As well you know, Channel 4 is getting rid of Big Brother (more on that here). At the moment, Sky One and ITV look favourites to land the show which, for those that hate the programme, is invariably bad news.
However, for fans of Channel 4, this is good news. The loss of Big Brother apparently frees up over £50million for the broadcaster and, more importantly (for a viewer at least) frees up hours and hours of broadcasting time for other shows.
So what should Channel 4 do with all that time and money?
One thing that the broadcaster could look into is a new sitcom. It's feels like too long since Channel 4 had a big sitcom. The last big hitter I can think of is Green Wing. For a Channel that gave us Father Ted, Black Books, Teachers, Spaced, Peep Show and Phoenix Nights, the current new crop has either been too short lived (Free Agents) or repeats from E4 (The Inbetweeners).
Another big success in recent years was Channel 4's cricket coverage, which won over many people and converted them to a sport that has long been a source of puzzlement to those who Just Didn't Get It. So maybe, this time and money could be spend on that or another sport?
Comedy has always been Channel 4's strength over the years, yet presently, it's all a bit lame. They certainly need to pump some money into a new comedy that doesn't star Kevin f***ing Bishop.
A good shout would be to give recent Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, Tim Key a regular vehicle... or maybe Mark Watson... two very funny and much loved comics.
However, there's a horrible, sneaking feeling I have that Channel 4 will wander over to the reality genre again, looking to plug the gap left by Big Brother. I hope I'm wrong about this hunch. However, with ad-revenues down right across the board, the broadcaster will invariably look toward something that will create coins for them, as opposed to kudos.
Channel 4 has always felt like the brattish, floppy fringed little brother to the other Big Channels and when it starts playing by their rules, it is often left wanting. Here's to hoping they do something a little off-centre.
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