Strategy for ITV1 - TV Programmes

James J · 09-11-2009, 13:38

Strategy:

Emmerdale loses an episode and is stripped across the week at 7pm.

Coronation Street loses an episode and returns to its fixed 7.30pm slot on Mon, Wed, Fri and Sun
* In the ~20 football weeks, Corrie makes up the episode on Sunday, either in an hour-long episode or a special extra episode at 9pm. These can be tied to big storylines and written as events.
* To help, occasional extra episodes can be added perhaps at 8.30pm on a Monday - storylines permitting!

The 8pm slot in the schedule is cleared out for the whole week

The Bill takes up a better position on Tuesdays at 9pm, hopefully inheriting some of the Holby audience

Concept of hourly blocks: 7pm soap, 8pm entertainment/drama, 9pm drama/docs.

There is a lot of flexibility in this schedule and scope for interesting things. For instance ITV could screen a new high-octane entertainment format at 8pm in the week, or big money quiz shows in this slot. Revival of Opportunity Knocks?

I'd also like to see more pre-9pm drama across the schedule - ITV would do well to find its own Grey's Anatomy for the 8pm slot 20 weeks in the year, as the BBC has done with Waterloo Road - 5m an episode.

Let's see some creativity in drama. Perhaps a sci-fi drama akin to FlashForward, or a new fire fighting drama done better than Steel River Blues.

What about a rom-com a la Cold Feet, or a non-linear format?

Perhaps a pilot-week, with 5 new dramas/sitcoms stripped across the 8pm slot in the week. ITV need more long-running series of at least 12 episodes each after a successful pilot. We need a quicker turnaround.

More event/reality TV for the 8pm slot, Apprentice-esque formats, some airing weekly for a month or two, with some perhaps stripped across a week or two.

9pm can be the home of mature, heavy drama and journey documentaries such as Martin Clunes: A Man and his Dogs etc. And of course it's the ITV News at Ten to round off the night.

Overall, ITV needs more variety. I think that in cutting the soaps down just 1 episode they are being risky, but if they fill the slots with as much new talent and life as it can, as much diversity in genre and style as it can, it is sure to find some lasting hits.

They need to nurture what they have and give their crown jewels good slots - but they also need to find some new jewels for their crown.

James J · 09-11-2009, 21:54

Any thoughts?

edEx · 09-11-2009, 22:00

Agree with cutting down the amounts of soap, which will hopefully improve the quality. Not too sure about more reality TV though.

Also I with they'd...

Reject anything pitched to them with the words "Star" or "Celebrity" in the title.

Make game shows something to aspire to again. None of this Cube rubbish. Let's have something that requires a skill of some sort, maybe like The Krypton Factor but with bigger prizes.

Much more variety in drama definitely. How many murder investigations are necessary to fill the drama quota?

performingmonk · 09-11-2009, 22:17

As ideal as this sounds, please don't forget the words 'budget' and 'advertising revenue' when considering things like 'high-octane' 8pm entertainment shows. Eastenders and other hit mid-week BBC shows like WR and Holby all have guaranteed audience up against anything ITV could place in that slot. This is the unfortunate truth. ITV needs to make cheaper shows mid-week and have as much soap as possible to survive. This secures the 9pm dramas and big entertainment shows (Talent, X Factor, I'm A Celeb)

PJMillar · 10-11-2009, 16:40

I quite like your ideas, especially with soaps and entertainment, but I think ITV would be best employing this weekly tactic, which involves splitting entertainment within the week.

Main changes:-
*ITV to have more public service responsibilities again, re-introduction of regional companies, funded by the government. Remember, the Conservatives want PSB shared between as many platforms as possible. What regional ITV gave was a unique identity that viewers could relate with, and a platform for original productions. Both of these factors has led to ITV's overall downfall.
*ITV to buy ITN and use it as a production company to aid its regional news services as well as its national/international news coverage. ITN has much better reputation than ITV, so the ITN name would be revived for all bulletins on ITV. ITN would continue to provide news for Channel 4. Also, a news channel with website feed, simply named 'ITN', to be re-created. ITN to return to broadsheet in style rhetoric.
*ITV to split a lot of its productions across regional companies.
*To fund this, cancel ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4, and incorporate its content onto the new ITV channel

For the first thirteen weeks of 2011 [this would be how long it would take for any changes like this to be implemented]:-

Monday
5:00pm Lookaround
5:40pm Evening News
6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm World in Action
8:30pm Coronation Street
9:00pm Monday Night Thrillers
10:00pm News at Ten

Tuesday
6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm River Monsters
8:00pm Dancing on Ice
*2 hour first/final episode
9:00pm Tuesday Night Travels [Authored Journeys, other documentaries, etc]
10:00pm News at Ten

Wednesday (1)
6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm The National Movie Awards / Foyle's War / The Prisoner
10:00pm News at Ten

Wednesday (2)
6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm FA Cup Live / Champions League Live / The Big Match Live [Internationals]
10:00pm News at Ten

Thursday
6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show

Thursday
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Grimefighters
8:00pm Dancing on Ice: The Skate-Off
9:00pm Piers Morgan's Life Stories / New non-crime drama
10:00pm News at Ten

Friday
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm You've Been Framed
8:30pm Harry Hill's TV Burp
9:00pm Stars in their Eyes / Benidorm
10:00pm News at Ten

Saturday
5:00pm FA Cup Live
7:30pm Lookaround
7:45pm Weekend News
8:00pm Primeval
9:00pm Tomfoolery [new Saturday night variety show presented by a presenter called Tom

)
10:00pm News at Ten

Sunday
7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm Agatha Christie Season / Lewis
10:00pm News at Ten

Agent F · 10-11-2009, 16:46

I genuinely don't believe that viewers will appreciate Corrie being on/off Wednesdays for the entire year. A consistent slot is better than it moving around the schedule whenever there's a game.

And your ideas are nice and all PJ but it just seems like you want to go back to the eighties or something. The reintroduction of regionalisation , the ITN name, the axing of ITV's digital channels... good grief.

PJMillar · 10-11-2009, 23:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agent F

I genuinely don't believe that viewers will appreciate Corrie being on/off Wednesdays for the entire year. A consistent slot is better than it moving around the schedule whenever there's a game.

And your ideas are nice and all PJ but it just seems like you want to go back to the eighties or something. The reintroduction of regionalisation , the ITN name, the axing of ITV's digital channels... good grief.

I think the ITN idea is a good idea to be honest, the others are a bit more far fetched.

And actually, I do think viewers would appreciate Coronation Street being on/off Wednesday's, because at least it follows Emmerdale [and I reckon most Corrie fans watch Emmerdale anyway].

It always performs on Wednesday's anyway [as shown in the last month when it got very commendable figures for a show that was dropped from the schedules a month or two before].

And, it would do Corrie some good to have one episode dropped some of the time, because it does feel the stale. Emmerdale can cope, but for some reason, Corrie can't, as it commands bigger quality because of its narrow outlook. It is one street, and can't really broaden. Emmerdale is quite a large village, however, and can have lots of storylines running.

Fudd · 12-11-2009, 00:31

The issue I'd have is that that exposes the 8pm slot. That's where you'd need family based drama, but ITV are short of that, and they're not going to find it overnight. The best part for their family drama is preceding Britain's Got Talent/the X Factor and trying to make these 'event night's for all the family to enjoy.

Also, I can't see ITV dropping an episode of a soap at the moment. they haven't got the resources to make up the deficit. What I do agree is that the soaps need fixed slots, and not pushed about the schedule every week just to fill a half hour gap.

Monday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Coronation Street
8.00 Tonight
8.30 Coronation Street
9.00 *Monday Night Thriller*

Same as now, really, as Monday night's are their most successful night of the slot. Don't muck about with the 9pm slot - the thrillers work a treat there, so there's no reason to attempt to air the likes of 'Monday, Monday' there.

Tuesday
7.00 *Documentaries/Quiz shows*
8.00 Coronation Street
8.30 Emmerdale
9.00 The Bill

The normal 8pm fodder is now given a slot post news, against The One Show where it'd hope to gain some viewers (a reasonable 4m'd be ok for the show), and might halt some people from switching over to BBC1 at 7.30pm. Coronation Street is in it's natural post EastEnders slot, which could lure viewers across and it provides a lead in for Emmerdale. I don't think the soaps will do as well as on other nights, but they'll stabilise the 8pm slot which is toxic for the channel currently. The Bill will have an easier slot and a 'crossover' lead in from Holby City.

Wednesday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Play Your Cards Right/Price is Right/Take Your Pick
8.00 Midsomer Murders/Foyle's War/Poirot/Marple/Award shows

All of the two hour programme shows are popular and of course can be dropped at short notice for a special event. Obviously the football would just start at 7.30pm. I think a gameshow'd do better at the 7.30pm slot than a documentary.

Thursday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Countrywise/Grimefighters etc.
8.00 Coronation Street
8.30 Emmerdale
9.00 *Documentaries/'Quirky' drama/Comedy*

Two small changes to Thursday - Coronation Street airs before Emmerdale as that draws in more viewers, and the programming that's usually placed on Tuesday takes The Bill's slot on Thursday.

Friday
7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Heartbeat/Kingdom/The Royal etc.
8.30 Coronation Street
9.00 *Crime dramas*

Crime dramas have been successful in the Friday slot so there's no reason not to continue the trend. ITV certainly have enough of them to make it long term. the 7.30pm slot is again an hour long to try and tempt people away from BBC1 - again if the shows only get around 4m that'll do as filler.

Saturday

January-March
6.00 Primeval
7.00 You've Been Framed
7.30 Harry Hill's TV Burp
8.00 Dancing on Ice
10.00 Alright on the Night
11.00 ITV Late News

April-June
6.00 Stars in their Eyes
7.00 Ant and Dec
8.00 Britain's Got Talent
9.00 Poker Face
10.00 Piers Morgan's Life Stories

July-September
6.00 Animal's Do the Funniest Things
7.00 Blind Date
8.00 The Cube/(from August): The X Factor
9.00 Live at the South Bank
10.00 Alright on the Night
11.00 ITV News

October-December
6.00 Duel
7.00 You've Been Framed
7.30 Harry Hill's TV Burp
8.00 The X Factor
10.00 Piers Morgan's Life Stories
11.00 ITV Late News

Live at the South Bank is an idea's of PJ Millar's which I've nicked (sorry

) but I think it'd work well - especially with The X Factor as a lead in. Bringing in another family drama should booster ITV1's reputation and stabilise early evening. It'd be niceto give them a leg up from the reality behemoths, but frankly the viewing figures suggest they should be left well alone in their slots. reintroducing a couple of old favourites in Blind Date and Stars in Their Eyes should give a nostalgic feel to Saturday nights and tempt older viewers to watch.

Sunday

January-March
6.00 Primeval (R)
7.00 All Star Mr. and Mrs.
8.00 Dancing On Ice: the Skate Off
9.00 Wild at Heart

April to June
6.00 Ant and Dec (R)
7.00 Gameshow Marathon
8.00 Britain's Favourite...
9.00 *Comedy drama - say something like Diamond Geezer*

July to September
6.00 Blind Date (R)
7.00 Challenge Anneka
8.00 For One Night Only
9.00 *One off dramas or feared flops*

October to December
6.00 ITV News and Weather
6.15 You've Been Framed (R)
6.45 Harry Hill's TV Burp (R)
7.15 All Star Family Fortunes
8.00 The X Factor: The Results
9.00 Doc Martin

I think this is the weakest night of the week - it is still hard to think up many shows without the soaps and Heartbeat etc. propping up the schedule. I wouldn't move them back though, I like the idea of pre-9pm being entertainment night on ITV1. I don't know why For One Night Only failed so miserably last time round, but I think with a revamp it may work. Britain's Favourite View did well for ITV1 and I think if they focused on another subject (building/landmark) it'd do as well and be be cheap filler in the difficult summer slot.

09-11-2009, 13:38	#1
James J Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 166	Strategy for ITV1 Strategy: Emmerdale loses an episode and is stripped across the week at 7pm. Coronation Street loses an episode and returns to its fixed 7.30pm slot on Mon, Wed, Fri and Sun * In the ~20 football weeks, Corrie makes up the episode on Sunday, either in an hour-long episode or a special extra episode at 9pm. These can be tied to big storylines and written as events. * To help, occasional extra episodes can be added perhaps at 8.30pm on a Monday - storylines permitting! The 8pm slot in the schedule is cleared out for the whole week The Bill takes up a better position on Tuesdays at 9pm, hopefully inheriting some of the Holby audience Concept of hourly blocks: 7pm soap, 8pm entertainment/drama, 9pm drama/docs. There is a lot of flexibility in this schedule and scope for interesting things. For instance ITV could screen a new high-octane entertainment format at 8pm in the week, or big money quiz shows in this slot. Revival of *Opportunity Knocks? I'd also like to see more pre-9pm drama* across the schedule - ITV would do well to find its own Grey's Anatomy for the 8pm slot 20 weeks in the year, as the BBC has done with Waterloo Road - 5m an episode. Let's see some creativity in drama. Perhaps a sci-fi drama akin to FlashForward, or a new fire fighting drama done better than Steel River Blues. What about a rom-com a la Cold Feet, or a non-linear format? Perhaps a pilot-week, with 5 new dramas/sitcoms stripped across the 8pm slot in the week. ITV need more long-running series of at least 12 episodes each after a successful pilot. We need a quicker turnaround. More event/reality TV for the 8pm slot, Apprentice-esque formats, some airing weekly for a month or two, with some perhaps stripped across a week or two. 9pm can be the home of mature, heavy drama and journey documentaries such as Martin Clunes: A Man and his Dogs etc. And of course it's the ITV News at Ten to round off the night. Overall, ITV needs more variety. I think that in cutting the soaps down just 1 episode they are being risky, but if they fill the slots with as much new talent and life as it can, as much diversity in genre and style as it can, it is sure to find some lasting hits. They need to nurture what they have and give their crown jewels good slots - but they also need to find some new jewels for their crown.

09-11-2009, 21:54	#2
James J Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 166	Any thoughts?

09-11-2009, 22:00	#3
edEx Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: El Centro de Londres Services: Tiscali TV+ 8MB, Freeview Posts: 3,179	Agree with cutting down the amounts of soap, which will hopefully improve the quality. Not too sure about more reality TV though. Also I with they'd... Reject anything pitched to them with the words "Star" or "Celebrity" in the title. Make game shows something to aspire to again. None of this Cube rubbish. Let's have something that requires a skill of some sort, maybe like The Krypton Factor but with bigger prizes. Much more variety in drama definitely. How many murder investigations are necessary to fill the drama quota?

09-11-2009, 22:17	#4
performingmonk Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 8,535	As ideal as this sounds, please don't forget the words 'budget' and 'advertising revenue' when considering things like 'high-octane' 8pm entertainment shows. Eastenders and other hit mid-week BBC shows like WR and Holby all have guaranteed audience up against anything ITV could place in that slot. This is the unfortunate truth. ITV needs to make cheaper shows mid-week and have as much soap as possible to survive. This secures the 9pm dramas and big entertainment shows (Talent, X Factor, I'm A Celeb)

10-11-2009, 16:46	#6
Agent F Forum Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Twin Peaks ♂ Posts: 20,139 Blog Entries: 18	I genuinely don't believe that viewers will appreciate Corrie being on/off Wednesdays for the entire year. A consistent slot is better than it moving around the schedule whenever there's a game. And your ideas are nice and all PJ but it just seems like you want to go back to the eighties or something. The reintroduction of regionalisation , the ITN name, the axing of ITV's digital channels... good grief.

12-11-2009, 00:31	#8
Fudd Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 29,805	The issue I'd have is that that exposes the 8pm slot. That's where you'd need family based drama, but ITV are short of that, and they're not going to find it overnight. The best part for their family drama is preceding Britain's Got Talent/the X Factor and trying to make these 'event night's for all the family to enjoy. Also, I can't see ITV dropping an episode of a soap at the moment. they haven't got the resources to make up the deficit. What I do agree is that the soaps need fixed slots, and not pushed about the schedule every week just to fill a half hour gap. Monday 7.00 Emmerdale 7.30 Coronation Street 8.00 Tonight 8.30 Coronation Street 9.00 Monday Night Thriller Same as now, really, as Monday night's are their most successful night of the slot. Don't muck about with the 9pm slot - the thrillers work a treat there, so there's no reason to attempt to air the likes of 'Monday, Monday' there. Tuesday 7.00 Documentaries/Quiz shows 8.00 Coronation Street 8.30 Emmerdale 9.00 The Bill The normal 8pm fodder is now given a slot post news, against The One Show where it'd hope to gain some viewers (a reasonable 4m'd be ok for the show), and might halt some people from switching over to BBC1 at 7.30pm. Coronation Street is in it's natural post EastEnders slot, which could lure viewers across and it provides a lead in for Emmerdale. I don't think the soaps will do as well as on other nights, but they'll stabilise the 8pm slot which is toxic for the channel currently. The Bill will have an easier slot and a 'crossover' lead in from Holby City. Wednesday 7.00 Emmerdale 7.30 Play Your Cards Right/Price is Right/Take Your Pick 8.00 Midsomer Murders/Foyle's War/Poirot/Marple/Award shows All of the two hour programme shows are popular and of course can be dropped at short notice for a special event. Obviously the football would just start at 7.30pm. I think a gameshow'd do better at the 7.30pm slot than a documentary. Thursday 7.00 Emmerdale 7.30 Countrywise/Grimefighters etc. 8.00 Coronation Street 8.30 Emmerdale 9.00 Documentaries/'Quirky' drama/Comedy Two small changes to Thursday - Coronation Street airs before Emmerdale as that draws in more viewers, and the programming that's usually placed on Tuesday takes The Bill's slot on Thursday. Friday 7.00 Emmerdale 7.30 Heartbeat/Kingdom/The Royal etc. 8.30 Coronation Street 9.00 Crime dramas Crime dramas have been successful in the Friday slot so there's no reason not to continue the trend. ITV certainly have enough of them to make it long term. the 7.30pm slot is again an hour long to try and tempt people away from BBC1 - again if the shows only get around 4m that'll do as filler. Saturday January-March 6.00 Primeval 7.00 You've Been Framed 7.30 Harry Hill's TV Burp 8.00 Dancing on Ice 10.00 Alright on the Night 11.00 ITV Late News April-June 6.00 Stars in their Eyes 7.00 Ant and Dec 8.00 Britain's Got Talent 9.00 Poker Face 10.00 Piers Morgan's Life Stories July-September 6.00 Animal's Do the Funniest Things 7.00 Blind Date 8.00 The Cube/(from August): The X Factor 9.00 Live at the South Bank 10.00 Alright on the Night 11.00 ITV News October-December 6.00 Duel 7.00 You've Been Framed 7.30 Harry Hill's TV Burp 8.00 The X Factor 10.00 Piers Morgan's Life Stories 11.00 ITV Late News Live at the South Bank is an idea's of PJ Millar's which I've nicked (sorry ) but I think it'd work well - especially with The X Factor as a lead in. Bringing in another family drama should booster ITV1's reputation and stabilise early evening. It'd be niceto give them a leg up from the reality behemoths, but frankly the viewing figures suggest they should be left well alone in their slots. reintroducing a couple of old favourites in Blind Date and Stars in Their Eyes should give a nostalgic feel to Saturday nights and tempt older viewers to watch. Sunday January-March 6.00 Primeval (R) 7.00 All Star Mr. and Mrs. 8.00 Dancing On Ice: the Skate Off 9.00 Wild at Heart April to June 6.00 Ant and Dec (R) 7.00 Gameshow Marathon 8.00 Britain's Favourite... 9.00 Comedy drama - say something like Diamond Geezer July to September 6.00 Blind Date (R) 7.00 Challenge Anneka 8.00 For One Night Only 9.00 One off dramas or feared flops October to December 6.00 ITV News and Weather 6.15 You've Been Framed (R) 6.45 Harry Hill's TV Burp (R) 7.15 All Star Family Fortunes 8.00 The X Factor: The Results 9.00 Doc Martin I think this is the weakest night of the week - it is still hard to think up many shows without the soaps and Heartbeat etc. propping up the schedule. I wouldn't move them back though, I like the idea of pre-9pm being entertainment night on ITV1. I don't know why For One Night Only failed so miserably last time round, but I think with a revamp it may work. Britain's Favourite View did well for ITV1 and I think if they focused on another subject (building/landmark) it'd do as well and be be cheap filler in the difficult summer slot.