Holidays are, indeed, coming!

For the last tellytunes blog post before Christmas, I thought I would just throw a couple of random festives in your general direction.

This year, more than ever before, has seen huge demand via the tellytunes adverts request section for the Coca Cola "Holiday's are Coming" ad - with almost every request accompanied by a grumble about the advert not being shown on TV this year. So, for those still suffering from withdrawal symptoms...

However, the absence of the Cola trucks has been partly covered by drinks rival Irn Bru, with one of the funniest ads of the year...

I'm away now to read through my Christmas Radio Times for the eighth time in the hope of finding more than just the four programmes I've spotted so far that are worth watching this year. Although judging by this feature on the BBC site this morning, it looks like the highlight is indeed the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. Joy!

Merry Christmas from all at tellytunes!

~~steve~~
http://www.tellytunes.com/

Top-rated shows of the year

There was a headline on MediaGuardian today which I had to read several times before properly believing...

ITV1 triumphs in 2006 ratings

In a year which has seemingly been a bit of a disaster for ITV with turkey after turkey hitting the screens, advertising revenues slumping and the departure of much-maligned Chief Exec Charles Allen, it must come as great cheer to ITV - and complete amazement to most of the viewing public - that ITV actually managed to notch up eight of out the ten best-rating shows of 2006.

The figures exclude the World Cup programming and, oddly, are published with 10 days of the year remaining, excluding some of the potential big Christmas ratings figures still to come such as the Strictly Come Dancing final on Saturday night. But ITV have scored a whopping 80% of the tally with perennial favourite Coronation Street topping the tree with 12.5 million viewers for an episode in March.

One of the BBC's two entries, EastEnders, in second place with a top audience of 12.3m with ITV's Dancing on Ice final in third with 11.6m.

The full top ten for the year is:
01. Coronation Street
02. EastEnders
03. Dancing on Ice Final
04. Lewis
05. Wild at Heart
06. X-Factor Final
07. A Touch of Frost
08. I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!
09. Strictly Come Dancing
10. Emmerdale

In a ITV year which will go down in memory (in my mind at least) for the likes of Love Island, The Sharon Osbourne Show, It's Now or Never, Prehistoric Park, Extinct and the like, it's worth dwelling on the above list just for a few moments to remind ourselves that all may not quite be lost just yet. Although, if you do intend to linger over the list, try to keep your gaze averted from number 5, which still remains top of my "How the...? What the...?" list of successes.

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

There's talent (shows) abound!

With X-Factor done and dusted for another year and Strictly Come Dancing waltzing to a climax at the weekend, it seems barely a day has gone by over the past week without some news of a new series of some reality talent show or other.

As though who know me would protest if I tried to show any distain for the genre, it forces me to confess my general liking of these kinds of shows. I'm not a massive "Strictly" fan but was one of the millions who sat through over 4 hours of X-Factor/Xtra Factor on Saturday night as Leona Lewis was crowned champ over Scousamatic Ray.

But the rush of press releases over the past week seem to suggest that all the major channels have lined up for the New Year is more of the same.

January begins with a three-way clash between BBC1's Just the Two of Us (how that made a second series I don't know), ITV's Soapstar Superstar (now minus Ben 'Courtstar Superstar' Freeman) and Celebrity Big Brother (which technically falls into the non-talent reality show - on so many levels).

The scheduling suggests that Soapstar Superstar will then be followed by Simon Cowell's latest X-Factor-meets-Opportunity Knocks offering, Britain's Got Talent, which has the potential to either be truely awful or sheer brilliance - and I haven't quite settled on which of the two I'm expecting yet. The American version was won earlier this year by an 11-year-old American equivilant of Bonnie Langford. It's that simple sentence that puts me off.

The unlikely pairing of Graham Norton and Andrew Lloyd-Webber returns for the follow-up to How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? with their new search for stars of a revamped West End production of Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Meanwhile, Simon Cowell is back again (good to see they've got him earning his reported £20 million) with an completely unique idea which seeks to find two new stars for the lead roles in Grease. In fairness, it has been most amusing hearing him trying to explain why it's not just a completely rip-off of the beeb's Maria show. Yeah Simon - and X-Factor is nothing like Pop Idol either...

With expected returns too for Dancing on Ice and more I'm a Celebrity and X-Factor, it's likely to be a busy reality year for ITV particularly. I've been trying to do the maths though and am not even entirely sure if there are actually enough weeks in the year to fit this lot in at the moment. Even if they do, it's very probably going to all be a bit too much - even for a reality junkie like me!

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Top 10 TV Themes - 3-9 Dec 2006

The top 10 tv themes from the tellytunes theme finder from the past week have been:

1. Family Fortunes
2. X Factor
3. I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here
4. Countdown
5. Littlest Hobo
6. Captain Pugwash
7. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
8. Bullseye
9. Black Beauty
10. Deal or No Deal

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

To Be Announced

The first weekend of December is always a traditional kick-start to the festive period. The advent calendar openings are underway, the decorations come out of the attic, half the population charges in one panicking mass to the nearest shopping centre while the other half swear loudly in unison at faulty little fairy light bulbs.

And, increasingly over the past few years, it's also the weekend when all the tabloids and Sundays race to be the first to publish their Christmas TV guides. "Don't miss your free Christmas TV guide in this week's Sunday News of the People in the Mirror" cry the Friday night TV adverts, as if your Christmas would just collapse without these essential 8 pages of print.

So, with some eagerness, I took a look through Saturday's guide in the Sun. But it looks as though something has gone horribly wrong with the scheduling as BBC1 and ITV1 have somewhat embarassingly both elected to show the same movie at 3.10 on Christmas Day. Never heard of it myself but it's called "To Be Announced". (This one??)

Whatever it is, I guess it must be quite major because both channels are showing numerous shows of the same name in the run up to it on Christmas Day. I'm also particularly looking forward to the ITV1 Boxing Day drama "To Be Announced" and New Year's Day on BBC1 looks great with a double-bill of "To Be Announced" followed by a repeat of the movie "To Be Announced" (must be good if they're showing it twice).

The question, of course, is why do all the papers rush out these guides before they actually know what's going to be on? I appreciate it's a small detail to know the actual programme titles are as well as the timings, but it would be useful.

But I guess the real disappointment is still yet to come - when we pick up this year's Christmas Radio Times, get the complete rundown of what's on the telly and wish that they really were showing "To Be Announced" instead.

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com

Most popular TV themes - 26 Nov - 2 Dec 2006

The top 10 tv themes from the tellytunes theme finder from the past week have been:

1. I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here
2. Family Fortunes
3. Countdown
4. X Factor
5. Captain Pugwash
6. Littlest Hobo
7. Miami Vice
8. Bullseye
9. Black Beauty
10. This Is Your Life

~~steve~~
www.tellytunes.com