Not sure if you missed it or not, but the channel's controller has indicated a new original drama is in the pipeline with more details expected to be announced soon. They've sort of put the kibosh on comedy though - even imported. Despite a change of ownership and numerous controllers coming and going, the wounds from Joey still havent healed!
I can't say I blame them though as it's such a tough genre to get right. I'm sure I could count on one hand the number of scripted comedies I've liked in the past few years and I don't think I'm alone in that regard. Whilst the BBC should be commended for still being strong supporters albeit without facing the same ratings pressures as the commercial channels, too much of it leaves you wondering how on earth it got commissioned (like In with the Flynns). And as ITV has shown, even the ones with a lot of confidence behind them (like Vicious) can end up not hitting the spot for viewers. C4 are still doing some good stuff (Peep Show being the obvious example) but it's hardly working on a ratings level. Sky meanwhile haven't had a huge amount of joy here either despite a fair amount of investment (Spy, which received mostly excellent reviews, was cancelled after two series).
I'm not sure comedy is what people turn to C5 for anyway and it would probably just get lost. A panel show might work around BB but TV is hardly short on those at the moment. I think concentrating on strengthening their drama proposition with some compelling originals to complement their quality roster of imports from around the world is the way to go.
I think they should concentrate on getting an original drama or two before concentrating in comedy. Its a difficult genre to do. I think starting off with US comedy and panel shows would be the best way forward before commissioning a sitcom, given who well Whose Line is it Anway has done for The CW maybe 5 should consider commissioning a new series of it along with acquiring the US version.
With regard to Mel Smith, older members of the forum will remember him in Not The Nine O Clock News. Not was BBC2's biggest rated show of the early eighties, pulling in 10 million viewers for its final series, and was well ahead of the real news on BBC1.
Channel 5 now pulling ahead of Channel 4. Surely a shake up is needed and some new programming instead of the same tired shows and shows about medical freak conditions.
I know some people on here look down on Channel 5, but a supposed low rent channel with apparently nothing on is becoming the fourth channel. A revamped BB, the Aussie hour, American crime dramas, decent factual and classic films seem to be getting the viewers.
Most of Channel 4's problems lately have been due to new shows.
I think Jay Hunt will be in for a tough ride at Edinburgh. But a good run in autumn will make everyone forget about a bad summer. I guess the issue is whether they have the shows to make a good autumn.
Homeland will be back. But they don't exactly have an equivalent to X Factor/I'm A Celeb/Doc Martin/Downton Abbey where we know that even if those shows are down, they'll still ensure good ratings.
Most of Channel 4's problems lately have been due to new shows.
I think Jay Hunt will be in for a tough ride at Edinburgh. But a good run in autumn will make everyone forget about a bad summer. I guess the issue is whether they have the shows to make a good autumn.
Homeland will be back. But they don't exactly have an equivalent to X Factor/I'm A Celeb/Doc Martin/Downton Abbey where we know that even if those shows are down, they'll still ensure good ratings.
If Channel 4 launched an equivalent to TXF, then people would see it as a cynical attempt to gain viewers and also a move into ITV territory, which Channel 4 isn't supposed to be about. No a decent drama is what they need, remember The Far Pavilions in 1985, a period drama, pulled in 13 million viewers.
The EastEnders omnibus was on this afternoon instead of tomorrow.
However, there's no sport on tomorrow- instead the Jessica Biel film Easy Virtue and the Barbra Streisand film The Way We Were will air in the EE slot.
EE will be on Saturday next week as well.
The BBC must want rid of the omnibus- shoving it from day to day. And having a Jessica Biel film on tomorrow means they have no faith in the omnibus.
There's plenty that rates solidly for C5 regularly outside of cricket and Big Brother, most of the channel's US drama output rates highly for example (with one or two exceptions). Cool theory about September though. You must be an expert on shows that haven't launched yet as well because unlike ITV where it's the same old stuff every autumn C5 has a load of new shows out. Since we don't know in advance how those will do, we can't say definitively what will happen to its audience share. Not to mention the radical schedule overhaul which is in the pipeline (not yet known when this will be and/or what may or may not happen in the 7pm hour).
Ignore him dancc he's worse than me for slating the bbc getting quite tiring now same as he slates 5:(
The EastEnders omnibus was on this afternoon instead of tomorrow.
However, there's no sport on tomorrow- instead the Jessica Biel film Easy Virtue and the Barbra Streisand film The Way We Were will air in the EE slot.
EE will be on Saturday next week as well.
The BBC must want rid of the omnibus- shoving it from day to day. And having a Jessica Biel film on tomorrow means they have no faith in the omnibus.
It's because BBC2 last week had sport and there is next week so they just decided to
keep it in the Saturday slot for the time being rather than the switch Sat,Sun,Sat.
Next Sunday there's Tom Daley Diving and womens Football.
Oh for Christ's sake. 15 out of the first 20 posts on one page hidden with that daft "this post has been hidden" banner. Why oh why won't DS allow us to choose to not know that posts by certain users are there rather than just 'cover them up'
I'm in a ranty mood tonight, clearly, because I just posted this on the 'Your Face Sounds Familiar' thread:
"
Everything about ITV's idea of light entertainment just makes me cringe. I'm not even sorry. This could only get any worse if Simon Cowell was making money out of it. What are Alexander Armstrong and Denise Lewis doing sharing a stage with all these desperates who've achieved the square root of nothing in their lives?! Embarrassing
"
I can't stand to watch The X Factor, but after sitting through over an hour of that rubbish in an attempt to avoid the 700th repeat of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' on BBC1 I think I might be glad for Simon Cowell's rubbish to return to our screens! Horrendous excuse for Saturday night 'entertainment'. Hope it gets the sub-1m viewers it deserves. :mad:
Yeah I think it will.....It's ok showing it once on a Saturday but back to back is a bit too much.
I flicked ITV on this afternoon to find Mr & Mrs :eek:
An episode of a classic comedy like Mr Bean would have been better.
I dunno....first time I have watched it thought and was a bit :eek: at how bad it was.
Yeah. Ian Hyland pretty much said the same in his column. Lacking the fun factor and takes itself too seriously for what it is. Like YBF the concept feels outdated anyway.
Ratings still declining too. No excuses tonight either as the weather was no great shakes.
Absolutely nothing good on tonight except for Top of the Lake, but I haven't seen episode 1 yet....
I was pleasantly surprised by how well this rated last week. Always brave putting first run drama on a Saturday night, so good to see it paying off handsomely. Hopefully the dropoff isn't too significant.
Also tonight at 10: US drama The Americans on ITV takes on film The American on C4. Not confusing at all for anyone casually scrolling through the EPG!
Yeah. Ian Hyland pretty much said the same in his column. Lacking the fun factor and takes itself too seriously for what it is. Like YBF the concept feels outdated anyway.
Emma Bunton (from what I gather) was the nastier Judge...god knows why on earth they picked those three :rolleyes:
paddy mcguinness tries to be funny but ends up looking a tit because simply no-one is actually laughing
Men dressed as women and Women dressed as Justin Bieber
could have been funny to watch had they not taken themselves too seriously.
YBF was good (as was Beadles about) but it's been shown so much and isn't actually funny at all. I guess it's just cheap filler.
Regarding YBF people tend to just watch such clips on Youtube and so on now a days anyway.
There's only so many times you can see a Cat fall of a chair or see someone fall into the swimming pool.
With regard to Mel Smith, older members of the forum will remember him in Not The Nine O Clock News. Not was BBC2's biggest rated show of the early eighties, pulling in 10 million viewers for its final series, and was well ahead of the real news on BBC1.
I'd like to see early Alas Smith & Jones get a repeat. It aged much better than NTNOCN. Did 'Not' rate better than The Young Ones?
I was pleasantly surprised by how well this rated last week. Always brave putting first run drama on a Saturday night, so good to see it paying off handsomely. Hopefully the dropoff isn't too significant.
Also tonight at 10: US drama The Americans on ITV takes on film The American on C4. Not confusing at all for anyone casually scrolling through the EPG!
It should hold (I hope)
But its a one off miniseries so I'm not hugely bothered if it doesnt rate that good
Comments
I think they should concentrate on getting an original drama or two before concentrating in comedy. Its a difficult genre to do. I think starting off with US comedy and panel shows would be the best way forward before commissioning a sitcom, given who well Whose Line is it Anway has done for The CW maybe 5 should consider commissioning a new series of it along with acquiring the US version.
Most of Channel 4's problems lately have been due to new shows.
I think Jay Hunt will be in for a tough ride at Edinburgh. But a good run in autumn will make everyone forget about a bad summer. I guess the issue is whether they have the shows to make a good autumn.
Homeland will be back. But they don't exactly have an equivalent to X Factor/I'm A Celeb/Doc Martin/Downton Abbey where we know that even if those shows are down, they'll still ensure good ratings.
Agree. It's the coolest day in around 2 weeks, so I expect it to be up a little.
If Channel 4 launched an equivalent to TXF, then people would see it as a cynical attempt to gain viewers and also a move into ITV territory, which Channel 4 isn't supposed to be about. No a decent drama is what they need, remember The Far Pavilions in 1985, a period drama, pulled in 13 million viewers.
However, there's no sport on tomorrow- instead the Jessica Biel film Easy Virtue and the Barbra Streisand film The Way We Were will air in the EE slot.
EE will be on Saturday next week as well.
The BBC must want rid of the omnibus- shoving it from day to day. And having a Jessica Biel film on tomorrow means they have no faith in the omnibus.
Ignore him dancc he's worse than me for slating the bbc getting quite tiring now same as he slates 5:(
keep it in the Saturday slot for the time being rather than the switch Sat,Sun,Sat.
Next Sunday there's Tom Daley Diving and womens Football.
Did the ITV announcer still refer to the show's website as being "itv.com slash your face." :eek:
Still chuckling at that from Ian Hyland's column in the week. Classic!
I flicked ITV on this afternoon to find Mr & Mrs :eek:
An episode of a classic comedy like Mr Bean would have been better.
I dunno....first time I have watched it thought and was a bit :eek: at how bad it was.
I'm in a ranty mood tonight, clearly, because I just posted this on the 'Your Face Sounds Familiar' thread:
"
Everything about ITV's idea of light entertainment just makes me cringe. I'm not even sorry. This could only get any worse if Simon Cowell was making money out of it. What are Alexander Armstrong and Denise Lewis doing sharing a stage with all these desperates who've achieved the square root of nothing in their lives?! Embarrassing
"
I can't stand to watch The X Factor, but after sitting through over an hour of that rubbish in an attempt to avoid the 700th repeat of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' on BBC1 I think I might be glad for Simon Cowell's rubbish to return to our screens! Horrendous excuse for Saturday night 'entertainment'. Hope it gets the sub-1m viewers it deserves. :mad:
Ratings still declining too. No excuses tonight either as the weather was no great shakes.
Also tonight at 10: US drama The Americans on ITV takes on film The American on C4. Not confusing at all for anyone casually scrolling through the EPG!
paddy mcguinness tries to be funny but ends up looking a tit because simply no-one is actually laughing
Men dressed as women and Women dressed as Justin Bieber
could have been funny to watch had they not taken themselves too seriously.
YBF was good (as was Beadles about) but it's been shown so much and isn't actually funny at all. I guess it's just cheap filler.
Regarding YBF people tend to just watch such clips on Youtube and so on now a days anyway.
There's only so many times you can see a Cat fall of a chair or see someone fall into the swimming pool.
I'd like to see early Alas Smith & Jones get a repeat. It aged much better than NTNOCN. Did 'Not' rate better than The Young Ones?
I suspect DS haven't put them up because they're not tape-checked again.
But its a one off miniseries so I'm not hugely bothered if it doesnt rate that good