Number-crunching
Not Staying In
I hope you don't think me obsessed - and in fact, if I was, you'd have to let me off - but as a self-anointed junkie for overnight TV ratings, I have been on tenterhooks today about how Not Going Out fared on Friday night. I waited all morning while Media Guardian got their act together. They posted Sunday's up first ("1.7m turn up for Five's live birth"), then Saturday's ("ITV all-of-a-quiver as Robin Hood rides in"), then, finally, at lunchtime, Friday's - by which time I'd had advance word from Avalon - "Taggart sees off BBC1 sitcom."
Over to them:
Taggart sees off BBC1 sitcom
Julia Day
Monday October 9, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk
"BBC1's new Friday night sitcom Not Going Out lost out in the ratings on its debut outing to ITV1 favourite Taggart. Written by and starring standup comedian Lee Mack, the sitcom was watched by 2.8 million people, a 13.9% share of the available audience at 9.30pm, according to unofficial overnights.
"Along with the 10 O'Clock News, it was the only part of the evening from 8pm onwards where BBC1 didn't win the ratings battle, when the second part of Taggart on ITV1 proved a bigger draw, with an average of 4.2 million tuning in, a 20.7% share. BBC1's EastEnders, the Green Green Grass, Outtake TV, Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and the movie Road Trip all proved the most popular choice from the nation's sofas on Friday night. Jonathan Ross continues to show Channel 4's Charlotte Church how to handle a chatshow. His show was watched by 3.8 million viewers and attracted a 27.6% share between 10.35pm and 11.35pm, while hers gained a 1.3 million audience and 7.3% share between 10pm and 10.55pm.
"On BBC2, Gardener's World was watched by 3.1 million viewers, a 14.6% share between 8.30pm and 9pm and the Galapagos series managed to hold on to Monty Don's audience through to 9.50pm. The second instalment from the islands garnered a 15% share."
So there you have it. The people have spoken. Apparently it was 2.9 million at its peak, so those who agree with Clare and Steve in the post below but don't have any connection to me probably switched off or over. I'm pretty sure 2.8m is respectable for a new show without a major TV star in it, and we were never going to beat Taggart. Perhaps it'll do better next week, when it comes after the first in a new series of Have I Got News (I'm not a scheduler, but I would have run these in the same first week, rather than staggered), or even in week three, after Lee has been on Jonathan Ross. I understand Jack Dee's Lead Balloon is the highest-ever watched comedy on BBC4 with 383,000 viewers. It's all relative. For me, I just measure the programme's success in smiles.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 1:39 PM
13 Comments
Contact
Andrew at
13 Comments:
Well, it made me smile (and laugh and chuckle and groan), so that's at least one success.
Do these figures include people who like me & the wife who were at a friend's house on Friday night and watched it on our laptop on Sunday night after said friend recorded it for us on his DVD recorder? He still can't make a recording that works on our DVD player (this is his second go) so we have to make do with the laptop. We both liked it and will be tuning in next week.
The audience figures are calculated using the electronic set-top devices installed in 5,100 homes around the country. I'm pretty sure they have a way of monitoring video recordings too. It's not a perfect system, but it's the industry standard and it's the one we all abide by. RAJAR, who do the radio figures, rely on a written diary, which is even less reliable, but again, industry standard. It's all still relative.
liked the 'where have you been' line....made me chuckle. It's an interesting sitcom, can't make my mind up if I love it or not. Will definetly watch it next week.
Then again, Robin Hood got over 8 million and it was a load of old pants. Only saving grace being Patrick Troughton's grandson. Utter rubbish. After watching both programmes, I think you'll find that Robin Hood will have lost about 2 and half million by next week, and NGO will get around 4 million. And if I'm wrong, I'll listen to EVERY episode of Radio 4's Bearded Ladies back to back. Sober. And without any pain relief.
I thought Robin Hood was quite good...
Sorry Clive, I thought it was bobbins, but then I think I was expecting something along the lines of "Doctor Who in Sherwood Forest". Still, will give it another chance this Saturday.
I didn't see Robin Hood but he sounds like Davy Jones in the radio trailers. Does he call his merry men "fellahs" and protest that the tambourine is actually a difficult instrument to play properly?
I totally forgot that NGO was starting last Friday and hadn't even got Sky+ set to record it - what a muppet!
Never mind though, as I see that it's available to download at a whole lot of torrent sites - I hope that's not ripping you off in any way?? The one I'm getting it from has the following comment posted against it "This is a fabulous show, extremely funny! Don't miss it ;)", which I hope will please you a little bit.
Cheers
I've loved both episodes so far, Andrew, although give that I enjoy your writing and am a huge fan of Lee Mack that's probably no big surprise! What I did find surprising was that my boyfriend joined me in laughing out loud several times - I hadn't expected him to like it, for some reason. The only things that have jarred a bit with me so far have been the too-loud laugh track and the little music snippets between scenes. I'm irritated by the BBC's obsession with ratings. The BBC is not supposed to be a commercial organisation (though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise given the amount of adverts for its own programmes it constantly plays on TV and radio) so why on earth should ratings matter? What happened to 'educate, inform and entertain' (sorry, I've probably mis-quoted that but I'm tired and bored and can't be arsed to look it up!) Anyway I sincerely hope you get more viewers over the series and you get a second series. It's a joy to have a sitcom with genuine laugh-out-loud moments in it on screen again! That godawful 'comedy' about the bingo hall with Paul O'Grady got one so 'Not Going Out' should too!
For what it's worth, make that 2.9 million and one smiles. I have no set-top box, just a coathangar type thing out the top of the tele, and I thought it was brilliant. Cheered me up no end after a rough week. Keep up the good work. (And I agree with the others, Robin Hood is painfully painfully bad).
Thank you, E. Louise!
Hi Andrew, I like Not Going Out and Tim Vine in particular, although one of his very funny lines, "there's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot" is, according to IMDB, Steven Wright's joke. Did you know? Was it a reference, or just a bit of stealy steal joke grab?
Russell
Post a Comment
<< Home