Friends, Big Brother, Friends, Big Brother [And A Hell Lot Of Other Stuff Too Promise!] (E4)

Member Name: GramiWay

Product:	E4
Date:	11/06/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Shows ahead of screening on C4, advertising, loads of good shows

Disadvantages: Lots of repeats, constant Big Brother in the summer is evil

Channel 4 is perhaps ridiculed the most out of the five terrestrial channels though in terms of subsequent channels that are broadcast by each of them, E4 wins hands down against all the others.

E4 was first launched by its parent channel in 2001 though at the time you had to pay extra to access it. However as time has progressed the channel has now become available through most of the digital formats on offer in the UK and Ireland such as Sky Digital or Freeview.

E4 is designed to be a more younger and 'trendy' alternative to Channel 4 which despite showing a lot of shows aimed at a younger audience, still has a lot of programmes built for older viewers. E4 states that it is primarily dedicated at those in the 15-35 year old age gap as there is a very American heavy schedule showing all the current top US dramas like 'Ugly Betty', 'Smallville' '90210' and 'Desperate Housewives' surrounding them in endless reruns of 'Friends' and 'Scrubs' amongst others. There's also a far bunch of British dramas as well such as the critically acclaimed 'Skins' and the brilliant comedy series 'The Inbetweeners'. The great thing about the channel is that most of these shows are screened in advance of their arrival on Channel 4 and there are often two or more occasions in which you catch new episodes over the week. This is also true of 'Hollyoaks' the British soap with the next day's episode being aired on E4 a day in advance after the current episode on Channel 4. there is also an omnibus edition at weekends. This obsession with 'repeating' shows is one of E4's weaknesses though as it repeats shows more than any other digital channel in my opinion, in particular the aforementioned 'Friends' which airs four times a day almost everyday.

One thing that also bugs the hell out of me is that whenever Big Brother is on air, virtually every hour of the day on the channel is dedicated to what is in my opinion, the most pointless TV creation in British history.

Other shows that air on E4 not mentioned above include: My Name Is Earl, Phonejacker, Wife Swap, Ghost Whisperer, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls, Roswell and also various music programmes which are often screened in the morning.

E4's advertising campaigns are probably its most notorious feature using the voice over of Peter Dickson who provides constant humour and rather rude comments about the show's during trailers, sometimes even taking on the role of narrator over some of the clips from upcoming programmes.

The channel rarely changes its schedule which means you can probably catch the same shows at the same time every day minus the 'primetime' viewing slot where most often they'll be exclusives and such to the channel.

For me the channel is just great to sit back and watch classic episodes of shows like 'The OC' or 'Friends' and 'Scrubs' even if you have seen them loads of times before.

All in all I find it to be a pretty valuable channel to have in your arsenal of digital offerings as there's consistantly good shows one after another and you can guarentee that it will always fill in the background silence when entertaining or such.

Summary: One of the better digital channels