[Brekkie]

I think guest judges would actually be more beneficial to the show than another new judge at this time.

Given the auditions is usually two blocks of 3-4 days filming nowadays I suspect they can schedule around Bruno largely - may just mean missing a day in London and a day in Manchester.

[tellyblues]

It's not just Bruno being affected by the changes but because his other commitments are well-known, it has been presumed (going by comments elsewhere) that everyone else can just drop everything for the show. Ant and Dec for example may have planned for time off or whatever for other shows but this seems unlikely now. Also, a worthy reminder that although diary dates can line up perfectly, it may not be perfect for the people concerned.

[Brekkie]

I think they'd have factored that all in, and of course if they switch the live shows to weekly they're likely crewing them for six weeks rather than say two weeks at the moment (one week prep, one week live). I think Ant and Dec get paid enough to show up weekly rather than daily - and it's not like SNT where a seven week run involved months of prep. It's a pretty straight forward gig for them.

I suspect some of the crew would quite like getting the May half term week off too.


As I've said before I do think losing the week of live shows would be a huge shame but it's completely understandable why ITV see it. I've thought all along that ITV would seek to replace SNT by using Masked Singer and BGT rather than commissioning anything directly as that's pretty much how TV works nowadays. Saturday Night Takeaway will likely effectively be replaced by a three part documentary airing in the 9pm slot in the May half term now. 8 weeks of Masked Singer/Limitless Win then 14 weeks of BGT/1% Club would be a pretty solid line up from January to May.

[tellyblues]

If it hadn't been for Gladiators, ITV may have considered something else but given what they've commissioned lately, maybe it's for the best.

[iloveTV1]

If it hadn't been for Gladiators, ITV may have considered something else but given what they've commissioned lately, maybe it's for the best.

Sorry? Why does Gladiators, which aired at 6pm for the majority of the last run, affect why ITV won’t commission something to air in the heart of primetime?

[tellyblues]

Sorry? Why does Gladiators, which aired at 6pm for the majority of the last run, affect why ITV won’t commission something to air in the heart of primetime?

Because it's a fantastic lead-in for other BBC1 shows which would be left isolated and beatable without it, as opposed to Wheel of Fortune which does little to bolster ITV's line-up. It also, I would say, dissuades them from commissioning a Gladiators type show for themselves, though it probably couldn't match up to it anyway. They won't have a run-of-the-mill game show either because then The 1% Club will suffer.

ITV could have had something new and popular enough to replace SNT but what they have been commissioning lately isn't of the standard or the sort that would work well on Saturday nights.

[darrenlit94]

KSI reported to be lined up as one of the judges. I think he would quite good actually. Young people already like him and could see older people warming to him. It’s probably just speculation though.