A few years ago I came up with what I thought was a pretty amazing idea. The incredible awesome amazing idea was to try to convince Channel Five to hand over an hour of prime time programming to one member of the British public.
When I first came up with this idea, Hijack Five, Channel Five was being run by Dawn Airey, (as opposed to Five’s new owner Richard Desmond). Dawn had announced that she wanted all prime time programmes to gain an audience of 1million and my mission was to see whether the British public could make this happen!
My request was that members of the public uploaded a video to YouTube stating why they should Hijack Five, this could have been for any reason – for a chat show, to follow the story of a goal or a dream, to raise awareness of a personal story to to rally a cause for a charity. When Dawn Airey heard about this story through an article in a London newspaper her response was, ‘Cheeky sod! I love it’. I had a number of meetings with Channel Five but we did not really get much further. I had numerous meetings with TV production companies, including Endemol and I had a few meetings with Channel Five. Although Five loved the idea there was just not enough money going around in the TV world. So, Hijack Five had to be cancelled.
Move on to 2011 and I am addicted to a particular American TV show that I can only watch on Wednesday’s, four days after the show has aired in the USA. This particularly awesome show is Oprah’s OWN – to win your own TV show on the all new Oprah channel, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). It is flippin’ addictive. Just like Hijack Five, the public had to upload their video to youtube with regards to why they should be given their own show, 10 contestants were chosen and put through their paces, and one winner will be announced next week.
This show is absolutely addictive and we are now down to the final two – Kristina, who has a passion to create a new breed of cooking show and Zach who has cerebal palsy and is incredibly funny. Personally, I am hoping Zach wins as he is talented, hilarious, and an awesome role model.
So, the idea of one member of the public winning their own TV show was not a bad idea. However, it was only a good idea if a) you are a billionaire b) you have your own tv channel c) you are one of the highest rating TV stars in America. So, we learn for next time.
I encourage you to check out OWN: Win your OWN TV show.
