With a lavish marketing budget and a glamorous premiere, it appeared to be Graham Norton’s leading primetime role.
However, in a humiliating U-turn, ITV has now moved his brand-new reality program, The Neighbourhood, to the “graveyard” schedule mid-series due to negative reviews and declining viewership.
With much hype, the new show was slated to debut Norton on the channel and compete with the well-liked The Traitors on the BBC.
However, ITV has made the harsh choice to move its schedule on ITV1 from 9 p.m. to 10.45 p.m., following the evening news, and place the remaining episodes directly on its streaming platform ITVX.
1.2 million people saw the launch. Only 500,000 people watched the third episode, though.
Real-life households participate in a series of games in Norton’s first reality project, which ends with the most popular family receiving £250,000.
In a humiliating U-turn, ITV has now moved Graham’s brand-new reality series, The Neighbourhood, to the “graveyard” slot in the middle of the series due to negative reviews and falling viewership.
In an attempt to draw in the devoted followers of the jungle show, The Neighbourhood made its premiere during last month’s I’m A Celebrity finale.
“The entire box set of The Neighbourhood is now available to stream on ITVX,” an ITV representative stated. The program will also continue to air on ITV in the evening.
Repeats of the Beat and Long-Lost Family The series will be replaced on Thursday and Friday at 9 p.m. with The Chasers.
According to insiders, the show is doing better on ITVX, the company’s streaming service, than it is on terrestrial television.
Irish celebrity Norton, who has benefited from the popularity of his long-running ratings winner The Graham Norton Show on the BBC, will be disappointed by the low ratings.
Speaking prior to its premiere, Norton stated that he first consented to meet with producers and hear their proposal, with the intention of ultimately turning down the hosting position.
But he said that he felt it was “so good I have to say yes.”
On social media, viewers expressed their harsh criticism of the program, calling it “drivel TV” and “the biggest load of rubbish,” matching remarks from critics.
Before its premiere, The Neighbourhood, which was shot in Darwin Lake Holiday Park in Matlock, Derbyshire, received a large-scale marketing campaign.
With the competition series, Ed Daggett, Development Executive at Lifted Entertainment, the firm that produces the show, stated his aspirations to challenge The Traitors.
“The Traitors has been absolutely phenomenal in terms of how it has attracted reality fans and people who may not normally come to reality shows,” he stated. “Of course, we would want to come close to that sort of success.”
Metro gave the event a three-star rating, calling it “the latest – and arguably boldest – brazen attempt to replicate the colossal success of The Traitors.”
One fan posted, “Am I the only person who’s loving #TheNeighbourhood? I actually really like all the families.” This was a more positive response from other fans. We want regular folks like this to be cast on Big Brother.
Another person concurred, saying, “I would put The Neighbourhood on prime time Saturday because it’s better than Britain’s talent.”
In an attempt to draw in the devoted followers of the jungle show, The Neighbourhood made its premiere during last month’s I’m A Celebrity finale.
“Any sense of jeopardy is conspicuous by its absence,” the Guardian’s two-star review stated.
“Norton only shows up for the welcome and removals-voting, but when he is there, he lifts the energy.”
The Neighbourhood was also labelled as a “tired reality show” by the media.
According to The Telegraph’s two-star review, “The show is full of quirky little design touches like this, and it seems as if the producers have put more thought into how it looks than how engaging it is to watch.”
Even host Graham “can’t save this trippy reality show,” according to The Independent’s three-star assessment.
