E4 turning into 4seven?

[zeebre12]

Is E4 turning into 4seven? E4 used to show a lot of hit US shows in primetime but now there are few US series that rate well for E4 and they have been replaced by repeats of C4 shows like Come Dine With Me, Gogglebox, Naked Attraction and TGBBO in primetime. E4 seem to trial a US show in primetime and then when it doesn't rate well it's shunted to either after midnight or early evening. Below Deck Mediterranean is now airing at 7 each night but wonder how long that will last. Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA was on at 8 for a while but is now dropped. E4 seems to have very little original shows now.

[Ash101]

In short: no, it's not turning into 4Seven because that focuses on repeats of Channel 4 shows from the last 7 days in primetime, whereas these E4 repeats are from older series.

But you do raise an interesting point & something I've noticed over the last few weeks. E4 seem to have a few US shows which have completed their latest seasons across the pond but haven't started showing yet (Young Sheldon, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, The 100). Instead in primetime they're showing more and more strange repeats, such as Naked Attraction in the 9pm slot... where they cannot show nudity straight after the watershed so the first 15 minutes are a different 'covered up' version!

I do think E4/More4/4Music are becoming a little bit muddled in terms of repeats and what sits where. E4 & 4Music especially seem to share a vast majority of programmes and it's almost like the latter is a spin off version of the former in primetime.

Cats does Countdown for example, is a show which surely fits the E4 brand for repeats but they're split between the other 2 channels (next week it's on at 9pm each night on 4Music & 10pm on More4!)

[raymond]

E4 have their daytime schedules covered with endless US sitcom repeats, which rate quite well. You'll tend to find shows like Below Deck are on at 20.00 because repeats of shows like Gogglebox and Naked Attraction, which air at around 21.00 rate quite well too, and it'd be a missed opportunity.

And as people jet off for holidays and begin to spend more time outdoors, you'll find less new programmes being aired in the summer. New programmes are more likely to be aired in winter/spring as more people spend time indoors.

[Amber Avenger]

I think E4 is certainly having a bit of a crisis of confidence. It's had a reliance on Big Bang Theory - like Friends before it - but nothing really seems to be filling the gap (although presume it still must rate ok)

I think there has been budget cuts for the channel - Below Deck has hung around for a lot longer than I originally thought, and I think it'll probably stay there until the next time they decide to schedule the next season Married at First Sight Australia which is probably the monster hit for the channel in recent years. I wonder if they are waiting for Love Island to finish before they launch that. I do know they are repurposing the UK version for E4 off the back of that success with the Aus style and more episodes, so will be interesting to see how that works as the UK version is currently very tame in comparison

[Brekkie]

Will be interesting to see how the revamped version of Married at First Sight does after the surprise success of the Aussie version, which was seemingly a pandemic panic buy. They need to find their feet again with original UK content though - it's been a long time now since the likes of Skins, Misfits and The Inbetweeners and probably their last breakthrough scripted hit was Chewing Gum, which itself was six years ago.

[Ash101]

Ah yes, Married at First Sight Australia. Which is a stonker of a commitment at around 30-40 episodes per season at 90 minutes each! I'm surprised they haven't tried the American version on E4.

I do wonder how they'll schedule the new Australian series they have on the shelf & our new version.

As mentioned above, they're obviously going to wait for Love Island to finish. But I believe ITV2 have Ready To Mingle lined up to air daily after that, which is another 4 weeks. I guess we could see MAFS UK air at 9pm once that is done & then the new Australian series taking 7:30pm once that's finished..

[LiamFitz28]

4Music is a terrible channel. Hardly any music is shown on there - all I ever see are old E4 shows; Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother etc and consistent repeats of 8 Out Of 10 Cats. They need to have a major rethink of and a rename of that channel.

[Amber Avenger]

Will be interesting to see how the revamped version of Married at First Sight does after the surprise success of the Aussie version, which was seemingly a pandemic panic buy.

The previous three series of MAFS Aus had done pretty well on All 4 but had suddenly stopped. Think the first series might have gone out on E4 was well but it has changed a little as it's gone along.

[JAS84]

They could revive the T4 brand for 4Music?

[Amber Avenger]

I do wonder how they'll schedule the new Australian series they have on the shelf & our new version.

There are actually two series of the Aussie one on the shelf at the moment that haven't been shown over here - 2020 and 2021. They have said it would return "in the summer", so post Love Island and probably January again since it worked so well. In terms of time slot, they must be tempted to go to 9pm but it's pulled in very good viewers in the earlier slot. I don't think E4 would be worried about putting it against anything on ITV2 other than Love Island, but I think ITV2 would be more annoyed if E4 scheduled against their new show.

[Brekkie]

It's rated comfortably on E4 so I expect they'll use an Aussie series to promote the UK version rather than vice versa.

4Music is clearly no longer 4Music but it's content does well and highlights how strong E4 and C4 used to be, and how they're not matching up to that nowadays.

[Blubatt]

I have noticed that, to be fair. A lot of Channel Four's sister channels have been a bit muddled in terms of programming, but I do think that there are a few reasons, all of which have already been stated: Its summer, so TV tends not to be a big draw anyway, plus COVID putting the stop to a lot of programming that all the channels would be showing, and the budget just not being as generous. However, as JAS84 suggested, a T4 rebrand for 4Music would be pretty cool from a nostalgic POV. However, I feel like E4 does (normally) cover the old T4 remit, so maybe not.

[JAS84]

Well, T4 is a better name than E4 2! :lol:

[Brekkie]

E4 likely also opting not to compete directly with Love Island.

Although 4Music is more E4 Gold than C4 Gold I think there is certainly potential for that style of channel if they have linear rights to much of archive content they have on All4 - 4Decades perhaps to mark 40 years.

[Kunst]

At least it's not becoming like 5Star, from a mixture of original programming and US productions, to Channel 5 repeats, almost like 5Select