Rachel_Sandford
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Perhaps their slump is over.
Saturday saw the debut of ITV's new lineup. Almost handing over the entire schedule to Simon Cowell, the station debuted two new shows, Red or Black and The Jonathan Ross Show.
Red or Black, the Simon Cowell produced game of roulette, had its first £1 million winner. Nathan Hageman won by picking red. The show, which is to air every night for its first week before settling down to its real schedule, may or may not have a £1 million winner each night, but it does promise to have some interesting challenges. Saturday saw The Hoff being fired 70 metres into the air while celebrity hosts Ant and Dec watched contestants continuously have to choose between red or black. The show peaked at 8.1 million viewers, about 37%. Great news for ITV.
Then came the Cowell-less, but Cowell-produced The X Factor. Typically, contestants who couldn't sing flirted with the female judges who indulged them and their dreams. N-Dubz member Tulisa, proved to have a Paula Abdul like quality when she gave mediocre performances too much praise. Former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland took a few jabs here and there, but it was Gary Barlow who did just fine at being snippy to the point of mean, just the way Cowell likes it.
The only non-Cowell-produced show of the evening was The Jonathan Ross Show, which peaked at 4.6 million viewers, about 21%. Former BBC radio host, bad-boy Jonathan Ross debuted his new talk show at 9:45pm. Ross left BBC last year after his contract ended, which was soon after his suspension due to the “Sachsgate” scandal, the controversy that erupted after he and Russell Brand left messages on actor Andrew Sachs' answering machine during Brand's Radio 2 show. It led to the departure of BBC executives, station controller Lesley Douglas, and the resignation of Brand.
For his first night on ITV, Ross interviewed singer Adele, race car driver Lewis Hamilton, and actress Sarah Jessica Parker, Ross kept the typical talk show format. With comedy props, topical gags, and jokes here and there, Ross was playing by the rules, even telling Adele: “I've got to be on best behaviour, ain't I?” referring to Ofcom's pledge of scrutinizing the 9pm watershed.
All in all, Saturday was a good night for ITV. Having had problems getting advertising revenue and amidst predictions of lowered revenues this coming Christmas season, the channel seemed to prove analysts wrong last Saturday. Now to see if they can keep it up.
Saturday saw the debut of ITV's new lineup. Almost handing over the entire schedule to Simon Cowell, the station debuted two new shows, Red or Black and The Jonathan Ross Show.
Red or Black, the Simon Cowell produced game of roulette, had its first £1 million winner. Nathan Hageman won by picking red. The show, which is to air every night for its first week before settling down to its real schedule, may or may not have a £1 million winner each night, but it does promise to have some interesting challenges. Saturday saw The Hoff being fired 70 metres into the air while celebrity hosts Ant and Dec watched contestants continuously have to choose between red or black. The show peaked at 8.1 million viewers, about 37%. Great news for ITV.
Then came the Cowell-less, but Cowell-produced The X Factor. Typically, contestants who couldn't sing flirted with the female judges who indulged them and their dreams. N-Dubz member Tulisa, proved to have a Paula Abdul like quality when she gave mediocre performances too much praise. Former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland took a few jabs here and there, but it was Gary Barlow who did just fine at being snippy to the point of mean, just the way Cowell likes it.
The only non-Cowell-produced show of the evening was The Jonathan Ross Show, which peaked at 4.6 million viewers, about 21%. Former BBC radio host, bad-boy Jonathan Ross debuted his new talk show at 9:45pm. Ross left BBC last year after his contract ended, which was soon after his suspension due to the “Sachsgate” scandal, the controversy that erupted after he and Russell Brand left messages on actor Andrew Sachs' answering machine during Brand's Radio 2 show. It led to the departure of BBC executives, station controller Lesley Douglas, and the resignation of Brand.
For his first night on ITV, Ross interviewed singer Adele, race car driver Lewis Hamilton, and actress Sarah Jessica Parker, Ross kept the typical talk show format. With comedy props, topical gags, and jokes here and there, Ross was playing by the rules, even telling Adele: “I've got to be on best behaviour, ain't I?” referring to Ofcom's pledge of scrutinizing the 9pm watershed.
All in all, Saturday was a good night for ITV. Having had problems getting advertising revenue and amidst predictions of lowered revenues this coming Christmas season, the channel seemed to prove analysts wrong last Saturday. Now to see if they can keep it up.
