Ash101 post_id=49849 time= user_id=936 Wrote:Agree, but it also feels like the imbalance is because ITV have zero clue what to schedule up against SCD?
Last year they had their hand forced as they delayed the later stages of BGT & The Voice, so it fed them nicely from the early part of Autumn right up to IAC starting. The year before was BGT Champions and the 2 X Factor series. It really does feel like they just need to take a punt and move a non-Gameshow series to Autumn for next year. The Voice would 100% be my preference & I think the audition stages will hold up pretty well. Could Game of Talents work? I know it's kind of a gameshow, but it is variety based?
Oh yeah it's that too. I think Covid meant that the Spring/Summer had more of an imbalance but agree that the Autumn is down to a fear of SCD.
Of course as others have highlighted this becomes less of an issue in 2022/23. The World Cup in 2022 fills Saturdays at the end of the year and presumably forces I'm a Celeb back a bit. Then in 2023 the Rugby World Cup runs through September & October with Saturday night games.
So my guess is they won't move anything to Autumn (Sept/Oct) next year because it would have to be a one year only move before the rugby. So it'll probably be gameshows again or a one off (another go at BGT Champions?). I guess if Ant & Dec's Limitless Win does well they could turn a second series of that around for Sept/Oct. It's still a gameshow but potentially a 'bigger' one than the ones they've had this year.
Game of Talents' ratings weren't great in the Spring and I'm not entirely sure it'll get another series at all, let alone in the Autumn against Strictly where I doubt it would do any better than what they've currently got.
I've long thought they should go the family movie route and use the limited ad allowance in primetime to their advantage to air movies ad free. It's trickier now Strictly dominates 7-9pm rather than out of the way by 8pm, or even 7.30pm, and would need a fairly solid schedule before and after that which would naturally take the ad load, but at least offer an alternative.
Having had 15 years of complaints on The X Factor dominating Saturday night at the expense of traditional game shows I think it's unfair now to complain about too much about them, but it is fair to say they need something else in there as well. Take Me Out was a show which was a perfect antidote to Strictly and would attract a different audience, and I think Ninja Warrior would as well (not sure it's ever aired against it though). Then again maybe on paper The Cube is too, but that has wide family appeal too and that audience is over on BBC1.
Ultimately though if they are waving a white flag they need to be strong before it and after it. I think Celebrity Catchphrase does do well for them, and of the celebrity gameshows it is the only one I really watch with any regularity. I like Beat the Chasers too but I don't think it's strong enough to pull audiences away from BBC1 post-Strictly, especially when it's half way through and Bradley is on BBC1 as well.
Ah yes - the sport of the next 2 years does seem a good enough reason for ITV to have just muddled through this Autumn's schedule. The selection of shows will be different by 2024 & maybe they'll have something in place for the old X Factor slot by then - maybe even X itself...
Agree movies would've been a good option to just put something up against SCD. They could've then scheduled at the 9pm junction alongside SCD finishing, instead of running on the half hour. Arguably the current Saturday night line up is full of filler because they could have run Beat the Chasers and/or The Cube across a week like the have before. (Although realistically this series of The Cube wasn't made for that as it's not million pounds, so maybe Sundays once Family Fortunes finishes could've worked? The old-Schofe slot for 5 Gold Rings).
Of course - we're talking about this like it's a major issue but ITV does dominate Saturday nights basically all year apart from SCD's time, with a very very strong Q1 & Q2 where you now have a conveyor belt of shows flowing on after another.
Movies do terribly on TV these days outside of the Christmas period. It's not a solution.
The only films that seem to rate reasonably well whenever they're shown these days are the Harry Potter films, and no doubt there would have been groans aplenty if those had been used on Saturday nights this Autumn. Although I do wonder if they might have been better off doing just that, with Beat the Chasers used as a stripped week instead and The Cube aired over the Summer (could have had The Void & The Cube on Saturdays with Millionaire in the Sunday 8pm slot they used for Potter over the Summer).
I've never had any complaints about The X Factor squeezing out traditional gameshows in the Autumn. Nothing wrong with those gameshows but in this day and age they should clearly form part of a night, rather than being scheduled across the whole night or as a main event.
ITV probably don't see it as a major issue because of their dominance elsewhere in the year, but it's quite striking because for such a long period it was their best part of the year on Saturday nights (even until around 2017 XF season was probably the highest rating Saturday schedule ITV would have all year). And we know Autumn is an important time for ad revenue. It sticks out because C4 (Bake Off) and BBC1 (Strictly) both have their biggest entertainment shows on just now and it feels like ITV are out of the race. Still, it won't be for long with I'm a Celeb round the corner. I guess one advantage of the weaker Saturday schedule is that IAC can take a more central slot for its Saturday episodes.
Not sure whether the final is on the Friday or Sunday this year but begin I'm a Celeb a day early and ensure it runs through the final weekend and you've got it covering 4 Saturdays rather than 2, and can be stretched to 90 minutes+, rather than 60 minutes after 9.30pm as it was for many years.
I think the problem ITV will always have head to head with Strictly is that most formats that bring in the numbers need to attract that older audience. They can try capturing that younger audience with something targetted at them, and they might do well in the demos, but if they don't capture the older audience the ratings won't look great and the show will be deemed a flop, even if it is doing the job it's designed too.
The reality is there is probably little they can do until Strictly begins to do damage to itself.
Before The X Factor, and you could include Pop Idol and Popstars as well, Saturday nights on ITV was mainly shows coming to a natural end anyway; Blind Date, A Moment Of Truth, Family Fortunes, Don't Try This At Home.
It's sad that apart from TXF the last thing to put a dent in Strictly was TV Burp over a decade ago.
Any challenge needs to have an edge and make ballroom dancing seem old hat. If it's films then avoid the obvious that people have seen before.
Looks like Beat the Chasers tonight is still a repeat from series 1 (according to the EPG).
So it's anyone's guess where the last episode now ends up?
eyeTV post_id=50114 time= user_id=1517 Wrote:Looks like Beat the Chasers tonight is still a repeat from series 1 (according to the EPG).
It was. Surprised they didn't cut the bit where Brad tells the viewer to "join us tomorrow" :?
CameronYoung post_id=50177 time= user_id=1509 Wrote:eyeTV post_id=50114 time= user_id=1517 Wrote:Looks like Beat the Chasers tonight is still a repeat from series 1 (according to the EPG).
It was. Surprised they didn't cut the bit where Brad tells the viewer to "join us tomorrow" :?
They also very lazily edited out the old competition (by going to a break unnaturally early) and placed the current one at a different point in the show
It's amazing how badly such things are edited - you'd think it would just be the norm to make a version with and a version without.
CameronYoung post_id=50177 time= user_id=1509 Wrote:eyeTV post_id=50114 time= user_id=1517 Wrote:Looks like Beat the Chasers tonight is still a repeat from series 1 (according to the EPG).
It was. Surprised they didn't cut the bit where Brad tells the viewer to "join us tomorrow" :?
I thought that as well. Or the announcer could have at least mentioned there was no episode tomorrow over the credits. But went straight to promoting the next programme as usual.
I wonder how Walk the Line will do - it’s clearly targeted at younger audiences who are harder to attract to new shows. I can’t see it even getting a great sampling by older audiences as presenting and judging lineup is not greatly attractive to a lot of thar demographic.
Newshound47 post_id=50319 time= user_id=1854 Wrote:I wonder how Walk the Line will do - it’s clearly targeted at younger audiences who are harder to attract to new shows. I can’t see it even getting a great sampling by older audiences as presenting and judging lineup is not greatly attractive to a lot of thar demographic.
Yeh Craig David, Mabel & Simon Cowell. I'm not sure that is right at all.
It will be stripped across a week so I guess that is a lower risk strategy. But I'm not sure who it appeals to.