Where do you start with ITV1? It comes from a good family, and in the past its elder brothers and sisters have always done well in class. In fact, they've been a joy to teach. However, recently this pupil has consistently failed to deliver. On a really massive scale. In fact, this teacher has pretty much given up trying to help this pupil, and no matter how many private, one-on-one after-school sessions it's treated to, it still doesn't produce the grades. Last year's school report said this: "Lazy, uninspired, an insult to the nation's rapidly dwindling intelligence. Must do better" Not the greatest, then. But a year has passed, and the channel has Peter Fincham onboard. So things are looking up. Or are they?

Let's face it. ITV1 is f***ed. The BBC is taking over the world and has embraced the whole cross-platform concept beautifully. You could say that the BBC is the first, real 21st century broadcaster. In contrast, ITV1 seems stuck in a vicious circle - it needs to make ratings-hitting television to attract the deserting advertisers, but people with more than one brain cell who like watching television desperately want to watch at least semi-intelligent fare. The network also has a catch-up service, but it has been criminally under-publicised and doesn't work on computers like mine. Grrr.

Although your Jeremy Kyles, your This Mornings and your Loose Womens still cater for the celeb-mag crowd (read into that description what you will), there has been signs that the channel has at least tried to produce interesting television in the past year. Unfortunately, when I say tried I mean tried and pretty much failed.

News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald? Awful. Get A Grip with Alexa Chung and Ben Elton? Like watching two people in a fingernail-scraping-down-a-blackboard contest. Trinny And Susannah's various series? OK, but haven't rated. 24 Hours With... and Tough Gig? Decent ideas and really rather good but cluelessly scheduled. Pushing Daisies? Looked good but was annoying, and ITV1 decided to muck about with the running order, which pissed many people off.

So it is trying. Trying very hard indeed. But it seems to lack the courage to really get behind its interesting shows, and the ones that it thinks are sure-fire hits are really dreadful.

There are some bright lights. Weekends are still doing well, thanks to stuff like The X Factor and anything with Ant and Dec. Primeval is a rare example of ITV1 drama that does well across the board.

It's also very good at Sunday night period dramas - Kingdom may be boring, but it rates very highly; The Royal and Heartbeat and Midsomer Murder cannot be touched. Weekends on ITV1 are its powerhouse.

And there are good things happening at the moment. Lost In Austen is popular with critics but didn't rate brilliantly (I really hope it does very well), and Our John is currently really enjoying The Children. Law And Order: UK comes to ITV1 next year and should be massive, and there are some crime dramas to come in the autumn that look really good.

So all is not lost. The channel's sporting coverage also received a shot in the arm with the signing up of England football internationals and the FA Cup, although any armchair footie fan shudders at the prospect of any extra football on ITV1 - poor presenters, poor commentators and really bad pundits.

But overall, ITV1 is ITV1. I feel really sorry for the channel in some ways. It's under threat from some of the multi-channels and is being battered (in terms of quality) by the BBC. I really hope Peter Fincham can shake it up and produce some quality, because we need a flourishing and creative ITV1. But, at the end of the day, if people want 100 Best Police Takedowns or whatever, then that's what the people will get. If that happens, I'll continue not to watch.

Teacher's comment: Although ITV1 shows willingness, it suffers from a lack of confidence and poor decision making. It needs to regain confidence before other pupils start to do better and overtake it in class, and stop the habit of taking one step forward and two steps back. All that and make some decent television programmes.

Grade: D+