British Comedy Guide

HIGNFY moved back to Friday slot

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2011/03/09/12904/hignfy_back_where_it_belongs

Great news, seeing as there's little else to watch on a Friday night at the moment.

Now they just need to make Alexander Armstrong the permanent host and I'll be a happy man.

I've had the email from Hat Trick saying the tickets will be available from Monday, at 1pm!!!

What is it with these people? Don't they realise that most of us are at work then? It's not like advertising tickets for The Jeremy Kyle Show! "Ring when you get up, about 3 in the afternoon".

It's the same with tickets for music gigs. "Friday at 9am". For f**ks sake! We're not all sixth formers, you know!

It's strange how Private Eye doesn't seem to have a ticket allocation anymore. I managed to get mine through there when they advertised it in the back.

Er, wasn't it only moved to Thursdays in some sort of election-matching schedule fiddle? And then the following series stayed there because that was the comedy evening for that season?

(And anyway, who watches the shorter, week-night edition of the show any more? Surely everyone tunes in for the extended version on a Saturday...?)

Quote: Aaron @ March 10 2011, 10:08 PM GMT

Er, wasn't it only moved to Thursdays in some sort of election-matching schedule fiddle? And then the following series stayed there because that was the comedy evening for that season?

(And anyway, who watches the shorter, week-night edition of the show any more? Surely everyone tunes in for the extended version on a Saturday...?)

Surely most people interested in topical comedy watch the earlier broadcast before everything appears out of date like a Dave-Lite broadcast?

For me the return to Friday is very welcome - it seems like a more natural slot.

Quote: Aaron @ March 10 2011, 10:08 PM GMT

Er, wasn't it only moved to Thursdays in some sort of election-matching schedule fiddle? And then the following series stayed there because that was the comedy evening for that season?

The idea that they could go out on election night was the given reason, but of course it soon became apparent that they wouldn't be able to go out on election night (and moved to a Friday, which worked much better). I cynically think it was incompetent scheduling - Ashes to Ashes was going out on Friday nights, a day it clearly didn't suit either, and it would have made so much more sense to swap the two over.

Note that the HIGNFY move occurred when Jay Hunt was BBC1 Controller, and now Danny Cohen is in charge. I think this is a sign of Cohen undoing the mistakes made by his predecessor.

Quote: cwickham @ March 11 2011, 8:06 AM GMT

The idea that they could go out on election night was the given reason, but of course it soon became apparent that they wouldn't be able to go out on election night (and moved to a Friday, which worked much better). I cynically think it was incompetent scheduling.

Yes, what a bloody farce all that was.

The BBC were trying to develop Thursdays as their comedy night, with Fridays left to hour-long dramas before the news... but it didn't really work and, yes, it'd appear Cohen is reversing some mistakes (QI going back to BBC Two as well, for example). Cohen did cancel Pulling for no good reason though and commission Coming Of Age, so I'm still not a fan.

Quote: cwickham @ March 11 2011, 8:06 AM GMT

The idea that they could go out on election night was the given reason, but of course it soon became apparent that they wouldn't be able to go out on election night (and moved to a Friday, which worked much better). I cynically think it was incompetent scheduling - Ashes to Ashes was going out on Friday nights, a day it clearly didn't suit either, and it would have made so much more sense to swap the two over.

Note that the HIGNFY move occurred when Jay Hunt was BBC1 Controller, and now Danny Cohen is in charge. I think this is a sign of Cohen undoing the mistakes made by his predecessor.

I'm not a professional scheduler, but "Ashes to Ashes" was surely light enough to broadcast on Friday?

Quote: Tim Azure @ March 15 2011, 7:33 PM GMT

I'm not a professional scheduler, but "Ashes to Ashes" was surely light enough to broadcast on Friday?

I don't think it's a Friday show, whereas HIGNFY has always been the kind of show to begin the weekend with. It would have just been more sensible to swap over the hour-block of HIGNFY and Outnumbered with Ashes to Ashes.

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