Sunset Beach has indeed been axed, and will be replaced by a film at 10am as of next week.
It's a good series but has sadly not been able to attract as many viewers as it did from 1997-2000, when it sometimes peaked at well over a million, which for a daytime soap on what was then a channel that many people could not receive was excellent.
Sunset Beach has indeed been axed, and will be replaced by a film at 10am as of next week.
It's a good series but has sadly not been able to attract as many viewers as it did from 1997-2000, when it sometimes peaked at well over a million, which for a daytime soap on what was then a channel that many people could not receive was excellent.
Well as most people will have seen the series before between 1997-2000 then its hardly surprising figures were low as it was a repeat and not a "new" soap. But considering they have bought the first year you would think they would screen all the episodes they have. ITV2 did this, dropped Sunset Beach about 5-6 months in
ITV2 did this, dropped Sunset Beach about 5-6 months in
Because, just like with C5, it wasn't attracting enough viewers.
What else do they expect at 10am in the morning, they are never going to get a huge figures as they did for SB's final year when they showed it the first time around.
Well as most people will have seen the series before between 1997-2000 then its hardly surprising figures were low as it was a repeat and not a "new" soap. But considering they have bought the first year you would think they would screen all the episodes they have. ITV2 did this, dropped Sunset Beach about 5-6 months in
On ITV2 however, it did very well, and indeed even passed it's initial trial (ITV2 original only bought enough episodes for 12 weeks to see how it fared, and then bought the rest of the first year later on). However, when ITV2 'refocused' at the start of 2001 to become the waste of space that it is now Sunset Beach no longer fitted in to the channel's remit.
It was indeed axed with poor ratings as the excuse - but these poor ratings where forcibly obtained by moving it all over the schedule with no notice, and by frequently scheduling 2 or 3 episodes one after the other without any promotion of this fact, resulting in a lot of people struggling to find the programme. Until they started doing this, Sunset Beach was frequently one of the highest rated programmes on ITV2 (they used to publish their 'top ten' ratings on the website). I can't recall the exact figures, but I do remember that they were impressive when you consider that back then ITV2 was only available on DTT and NTL cable, and then only in England and Wales.
It doesn't surprise me that it's not getting the same ratings on C5 now as it did in the past, why it surprises C5 is beyond me. In it's day, it was the highest rated daytime programme on the channel, a soap in repeat run is never going to achieve that again.
Perhaps part of the mistake was to start again at the beginning. The mad pure escapism series which people know and love didn't really get underway until the second year. The first year is compartively pedestrian in it's style. Adding to that that quite a number of people will have seen the first 6 months on ITV2 a few years ago, perhaps starting from December 1997 would have been a better idea.
NOOOOO!
Ho can they axe SB, it is one of the best soaps on TV at the moment.
If some people say ths was the dull era then I'd love to see the crazy phase!
Im not surprised it got low ratings since they didn't bother to advertise it or show an omnibus, please please please bring it back five or at least show the remaining eps you have in a late night slot!!
If you haven't e-mailed them, please do! Heres a reminder of the e-mail address:
customerservices@five.tv
Im not surprised it got low ratings since they didn't bother to advertise it or show an omnibus, please please please bring it back five or at least show the remaining eps you have in a late night slot!!
Are you kidding?! The amount of times I saw it advertised! And I hardly ever watch Five!
However, when ITV2 'refocused' at the start of 2001 to become the waste of space that it is now
Somehow, I doubt that ITV considers ITV2 to be a "waste of space". It now frequently outrates Sky One, becoming the sixth most-watched channel in digital homes as it does so.
