ITV Says To Tycoon Peter Jones: “You’re Fired”
THERE was always something incredibly annoying about the panel on the hit TV show Dragon’s Den; those self-satisfied, smug multi-millionaires passing judgement on contestants.
One such ‘dragon’, the charisma-free entrepreneur Peter Jones, loved being centre of attention so much that he decided to front a new ITV show all of his own. It’s called Tycoon.
And the show, which is nothing more than a carbon-copy of The Apprentice, has failed to attract the kind of viewing figures that Sir Alan Sugar and Co. achieved.
Indeed, after opening with a paltry 2 million viewers last week, Tycoon, which is produced by Jones’ own company – Peter Jones TV - managed to attract only 1.9 million on Tuesday.
ITV have decided to move the show from its prime 9pm slot to a 10pm backwater on Monday, as well as halving the running time to 30 minutes.
Bitter as it might sound, one can’t help but smirk at the failure of the show. Rule No. 1 of being a success in business – don’t make a fool of yourself on a flaccid, tinny copy of another product.
Posted: 28th, June 2007 | In: Money Comments (29) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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September 25th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
26 Michael I - he may be a twat, but he’s not a banker…..?
September 25th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Oi, Tim Page! If you’re not allowed internet access….(Sorry I’m a bit late on this). And if you don’t like HMP Portland, well that old saying about if you can’t do the time would seem most appropriate. Are you still out or did you screw up your licence I wonder?
September 25th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
PJ is getting bloody annoying. He looks like a real c*nt in the MoneySupermarket ads.
June 30th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Peter Jones is a twat.
Him and his ilk are part of the problem we are in right now.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I just came across this blog so I’m over a year late commenting on this! However, I just want to say thanks to Mr. R Branson for his comment. I think you are absolutely spot on. How dare you all slag PJ! You may not like his TV show, so what? This man built himself back up after losing everything including his house. In fact, he’s richer now than he ever was. He was worse off than you BP and still got his ass out of bed in the morning! He’s not only working for himself but he’s helping others each and every day of his life. In case you’ve forgotten, PJ is a successful man and that doesnt come from pure luck. He works hard and he excels at what he does best. So what if his show got cancelled? He didn’t excel at one thing. Big deal!
July 30th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Oi Barnston, NO!
As I said earlier, don’t blame me, blame the system. It is alright for you middle class twerps with your morgages and fancy cars, 2.4 kids etc, why should I get out of bed in a morning for only £5.50 an hour and have loads of bills to pay. I would be much worse off than I am now. Simple mathematics my friend.
When you are at ‘work’ all day and I am strolling round the park and visiting my grandchildren who do you think the loser is now?
I am glad I make you laugh cos people like you make me sick, judging others. I bet everything you have is on the never never anyway.
July 26th, 2007 at 10:11 am
I was let down by the informaton given by Peter Jones TV company who were still promoting ticket sales AFTER they were sold out and I was looking forward to attending the final
I watched it on TV and was then grateful for missing out on a ticket and I was fortunate not to be wasting my time by being there
I prebought Peter’s signed book - which I now do not feel like reading
I wonder if it is going to be of value?
Peter Jones at this time seems to suffering from an overdose ofEGO
I can only sympathise with ITV for getting involved with such a load
of rubbish It should have carried a warning that the programe was
not fit for any viewer to watch
Peter is a successful man in wealth creation but his legasy at this
rate will not be one focused on his many achievements but on his taking
a somewhat successful idea from Dragon’s Den and murdering it
Please close down Peter Jones TV bedfore it causes irreparable damage to him and others
He is a lovely man gone horribly wrong He can always change and I only
hope he will
July 25th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Dear Readers.
Slag Peter Jones and his program of all you like but I bet there’s not one on of you who would’nt mind being £100,000.00 behind him. Barry Pickersgill, You make me laugh, you total loser. How dare you have the balls to remark on Peter Parager. You yourself openly confess to be living of the system because you are better off that way than going to work. I think you should write to Peter Jones and thank him for being so rich because the amount of “TAX”, yes I said TAX Mr Pickersgill that he pays goes towards keeping knobs like you. Sorry Mr Pickersgill I feel I must explain, Tax is something you pay from your income. Not that you would know anything about that.
Regards
R Branson
July 24th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Truly, truly awful. As a business show fan, I was keenly looking forward to this one, but I was so unimpressed I actually turned off with 10 minutes remaining of the first episode. Frankly, it was boring, banal tat. Didn’t bother tuning in again. No wonder it was shunted off to a later slot and cut in half. PJ just doesn’t have the gravitas to convince an audience that he’s worth watching. Sugar has genuine character and a nice Jewish sense of humour. Jones has a few soundbites and almost no personality at all in comparison….
July 11th, 2007 at 11:39 am
The Tycoon contestants call themselves ‘entrepreneurs’. I always thought that you were only considered an entrepreneur when other people viewed you as such based on your success and innovation.
Does trying to sell toy helicopters or hair extensions qualify one as such?
I am selling a motorbike on eBay, does that make me an entrepreneur?
Lots of words seem to have been watered down somewhat lately:
Celebrity - used to be someone who the general public would recognise, how many people do you recognise on Celebrity Love Island and other such crap shows? They have to tell you who they are! (some nobody who shagged some footballer and then sold her story etc).
Consultant - used to be associated with senior professionals eg. doctors, now some spotty-faced 16 year old who works in a recruitment agency is called a ‘Recruitment Consultant’.
Executive - used to be associated with senior business figures, now those annoying twats who ring you up as you sit down for dinner trying to sell you something you are quite capable of enquiring about yourself are called ‘Telesales Executives’. I ask you?
Can anyone think of any more?
July 10th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Only knobheads, I say knobheads watch Tycoon anyway so I dont see what all the debate is about.
July 10th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Until recently I worked for ITV as a scheduler and so know exactly what goes on in these situations. The revenue generated by the adverts in the prime-time slot between 7pm and 10pm accounts for 90% of the total income for an independent TV company and so they cannot afford to air programmes that do not get good ratings during this time. Imagine if you had spent £millions to advertise a product or service during a programme when only a fraction of the potential audience are actually watching. Simple maths I’m afraid.
Tycoon appears to be a kneejerk reaction to the success achieved by BBC’s The Apprentice on which ITV (and Peter Jones TV) were attempting to cash in on. One of the reasons I left was because ITV have little vision and seem to just copy successes from other channels poorly.
I agree with Barry Pickersgill a bit in that ITV do seem to aim at the more unintelligent viewing public, just compare the factual style of BBC news compared to the sensationalised style of ITV news.
Tycoon my arse.
July 10th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
And I forgot:
Sam Houston - History shows that there have been many famous academics, scientists and philosophers called Barry. I wont insult your unintelligence by telling you who they are, you could find out for yourself if you had the intellect to do so. Maybe Peter Jones will tell you when you tune into the next thrilling episode of Tycoon.
July 10th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
WOW! I didn’t expect such a barage of responses, I was only speaking my mind.
My turn:
Rocky Hudson - I shall send you the £5 later today.
Sam Houston - I am on benefits, not because I am lazy but because I would be worse off going to work. I didn’t make the system. Your parting shot just proves my point that unintelligent people watch this type of program. And unlike you I don’t need to wank.
Charles Gallais - Pompous twit.
Peter Parager - Imagine if the country was full of people like you, expecting everyone else to carry you through but not contributing anything yourself. Jade Goody etc etc.
Tim Page - I somehow don’t think that Peter Jones had you in mind when he made the program but good luck to you anyway.
You Tycoon loving charlatans are just confirming what I am saying. Can you not think for yourselves. I bet you voted for Tony Bliar and the rest of his New Labour cronies too.
July 10th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
As a tagged lifer released into the community and who is banned from having internet access, I have to be at home by 9pm every night and so rely heavily on my TV. I love Tycoon and am gutted that it has been chopped to 30 mins instead of the original 1hr slot. I just enjoy it for what it is, easy watching reality TV - nothing more. Like others, I do not want to see a whole new bunch of celebrities come out of it, but c’mon - just watch it for what it is or dont watch it at all.
Try doing a stretch in Portland Prison, you will find very little to complain about in the outside world after that.
July 10th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I know all about failure, ask any of my colleagues, so I know what I am talking about.
We need TV shows like Tycoon to inspire us misfits who cannot seem to do anything right but can still believe that one lucky break is all you need.
Apprentice, Tycoon, Dragon’s Den etc, I love em.
Some say I remind them of Mr Burns from Simpsons, he is successful!
July 10th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
As an acqaintance of the aforementioned Peter Jones I would like to take this opportunity to express my sadness at his public humiliation. What people do not understand is that you only see a fraction of the whole film and the cutters did not do a particularly good job on this occasion. Peter was rather stovepiped into airing this program even though he was not completely happy with it himself.
And for the record, Peter is one of the most humble people you could ever meet and certainly not a ‘look at me’ type of chap.
As one myself who has tried to run an organisation but failed miserably, I sympathise with Peter and ask that people with nothing better to do give him a break.
July 10th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Not one who is known to express my opinions publicly, I am in full agreement with BP and RH. There should be more sci-fi on TV, not this reality nonsense which is frankly rubbish. The Teasdale houshold does not subscribe to such manipulation and cannot understand how the TV companies get away with it. After a day loafing at work I require something a little more engaging than Tycoon and the like.
When Peter Jones last left Scunthorpe, they renamed it Shorpe (you work it out).
July 10th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I am one of these ‘unintelligent’ people that Mr Pickersgill is referring to because I like to watch this type of show. If Mr Pickaskill (btw, Barry is a very intelligent name) doesn’t want to watch Tycoon then why doesn’t he switch over, or better still go and have a wank. That is what I do when there is nothing on worth watching (which is quite often). Mr Hudson could ‘give him a hand’ if he can’t work out what to do.
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all watched dramas and documentaries.
Are you a lazy work-shy benefit claiming opinionated arsehole by any chance Mr P? I thought so, so please don’t have a go at the not so lazy work-shy benefit claiming PJ and contestants.
Prick.
July 10th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Well said Mr Pickersgill, at last someone ‘normal’.
I can’t agree more, the TV people seem to tell us what to watch, not screen the types of programs we actually want to watch. How much does Tycoon cost to make compared to a good drama or investagative documentary - a fraction.
Why can’t people be successful without the need to invade my living room to tell me so. This is just a ‘look at me’ exercise copied from Apprentice UK which was copied from Apprentice USA. Next we will have near identical programs on each channel about the lives of a local community centred around a pub where everyone has very public disagreements but they all work in the same street/square/village in which they all live just like we all do in real life.
Peter Jones can kiss my swingers.
July 10th, 2007 at 10:50 am
What a load of absolute shite. Why can’t they just accept that a program can be done well once without having to kick the arse out of it until it dies a long and painfull death. Why do ITV and PJ even think we are so unintelligent that we will want to watch this crap.
What a world we live in!
July 9th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Actually I think this sort coverage is very helpful to the general public whom have idea’s, but are unsure of how to drive their product forward. This enables you to have a far better understanding of the proceedures you should be following.
So hear, hear to Mr Peter Jones, I shall certainly continue to watch this interesting programme.
July 8th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Peter Jones is no doubt a successful businessman. But his obsession with needing to be a media star has clouded his judgment with this show. Yes I was interested to see it, partly because I was interested in the concept and also because I’m in business myself.
Bottom line is, the ideas were lame and PJ should stick to viewing Angel presentations which take place all over the country if he wants to invest in businesses.
Why is it that some successful people insist on wanting to be TV stars -they only end up looking like fools. eg. Matthew Pinsent reading the graveyard shift sports news.
Get over it and stick to your field Peter Jones. You just don’t cut the mustard.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I was looking forward to watching this, and so I did. I was looking forward to adopting certain individuals and their stories into my living room, but I’m afraid no one caught my attention; still it had a breeze of view ability.
I originally thought this was about seeing fresh new ideas, inventions and directives, but I soon realised it was about creating an entrepreneur. As each individual came into play I was gob smacked with some of these people, alright I know about editing and done well you can build tension, excitement or even make someone look a complete fool. The woman with the drink that’s been done before, couldn’t even come up with an original name as my 11 year old soon rolled off a few ideas in front of me. I think Peter Jones finally stepped in to help her with the name.
The hair extensions lady, I really miss the point on this so I’m not even going to comment on it, well apart from my daughter buying some at Christmas that do the same job and blend in well with her hair colour (could these be the same).
The School magazine, well after his first proof, I wouldn’t be surprised that students up and down the country were laughing and thinking “I could do better” I work at several schools and already this has been a discussion in class.
Now we get to the guy with the helicopter, I have no idea if these are his micro helicopters, but bigpockets.co.uk a UK website have been selling these for possibly a year now, and they cost around £12 -£25.
Final Verdict: will watch it still, thank goodness it’s been reduced to 30 minutes, but if it clashes with anything else forget it.
July 4th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Dear People
I was one of the last 80 who got through, and they were a great bunch with lots of personality and ideas. In fact lots of us had businesses already look at my website. But Mr Jones was only interested in weak people he could shout at, ideas rejected included:
Alloy wheel protection - Peter Jones reply was he didn’t see it as a problem!! the reposte not from the back seat!!
Natural nail colouring - the lady alreday had a European grant!!
In fact two of the people on the show I spent a lot of time with and were great fun but slightly done before ideas.
But what is that all about the girl with the hair extensions!!!!! only slightly been done before!!! Has he ever been to Green Lanes North London.
What a goon!!
July 4th, 2007 at 9:11 am
I can’t believe that the six that were chosen were the best of all the thousands of so-called entries!
There’s no denying that Peter Jones is a successful businessman. However it obviously it wasn’t dependent on his personality.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
As my old boss used to say, Peter Jones is an “entremanure”.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:04 am
I think there should be a programme where inventors get a chance to give a bunch of lazy, smug, fat cat millionnaires a hard time.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
so Tycoon to twat in one fell swoop then?