‘The X Factor’ UK, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ to battle it out … on a Friday?
Well, how about this for interesting programming news? For the first time, “The X Factor” UK is going to be branching out to a Friday night later this month, and is doing so on the same night as the first “Strictly Come Dancing” live show.
So why do this on September 26? The reasoning seems to be scheduling. There are so many hours that Simon Cowell and company use for the boot camp and judges’ houses parts of the company, and they’ve decided that they need the entire weekend to make this work since the schedule on Sunday is limited by the “Downton Abbey” premiere. Here is what one reported insider told the Express:
“The plan to strip boot camp and judges houses’ across three nights has been in place for some time … Boot camp and judges houses are always longer shows, and this year we don’t have the space to accommodate a long show on Sundays for these stages, so we have decided instead to strip the shows across three nights.”
To us, this is a terrible move by ITV for a number of different reasons.
- Regardless of what you say, and maybe it’s true, it still looks like you are deliberately trying to go battle with “Strictly Come Dancing,” which is probably going to demolish you given that it is used to airing on Friday. These two shows really need to stop the competition; they’ll both be better for it in the end.
- Nobody can stand watching a show three days in a row, unless it’s some Netflix binge-watch that does not include commercials.
- You’ve never ventured to Fridays before, and maybe your audience has other things to do.
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Photo: ITV