing On Ice. In all other areas they are weaker than the competition. It's really quite sad actually given what they were once capable of.

i agree, all the successful, water cooler 9pm drama series of the last five years - Spooks, Hustle, Life on Mars, Hotel Babylon - have been on BBC1. Where ITV once had Cold Feet, London's Burning, McCallum, they now have Blue Murder and Doc Martin.

Tycoon with 1.9m (9% share) viewers last night.

The show has been pulled from its Tuesday slot (unsurprisingly) and rescheduled. It's being reduced to a 30 minute show and will now go out at 10pm every Monday from July 9th. Tough Gig has also been pulled.

Next Tuesday they'll be showing a 90 minute drama instead (they haven't decided what that will be yet) and Tycoon is replacing 24 Hours With... which has also been struggling. They plan to air the rest of that show but haven't decided when. Tough Gig has been pulled and no word on whether it will return - apparently it was the worst performing show for ITV in peak time since 2001.

More here: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadcastnowarticle.aspx?intStoryID=169753

And soaps of course

ITV1 is good at the Sunday night 20:00 slot too. Whether you enjoy the likes of Heartbeat , they do still draw in the punters.

I agree we need more programmes like World In Action for balance. I think a decent quiz show wouldn't go amiss, rather than a copy-cat show (yes Golden Balls ). I think they to find something better to put on between 14:00-16:00 rather than lazy repeats during the weekdays.

Blue Murder is now listed in RadioTimes as a replacement for Tycoon and Tough Gig next Tuesday.

Ah yes, but Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Heartbeat are all examples of the very old programme franchises I was talking about.

Yes ITV have their share of successes, but I'm hard pushed to think of any new, non-C2DE programmes they've produced over the last few years that have been successful over a sustained period. That's where the money is and that's where ITV are failing.

Ooh, and it's a good episode - I remember that one. I like Blue Murder - I suspect it will do significantly better than Tycoon anyway.

Very disappointed they have pulled Tycoon - I was enjoying and it was only on for another 4 weeks. Id rather watch that than Big Brother anyday

The problem is when they find a sucessful programme they milk it for all its worth - which is why we get 6 X Emmerdale a week, 5 x Corrie a week, 2 hours of The Bill, Heartbeat/The Royal on most Sundays during the year etc.