Well; instead of posting threads for all the rubbish television shows we get in the UK seperately to have little response - why not create a thread like this where we can talk about all the shows; and American shows in the UK timeline.
That means no offshores viewers should spoiler shows in this thread


So heres the top rated shows in the United Kingdom right now

Corination Street.
Eastenders.
Emmerdale
Holby City
The Bill.
Celebrity Love Island
Big Brother

Belive it or not; Celebrity Love Island garners more viewers than big brother after it bombed during debut; well, only its Monday Night show garners a top 30 ITV position though...

Interestingly enough - the most expensive US import ever to the UK - Joey, is Channel Five's 30th best rated show. Yes, 30TH.

Its last episode garnered a not-great total of 900,000 viewers. More people watch Charmed on a Saturday Night; and Alias/ Dark Angel both did over 1 million on that Saturday night slot post charmed; the former was shifted to latenight for underperforming. The fact that Joey is doing less than either of them on a Sunday night slot with the most marketing channel 5 have ever invested is NOT good; but they keep it on to avoid media embarrasment.

Anywhoo.

What do i watch?

Alias [Bravo, Sundays at 9PM - also rerun on Sky and C5 from time to time]
Desperate Housewives [On re runs]
Less than Perfect[ STILL repeating ffs on ABC1]
8 Simple Rules [see above]
Hollyoaks [Meh]
Lost [w0000000000000t]
The Simpsons
Big Brother
Fin.

Thats alll i watch; as you can see im not a huge fan of British television.

CBC (which should call itself BBC Canada Jr.) airs Coronation Street (I think it's on 50% of the schedule), Emmerdale, and I'm sure I've seen Eastenders on CBC's schedule, but I hate CBC.

CBC also used to air Mr. Bean all the time. For a show with only 13 or 15 episodes, they sure did show it a lot.

No Lost or CSI over there?

Frankly I'm surprised there isn't an American show in the top 10 in the UK. Simply because I mean Hollywood churns out so much stuff, you'd think something would strike a chord out of the hundreds of shows.

CSI is Channel 5's top rated show; the network also has the rights to all other CSI shows and they do very very well for the network.
But C5 is the least popular major network. So very well equates to around 3.5 million an episode.

Not really matching the 10-15 million an episode of the big soaps.

Right now the biggest American show is Desperate Housewives which strikes 4 million viewers+ with audiences on channel 4, the 3rd most popular network.

But yeah - Until BBC or ITV pick up american shows into their lineup [the two behemoths of network television] then its unlikely to change. The UK television system is different from America in that we dont have show-dependent rankings. Long running serials like Corrie and Eastenders maintain audiences for decades, not years, and that keeps whichever networks showing them way above the laggers.

1. BBC
2. ITV
3. C4
4. BBC2.
5. C5
6. Cabsat

Oh... kind of like the Philippines where soaps dominate primetime. The ratings there are also non-show-dependent.

Are you guys also saturated with reality shows or no?

Reality Shows airing at present

Celebrity Love Island
Big Brother
.

THEN A TIRADE OF HOME IMRPOVING FLY ON THE WALL SHOWS THAT SUCK.

No we have had various levels of reality saturation. Most our reality tv is masked as documentires.

what's teh highest rated show ever over there?

I used to watch a lot more British TV Than I do lately. Where have all the comedies like Black Adder, Young Ones, Red Dwarf, Yes Minister gone. I know it's unrealistic to expect a constant supply of classics but it's been a long while since we've had a wave of good comedies form Britain like we did in the early 80s.

Also, we used tobe able to count on the Brits for fun mindless shows like Men Behaving Badly or Jonathan Creek. Now when I turn on BBC America or PBS, it's just endless home decorating and gardening stuff, with a few badly written cop shows usually set in Scotland.

I think British TV is going through a bad patch, don't you Michael?

Corination Street is the highest rating show, its gap from second place Eastenders widened considerably after the rival show went into a slump with critics, storylines, actors and viewers.

British tv is awful right now.
The best british made serials in recent years was the fantastic Monarch of the Glen - a Scottish dramedy about a family in a Scottish castle. But after the major actors started to leave 2-3 years in it dropped off. A very good recent "drama short" [the UK Has LOTS of short 2 or 3 part drama specials] was "Bloodlines" which featured a hot Mia Maestro double.

"Rockface" is an example of a horrible, horrible part of the wave of bad dramas weve been having. Cancelled after half a very expensive season. Theres also the $20m Scottish soap "River City" which is a disaster. However; there have been various other bona fide hits to even things out - the fabulous and somewhat nostalgic "Rosemary & Thyme" which is, believe it or not, a program about two elderly gardners who go solving mysteries in quaint english villages. Its a rare jump to surreal out of Britains obsession with gritty reality in their dramas.

The re-incarnation of "Dr Who" was surprisingly a hit with critics and audiences; although i thought it was laughably awful despite Billie Piper being a good actress and hot to boot.#

One very very good British show which i only caught one episode of was the fantastico "Hustle" which boasted all the production values of our American counterparts. It was well shot; well written; fast paced and relatively exciting. It all borrowed various elements from American television though - which is in a very strong patch right now due to ABC being awesome.

The Office was creative and a hit even if i hate it. But the best thing from British comedy right now without a doubt is Little Britain and Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps. Both are very much designed for British audiences only. They poke fun at the sterotypes weve been associated with and locals, characters and exaggerations that our society is loaded with.

This Saturday I got hooked up on Final Demand, a two part BBC series. The first part was great, can't wait for this Saturday and the conclusion.

I did watch a recent good teenagish drama on channel 4 called "Sugar Rush"
about a teenage girl in Essex who finds herself sexually attracted to her best friend, slutty Sugar.
Never saw how it ended though.

Wow. Alias was awesomely sad tonight

Anyone else see it? Episode 18 i think,.

You'll get more reaction if you describe what happened.

I caught an episode of Footballer's Wives. How that crap made it on the air I'll never know.

this should be stickied?

uk tv is a big pile of poo at the moment. filled up with damn soaps! reality TV, makeover shows and the odd predictable drama- usually involving some kind of murder investigation.

I just don't think we put enough effort into our shows.. or do the british public enjoy watching mindless crap??

some comedys are cool, but they are usually few and far between.

I HATE SOAPS! AHHHH! CRAPPY CRAPPY SOAPS- so embarrising they are our highest rated shows! bah!!

thankgod for sky one and E4/ Channel 4 that shows some of my fav american shows!!

Okay....

I don't watch Corination Street, Eastenders, Emmerdale, Holby City or The Bill.
However, when i accidently stumble on Eastenders, it's usually pretty good. The Bill and Casualty used to be childhood things, but not anymore, i never touch them. Don't even think Casualty's on anymore.

"Celebrity Love Island" was piss poor, and Abi Titmuss is a flabby skank.

"Big Brother" is my favourite brittish programme ever. It rocks, i get sooo tuned into it, and i'm glad it's a ratings hit year after year.

I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Ant and Decs Saturday Night Takeaway, X Factor, Pop Idol, Pop Idol The Rivals, Popstars are all gems for me....

However, Celebrity Wrestling and Hells Kitchen were dire.

Some series favourites include BAD GIRLS, SUGAR RUSH, STILL GAME, KAREN DUNBAR, classics like CHEWIN THE FAT, ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE, RED DWARF and LEAGUE OF ORDINARY GENTLEMEN.


American series'.......THE SIMPLE LIFE! WILL & GRACE, FRIENDS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and i can't wait for the upcoming LOST on Wednesday.

Mention here for the CATHERINE TATE SHOW.....it's fuckin hilarious....every single sketch....anyone else watch it???


So i'd say my favourite programmes are:

Big Brother
The Simple Life
Desperate Housewives
Six Feet Under
Will & Grace
Friends
The Catherine Tate Show
Bad Girls
I'm A Celebrity....
X Factor
The Simpsons


And i really, really, really cannot wait for LOST on wednesday night!!!

More UK shows...

Two Pints of Lager and a packet of Crisps
Gimme Gimme Gimme
2.4 Children
Birds of a Feather
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
Dinnerladies
My Family
The Royle Family
Absolutely Fabulous
Men Behaving Badly

.....Father Ted

Vicar of Dibly
Fawlty Towers
Black Addar
Only Fools and Horses.


Damn, realising that UK sitcoms are/have been pretty good.


Big Mention for Father Ted though

Alias has been incredibly sad for the past two episode.

The final three episodes including Lena Olin guest starring opposite Isabella Rossilini and Sonya Braga. Don't forget to catch it on Bravo at 9pm Sundays.

Missed the other seasons? Amazon is selling AND renting and duck cheap prices. The first two seasons are available to buy for under £20; whilst season 3 is £35. It's the best show ive ever witnessed and everyone should watch it. The big problem is most Alias fans either download or wait for DVD and it means that Bravos ratings are suffering and we neeed it to stay on the air or we probobly wont even get DVDS! But Alias is still a top seller in DVDs; usually starting out in the top 50 and then dropping off before climbing back up; and shooting up when the prices drop. Its a WOM kind of thing. Each season has sold better than the former.

LOST starts this Wednesday at 10pm and is having the same push c4 gave Desperate Housewives. Why on earth didn't channel 4 do the same with Alias when they bought it all thos years ago ill never know.

I like 'teachers'

Oh my god Big Brother was hillarious tonight.
Aside from Craig needing a giant punch in the face AGAIN.
Euguene to win! Poor sops a virgin at 30!

Sweet God: Lost is fucking awesome

Second part of the pilot in half an hour after the big brother eviction interview with craig.

here here!!

also yay for craig getting kicked out!! stupid wanker.

is he really! I'd shag him. eugene to win!

WOW.
Watched all 3 episiodes of Lost and im beyond hooked.

JJ Abrams is a television genius. Its not "Alias" thats for sure; but its definately up there with "Desperate Housewives"

Ive not been this thrilled by a television pilot since Sydney Bristows teeth were getting yanked out by a Chinese torture monger.

Those first ten minutes in "Lost" were extraordinary.

Has anyone here been watching Extras? ie. Ricky Gervais' new show?
I watched the last 3 episodes and apart from the Ross Kemp one, they weren't very good. But the Ross Kemp/Vinnie Jones episode was Fucking hilarious. So damn funny.
I'm trying to find out if there's any repeats of this episode but I cant find it.