Gimme Give Entertainment (Five)

Member Name: utero

Product:	Five
Date:	16/04/07 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good US Programming, Well Scheduled, Decent Primetime Entertainment

Disadvantages: Sometimes puts The Shield on far too late

Ten years ago Channel Five came onto the air in a haze of fuzz, poor reception and even poorer programming. The output mainly consisted of cheap imported programmes and a deluge of soft smut to satisfy those who rolled in late on a Friday night.

However with the advent of digital, more homes were able to get the channel with a great reception, more viewers have meant that in recent years Five has steadily shown themselves to be pretty canny with their output.

Compare the channel now with the other four and you’ll find that the cream of US entertainment is shown by Five. Some may say this is a bad thing but in all honesty some of the shows the US are putting out at the moment beat any UK attempts hands down. It probably all started around 2001 when Five picked up the rights to show CSI, the top rated drama in the US. Under a slow fanfare the show has built up a great following in the UK and across the world, subsequently the success lead to Five acquiring other quality shows. In recent years we’ve been treated to The Shield, Boomtown, Prison Break, Big Love, House and more recently Shark and Grays Anatomy.

If you’ve seen none of these shows then I recommend you try and catch them as they make compelling viewing. I’m also an admirer of how Five schedule such shows. Watching hit US shows at a reasonable time in the UK had always been a problem, the BBC have never got it right and only ever paid attention to 24 when they had it. Other than that gems such as Seinfeld and Larry Sanders were always relegated to some nocturnal hour. Five on the other hand has built an audience thanks to primetime scheduling for flagship shows. I like the way they normally offer a good night of solid entertainment on pretty much every night of the week from 9pm onwards. Meanwhile the likes of ITV with their bigger budgets seem to think that the UK has undergone a lobotomy and like to see some footballers missus running a shop.

There’s also been a step-up in output for films. You used to have to make do with something that was a direct to video release starring Casper Van Dien but now Five have used some major money to get the rights to recent Hollywood blockbusters. In the past year we’ve seen UK premieres for films such Terminator 3 and the Spiderman movies. Once again Five’s treatment of films is to give them a good time slot and not having you struggling to keep your eyes open when it goes past 11pm at night.

I guess on the downside with Five is the mass of program sponsorship which preceeds any of their major shows. But the rights have to be paid for somehow and actually some of the little ads are amusing with the 118-118 skits before and after ad breaks giving some light entertainment after some heavy tension in Prison Break.

For me Five is actually the best terrestrial channel out there at the moment for entertainment and keeps brigning the cream of US television to a UK audience that is widespread, not just a cult number of viewers. Long may it continue. However my Fridays nights haven’t been the same since the Red Show Diaries left the air L

Summary: From CSI to House, Five is A Star