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Paramount Comedy 1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Paramount Comedy 1 | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Launched | 1 November 1995 |
| Owned by | Paramount UK Partnership (MTV Networks Europe/BSkyB) |
| Picture format | 4:3, 576i (SDTV) |
| Audience share | 0.3% (0.1% for +1) (September 2007, [1]) |
| Formerly called | * The Paramount Channel (until 1997) * Paramount Comedy Channel (until 2002) * Paramount Comedy (until January 2005) |
| Sister channel(s) | Paramount Comedy 2 |
| Timeshift service | Paramount Comedy +1 |
| Website | www.paramountcomedy.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 126 Channel 127 (+1) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 132 Channel 133 (+1) |
| UPC Ireland | Channel 127 |
| Tiscali TV | Channel 25 |
Paramount Comedy 1 is a television channel shown in the UK and Ireland, available through digital satellite (Sky Digital) and cable (Virgin Media, NTL Ireland). As the name suggests, it is owned by Paramount Pictures (aka Viacom) and concentrates on comedy. Paramount was not the first all-comedy channel in the UK; that distinction goes to The Comedy Channel, which had closed some years earlier.
Contents |
The channel was originally intended to launch a UK version of Nick at Nite on the same channel as Nickelodeon, as in the US, but the name of the station was changed to The Paramount Channel prior to its launch on 1 November 1995.
The original schedule was a mixture of comedy and drama, including such eclectic offerings as Beauty and the Beast, several anime productions acquired from Manga Entertainment, and authentic Paramount archive programming like The Magician. The drama shows were later dropped and the schedule became 100% comedy, hence the change of name to the Paramount Comedy Channel in early 1997. The 'Channel' part of the name was dropped on 1 July 2002.
It originally aired every evening after Nickelodeon UK's closing at 7pm until the early morning, until soon after the introduction of Sky Digital, where greater space for channels on the network allowed it to become a channel independent of Nickelodeon. Some analogue cable TV systems (which had no room to allocate a separate space for Paramount) still share the original channel-sharing scheme.
After no longer having to timeshare with Nickelodeon, the station increased its broadcasting hours, and was joined by Paramount Comedy 2.
Paramount Comedy 1 +1, (a time-shift channel - exactly the same as Paramount Comedy, but 1 hour behind) was launched on Sky Digital channel 128, on 30th August 2005 and Virgin Media channel 133.
Another time-shift channel, Paramount Comedy 2 +1, was launched on Sky Digital channel 200, on 5th November 2007.
The current channel listings are:
- Paramount Comedy 1 on Sky Digital channel 126, Virgin Media channel 132 and Tiscali TV channel 25.
- Paramount Comedy 1 +1 on Sky Digital channel 127 and Virgin Media channel 133.
- Paramount Comedy 2 on Sky Digital channel 128, Virgin Media channel 134 and Tiscali TV channel 27.
- Paramount Comedy 2 +1 on Sky Digital channel 200.
Paramount Comedy is well known for bringing popular American shows to the UK, such as Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Becker, Scrubs, King of Queens, Two and a Half Men and Seinfeld. It also shows various cult comedy shows such as Trailer Park Boys, South Park, Drawn Together and Andy Richter Controls the Universe. It also shows the Irish comedy programme Podge and Rodge's A Scare at Bedtime [1]. Due to this, it is possible it may start airing The Podge and Rodge Show which has the second highest ratings of any television program in Ireland, and which are far exceeding those of its predecessor. It recently showed SpongeBob SquarePants, maybe because of it's unexpected use humour.[citation needed]
The channel also prides itself in showing British comedy, such as Minder, Live at Jongleurs, and Time Gentlemen Please, and supports stand-up comedy in the country, as well as showing stand-up from comedians such as Jack Dee and Lee Evans. It has signed a contract with Al Murray, "The Landlord".
It also frequently includes a large back catalogue of Channel 4 comedies into their schedule, such as Father Ted, Spaced, Drop the Dead Donkey and Paul Merton: The Series, and some BBC classics such as The Young Ones and Not the Nine O'Clock News.
Paramount Comedy currently shows new episodes of Two and a Half Men, Scrubs, Stacked and Suburban Shootout.
Less high-profile time slots are often populated with classic US sitcoms, such as Cheers, M*A*S*H, Happy Days, The Cosby Show, Roseanne, Who's The Boss?, Taxi, and Mork & Mindy.
In recent years, the channel has gone arguably more low-brow and unsophisticated, premiering sleazy programmes of questionable humour such as Sexy Cam, Eurotrash and Badly Dubbed Porn.
The channel frequently airs marathons, usually on a Sunday. These often consist of a day in which one or two shows air for the majority of the day. The marathons often contain loose themes; episodes of Fraiser and Becker are often partnered for a 'doctor' marathon. Most common is the Total Raymond Sunday, in which an entire season of Everybody Loves Raymond is aired. On occassion a marathon may be sponsored. An example of this would be the "He Ain't Funny, He's My Brother" marathon which ran on the night of 24th November 2007 to promote the release of The Darjeeling Limited. The marathon consisted of episodes of shows with a strong brothers/siblings theme.
Often the marathons will air an episode twice, due to only having enough episodes to last half a day. In these cases, the small block of episodes is played first in a morning slot and again in an afternoon/evening slot.
Although the channels still have a Teletext service, a popular mailbox feature has stopped being updated. This mailbox has moved on to the Internet at New Mailbox, which is now independent from Paramount Comedy.
Paramount Comedy has a reputation for excessive cutting of many of its shows, mainly during daytime however it does sometimes cut post-watershed shows. This is especially true of Scrubs where episodes are often cut for the tamest sexual innuendo or swear word (even "Ass" is removed"). South Park is another victim of this policy, with certain words and images that remain uncensored on DVD being censored with muting of audio or blurring of video.
