[JMT1985]

It's to be expected, the first week was basically people tuning in to see what the fuss was about. I'd assume they'd be happy enough if the average was around the 450,000 mark. Tubridy's version had fallen off a cliff at some point over the last 12 months as he was down by more than a third year on year, and about half the audience he had in 2019. (2020-2021 can't be counted as it was a captive audience much of the time) Viewership of RTE outside of Sport and News is way down, but the Late Late was one of the biggest losers.

The reduced time slot was practically there anyway. Tubridy used to close the show up just after 11 a lot last season.

It may not be very good but it still gets a large audience and brings in the cash, that's what they really care about in RTE.

I think it was shortened because they're no point going on much past 11. Every Tom, Dick and Mary is turning over to Graham Norton as soon as he comes on. The Audience must plummet as soon as 10.35 comes around. People complain about The Blame Game pushing Graham Norton back to 11.10 which happens a fair amount on BBC 1 Northern Ireland. 

A lot of people in RTE and the independent sector know how to make good TV, but they're not given the opportunity. The whole organisation needs changing. The Late Late is the least of it's problems... for the moment.

BBC One have pushed Graham now to 10.40pm and I can see now he is suffering a bit in the ratings - also Graham's new series seems to have abandoned his opening monologue which I used to enjoy - he simply heads straight into introducing the guests. 

Graham's show is really one of only two talk shows left on British television, the other being Jonathan Ross, who is taking a break from producing an autumn series due to the rugby and will be back in the new year, his show suffers badly from poor guests, using recycled ITV stars and anyone who is managed by the same management "Off the Kerb" company.