cobbles
Banned
The 60th anniversary episode last night appears to have rated under 6m, with the Monday night episode around 6m (according to TV Forums, I'm yet to find an official source). These are obviously overnights so good add on a little bit on 7 days (this weeks will be available on the 21st November and I'll update this thread around that time with final figures.
We all knew that soaps were in decline but a rating that low for a show-piece anniversary event is a major problem for Coronation Street itself, it was a mere ten years ago that Coronation Street managed in excess of 14 million viewers on 7 days, so we can safely say it won't be coming anywhere near that for this anniversary episode. It's also worth reminding ourselves that there is every possibility the final figure for the anniversary will be now be lower than figures for the show during lockdown when it was on 3 times a week. It's worth mentioning a similar terminal decline would see the 70th anniversary amass a mere 3m or so viewers.
Honestly, a seriously cold hard look in the mirror is required from ITV and Coronation Street over the course of the next few years, to position the show to survive the changes that are inevitably coming to the television landscape.
A few thoughts.....
I think the viewing figures when it was 3 times a week, a much as this was influenced by lockdown do somewhat speak for themselves, and ITV should be seriously considering returning to 3 episodes a week at 7.30pm. As much as they trumpet '6 times a week' the majority of soap viewers really seem to be on board with quality over quantity, ITV should look for something else to go on at 8.30pm or some genuine 8.00pm dramas and start dialling back their soap operas to the 7pm to 7.30pm slot. Time and time again both in real life I've heard the comment 'I'd watch if it was three times a week.'
This would also have the benefit of allowing the cast to do some real acting, getting an opportunity to rehearse properly - by cutting the amount that needs to be filmed to 50% of current output you could remove the sausage factory approach to filming that makes the acting often rushed and forced even from very competent actresses and actors. Of course it would also give an opportunity to reduce the cast numbers, but the key lies in reducing the cast a little but not enough to mean they still all end up with the same workload.
Over the last 10 years and a bit the show has lost many of it's classic characters, this is natural on a long running soap opera - but the biggest issue is that it's never bothered to replace them with new characters, and the characterisation of many new characters is appalling, often shoehorned so they fit around the storyline they're currently involved in - a gigantic issue in a show that relies on how much we care for those characters and know them to work. How can we know a character whose personality flips on a six-pence.
The dramatic storylines should exist of course, but some of the comedy needs to return. That comedy being the character led 'funny because of who they are' things, not the horrendously lame comedic sitcom routines - the heart of Corrie appears to be being aided to breathe by fleeting glimpses of it's younger self, but it's surely a question of if not when it stops breathing should it continue down this vein. As much as the caveat is that it is of course still one of the highest rated year-round TV programmes, it's fairly clear it no longer penetrates beyond it's core audience anymore the way it have done in the past.
In the next ten years or so, we're likely to see the departure of the final links to the golden years of the show. With many of the longer serving actors already very elderly, as much as we'd love them to be around for the 100th anniversary - you only have to look at the number of serving actors and actresses the show has lost in the past ten years to realise that every time a iconic corrie actor leaves us, part of the fabric of the show itself is damaged, a testament to their legacy but also a threat to the programmes longevity.
We all knew that soaps were in decline but a rating that low for a show-piece anniversary event is a major problem for Coronation Street itself, it was a mere ten years ago that Coronation Street managed in excess of 14 million viewers on 7 days, so we can safely say it won't be coming anywhere near that for this anniversary episode. It's also worth reminding ourselves that there is every possibility the final figure for the anniversary will be now be lower than figures for the show during lockdown when it was on 3 times a week. It's worth mentioning a similar terminal decline would see the 70th anniversary amass a mere 3m or so viewers.
Honestly, a seriously cold hard look in the mirror is required from ITV and Coronation Street over the course of the next few years, to position the show to survive the changes that are inevitably coming to the television landscape.
A few thoughts.....
I think the viewing figures when it was 3 times a week, a much as this was influenced by lockdown do somewhat speak for themselves, and ITV should be seriously considering returning to 3 episodes a week at 7.30pm. As much as they trumpet '6 times a week' the majority of soap viewers really seem to be on board with quality over quantity, ITV should look for something else to go on at 8.30pm or some genuine 8.00pm dramas and start dialling back their soap operas to the 7pm to 7.30pm slot. Time and time again both in real life I've heard the comment 'I'd watch if it was three times a week.'
This would also have the benefit of allowing the cast to do some real acting, getting an opportunity to rehearse properly - by cutting the amount that needs to be filmed to 50% of current output you could remove the sausage factory approach to filming that makes the acting often rushed and forced even from very competent actresses and actors. Of course it would also give an opportunity to reduce the cast numbers, but the key lies in reducing the cast a little but not enough to mean they still all end up with the same workload.
Over the last 10 years and a bit the show has lost many of it's classic characters, this is natural on a long running soap opera - but the biggest issue is that it's never bothered to replace them with new characters, and the characterisation of many new characters is appalling, often shoehorned so they fit around the storyline they're currently involved in - a gigantic issue in a show that relies on how much we care for those characters and know them to work. How can we know a character whose personality flips on a six-pence.
The dramatic storylines should exist of course, but some of the comedy needs to return. That comedy being the character led 'funny because of who they are' things, not the horrendously lame comedic sitcom routines - the heart of Corrie appears to be being aided to breathe by fleeting glimpses of it's younger self, but it's surely a question of if not when it stops breathing should it continue down this vein. As much as the caveat is that it is of course still one of the highest rated year-round TV programmes, it's fairly clear it no longer penetrates beyond it's core audience anymore the way it have done in the past.
In the next ten years or so, we're likely to see the departure of the final links to the golden years of the show. With many of the longer serving actors already very elderly, as much as we'd love them to be around for the 100th anniversary - you only have to look at the number of serving actors and actresses the show has lost in the past ten years to realise that every time a iconic corrie actor leaves us, part of the fabric of the show itself is damaged, a testament to their legacy but also a threat to the programmes longevity.
