TV Programme Listings
In tables below, the rows in grey are factual genre shows, whereas the light blue rows are fictional.
With Channel 5, it feels important to point out that I was hard pressed to find many fictional shows on their scheduling, either currently or historically. As dictated on their commissioning page, they really do try their best to show factual programmes, with an overwhelming variety of their shows being grounded in some way or the other in a factual narrative or documentary format.
Their only current fictional shows seem to be Home & Away and Neighbours, both shows which were not actually commissioned by Channel 5, but rather just acquired for broadcast. Milkshake does run a few shows commissioned by Channel 5 themselves, but a majority of their schedule does seem to be just acquired programmes.
Channel 5 broadcasts a wide assortment of cheaply made reality and Docu-Drama genre programmes usually before their early evening slots. These shows are often just repeats or double-billings of lightly formatted "fly on the wall" programmes that follow public services or "experts" as they explore something. They're remarkably watchable however, regardless of the production values, although I do wonder if they have more of an audience than hospital waiting rooms, considering the advent of On-Demand TV accessible to almost anyone these days.
Channel 5 also seems to have a tendency to air films in the evening weekend slots, carrying on well into the night, which historically at least, gather a decently large audience for them (a 1999 broadcast of 1996 film Independence Day is listed as one of the highest viewed TV shows on Channel 5).
Overall, my research into the broadcast schedules of both programmes turned up a lot of interesting information about these two channels, as well as a lot of intriguing trivia, which I have found quite useful for building my knowledge of how to produce a TV show and for writing my other posts.
The TV Programme listing for ITV
I searched for 5 factual programmes and 5 fictional programmes in ITVs schedule in the first/second week of June 2018. Of the 5 fictional shows, only 2, Emmerdale and Coronation Street are currently running. The others are shows they've broadcast historically.
It seems like late Spring/Summer isn't really the time period for big dramas. It makes sense though, as most TV shows like to schedule their heaviest hitting dramas on the 9 to 10 time slot (proven by looking at the time schedules), which are largely still hours of day light during the Summer.
The big shows in the 9 to 10 time slot usually air during the Autumn and Winter months (Broadchurch first aired in March, and Victoria aired in October). Victoria is actually an interesting show in terms of Genre, as it's a historical drama and is largely factual, but it also makes use of a dramatic license to fictionalise the order of events; I see it as a response to the upwards trend of historical/period drama, such as Netflix's The Crown, BBC's Peaky Blinders, Versailles & Poldark and Amazon released The Vikings.
ITV thrives in the entertainment genre, and the consistently high rating for their flagship TV drama shows have fuelled them to commission even more high value programmes. Their upcoming period drama "Vanity Fair" is proof to this.
ITV's factual programmes range from massively popular (albeit currently declining) shows like Britain's Got Talent to more niche programmes like Coronation in Colour. Reality shows gain huge viewing figures consistently for ITV historically, with shows like Love Island continuing to be very popular on their subsidiary ITV2 as well. Gameshows, not as much. They are usually placed in the midday and early evening slots and cater to a less demanding (and smaller) audience, but they remain important, with shows like Bradley Walsh's The Chase actually gathering what is an almost cult following.
Listing for Channel 5
Their only current fictional shows seem to be Home & Away and Neighbours, both shows which were not actually commissioned by Channel 5, but rather just acquired for broadcast. Milkshake does run a few shows commissioned by Channel 5 themselves, but a majority of their schedule does seem to be just acquired programmes.
Channel 5 broadcasts a wide assortment of cheaply made reality and Docu-Drama genre programmes usually before their early evening slots. These shows are often just repeats or double-billings of lightly formatted "fly on the wall" programmes that follow public services or "experts" as they explore something. They're remarkably watchable however, regardless of the production values, although I do wonder if they have more of an audience than hospital waiting rooms, considering the advent of On-Demand TV accessible to almost anyone these days.
Channel 5 also seems to have a tendency to air films in the evening weekend slots, carrying on well into the night, which historically at least, gather a decently large audience for them (a 1999 broadcast of 1996 film Independence Day is listed as one of the highest viewed TV shows on Channel 5).
Overall, my research into the broadcast schedules of both programmes turned up a lot of interesting information about these two channels, as well as a lot of intriguing trivia, which I have found quite useful for building my knowledge of how to produce a TV show and for writing my other posts.
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