ITV Programming Thread

I personnel would move the soaps from a Friday back to Sunday evening at 7-8pm, this would free up Friday to have weekend feel, im sure there could improve the content? I would also reduced Emmerdale back down to 5 30mins slots.

I do agree with moving ITV lunchtime news back to 12.30.

I'd have kept the ITV1 brand, but I like the shout of moving the soaps to Sunday night then moving the more trashy stuff off to ITV2 and/or ITV Be.

I'm not sure about soaps on Sunday nights though, but I agree with freeing Friday up. I would do what Channel 7 in Australia do with Home & Away, and have an hour-long editions of both soaps in the week (H&A's is on Thursdays) freeing Friday up for a more weekend feel like you say. I'd also run both Corrie and Emmerdale at a strict 5 episodes a week. Corrie's double could be on Monday, and Emmerdale's could be on Thursdays.

I don't know why they stopped doing the soaps on Sunday, they were a real banker for the channel and a staple of the schedules, and without them, yeah, they do alright when The X Factor is there but at other times of the year Sunday nights plummet to real lows because there's nothing to drive viewers there.

In fact since 2000 there's only been one extra Corrie and Emmerdale each a week but it looks like there's been far, far more, because the scheduling is so bad and you get traffic jams of soaps on some nights and then on others, nothing at all. So on Monday and Friday you get ninety minutes of it, limiting anything else you can do that night, whereas on Tuesdays after Emmerdale and on Sundays that's it and the night is totally barren. I don't like two episodes on a night, I think it becomes a bit of a chore for the audience and it makes the scheduling confusing and viewers forget when they're on. For Emmerdale, "Sunday to Friday at seven" is far more elegant and easier to remember than "Monday to Friday at seven and also Thursdays at eight".

Also, artistically I dunno how it works because what do you do when an episode is really special and you want to make a splash? With 'stEnders you know it's a big day when there are two episodes in a night or an hour-long episode, but Corrie and Emmerdale do that every week, so how do big episodes stand out in the schedule?

I would scrap the sixth episode of Emmerdale, they only do it because they can. I know it's all about economies of scale and the more they make the cheaper it is, but five episodes a week is still a hell of a lot. It hardly does much on Thursdays at eight anyway, BBC1 are happily showing Watchdog against it and getting a decent audience, it's not doing much to dent BBC1 so what's the point?

If we have to have six Emmerdales, I would take the Thursday 8pm Emmerdale and the Friday 8.30 Corrie and move them to Sundays at seven and 7.30 respectively. That would free up two midweek slots that would make the schedules look more varied, and Sundays are OK because you still have plenty of the evening for other shows, unlike Mondays and Fridays where after you've had all the soaps you only have an hour to play with and then it's the news and bedtime. I know you've got Strictly on Sundays but that would at least annoy BBC1, in a way the Thursday 8pm Emmerdale isn't really.

Also, yes, it's always seemed bizarre ITV persist with the news at 1.30. At the moment you've got Loose Women starting halfway through Bargain Hunt which is phenomenally popular, and also straight after This Morning which does more or less the same thing so it makes both shows look very similar. If you move the news to 12.30 you're at least not having to compete with Bargain Hunt which is a beast, and when that's finished you have a programme starting at one o'clock which might appeal to people trying to avoid the news. I don't know why they don't do it.

When I was a student and then, er, between jobs I always used to watch the 12.30 ITV News, it fitted right into my schedule.

I don't think they really need to have hour-long specials at all. In Oz, Seven and Ten (sorry, Eleven!) manage to make a splash with "Red Letter" episodes without extending them.

I'd go even further and have another crack at a daytime soap, or an acquisition to compete with Doctors. Crossroads would have been fine had the original 2001/2002 version been given time.

I'd also go move the news bulletins back to 17:30 and 22:00.

I would move the evening news hour to broadcast between 530pm and 630pm then I would have 60 minute gameshows on Monday and Friday and then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would mean 60 minute episodes of Emmerdale (thus keeping the 6x30 episodes) and then I would have Coronation stripped at 730 all week (I know that would mean competing with Eastenders but then that would be BBC's problems and solution to move rather than ITV's)!

And yes I would look at a new daytime soap either homegrown (new version of General Hospital? or how about Kings Oak rather than just the motel?) or bought in such as Shortland Street - which could be shown at 4pm just before the gameshows in their new time of 430pm.

I would like the news to go back to 5.30 BUT it will NEVER happen.

Moving the Evening News now to 5.30pm would be as stupid as moving News at Ten was back in 1999.

It really serves a purpose where it is for people for whom 6pm is too early, and although the BBC Regional News collectively may have a significant audience there is also an audience far more interested in national and international news than local news.

Moving the Thu 8pm and Fri 8.30pm editions of the soaps to Sunday would help sure up (or is it "shore up"?) Sunday night for them, but as with all schedule changes it just moves the problem, Thursday nights could end up as much of a flop zone as Tuesdays with nothing of note at 8pm, which means as a knock-on 9pm suffers too.

That said though my personal preference would be for just Corrie to move to Sunday (enabling entertainment shows to air 6.30-7.30), with the 6th Emmerdale axed and funds diverted to produce new potentially long running drama series which would do what Heartbeat did in the 90s. I'm surprised too from an international sales perspective Emmerdale has stuck at 6 episodes for so long as surely it's far easier to sell as a 5 times a week prospect.

You'd have a massive back-log of The Chase episodes if you did that, never mind the fact it's a stupid idea. Daytime and teatime TV thrives on being daily.

what time do you get home from work? do you have a short commute?

Bear in mind when the news was at 5:40 people had shorter commutes, often working in the local town/local mill/factory etc, when I grew up 'tea' was at 5pm. People work much further away from home now and there is more traffic.

Moving the news to 5:30 you might as well move it to 3:00pm for as much use it would be.

Here is the point, ITV does not need to do 18.30 news. it only states one prime time news on ITV, Hence the reason why back in 1999, ITV had news at 11pm....

Not read through the whole thread but I like the idea of 1230 News followed by a 'Pebble Mill at One' style programme (I know the young'uns here don't know what I'm on about) with a varied agenda. PM@1 could work well in an hour, music of all sorts, star interviews, consumer and serious stuff in a bright open atmosphere would be great. Commercial breaks would break up the parts well too.