ITV breaks the Daisy chain
NOT content with having ripped off their viewers, ITV now seems to be giving the rest of the industry a masterclass in how to generally disgruntle them too, this time by chopping the second episode of Pushing Daisies.
The beleaguered broadcaster decided to go straight from episode one to three on their massively promoted primetime drama - as they only scheduled eight weeks for the nine episode series.
Leaks that this was down to a scheduler failing to count the number of programmes are unconfirmed, but given ITV's poor track record in the counting department (usually phone votes), you wouldn't put it past them.
The problem has been caused by the fact that week nine, clashes with the Euro 2008 tie between Portugal and Turkey, which of course, simply cannot be shifted to one of the other ITV channels.
ITV tried a sneaky one by touting episode three as episode two in the TV guides.
But a handful of vigilant fans spotted the anomaly, promptly posted it up on forums and emailed ITV with their complaints.
ITV's response to the hundreds of complaints, (including an ever-growing online petition and an amusing thread on the BBC's Points of View website) has been a bit bizarre.
A spokesman told me: "We're delighted Pushing Daisies has aroused such strong feelings by fans," before adding that at some point later in the year they would screen the missing episode which "doesn't really effect the narrative flow anyway".
But you can't fob off your viewers like that, and those 'strong feelings' he speaks of are ones of disgust - towards ITV.
Those who have already seen the show in America have hit back quickly on the forums arguing that the second episode is crucial to the development of the main character Ned.
The missing instalment sees the pie maker come to terms with his powers and we also get some flashbacks of his childhood.
ITV really shouldn't have got into this mess.
They could have kicked off the series on Saturday by showing the first two episodes back to back, which is standard practice for a big season opener.
But instead they decided to show American Pie 2 at 10pm.
Perhaps they could axe Pushing Daisies altogether (good as it is, more Brits tuned in to watch Casualty) and start all over again with a new acquisition.
ITV could splash out on the next series of 24 (which they would surely cut down to whichever number they see fit).
Or they could free up a slot by sparing us the final of Britain's Got Talent and just hand the title to the wonder dog, which we know is going to win anyway.
Who watches ITV anyway? It's the home of reality tv and dross viewing, the only promising programs are Pushing Daisies and Primeval but the production values in the latter make it almost unwatchable. By messing with their one decent American import they have assured themselves the dubious honor of forcing their own viewers to download the missing episode and most likely the rest of the series leaving them with a great program that no one wants to watch.
Posted by: A Pieman | 16/04/2008 at 10:24 AM
This is why people have taken to downloading tv shows. I hardly ever watch anything on regular tv anymore.
Thank god for the internet!
Posted by: Kate | 16/04/2008 at 11:06 AM
ITV seems almost determined to drive away viewers. What is it playing at? The execs clearly don't care about the viewers, but surely all this bad PR must be registering with them?
Posted by: David | 16/04/2008 at 02:33 PM
Yes, who does watch ITV ? An early glimpse of the dreadful GMTV should put anyone off for at least 24 hours.
Posted by: Peter Haldane | 17/04/2008 at 11:19 AM
Another programme that's suffered at the hands of ITV is Foyle's War.
Despite great ratings for the programme, some ITV executive decided the show should only run for one more series, meaning that the programme makers had to miss out several years of the war and skip to near its end. It totally ruins the progression of the programme, which up until now had gone gradually through the years of WW2.
To add insult to injury, that man left ITV soon afterwards, but Foyle's War will still only run for one more series.
What do those in charge of ITV think they're doing?
Posted by: Robert Cunningham | 21/04/2008 at 01:58 PM
Why didn't they just put a double episode on the final week, like the other satellite channels do???
Dramas like 24, Greys Anatomy, they are sometimes shown in double episodes to get the viewers wanting more ... what is it with ITV, other than Ant and Dec really they don't have much going for themselves, where are all the great dramas gone ...
Posted by: Yoda | 22/04/2008 at 01:25 PM
ITV have a long history of doing this. They should never try to get shows like this in the first place as the scheduling they give them is chronic. I remember when millenium started (this was made by the xfiles team) they got the rights to show it and just put it on in a crazy time slot so that no one would ever watch it. They have also done this with supernatural, which was shown on itv1 albeit pretty late at night, but they have now consigned it to itv2 or 3 which I can't be bothered to ever switch to. Channels 4 and 5 also seem to do this, which seems to be a tactic to get shows away from the bbc, which has a much better track record with this type of show.
Posted by: peter sparkling | 22/04/2008 at 01:33 PM
My 14" tube is complimented with a set top box, which produces a mind numbing effect 96% of the time, it's especially entertaining when it rains. Occasionally, I have to admit that there is something worthy to watch, most of the time not. Is there truly a series on TV worth getting hot under the collar about?
Posted by: Mark | 22/04/2008 at 07:41 PM