Because it was second from last of the 5 main broadcasters last night, even resoundly beaten by Five, and only scraped past a BBC2 art programme.
There is only so long a broadcaster can tolerate those audience figures in a 9pm slot, especially when the slot average is 4.5m, Tycoon got 1.9m.
Given that ITV have this millstone around their necks whereby advertisers can reduce the proportion of their spend in the event that the audience shrinks, commercial pressures dictate. It means they can't take as many risks and be as creative as much as they might want to.
Even the BBC aren't adverse to pulling under performing shows, as they proved with Castaway and Play it Again this year.
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.
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.
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.
I am still surprise Heartbeat is on, is it in the 70s now?
:-(
A former member
harshy posted:
Jez posted:
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.
I am still surprise Heartbeat is on, is it in the 70s now?
its been stuck in 1969 for about 10 years it like the Simpson's
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.
I am still surprise Heartbeat is on, is it in the 70s now?
its been stuck in 1969 for about 10 years it like the Simpson's
It did actually go into 1970 for one series (about 4 or 5 years ago , or even sooner) but then went back into the 1960's afterwards!!!!!
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.
Chavthons The X Factor is very well produced, actually.
ITV has a raft of 'event television' under its belt which guarantees high audiences: The X Factor, Saturday Night Takeaway, I'm a Celebrity... etc. It also has the ratings bankers: Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Heartbeat and The Bill.
I would still like ITV1 to put News and Drama back into the heart of its output. Soap needs to be given a back seat - okay, it won't decrease but it shouldn't
increase
any more.
9pm
Where it is now lacking is in 9pm drama - ITV was known for its drama but it's been really thin on the ground lately. Not since the Jane Austen season has anything half decent been shown, I don't think. This Echo Beach / Moving Wallpaper looks promising - it is made by Kudos - but it's not due till 2008. Primeval is the same. I suppose we just have to wait for the Summer to end because they really can't be arsed, it would seem.
I would commission slightly longer series (10-12 episodes) after shorter pilots, a little like the Americans do things, but also keep the one off dramas going as well on Sundays - they perform well. It would all be part of a push of quality 9pm programming.
News
Regarding the News, I honestly think if they really sorted it out, they could have the News at Ten make a 'triumphant' return as a solid rival to the BBC News at 10 O'Clock. If the 9pm show is good enough and winning the ratings, and the news is trailed in the last advert, the ratings would hold up against BBC News I think. I would probably ditch the ad break between the end of the 9pm show and the News inititally, if not full time.
ITV's reputation would be improved by this new-found commitment to News - provided the quality of the actual bulletins was sky high as well. If the news was severely overhauled to be more high brow and straight-to-the-point, the reputation could be revived over time. As part of the News overhaul, Tonight with Trevor McDonald would overhaul its image too and be more serious rather than sensational and tabloid.
10.30pm post-News slot
With the 10.30pm news gone, there would be one less thing to worry about (half an hour programming for 10pm). This way, all effort can be ploughed into the 9pm stuff. Let's face it the 10pm slot on ITV1 has flopped big style - nothing has worked.
I'd put the big ITV film archives to good use and put out a movie most nights at 10.30pm. Themed weeks could be introduced - and not just 'Bond' either! We could have 'Feel good' week, or 'Box office breaker' weeks, etc. Just imaginative things and film lovers would appreciate it. As well as this, they would more often than not hold up in the slot I reckon.
Overall, my strategy for ITV would be to prioritise the most important things: drama and news, and to play to strengths - with drama. It would be to work on 9pm overall - producing decent, hour long shows for every night of the week. I'd keep doing the same things in terms of soaps, and the present hits, but build on this by focussing on 9pm.
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.
I am still surprise Heartbeat is on, is it in the 70s now?
its been stuck in 1969 for about 10 years it like the Simpson's
Yep, it had the moon-landing as a central part to the plot a couple of weeks ago! About three series ago, a paper showed the date as being XX February 1969. Plus all tax-discs on cars show Dec '69
It's a little ridiculous since they have a Christmas special every other series, an event that only happens once a year of course!
The X Factor is very well produced, actually.
