I’m still working on my next big post – the long-promised one in which I’ll finally lay to rest the ghosts of August’s disorder, as well as butchering a few of my own personal demons – but I’ve actually had a fairly busy time of late; loads of last-minute rushing-about isn’t offering me many minutes in which I can just sit and seethe at length about stuff. The skeleton of the post is looking plenty healthy, mind, so it’s only a matter of time before it gets fleshed-up and plummets onto this chaotic page.

In the meantime, here’s something I’ve been sitting on for a while and hinted at in my last post, that marathon whinge (did any of you actually manage to read it all?) about telly. I mentioned that the digital channel 4Music shows music videos (usually the same few) by day and archive comedy, entertainment, reality, and sometimes drama by night. And I mentioned how certain shows seem to be looping round endlessly on the channel whilst other potentially-usable shows sit unchosen on the C4 archive. I expressed a desire for 4Music to make use of a wider range of shows, but it’s possible they don’t even know some of their own content exists!

So I’ve composed a list of shows, based on various sources including Channel 4’s website (many of the programmes are available on 4oD, so C4 clearly has some kind of rights to use them), as well as sites such as Wikipedia and UKGameshows, and my own embarrasingly-wide knowledge of C4’s past, to suggest stuff which could fetch up on the pink-hued channel should C4 deign to plunder its archives a little more deeply. I don’t necessarily like all the shows featured here for myself (although more than a few of them are things I’ve enjoyed); I’m doing this for the good of society – to improve digital TV for the nation!

The list is divided into two sections – section one is shows which, through tone or theme, are fairly likely to be in keeping with the general house style of 4Music, and section two is shows which may be suitable for a run but which are perhaps further from the 4Music lineup than those in block one. Shows are then subdivided by rough programme genre. Excluded are any shows which are or have already been on 4Music (eg Your Face Or Mine, Russell Brand’s Ponderland, Fonejacker, Streetmate, Schol of Comedy, Meet Ricky Gervais…)

SECTION 1. POSSIBLE/LIKELY SHOWS

– Comedy
Absolutely
Beehive
Blunder
Boyz Unlimited
Bromwell High
Crapston Villas
Da Ali G Show / Ali G in da USAiii
Desmond’s / Porkpie
Facejacker [Fonejacker has already run on 4Music]
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
Green Wing
House of Rock
jam
Man to Man with Dean Learner
Nathan Barley
Smack The Pony
Spaced
Spoons
The Adam & Joe Show
The Inbetweeners
The Kevin Bishop Show
The Last Chancers
The Morgana Show
The Ricky Gervais Show [the US animated series as seen on E4]
TVGoHome
Vic Reeves Big Night Out
Whose Line Is It Anyway?

– Music series / entertainment / gameshows
Best of The Word
Johnny Vegas: 18 Stone of Idiot
Little Friends
Make My Day
Relentless
Robert’s Web
Rude Tube
So Graham Norton / V Graham Norton
The Bronx Bunny Show
The Charlotte Church Show
The Wager
The White Room
Whatever

– Reality / fly-on-the-wall / lifestyle
Bar Wars
Faking It
Five Go Dating
Fool Around With…
G Girls
Lily Allen: From Riches To Rags
Perfect Match
Rock School
This Model Life

– Specials & Documentaries
Chamone Mo’fo Selecta! [Michael Jackson tribute special. Bo’ Selecta has already aired on 4Music]
Gleeful: The Real Show Choirs of America
The Other Michael Jackson

– Drama
Glee [replays of seasons 1 & 2 as previously shown on E4/C4 prior to Sky’s purchase of series 3+]
Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star

SECTION 2. FURTHER OPTIONS

– Comedy
Armstrong & Miller [the C4 1999-2001 series, rather than the recent BBC shows. A selection of highlights is set to air on C4 around Christmas 2011 alongside Felix & Murdo]
Bedsitcom
Best of the Worst
Black Books
Blue Heaven
Bob and Margaret
Brass Eye
Campus
Dogface
Dressing For Breakfast
Father Ted
Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights
Friday Night Dinner
Idiots of Ants
Important Things with Demetri Martin [import; previously seen on E4]
Jo Brand: Through the Cakehole
Los Dos Bros
Max & Paddy’s Road to Nowhere
Meet The Magoons
Mr Don and Mr George
My New Best Friend
Never Mind the Horrocks
nobleandsilver: Get Off Me!
Paul Merton: The Series
Peep Show
Pete vs Life
Peter Kay’s Britain’s Got The Pop Factor… [and related shows]
Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights
PhoneShop
Reno 911! [import: previously shown on E4 and still listed on C4’s programmes website]
Sean’s Show
Tandoori Nights
Terry and Julian
That Peter Kay Thing
The Armando Iannucci Shows
The Book Group
The Comic Strip Presents…
The Cleveland Show [import; previously seen on E4]
The Incredible Will & Greg
The IT Crowd
The Jack Dee Show
The Weekenders [sitcom starring Reeves & Mortimer]
The World of Lee Evans
TNT Show

– Music series / entertainment / gameshows
…Perfect Night In
Alex Zane’s House of Games [Comedy Lab one-off]
Ape
Boys and Girls
Carry On Campus
Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night
…Comedy Roast
David Walliams’ Awfully Good…
Dicing with Debt
Dishes
Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush
Eurotrash
Fluke
Gamesmaster
Get Your Kit Off
Glam-O-Rama [1995 one-off 1970s quiz]
Meet The Parents
Show & Tell
Sticky Moments
The Deadly Knowledge Show
The Idiot Awards
The People’s Book of Records
The Richard Blackwood Show
The Richard Taylor Interviews
Trading Up
Unanimous
Who Dares Wins
X-Fire
You Have Been Watching
Zero to Hero

– Reality / fly-on-the-wall / lifestyle
E4 School of Performing Arts
Eden
Gok’s Fashion Fix / Gok’s Clothes RoadShow
James Brown’s Supermodel Salon
Joe Millionaire UK
Miss Naked Beauty
Musicality
Shattered
Space Cadets
Style The Nation
The 7 Stupidest Things to Escape From
The Model Agency
What the Butler Saw
When Women Rule the World

– Specials
50 Greatest Comedy Films
Adam & Joe’s Fourmative Years [15th anniversary look at C4’s quirkier early content – could be rebroadcast to mark C4’s 30th anniversary in 2012?]
Channel 4’s Comedy Gala
Greatest Comedy Catchphrases
The Secret Policeman’s Ball
The World’s Greatest Stand-Up
Who Killed Saturday Night TV?

– Documentaries
A Boy Called Alex / Alex: A Passion For Life
Ambreen: The Girl Boxer
Amish: World’s Squarest Teenagers
Big Fat Gypsy Weddings
Booze: A Young Person’s Guide
Katie: My Beautiful Face / Katie: My Beautiful Friends
Mel B: Voodoo Princess
My Big Gay Prom
…New Hero of Comedy
Peter Kay: Raider of the Pop Charts
Posh Rock
Teens and Tiaras
The World’s… And Me [Mark Dolan’s extraordinary-people documentary series]
Tony Blair: Rock Star

– Drama
20 Things To Do Before You’re Thirty
Cast Offs
Dead Set
Goldplated
Misfits
No Angels
NY-LON
Queer as Folk
Skins
Teachers
The Wilsons
White Teeth

–

Here’s a sample suggested 7pm-to-midnight schedule using some of the above shows. Wouldn’t this be more fun and interesting than wall-to-wall Kardashians?

MON
1900 Fool Around With…
1930 The Deadly Knowledge Show
2000 Music documentaries (Gleeful: The Real Show Choirs of America / The Other Michael Jackson / Tony Blair: Rock Star / Peter Kay: Raider of the Pop Charts etc)
2100 Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night
2200 The Adam & Joe Show
2230 Bromwell High
2300 The Morgana Show
2330 jam

TUE
1900 Fool Around With…
1930 Gamesmaster
2000 Faking It
2100 The IT Crowd
2130 Max & Paddy’s Road to Nowhere
2200 Goldplated
2300 The Armando Ianucci Shows
2330 TVGoHome

WED
1900 Fool Around With…
1930 Relentless
2000 Katie: My Beautiful Friends
2100 Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star
2200 Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out
2230 Absolutely
2300 Garth Marengi’s Darkplace
2330 Spoons

THU
1900 Fool Around With…
1930 Fluke
2000 X-Fire
2100 Johnny Vegas: 18 Stone of Idiot
2200 Green Wing
2300 Nathan Barley
2330 The Bronx Bunny Show

FRI
1900 Fool Around With…
1930 Desmond’s
2000 Party Bangers