Music Entertainment Shows for Channel 4

Channel 4 has commissioned two music entertainment pilots for Friday night to tread where iconic music and comedy series The Tube may have only gone before.

The broadcaster has scheduled the shows with a view to commissioning a longer run across the autumn. The shows will take the shape of a live gang show and a giant pop quiz – both packed with stand-out live performances from the newest to the biggest names in music.

Smells Like Friday Night is an hour long live music magazine show presented by Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule from Rizzle Kicks, comedian Rob Beckett and Billie JD Porter. Mixing appointment-to-view music performances with cutting edge comedy and chat to capture the Channel 4 Friday night feeling, started by The Tube (pictured) in 1982, which viewers know and love.

The Tube, hosted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates ran until 1987 and became the music show of the 80s. Later series captured the spirit of comedy, entertainment and music on Channel 4 such as TFI Friday and The Word but the broadcaster hasn’t had regular series for a number of years which embraces such a format.

The pilots were commissioned by Channel 4 Head of Formats, Dominic Bird, who says, “The level of engagement shown by both the independent sector and the music industry has been exceptional. Bringing a mainstream audience to music is a real challenge and these two shows provide us with a great opportunity to put music back on the agenda.”

The second series spoken of is That Music Show and is to be hosted by that Nick Grimshaw and will be set in an iconic music venue with a vibrant award-style feel and combine a competitive year vs. year pop quiz with a raucous music gig. Rounds will be bookmarked by exclusive live performances from the past, present and future of music.

 

Music Commissioning Editor, Jonathan Rothery adds, “We said last year that we wanted to provide a bigger platform for music on Channel 4 and the response from indies has been amazing – around fifty companies pitched over one hundred ideas. We’ve chosen these two fresh approaches to take to pilot, with a view to commissioning a full series for later this year”.