One Step Beyond

On Channel Four, a world awash with reality television, the mother of all new wave people shows, Big Brother is making its return. This will, believe it or not, be it?s eighth outing in one guise or another since it was launched on an unsuspecting public a mere four years ago.

Its appearance alongside a welter of similar programming calls into question the channel?s very identity. Just what was Channel Four supposed to be and more pointedly, what has it become?

In November 1982, the new channel was a breath of fresh air. BBC schedules were all over the shop with unpredictable start times for very predictable programmes and while ITV schedules were easier to follow, sitcoms such as Keep in the Family were the appalling norm and the schedule was littered with low grade American imports. High points in drama such as Brideshead were rare and there was little innovation in the field of Light Entertainment or Current Affairs.

The channel brought on stream independent production from producers given the freedom to take risks. Here was a place where not only could new ideas and fresh talent flourish but also be given the space to fail. There was a lot of poor television in those formative years but the chaff was necessary in uncovering the wheat. The bonus was that the other channels were forced to raise their game to compete and viewers certainly benefited.

That was then.

Innovation is now hard to find on a once bold channel that has become as stale and predictable as those it shook up in the eighties. Tune in these days and you?ll find hour after hour of imported pap designed to keep a teenage audience viewing. They may be viewing but are they engaged. Most of the programming is visual chewing gum rather than thought provoking and engaging. There must be twentysomethings out there who can,by now, recite the script of most Friends episodes verbatim. This is not what the fourth channel should be about, surely? Where once were campaigning journalistic shows such as Twenty Twenty Vision we now get Gordon Ramsay swearing at bad chefs.

When Big Brother was originally launched it was passed off as a social experiment. If not many were taken in by that argument, the show still provided something that was, at the time, a departure for British TV. Used sparingly the format could well have provided some must see TV and fascinating moments but the whole thing has been done to death and reality television is eating itself, celebrity versions of one reality show being populated by mere contestants of another as they all seek to milk their fifteen minutes of fame. The fact that Jade Goody is still gracing, if gracing is the word, the covers of magazines two years after our first encounter with her says a lot about the obession with ?celebrity? in our once proud nation..

I understand the ?Beckhams? thing. Posh was part of one of the most successful pop bands ever to come out of this country while Becks is the captain of the best English football side we?ve had since 1966. Of course people will be interested. Jade is feted for being on telly. Not doing anything on telly, other than being irritating, just being there. That is hard to comprehend.

If Channel 4 were just another commercial station trying to make it?s way in a cutthroat world, the current state of affairs would be understandable. It isn?t. It?s a public corporation that was set up with a specific remit. That remit is not, in my view, to become indistinguishable from Sky One and there are certainly times when it?s hard to spot the difference between the two.. That?s not meant as a pop at Sky One but the point is that it?s a general entertainment channel on a pay TV platform. It fulfils its function whereas C4 doesn?t appear to produce the diverse range of shows that made its name and justified it's status, or if it does they?re very well buried in the schedule.

Whether C4 should persist with packing their hours with people shows is one thing. Whether BB5 can survive gainst increased competition is another. It now seems that pointing cameras at people doing nothing isn?t enough for us. There needs to be some sort of purpose, be it a low grade ?Superstars? competition in The Games , a fitness regime in Celebrity Fat Club or the Fit Farm or even a Bush Tucker Trial and uncomfortable living conditions in I?m a Celeb.

Will we still have the appetite for the Big Brother format this time round? Time will tell.

Hogan on the House will be with you throughout the run of show, with my initial thoughts on this year?s intake available from the first Sunday. As well as my ramblings Emzi and the 13th House are back and now we have the legendary Jon Tickle on board. If my mailbag from last season is anything to go by, Jon will be a very popular addition to the team. Welcome Jon.

With Jon on board, the return of the Live Updates and of course our lively BB forum, DS:BB is the place to be this summer.