Am I the only one sick and tired of channels devoted to predominantly showing over-hyped, over-rated American shows?! C4 has a long history now of showing excellent UK drama and comedies and yet we are being shown more Sopranos, West Wing et al. How about looking in to your own vaults and championing your own talent instead of lining the pockets of the fat-cats in America!!!

no offense but american make better shows then uk

I prefer American shows to British. The only British shows I have loved in recent years were The Office and Extras.

The Sopranos and West Wing are two excellent shows, not to mention shows such as the CSIs, Law and Order, Without A Trace, etc., etc.

But each to their own of course!

I totally disagree that US shows are superior but if you guys like that sort of thing then you have plenty of choice to see them on the endless number of Satellite channels that seem to show nothing else.

I would dearly love to see a British channel celebrate British programmes from the archives if it has a proud tradition of producing them. In this respect C4 qualifies hands down and so it is most disappointing to see the majority of it's output being devoted to repeats of US programmes!

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choice to see them on the endless number of Satellite channels that seem to show nothing else.

not all of us can afford that, i only freeview channels, looking forward SKY 3 coming to freeview in november now that has loads US shows compared to More 4.

It will all be immaterial if my digibox keeps freezing the way it has been doing!

When the analogue signal is switched off that could be the end of me and receiving a telly signal. Would keep the telly and use it to watch videos or dvd's. Just think, I would have more time to listen to all the cd's I have bought over the years! Wow!

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Originally posted by bala:
looking forward SKY 3 coming to freeview in november now that has loads US shows compared to More 4.

Well then you will also love ITV4 if their website is indicative of it's output

At this rate I would be better off moving to Australia - they show more UK shows over there than we do!

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Am I the only one sick and tired of channels devoted to predominantly showing over-hyped, over-rated American shows?! C4 has a long history now of showing excellent UK drama and comedies and yet we are being shown more Sopranos, West Wing et al. How about looking in to your own vaults and championing your own talent instead of lining the pockets of the fat-cats in America!!!

An intelligent, well written show is intelligent and well written regardless of where it was made, a show does not become better or worse simply by being British.

The West Wing and the Sopranos are fine programmes I would hate to be denied the opportunity to watch them simply because they were made in America.

More4 seems to have made a clear commitment to broadcasting British programmes alongside the cream of American television, their flagship drama on launch night was precisely the kind of programme you seem to be hoping to see on this channel, tonight they're showing "Kidnap Ronnie Biggs", and their long running programmes show a commitment to making their own shows rather than just showing syndicated material.

For me however the must-watch programmes are the very ones you are complaining about, the West Wing and the Sopranos are compulsive viewing and I was impressed by the Daily show.

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Well then you will also love ITV4 if their website is indicative of it's output

yes

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Originally posted by PhilJ:

The West Wing and the Sopranos are fine programmes I would hate to be denied the opportunity to watch them simply because they were made in America.

Denied?!?! They are all available on DVD, have been shown endless times on C4 and are hardly NEW! We have CSI's coming out of our ears on all manner of channels and I couldn't care less how good or bad they are I just want to see something of the history of BRITISH television repeated.

My complaint is that C4 has a long history of broadcasting and could use at least one of their channels to prove it by showing some of their own original material which has not been aired as frequently as West Wing or Sopranos regardless of how good you think they are!

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Denied?!?! They are all available on DVD, have been shown endless times on C4 and are hardly NEW! We have CSI's coming out of our ears on all manner of channels and I couldn't care less how good or bad they are I just want to see something of the history of BRITISH television repeated.

Yes, denied! You're advocating not showing programmes which were made outside of the UK regardless of their quality. This series of the West Wing isn't a repeat, it's never been shown before on terrestrial television, and I believe* that this is the first repeat of the Sopranos, so "endless" is hardly justified.

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I couldn't care less how good or bad they are I just want to see something of the history of BRITISH television repeated.

We're clearly polar opposites then, I only care how good or bad a programme is, I don't care where it was made.

More4's aim seems to be to provide the alternative to those channels which are loaded with soaps, banal reality TV programmes, and over-the-top dramas. I believe that to be an admirable goal, and I certainly see no harm in supplementing the programmes they make themselves with the best of American programmes.

Besides which, to judge from their schedule so far they have a strong commitment to creating and showing their own original material.

Nobody likes everything any given channel has to offer (although it's likely you'd love UKTV Gold), if you really have such an aversion to TV from abroad you could pick and choose just the British programmes!


*although I'm not certain on this point

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Originally posted by PhilJ:

Yes, denied! You're advocating not showing programmes which were made outside of the UK regardless of their quality.

Nobody is denying you anything. If ITV and C4 can not be the best marketeers for their own archives then who else can?

The proportion of US v UK content for More4 is disproportionate IMHO. If I watch Paramount or ABC1 or Hallmark I would expect the bias to be heavily American. I find it sad that British owned channels have to mimic them when they sit upon a wealth of home grown material that rarely sees the light of day.

UKGold is a greatest hits channel that has repeated the top 20 sitcoms at least 10 times each. It rarely goes deeper into the archives either which is why it is so disappointing to see another British channel do the same! So you are quite wrong that I watch it!

Ok this is ridiculous but I am responding to my own post.

Here is my choice of viewing on the Entertainment channels on my Sky Planner for 6pm this evening (excluding +1 channels)

BBC1 - News
BBC2 - Snooker
ITV - Local news
C4 - The Simpsons (US)
C5 - Home and Away (Aus)
Sky One - Malcolm in the Middle (US)
Sky Mix - Buffy (US)
UKGold - The A Team (US)
Living TV - Charmed(US)
ITV2 - Judge Judy (US)
ITV3 - L.A. Law (US)
Bravo - Alias (US)
Paramount - Cybill (US)
Paramount 2 - Minder
Sci-Fi - She Spies (US?)
UKDrama - All Creatures Great & Small
E4 - The O.C. (US)
More4 - E.R. (US)
Hallmark - Diagnosis Murder (US)
fx - Cops (US)
ABC1 - Once and Again (US)

So out of 21 channels I can watch 5 UK programmes, 15 US and 1 Australian.

This is my main point that, regardless of quality, there are TOO MANY US programmes on the entertainment channels!

some people are never happy..British programs Russian programs who cares?people pay good money to watch some of the stuff we get here for free.i love the Sopranos and i have the dvds so what?I still watch it on tv,Theres if anything too much British crap on tv.who wants to watch minder and the professionals in 2005 not me.lets be honest British comedy isnt funny unless its full of sexual innuendo or racial stereotyping.Dont even mention British films they are an embaressment mostly.

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Originally posted by bandOFbrothers:
some people are never happy..British programs Russian programs who cares?

What a ridiculous statement.

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Originally posted by bayman:

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Originally posted by bandOFbrothers:
some people are never happy..British programs Russian programs who cares?

What a ridiculous statement.

It's really not - he's making the same point I am, it's quality that matters, not where the programme was made. A good programme is always better than an average one.

I'm not a huge TV watcher. I watch at most four or five hours a week so I don't have sky, just the channels available on freeview, but as a counterpoint to your earlier example, these are the programmes on the five main Terrestrial channels between 6 and 11 tonight:

BBC1

BBC News and Weather (News)
Look North (News)
Star Spell (Entertainment)
EastEnders (Soap)
Holby City (Drama)
Love Soup (Drama)
BBC News (News)
Drama Connections (Documentary)

BBC 2

Snooker Grand Prix (Sport)
People's War (History Documentary)
How to Watch Wildlife (Nature)
Mastermind (Quiz Show)
What the Ancients Did for Us (History Documentary)
Beyond Boundaries (Documentary)
Supernova (Comedy)
Newsnight (News)

ITV1

Calendar (News)
ITV Evening News; Weather (News)
Emmerdale (Soap)
Trapped Inside My Body (Entertainment)
Real Families (Documentary)
The Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards 2005 (Entertainment)
ITV News (News)

Channel 4

The Simpsons (Animation)
Hollyoaks (Soap)
Channel 4 News (News)
3 Minute Wonder (Film)
Property Ladder (Consumer)
The Unteachables (Documentary)
The Closer (Drama)
Whatever Happened to The Minipops? (Documentary)

Channel 5

Home and Away (Soap)
Family Affairs (Soap)
five News (News)
Mad For Poetry (Documentary)
Tim Marlow on British Art Show 6 (Entertainment)
The Search for King Midas's Tomb (History Documentary)
CSI: Miami (Drama)
CSI: New York

The non-British programmes are in bold - as you can see, we're hardly in danger of being overwhelmed by them!

you have the choice of what you want to watch. i do think that there is alot more american shows now more so on the channels outwith 1 to 5

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you have the choice of what you want to watch

Exactly it's upto people perference

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Originally posted by PhilJ:

It's really not - he's making the same point I am, it's quality that matters, not where the programme was made.

Aaargh - no he is not!!!!

The channels you mention are under a quota to ensure more British shows than anything else - THANK GOD!

My point is not the quality of the shows but the quantity!!

This IS the United Kingdom and, inevitably, the output of our television reflects and influences our society. I do not want to live in the USA neither do I want the values and attitudes of that country to inturde on my life as often as they do. Give me more choice as a Briton not an American, give me more choice as a subscriber to Sky or whatever .. OTHER THAN AMERICAN!!!!

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Originally posted by bala:

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you have the choice of what you want to watch

Exactly it's upto people perference

I pay Sky £56 a month for their programming. I think I have an absolute right to complain or give input to the programmes I pay for!!!!!!!!!!