Programmes
This section tracks the changes in programme styles and programming schedules of the station over the years, in response to the increased competition and changing of audience preferences. We will take a closer look at the programme choices of Channel U at each stage of the station's growth.
Since the start of the station, there has been numerous changes to the programming time-slots for Channel U. Currently, Channel U's programme transmission on weekdays is typically from 3.00pm to 2.30am, and from 10.00am to 2.30am on weekends. Before the start of programme transmission, Channel U has a couple of hours devoted to Home Shopping. The programmes in the afternoon and late night are often repeat telecast of variety shows and dramas. New content is shown from 7.00pm to 11.00pm where 7.00pm-8.00pm and 10.00pm-11.00pm are often regarded as the prime-time slots for dramas. Between 8.00pm to 10.00pm, the programmes are often variety shows, although Channel U does at times schedule some dramas to be shown.
A Kindred Spirit (Hong Kong)
2001-2002, Monday - Friday, 7.00pm
While Channel U's broadcasted of A Kindred Spirit was a few years later than TVB and cable TV, it had received very good viewership ratings during its broadcast. It was seen as Channel U's "lifeline" and plated a very big part in raising the channel's profile. It had served as great competition to Mediacorp's Channel 8 primetime slot. Due to the good response, the air time for the drama was increased to 6 times a week and for 2 hours on Mondays. Its success had also led to a trend of long serials. In response to this competition, Mediacorp started producing long dramas such as Holland Village.
MVP Valentine (Taiwan)
2002, Friday, 11.30pm
In the early 2000s, the Taiwan entertainment industry was on its rise amidst the popularity of TVB and Japanese dramas in Singapore. Channel U begun importing Taiwanese idol dramas. MVP Valentine was one of the first few Taiwanese idol dramas to be imported, and was shown in the same year as its Taiwan premiere. This drama brought Taiwanese idol group 5566 to fame in Singapore, and the market for Taiwan entertainment grew exponentially in Singapore and in Asia. With the success of MVP Valentine, Channel U subsequently brought in many dramas which starred members of boyband 5566.
Winter Sonata (Korea)
2003, Friday, 11.30pm
Along with the growth of the Taiwanese entertainment industry, the Korean TV industry was also gaining more attention across Asia. Winter Sonata was among the first few Korean dramas which was imported to Singapore. Similar to the effect MVP Valentine had with Taiwanese dramas, Winter Sonata had sparked off an interest in K-dramas in Singapore. Thereafter, Channel U also started importing more Korean dramas, in addition to its existing repertoire of Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwanese dramas. Even after the merger, idol dramas from Korea and Taiwan were shown at 11.30pm on Friday nights.
Stairway to Heaven (Korea)
2005, Monday-Friday, 10.00pm
Imported productions now not only took over the 7.30pm primetime slot, but also the 10pm primetime slot. With the growing popularity of Korean dramas among the local audience, the Stairway to Heaven became the first Korean drama to be shown on the prime time belt. During this period of time, a decline in the amount of imported Japanese dramas was noted while there was an increase in the amount of Korean dramas. This was especially since Korean dramas were a much cheaper alternative to import rather than Japanese dramas. This further contributed to the already rising demand for Korean dramas.
Prince turn into Frog (Taiwan)
2005, Wednesday-Friday, 7.30pm
After the merger, Mediacorp started branding Channel U as the channel which appeals to youth. Taiwanese idol dramas, Korean dramas and Japanese dramas were shifted from off primetime slots to primetime slots. the 7.00pm time slot got pushed back half an hour to begin at 7.30pm. While there was a growing demand for Korean dramas, the demand for Taiwanese dramas and Japanese dramas still remained strong. As such, Channel U had divided its 7.30pm time belt into two, showing a different drama on Monday-Tuesday and on Wednesday-Friday. Monday-Tuesday was often reserved for Korean and Japanese dramas while Wednesday-Friday was for Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas.
I Hear Your Voice (Korea)
2014, Monday-Friday, 10.00pm
Over the years, Channel U had been showing a selection of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korean dramas during its prime time slot. In recent years, with the growing popularity of the Hallyu wave, Korean dramas take up a majority of the primetime slots. Currently, both 7.00pm and 10.00pm primetime slots have been dedicated to broadcasting Korean dramas. Hong Kong TVB dramas have moved to the 8.00pm slots from Wednesdays to Fridays, which are usually for variety shows, and Taiwan dramas are only at the 9.00pm slots on Saturdays. Korean dramas have also been given another programming slot on Sundays 9.00pm.
Imported Dramas.
In terms of dramas, Channel U has always had a larger proportion of imported dramas than locally produced ones. We have observed that although over the years, the time slot for "prime-time" had changed a couple of times, a bulk of what was shown at these prime-time slots are imported dramas.
With the target audience of the channel being youths, the countries of origin of these dramas often coincided with the current popular culture. We will take a look at how Channel U's choice of imported dramas changed over the years to suit the taste of the audience.
Smile, Donghae! (Korea)
2013, Monday-Friday, 7.00pm
After Taiwanese soap drama "Love" received high viewership ratings on Channel 8, the trend of long dramas was brought back. To cater to the increase in preference for Korean dramas, Channel U had been broadcasting a couple of long Korean dramas during its primetime slot of 7.00pm. This drama is currently having a rerun on weekend afternons.
Local Dramas.
While local dramas definitely take a smaller proportion of air time on Channel U, it is interesting to see that these dramas that are broadcasted on this channel is starkly different from the conventional local dramas which center about the family and neighbourhood setting. Though not always successful, local productions on Channel U often tend to be more daring in terms of their concept and injects a fresh blood into the local television scene. It appears to be a platform for local productions to try out new concepts and ideas, and acts as a gauge for audience response.
To attract its targeted group of audience, these dramas often include newer faces whose fanbase are often of a younger age than those of veteran actors. These dramas also tended to star foreign artistes.
Perfect Cut
2008, Monday - Friday, 10pm
At a time when local productions revolved mainly about the family setting, Perfect Cut was seen as a bold jump out of the safety formula of drama productions at that time. It had received good responses from the local audience, and a season 2 was produced subsequently. After the good reception of this drama, there was an increase in the number of local productions that explored central themes outside of the family context. After Perfect Cut, Thomas Ong had also acted in many of the more well-received dramas in Channel U.
Variety.
Apart from dramas, much of Channel U's airtime is dedicated to variety shows, both imported and local content.
News & Current Affairs
Jump!
2012, Monday to Friday, 10pm
Jump! (2012) was a locally produced drama series that was broadcasted on Channel U at 10pm on weekdays. This series featured several young, rising stars such as Edwin Goh and Jayley Woo and also, Wong Jing Lun, a Singaporean singer based in Taiwan. It it interesting to note that this drama series touches on issues which most Singaporean students and youths are able to relate to. Following Jump!, subsequent local productions such as Served HOT (2013) and Scrum (2014) had been featuring these newer and younger faces like Ian Fang and Edwin Goh.
100% Entertainment (Taiwan)
Aftter the merger, Channel U continued showing variety programmes about the entertainment industry. Although they stopped the broadcast of Showbiz, they acquired the rights of broadcast of 100% Entertainment, and each episode was showed 23 hours after its Taiwan broadcast. This shift in programming from Showbiz to 100% Entertainment had coincided with the time when 5566 was on its decline and popular singer Show Luo was rising to popularity in Taiwan. However, Channel U had stopped its broadcast in 2012, possibly due to the declining viewership ratings as the trend shifted to the Korean entertainment industry rather than the Taiwan industry.
Comparison between Channel U's news broadcast in 2007(bottom left) and in 2014 (bottom right).
One may notice the transformation in the news opening. Also, in the newer version, the words "录æ’" (prounounced as lu bo) are briefly flashed on the top left hand corner of the screen, indicating that the broadcast is a repeat or an encore. This illustrates the transformation of Channel U's news broadcast over the years. Currently, Channel U's news at 11pm is the encore version of Channel 8's news at 10pm. This is likely to be due to a lack of manpower and resources.
Secrets for Sale
2011, Monday to Friday, 10pm
Produced by Wawa Pictures, Secrets for Sale was labelled Blockbuster of the year in 2011, attaining a viewership of 1,150,000. This series features Singapore's iconic actor, Christopher Lee, as the male lead and Jesseca Liu, a familiar face, as the female lead. The series takes the audience on an exciting ride as the characters uncover secrets and discover the undiscovered.
$2 Wonderfood (Singapore)
Channel U's variety programs are often lifestyle-type programs, mainly centered about food and travel. This trend in variety programming had been present since pre-merger. Pre-merger, the more iconic and popular variety shows on Channel U were $2 Wonderfood and Yummy King, both of which were about seeking good food in Singapore, framing its identity as a "food hub". This continued even after merger, and up till today, a bulk of locally produced variety shows center about food and travel.
Boys Over Flowers (Korea)
2009, Saturday, 9.30pm
When the K-Pop fever hit Singapore, along came the drama series Boys Over Flowers. This series is the Korean adaptaion, amongst many other versions, of the original Japanese shojo manga, Hana Yori Dango. As the term "shojo" suggests, this drama series targets young, teenage audiences, typically, the females. Korean heartthrob, Lee Min Ho, plays the male protagonist, Gu Jun Pyo, of this series, stealing the hearts of many with his good looks.
ToGetHer (Taiwan)
2009, Saturday, 9.00pm
With audiences moving to the Internet and Cable TV for the latest dramas, local FTA channels would lose a bulk of its tech savvy audience if they were to broadcast something that was of a few years old. Channel U had adopted a new strategy of broadcasting Taiwanese dramas at the same time as their Taiwan broadcast. Taiwanese dramas are often promoted as an "exclusive" broadcast, and Channel U sells the idea that it is broadcasted at the same time as the Taiwan broadcast. This is in contrast to the Korean and Hong Kong dramas that are still at least one year later than its original broadcast.
Dream Chasers
2006, Thursday, 8.30pm
Subsequently, after the merger, Channel U now has a bigger pool of actors. The talent-searching competitions also introduced many newer facess to the local audience. This production was made after the first season of Project Superstar. At that time, there was a hype of talent searching competitions across all three major channels in Singapore. Project Superstar had received much attention from local viewers, and this production had casted the contestants from the competition as actors, mainly attracting the fans of the competitors. Later in 2007, Channel 8 had borrowed the idea and produced a drama serial, "Let it Shine", using Campus Superstar contestants as the guest.
Secret Garden
2011, Wednesday, 8pm
Secret Garden is another indication that Channel U aims to appeal to the younger audience by using newer faces. Shown once a week at 8pm, Secret Garden had casted Taiwanese actor Tender Huang. During the promotion of this drama, the starring of Tender Huang was one of its largest selling point. Following Secret Garden, Mediacorp started engaging more Taiwanese actors for its production, such as Alien Huang, Kingone Wang and Patrick Li. However, these productions were broadcasted on Channel 8 instead. Hence, Secret Garden could be seen as an experimental effect for Mediacorp to test out the audience's response to foreign actors in its dramas.
Showbiz! (Taiwan)
Pre-merger, Channel U had already been showing imported variety programmes. Often scheduled in the afternoon, these variety shows were largely imported from Taiwan, coinciding with the period of time where Taiwan entertainemnet was very popular among the youth in Singapore. Showbiz was hosted by members from popular boyband 5566, who had a very large following in Singapore. With the scheduling of the show to be at 2.30pm, it is likely that it is targeted at schooling youths, which coincided with the fanbase of the hosts. Apart from Showbiz, Channel U had also imported popular Taiwanese and Japanese variety programmes such as Guess and Super Sunday.
E-Puff (Singapore)
Variety programmes which serve as a platform for singers and actors to promote their works is less common in Singapore, likely due to the smaller market of the industry in Singapore. While in a starkly different format as those in Taiwan and Korea, Channel U had also produced its own variety programme that targets current happenings in the local entertainment scene. E-puff is hosted by Chen Ning, a DJ from local radio station Y.E.S. 93.3 which is known for their trendiness, and this is in line with the target audience and programme type being more inclined towards entertainment trends.
Project Superstar (Singapore)
After the merger, the need to seek new talents and expand the talent pool wasn't as strong. However, matching the times when talent-searching was popular worldwide, Channel U also kicked off a series of talent-searching competitions. Starting with Project Superstar, and moving on to other competitions like Campus Superstar, Superband, and Superhost, they are all talent-searching variety programmes which are of the same nature but different content. These competitions stopped after a few years when the trend died down, but in the last two years, Channel U rebooted these programmes with Project Superstar and Campus Superstar, alongside the poopularity of singing competition variety programmes in China.
Let's Talk (Singapore)
In recent years, Channel U's productions have been criticized for "copying". It is observed that the type of programs which Channel U produces largely mimics the trends in Asia. In Taiwan, popular programs like "University" and "Dad and Mom, Oh My God" follow a format which allows university students and parents to share their thoughts regarding different topics of each episode. Though not exactly the same, Channel U had produced similar programs like "Let's Talk" and "Shoot!" which also allows students and the general public to share their thoughts about certain social issues that is of relevance at that point in time. On top of that, Channel U had also produced a game series "Finding U" which is similar in concept as popular Korean variety show "Running Man".
The Voice of China (China)
Currently, Channel U has been importing a very large number of shows from China. These shows often showcase the talents of the participants or give them a chance to fulfil their dreams on stage. Such shows include "China's got Talent", "Chinese Dream Show" and "The Voice of China". "The Voice of China" had gained much attention across Asia and its run on Channel U had just ended. The popularity of "The Voice of China" can also be seen by having these winners to be the special guest for Channel U's own singing competition "Project Superstar 2014".
Running Man (Korea)
As with the case of imported dramas, the variety shows which Channel U imports is largely dependant on the current trend. Initially, Channel U used to import more Taiwanese variety shows such as "A Million Singers", "Go Go Go" and "The Global Fantasies". In recent years, there has been an increase in imported content originating from Korea, such as "Dad, where are we going?" and "Running Man". This is in sync with the shift in interest from Taiwan entertainment to Korean entertainment. However, these shows are often a few years old and their content is often cut short to match the broadcasting time slot.
Special Programmes.
As a channel which aims to attract teenage viewers, Channel U had broadcasted a number of special programmes which would appeal to this target group of audience. These special programmes are often in the form of music shows and award ceremonies, with appearances and performances from currently popular idols and singers. These shows are not limited to only Mandopop or the Chinese entertainment industry, but often include Kpop. Also, during holidays such as Chinese New Year, Channel U would often show countdown concerts from Taiwan, and these concerts would feature many groups of popular celebrities.
MAMA (Korea)
In 2011, the MAMA was held in Singapore. Channel U had broadcasted it live as it took place. Subsequently, in 2012 and 2013, Channel U had live broadcasted MAMA in Hong Kong. This caters not only to the local Chinese, but rather, K-pop fans in Singapore across all races.
Singapore Hit Awards (SHA)
The Singapore Hit Awards is an award ceremony jointly organized by Channel U and Mediacorp Radio Station Y.E.S. 93.3. Channel U would typically broadcast the ceremony one week after it takes place.
Golden Horse Awards (GHA)
In 2013, Channel U broadcasted the prestigious Golden Horse Awards the day after the event took place in Taiwan.
Lost and Found
2010 (Telemovie)
From end 2009, Channel U experimented television in a new format, broadcasting a series of telemovies. The telemovie "Lost and Found" had engaged popular Taiwanese actor James Wen and child actor Xiao Xiao Bin to star in this production. With the addition of the two, it increased the profile of this telemovie, both within and outside of Singapore. This can be seen as an experimental effort on Channel U's part to bring different content to the audience. The casting choices also refelct an attempt to appeal to the younger generation.
Zero
2004, Tuesday-Friday, 8pm
Even prior to the merger with Mediacorp, Channel U had been producing its own dramas. The dramas produced by Channel U had a generally different content and theme from the mainstream ones that were shown on Channel 8. Channel U had experimented with many different themes, and marked a couple of milestones in the industry. Channel U was the first station in Singapore to have a drama directed by a movie director, and also to use high definition cameras for filming. In these dramas, Channel U often create an association with the current trend. For instance, in "Zero", they had a character named "5566", and in "She Drives Me Crazy", Kym Ng was a bus driver identified by the ID "5566", matching up to Taiwanese boyband 5566's popularity in Singapore at that time.
Snap 2 (Singapore)
As a new station, Channel U had a small pool of talents and there was a need to expand this pool by discovering new faces and talents. With the need to find new talents, Channel U had produced a handful of talent searching competitions like "Snap 2". Celebrities like Ben Yeo and Jeanette Aw were discovered through these shows, adding to Channel U's pool of celebrities.
This is Channel U's programme line-up on the week from 26 October to 1st November. Taking a look at the break down of imported programmes against local productions and collaborations, it can be observed that Channel U's programming is largely reliant on imported programmes. As such, in addition to the changes in local production, it is important to take a look at how the choice of imported programmes had changed over the year.