Ups and Downs of ITV

I was pleased to see that the Tour de France was good (free reg reqd) for ITV2 this year – even if a certain amount of me says that “they would say that” for the sake of the programme’s sponsor. Whether ITV keep the coverage beyond what they’ve now got is anyone’s guess. But bravo for putting out a good hour’s coverage at peaktime five nights a week, with live coverage at the weekends. And VTV did an excellent production job.
But the main part of ITV is back in its usual habits of cancelling drama series that don’t perform after a couple of episodes. Latest, is Making Waves (which also has a sponsor – so maybe I was being harsh), which will no doubt be filling a late evening slot sometime soon. I wish they’d decide up front – and I wouldn’t have had to commit the Long Firm on BBC2 to tape. Well, Making Waves did star Emily Hamilton, so I was unlikely to be far from it!


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5 responses to “Ups and Downs of ITV”

  1. rosie avatar
    rosie

    SHOCKING!!!!!! Just as i was getting into this new drama (making waves) they cancelled it. I am appalled. i can say nothing else, except that i could swear but thats just rude!

  2. Adam Bowie avatar

    The final three episodes will get shown at some point – but who knows when?
    Sadly these days I’m becoming loathe to get into ITV drama series since you don’t know if they’ll stick with the series for a full run!

  3. mike avatar
    mike

    But Making Waves storyline and cast were both BAD – thankfully they pulled it to stop our torment – with the budget they must have used surely could find better script/actors?

  4. Adam Bowie avatar

    Maybe it wasn’t to your tastes but “bad”? That’s very much an opinion in the eye of the beholder. I’d say that Emmerdale’s “bad” but ITV pumps it out six nights a week. Bad Girls and Footballers’ Wives are truly “bad”, yet enormously popular (not with me, I hasten to add).
    I was watching and enjoying Making Waves. They certainly could have made a better series set in the Royal Navy, but my main problem is with the fact that ITV are happy to pull a series mid-run. There were only three episodes to go!
    I suspect that next to suffer the same fate will be The Block which has performed very poorly in its first two outings. I didn’t watch it and have no intention of doing so – it seems to be me that it’d be better suited to daytime TV. But it’s now getting to the point that anything vaguely different or challenging is just not given any time on ITV, unless it’s a reality series involving Z-list celebrities. And they can get a guaranteed six million by putting out It’ll Be Alright On The Night 13 or similar, so that’s all we’ll get.
    Drama is expensive and risky. But without taking risks, nothing good will come of it.

  5. James avatar
    James

    I know this is a while back but the navy news, http://www.navynews.co.uk , are selling the whole series on DVD for �7.99