The Channel 4 discussion is interesting. I can never quite work the channel out. It seems to have a split personality: at once both too populist and not populist enough, if you get what I mean!
On one hand, theres almost an air of snobbery about the channel - like they're so desperate to prove how niche and clever they are that they forget to make stuff big audiences actually want to watch too. In entertainment, they seem to actively recoil from the broad, popular stuff (I remember an executive reacting with horror at the prospect of picking up The Voice which was "far too derivative"). When they do homegrown drama, it seems to be short-run, mostly satirical or dark, or rather clever niche stuff that'll hover around a million viewers and never anything that might actually take on the Shameless mantle. When they import drama, you get the sense they'd rather turn to a niche US cable offering than a broader show that might actually act as a ratings-winner. And when they do land a scripted hit like Glee, The Inbetweeners, even Skins (it seems to invariably happen on the digital channels...) they don't seem keen to actually promote it to the main channel and make a proper meal, or a schedule, out of it.
It's all very laudable, but then when it comes to some other genres or areas it lurches in completely the opposite direction. "Derivativeness" be damned when they poach Mary Portas or Jimmy Doherty to host yet another mission doc. Or flog DOND or CDWM to within an inch of their lives (and beat down their ratings in the process). Or when they chuck 'Teen Sex' into a programme title to try and find some viewers. Or when E4 throws itself head-first into Desperate Scousewives and Made in Chelsea in a vain attempt to catch ITV2. Or when More 4 just abandons any pretence or creativity and restyles itself as a light factual repeats channel. Those decisions are obviously ratings-based commercial ones, so while they're at it, can they kindly get over themselves and try some fun entertainment or scripted programming that isn't trying to subvert anything?
I know there's a lot of generalisations in this rant (it did get a bit ranty, didn't it
), but I think there's some truth in there too. I'm looking forward to seeing how New Girl performs in January, because that seems to mark something of a return to US comedy that hasn't been siphoned off to E4. I can only hope it injects a bit of life to a Friday schedule that seems to have been the biggest victim of the decline of non-factual genres in recent years.
It's interesting looking at that how ITV have clearly not spent a great deal on their Xmas schedule, and have just commissioned to try and hold up, which on the whole, they have.