Quote: Aaron @ December 1, 2006, 9:56 PM

Russell Brand is a complete and utter twat. I don't see the appeal. About as funny as Jam & Jerusalem.

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Russell Brand fills that slot that Channel 4 have had on a Friday ever since the days of The Word and Club X (remember that?). There always has to be a 'wacky and irreverent' show, which usually translates as sh*t. Charlotte Church, Johnny Vegas (what the hell was that called?), The Friday Night Project (I never liked this much), The Girly Show (!!!), etc, etc. Didn't Denise Van Outen do something really awful as well?

Some friends urged me to watch Brand in the summer and he just looked like a bloke constantly wired. Suppose people must like him.

Anyway...back to the thread!

Where Channel 4 has been unlucky recently is with the US sitcoms. They were very reliant on Frasier and Friends in past years. Saying that, even Frasier was bumped off into an obscure midweek slot towards the end of its run.

Johnny Vegas's show was called 18 Stone of Idiot. I think.

And Denise van Outen IS something really awful, no?

I think some of the comments surrounding Friday and Saturday nights are a bit off. The idea that broadcasters don't bother on a Friday and Saturday night doesn't make any sense. Why would the BBC ask Jonathan Ross, one of their highest paid presenters, to work on a Friday night if they didn't care? Why would they spend so much money assembling the cast of Jam and Jerusalem? Why would C4 broadcast new episodes of The Simpsons?

The truth is that there is MORE effort put into the shows on a Friday night. Just look at the number of original shows that are on on that day of the week as opposed to the other days. That was the point that I was making. There are too many comedies on Friday nights and not enough on the other days of the week.

Quote: Aaron @ December 1, 2006, 9:56 PM

Russell Brand is a complete and utter twat. I don't see the appeal. About as funny as Jam & Jerusalem.

What's this? I must have missed something.

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Green Wing is to be shown in Australia first, before it is shown in Britain. See the main Green Wing page.

Bah! That's bloody odd!

Why would they spend so much money assembling the cast of Jam and Jerusalem?

Do I really have to answer that?

Why would C4 broadcast new episodes of The Simpsons?

Because they're desperate. Most of their recent Friday evening shows have flopped. C4 needs a hit and The Simpsons is a surefire thing. Other than that, their best programme at the moment is My Name is Earl which puts Blunder etc to shame.

Do you understand the point that I'm trying to make though Wheeler? Now Jam and Jerusalem may be poor but it still takes a lot more money and effort to make a show like this than it does to make a docusoap. If they couldn't be bothered with Friday nights then they would show the more expensive show on another day.

The same goes for successful shows like HIGNFY and Q.I. If the BBC thought that Friday nights didn't matter they would move these shows to another evening.

The argument doesn't make sense. Both BBC and C4 have put a lot of money and effort into comedies like Not Going Out, Jam and Jerusalem, J Ross, Blunder, Dean Learner, Q.I., HIGNFY, 8 Out of 10 Cats and many, many other new shows on Friday nights. How can anybody possibly argue that they 'don't bother'? Why would C4 have spent so much advertising Unanimous if they hadn't had some faith in it to begin with?

Can anybody name any other day of the week which has as many original, written shows?

Quote: Nick @ December 2, 2006, 12:24 PM

The truth is that there is MORE effort put into the shows on a Friday night.

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No, the truth is that there are lots of shows but most of them are not worth watching. The days of Channel 4's Friday evening schedule offering up innovative, funny programmes are long gone. What was the last programme in that slot that was worth staying in for? Hmmm, let's see...Stay in and watch the lazy, feeble Blunder or go out and sink a few pints? Tough one.

Nick, the point of the argument is that they don't put the effort into creating shows which are actually WORTH watching.

And, if you notice, most of those shows which you have noted are within an hour or so of one another. There isn't any consistency across the evening. Generally it'll be a few 'good' shows around 7-9pm, and then shit all afterwards (and I'm talking across the stations here, not just Channel 4).

The BBC are a bit less guilty of this than the other channels - certainly at the moment at least - but they're by no means innocent or blameless. They all take the audience for granted. There's no real drive to get viewers in. They just continue to pump out the same old pap, in various formats, year in, year out.

I think that those lower in the chain have already begun to realise this, but by the time it really gets through to the channel controllers and commissioners sufficiently enough for them to take action, it will be too late. They will have already lost an entire generation. Hell, it's already happening. YouTube wouldn't have made the headlines this week if there was anything actually worth watching on TV.

that we have to watch it after Australia-yes I apologise to any present Aussies...

It's not true though is it. A new episode of The Simpsons is broadcast at 9.30 and J Ross is on at 10.35. The channels don't spend a lot of money on these shows because they think nobody will want to watch them.

Quote: Nick @ December 2, 2006, 2:27 PM

Do you understand the point that I'm trying to make though Wheeler? Now Jam and Jerusalem may be poor but it still takes a lot more money and effort to make a show like this than it does to make a docusoap. If they couldn't be bothered with Friday nights then they would show the more expensive show on another day.

The same goes for successful shows like HIGNFY and Q.I. If the BBC thought that Friday nights didn't matter they would move these shows to another evening.

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I understand the point you're making. My point is that Channel Four has become complacent. They're churning out lots of shows but most of them are formulaic. I don't believe that any of the shows in their current Friday evening line up would benefit from a move to another evening. Blunder didn't flop because it went out on a Friday evening. It flopped because it is a crap sketch show and we've been inundated with crap sketch shows in recent years. Viewers are tired of being served up the same old slop. From my point of view, Channel 4 used to be the best place for comedy on Friday evenings. It isn't anymore and that has nothing to do with crowded schedules and everything to do with rubbish, unimaginative programmes churned out by people who appear to hold their audiences in contempt.

Quote: Wheeler @ December 3, 2006, 2:25 PM

Blunder didn't flop because it went out on a Friday evening. It flopped because it is a crap sketch show and we've been inundated with crap sketch shows in recent years. Viewers are tired of being served up the same old slop. From my point of view, Channel 4 used to be the best place for comedy on Friday evenings. It isn't anymore and that has nothing to do with crowded schedules and everything to do with rubbish, unimaginative programmes churned out by people who appear to hold their audiences in contempt.

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There's a lot of truth in that. Plenty of good comedy is still about. Its just that at the moment, more of it is on BBC than on 4.

Swings and roundabouts though. In a few months, the debate could be turned on its head and Friday night Channel 4 could be great again. Here's hoping.

A lot of money is indeed spent on Friday night shows.

I wouldn't say Channel 4 were becoming complacent though... they're desperate for a hit and know they're in trouble at the moment (hence bringing the broadcasts of IT Crowd and Peep Show forward). I'd call their current new 'comedy' shows "playing it safe"... which is exactly what they shouldn't be doing if they want to make us laugh again!

What I do find odd though is that they own the rights to the very funny "Scrubs" yet choose to put that on E4 and put the astoundingly bad "Blunder" on their main channel instead.

I agree with the comment about 'Scrubs' and I think they could have pushed 'My Name Is Earl' a little harder too.