User blog:Telco/TV4 announces exciting new lineup and new look.

EuroMedia today announces that FOX is to be relaunched this March, with the return of TV4 as a brand name, once EuroMedia's license for the FOX brand expires.

TV4 will build upon the pillars of current FOX schedule, and the channel's long-standing reputation for championing new, innovative, cutting-edge and fresh faces and ideas, as well as showcasing the best drama, comedy, documentaries, reality TV, arts, news, movies and sports from the Euro Republics and around the world, geared towards a 18-35 age demographic.

The rebranding of TV4 began early last Summer, with a review of the channel's marketing strategy, including FOX's channel branding, stings, continuity and promotional campaigns. The reconfiguring of the channel has necessitated a wholesale review of the FOX schedule, led by channel contoller Nick Johnson.

Johnson said: 'We wanted to reinvigorate FOX as a dynamic, bold and strong brand to reflect it's commitment as a multimedia youth brand to finding new faces, providing popular and quality programming and most importantly, providing an alternative, taking and making risks that ETV and TV3 wouldn't dare to dream about.'

He continues: 'The FOX brand was more associated with US imported series, particularly animated series such as The Simpsons and Family Guy, two shows that are a big part of the FOX name and continue to be a part of TV4. We also did research into the brand effectiveness of Fox Headline News, and we came back with the response that many viewers had been turned off by the brand being similar to the US right-wing opinion network Fox News.'

'It was clear the FOX brand was not working for what is meant to be a distinctly young and Euroish brand, and our impartial news coverage was harmed by negative connotations with the right-leaning American FOX news service. This is why we chose not to renew our contract to use the name and rename the brand back to it's former name, TV4.' Johnson says.

To kick start the new era of TV4, the channel has commisioned and acquired a range of new shows and the returns of major FOX successes.

News and current affairs
Fox Headline News will become TV4 News, but continue to give it's own sardonic stamp on the headlines every night at the new time of 6pm. 60 Seconds will also continue to keep viewers updated on the headlines every hour on TV4 from 1pm to 1am.

Liquid News moves from 6pm to 7.30pm, the new time for the best in bitchy gossip, celebrity news and big-name showbiz interviews with Clive Collingwood and Rebecca Morris.

We Are the Euro Republics has been decommissioned. The Agenda returns to TV4 in 2023 in it's place, examining, digesting and explaining the biggest news in the political and social world from a younger perspective.

Free Speech is a new weekly current affairs debate series, touring the Euro Republics each week and giving a young studio audience between the ages of 16 and 30, the chance to air their views and questions directly to the politicians themselves. As it's completely live, nothing is off limits, and nor is the ability to join in the debate at home, on TV4's social media feeds. It airs at 10:00pm on Thursday nights.

This Week will continue to take a humourous, wry look at the world of politics on Wednesday nights at 11pm on TV4.

Go Hard or Go Home
Go Hard or Go Home is presented by Jay Young (presenter of the drivetime show on Play) promises to be one of TV's riskiest and perhaps most controversial reality shows.

Twelve Euroish people between the ages of 17 and 25, who have all experienced some form of mental difficulty (depression, anxiety etc.) or are in one way or another "too homesy" are nominated by their friends to spend the hardest seven weeks of their lives on an island to endure physical and physiological challenges, to get fit, change their mindsets forever and lose whatever weakness they have.

Each contestant is paired up with a "warrior", a sports expert who knows inside and out how to be tough and demanding, and ensure their test subjects come out completely transformed. Only one person can win however, and even the weakest are punished before they are released back home. It makes I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! look like Countryfile.

Go Hard or Go Home is a 15x60 commision from BBC Studios Productions and Wall to Wall Media for TV4 and is expected to air in March 2023.

This Hour Has 22 Minutes
An all new presenting team - along with some old favourites too - revive 22 Minutes to Euroish television screens on TV4. Drake Kent (7 Days), Christian Farrell, Liz Hall (Age of Outrage, Live at The Shockwave) and Jaz Morgan on sport bring the most in-depth, serious, straight faced in news coverage before the news has even happened.

A whole new team of reporters, committed to bringing you unbiased, fact-checked news will be live on location filing reports and they'll be latest from around the world too.

Smallprint: it's a news satire

This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a 10x30 commision from Salter Street Films and ITV Studios Euro Republics for TV4 and begins in March 2023.

Saturday Live
Fans of cutting edge comedy, rejoice! Saturday Live is back after 20 years, bringing the spirit of the show, a festival of music, stand-up and sketch comedy, slap bang into a new generation. Saturday Live's sense of humour is very much the same - it's a little bit political, it's a little bit naughty, it's wildly funny.

New comedy talent emerging through stand-up circuits and on the internet will get a chance to shine on TV, alongside some familiar faces from other TV4 comedy series such as Age of Outrage and Laxed. The music will be supplied by an eclectic mix of artists, beginning with Florence + The Machine in episode 1.

Russ Baker - writer of Welcome to Faulkshire, Talk Night and The Nigel Robinson Show, will be at the helm of Saturday Live as the man in charge (a.k.a presenter) introducing the comedians and comediennes, the musicians and giving his own two cents at the start of each show.

''Saturday Live is a 4x90 and 13x90 commision from The Net and TV4 Productions for TV4. The first 4-episode series will run in March 2023 followed by a 13-part series in the Autumn.''

Emerging
Emerging is a sharp new comedy from the pens of Alex Brenner and John Sugar, about an understaffed but devoted police force in the fictional Belton town of Toughsheet. Despite their best intentions, they often find themselves turning up to situations involving the most inane people imaginable, and the problem is that they aren't that competent themselves.

Emerging is a 6x30 commision from Talkback Productions for TV4 and is expected to air in Winter 2023/early 2024.

TacTic
TacTic is a new sketch comedy series from the mind of Jack Buxton, tearing the social media crazes, challenges and trends to shreds by transporting viewers into the fictional TacTic social media platform to experience videos from some of the most vapid, meaningless and childish characters.

Characters include Smoochy Smoochy - a wannabe grime music artist who can't actually sing despite her thick accent, Blaze Fire - an "influencer" who, when he's not flexing his new Lamborghini, spends his time slagging off every imaginable part of society that doesn't fit his political or social agenda, and The Beastly Pig - a woman seemingly only fascinated by the most dark and depressing things that real people have had to go through.

TacTic is a 6x30 commision from The Net and World of Wonder Productions for TV4 and is expected in Autumn 2023.

Ian Knetter and...
Ian Knetter and... is an insightful and funny new interview series, a spin-off from his highly successful comedy review series First Take, which will return for a new series on TV4 later in the year.

In the series, Ian Knetter talks to some of the biggest and most influential faces in the Euroish television industry, including Ian Byrne, creator of Davidson Park and Barcroft, Alex Brenner and John Sugar, writers of Guttered, television writer Andrew Brenner, Michelle Reid of Gogglebox and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! fame and longtime newsreader Caroline Phillips.

They will talk about their careers in television, along with classic clips of their past work and commentary from fellow members of the television industry.

''Ian Knetter and... is a 5x60 commision from TV3 Studios and The Net for TV4 and is expected to air in Summer 2023.''

Excluded
Excluded goes inside the Croydon Hall Secondary School in Euro City, a special school for children whose problematic behaviour has proved too much for mainstream education.

The series follows the lives of the pupils lives both in and out of school, recounting experiences that led to their exclusion from mainstream education, and filming their every move whilst within the school gates.

Excluded is a 5x60 commision from TV3 Studios for TV4 and is expected to air in January 2024.

The Singer Takes it All
The Singer Takes it All is a new entertainment format, presented by Tina Hall (from 3FM) puts contestants on a moving stage, manipulated by viewers who can vote throughout the show. The best singers are sent into the Gold Zone, whilst the worst are sent to the back of the stage and out of the show.

The contestant who spends the most time in the Gold Zone gets through to the final, with the opportunity to win up to €15,000.

Each episode includes two celebrity guests who will give their say on the singer's performance, and potentially be given to opportunity to save a singer who lost out, for the next episode.

The Singer Takes it All is an 8x60 commision from TV3 Studios for TV4, and begins in March 2023.

The Monster: Behind Andrew Tate
TV4, together with UK network Channel 4, have commisioned a documentary exploring the rapid rise of the controversial social media star Andrew Tate, the poster boy of the hard-right.

The 36-year-old American-born ex-kickboxer and Big Brother housemate achieved global superstar status on social media by lacing self-help techniques and get-rich-quick schemes with toxic misogyny. He gained millions of followers - largely teenage boys - on TikTok, and as his fame sky-rocketed he was banned. At the end of last year, Tate - who made no secret of the fact he made a fortune managing webcam porn models - was arrested by Romanian police.

With full access to the monster, Amos Pictures will document the build up and aftermath of his arrest and seek to unravel his other secrets and political alignments. Gathering extensive footage of Tate made over the last decade and seeking out figures from his personal life who can shed light on his journey, the film will ask how, and why, Tate is so famous.

The film will meet some of his legions of fans asking why his misogynistic extremist rants over radicalising young men and demonising women speaks powerfully for so many young boys, as well as hearing from parents, educators and celebrities.

The question is how and why did a homophopic, transphobic, with a long history of expressing derogatory far-right views towards Islam and Muslims, violence against women and an extreme misogynist, manage to capture the hearts of young boys and turn them into mini clones of him? All will be revealed.

The Monster: Behind Andrew Tate is a 1x90 commision from Amos Pictures for TV4 and Channel 4.

LOOKAWAY.
LOOKAWAY. is a surreal televisual experience from the demented mind of Paul Edmonds.

Words cannot describe what LOOKAWAY. is supposed to be about. The show is an unconnected series of dark, macabre and morbid 'sketches', remixed and edited to the point where it barely resembles an actual programme. It's meant to be a comedy about things that aren't.

There's also a spin-off series, LOOKAWAY, NOW. which makes the main show look like Songs of Praise.

LOOKAWAY is a 8x30 commision from Talkback Productions for TV4 and is expected to air from April 2020.

Top of The Pops
Top of The Pops - the hottest pop music show on television - moves over from TV3 to TV4, and it's twice as long. Get a full hour of the biggest artists in the Euroish Singles Chart, plus a look at the Album Chart and the Number 1's in the UK and the US, every Friday night at 8pm.

The show also welcomes in Akeel Fahnbulleh (host of Play's Official Top 40) and Molly Smith-Jones (presenter of the Play Evening Show every Monday to Thursday) who will alternate as hosts each week alongside a special guest host.

Top of The Pops is a 52x60 commision from TV3 Studios for TV4, and will move to TV4 from it's first Friday on air.

Trans
Trans is a powerful, important new documentary series, charting the controversy and history of being transgender, presented by 3FM's Stephanie Hirst, who herself is transgender, and why being trans is something to be proud of, no matter what others believe.

Stephanie will meet people on both sides of the transgender debate, challenging the opinions of ultra-conservatives and other forms of transphobics.

Trans is a 3x60 commision from Wall to Wall Media for TV4, and is expected to air this Autumn.

Defiance
Defiance aims to expose the rise of the toxic side of youth culture. Knives, sexism, racism and the media's influence (Andrew Tate, animé, Squid Game, Rick and Morty, drill music) will be highlighted through a cast of unruly teenagers who are suddenly plunged into a world of drugs, sex and homophobia.

Defiance is a 1x60 commision from World Productions for TV4, and is expected to air in Summer.

Frequency Modulation
Frequency Modulation is a drama series set behind the scenes of a contemporary hit radio station known as Galaxy.

Whilst Galaxy was at the top of it's game for many years, they are noticeably beginning to fall out of favour with their young audience with the launch of flashy, edgy new competitors who are poaching their and 3FM's big stars on the quickfast. How will Galaxy compete with their fierce rivals, and will they survive?

Frequency Modulation is a 5x60 commision from TV3 Studios for TV4 and is expected to air in early 2024.

The Influence
The Influence is a gripping three part drama series exploring the pressures of online fame and fortune through the lens of a 17 year-old, who is catapulted from a teenage girl living a relatively normal life into an overnight celebrity. But as it turns out, being one of the most famous people in the world comes at a vital, devastating cost.

The Influence is a 2x60 commision from World Productions for TV4, and is expected to air over Christmas 2023.

Waterloo Road
Waterloo Road opened for a new term on the BBC in the UK in January and is now coming to the Euro Republics, on TV4. As ever, the new series deals with more hard hitting social issues including child abandonment, homelessness, knife crime, bereavement, eviction, eating disorders, marital breakfown, refugee children and the sexual objectification of girls.

Waterloo Road is a Wall to Wall production for BBC One and is expected to air on TV4 in March 2023.

Tell Me Everything
Tell Me Everything is a provocative new British drama about 16 year-old Jonny, whose mental health problems come into greater focus following a family tragedy, executive produced by Robert Wulff-Cochrane and Camilla Campbell, who commissioned Skins and Misfits.

Rooted in truthful observations about life as it actually is for young people, Tell Me Everything is a celebration of adolescence, without shying away from the difficult subjects facing teens as they grow up in the 2020's.

Tell Me Everything is a Noho Film & Television production for ITV2 and ITVX in the UK, and is currently streaming on My ET1, expected to air on TV4 in Autumn 2023.

The Newsreader
Australian drama The Newsreader returns for it's second series on TV4 in late 2023 following ratings and critical success on FOX last Autumn, this time set in 1987, travelling from election night 1987, through the shocks of the Hoddle Street shootings and the Stock Market Crash, the complexity of the heroin crisis, towards the protest and pageantry of the 1988 Bicentenary.

The Newsreader S2 is a Werner Films production for ABC TV in Australia, and is expected to air on TV4 in November 2023.

Loaded in Paradise
Loaded in Paradise is a new action-packed, adrenaline-fueled reality game shows where party-loving pairs hop Greece's Aegean Islands in a race to take control of - and spend - €50,000.

The series starts with 5 pairs and a gold card loaded with cashs, to blow on the wildest trip of their lives. However, only one lucky pair can be in control at any tome. For this pair it's simple, life their best life on the run but don't get caught!

Loaded in Paradise is a 15x60 commision from ITV Studios Euro Republics for TV4, expected to air in Summer 2023.