Xena on Channel 5 - Series Three


Series Three of Xena:Warrior Princess began on Channel 5 on October 9th 1999, showing at 8.05pm. Previous seasons began in September, this third season almost a month later.
The BARB Web Site is my source for these viewing figures

(Series One) (Series Two) (Series Three)


date

title

position

viewers

re-runs

Oct 9 The Furies number 18 1.2 million
Oct 16 Been There, Done That number 17 1.19 million
Oct 23 The Dirty Half Dozen number 15 1.35 million
Oct 30 The Deliverer not listed less than 0.91 million
Nov 13 Gabrielle's Hope number 25 0.93 million
Nov 20 King of Assassins number 17 1.27 million
Nov 27 Warrior..Priestess..Tramp number 15 1.24 million
Dec 4 The Debt 1&2 number 21 1.24 million
Dec 11 The Quill is Mightier number 24 0.97 million
Dec 18 Maternal Instincts number 12 1.41 million
Jan 1 The Bitter Suite not ranked less than 0.9 million
Jan 15 One Against an Army number 23 1.12 million
Jan 29 Forgiven number 23 1.03 million
Feb 5 King Con number 28 0.96 million
Feb 19 When in Rome number 28 1.07 million
Feb 26 Forget Me Not number 28 0.87 million
March 4 Fins, Femmes and Gems number 29 0.89 million
March 11 Tsunami number 22 1.14 million
March 17 Vanishing Act number 29 0.93 million
March 25 Sacrifice 1 number 30 0.85 million
March 31 Sacrifice 2 number 28 0.77 million

The episode King of Assassins was shown out of order as was Warrior, Priestess, Tramp. Channel 5 edited parts 1 and 2 of The Debt together into a movie and showed it late on December 4th.
No XENA was shown on January 8th 2000 as Channel 5 felt fans would be watching Manchester United play football in the World Club Championships on BBC1. None was shown on January 22nd due to a theme weekend of Sci-Fi programmes.
From Vanishing Act onwards, Xena has been moved to Fridays on Channel 5.

The sharp decline in the ratings in Y2000 is quite noticable. Have the UK public gone off the Warrior Princess? Well NO, OF COURSE NOT!! A closer look at the dates of the episodes shows that since Christmas, Channel 5 have messed around with the showing of XENA so much that viewers seem to have lost track of it. First, showing The Bitter Suite on New Years Day, tha day after the biggest New Years Eve celebrations ever, then a 2 week wait. One Against an Army got an average rating but the next break seems to have done the damage. Another 2 week wait and then the decidedly underwhelming Forgiven, folowed by another dud, King Con. Then it was 2 weeks wait again before the slightly less than thrilling When in Rome. Two weeks of normal programming followed, but then the show was moved to a Friday night where it clashed with brand new episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show that has a very similar audience to Xena. I know of many Xena fans who had the dilemma of seeing new Buffy episodes or Xena episodes that were on Sky 2 years ago. I know *I* went for Buffy! However, this has lead to one of the very best episodes ever, Sacrifice 1 & 2, having a paltry audience. Channel 5 seem to have lost interest. Sadly, their messing around coincided with a few of the lesser episodes of a strong season. A shame.

Email Channel 5 with any comments about the way they are treating the show.

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