Inspired by my last post, I’ve decided to have a quick look at the Express‘s TV review archive.
Channel 5 was bought by Richard Desmond, owner of Express Newspapers, on 23 July 2010.
So far this year, a Channel 5 show has been a “Pick of the Day” 38 times (warning: all links are direct to the Express site)
- Law and Order, 18th Feb
- OK! TV, 17th Feb
- Starlight: For the Children, 16th Feb
- Stansted: The Inside Story, 15th Feb
- OK! TV, 14th Feb
- Law and Order, 11th Feb
- Julius Caesar: Rome Unwrapped, 10th Feb
- NCIS, 9th Feb
- Stansted: The Inside Story, 8th Feb
- The Vanessa Show, 7th Feb
- Royal Navy Caribbean Patrol, 7th Feb
- Ice Road Truckers, 4th Feb
- Secrets of the Vanishing Sphinx, 3rd Feb
- The Punisher, 3rd Feb
- NCIS, 2nd Feb
- CSI, 1st Feb
- Home and Away, 31st Jan
- Britain’s Secret Schindler: Revealed, 27th Jan
- Justin Lee Collins: Turning Japanese, 27th Jan
- Cowboy Builders, 26th Jan
- CSI, 25th Jan
- Neighbours, 24th Jan
- Secrets of the Blitz: Revealed, 20th Jan
- Cowboy Builders, 19th Jan
- CSI, 18th Jan
- The Wright Stuff/The Vanessa Show, 17th Jan (two separate shows both on Channel 5)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The True Story, 14th Jan
- Ripped from the Cockpit: BA Flight of Terror, 13th Jan
- Neighbours, 12th Jan
- Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story, 11th Jan
- CSI/Taggart, 11th Jan (CSI is on Channel 5, Taggart is on ITV)
- The Vanessa Show, 10th Jan
- How Do They Do It?, 10th Jan
- Titanic: The True Story, 7th Jan
- Highland Emergency, 5th Jan
- Rhino In My House, 5th Jan
- How Do They Do It?, 4th Jan
- Goering’s Last Secret Revealed, 4th Jan
There have been 35 weekdays so far this year. On average, that means a Channel 5 show is a pick of the day slightly more than once a day – 1.09 times per day to be precise.
Over this time last year, a Channel 5 show (back then, the channel was called “FIVE”) was a pick of the day 3 times:
That works out at roughly one pick every twelve days, or 0.085 picks per day.
CSI and Law and Order were both on FIVE at the time, but funnily enough, neither of them were mentioned at all over this period. CSI was hardly ever an Express pick of the day before the takeover – from the looks of it, it got four mentions between 2007 and 2009, or about twice a year. Since October 2010, however, it’s been pick of the day 10 times in just 16 weeks.
I know it’s hardly surprising that the Express and Channel 5 are a bit chummy, but that doesn’t make it any less of a shock when you see it in terms of raw numbers.
Edit: Thanks to Lazer Guided Melody in the comments for pointing out that the statistics need more context. Here’s a very quick count of the number of recommendations over the same period for each of the major channels:
BBC1: This year, 25. Last year, 48
BBC2: This year, 21. Last year, 13
ITV1: This year, 31. Last year, 42
Channel 4: This year, 8. Last year, 37
Channel 5: This year, 38. Last year, 3
#1 by Lazer Guided Melody on Saturday, 19th February 2011 - 18:24 UTC
Can we have some context, i.e. how many “pick of the day” recommendations have other channels achieved in the same period?
#2 by atomicspin on Saturday, 19th February 2011 - 19:06 UTC
Good point. Here’s is a very quick and dirty and count; I’m in a bit of a hurry so I may have missed one or two I’m afraid.
BBC1: This year, 25, last year, 48
BBC2: This year, 21, last year, 13
ITV1: This year, 31, last year, 42
Channel 4: This year, 8, last year, 37
All the main channels except for BBC2 have seen a drop in recommendations, while Channel 5 has had a 1000% boost.
#3 by Lazer Guided Melody on Saturday, 19th February 2011 - 19:30 UTC
Cheers; context as expected. For years the Murdoch press has given precedence in their TV listings to a certain satellite broadcaster (both in size of listings, and their “pick of the day” bobbins). The Mirror did the same in the L!ve TV days. All yawningly predictable.