Five plus, five, and soccer on TV

This five plus channel is such a joke! They only show two or three games from each league, whereas back when we had the top five, they showed at least six. Bring back the old lineup!!
And I really miss the English Premier League coverage on the new 😢

Man, this five plus thing is so captivating that I actually managed to sit through ten whole minutes of it straight since it started airing...

So I’m sitting here watching the highlights for the Juventus vs. Messina game—ended 2:1—and honestly, while the footage isn't total trash, it’s definitely not a five-star production. If we’re being real though, even from the jump, the quality wasn't exactly top-tier; I’ve never been a huge fan of these highlight reels that just cycle through goals and maybe one or two big chances. You miss so much of the actual flow of the game that way. At the end of the day, my point is simple: I just want to see more actual football on TV.🙂

That's instead of five👎

Lawrence Moore45 said:I'm just watching the highlights for Juve vs. Messina—finished 2-1. Honestly, the recap wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't a blowout. To be fair, the summary itself wasn't perfect from the jump either; I'm not a fan of those quick clips that only show the goals and the best chances. You miss too much action that way. My bottom line? I just want more actual football on TV.🙂

You'll get more football when you're home.😁

James Roberts87 said:You'll get more soccer action from House😁

than you ever would watching Big Brother😁

I totally passed out last night, man. Is there any kind of replay available? 😢

This isn't a good move. Honestly, four hours of soccer in one night—especially if you're also trying to catch that other match on PBS+—is just overkill. Plus, the whole thing is a mess to watch. Five was a much better setup, but it looks like they lost the battle against prime-time TV shows on Monday night.

At least I still have Eurogoal on ESPN on Monday nights. They've got two different kickoff times and a mountain of replays to go through.

Say whatever you want. I just want four hours of pure soccer. And honestly, that constant listing of matches followed by highlights of basically every single goal? It’s irritating. What am I supposed to do with all that? I’ll just watch the biggest games of the round and then catch one match live.

If you actually want to see everything, go to ESPN or DSF; they broadcast almost all of it.

I am thoroughly unimpressed by this direction. My intention is to watch football, not to sit through a political shouting match between two candidates vying for control of the HOO, nor am I interested in an interview with Sanja Jovanović.
Why on earth did they cancel Five? It was easily one of their most popular programs.

I’m on board. Watching Five Plus last night actually gave me the spark to start this thread, though luckily, the Chicago Blackhawks fans already beat me to it and started the discussion.

I honestly think PBS screwed the pooch here—another massive blunder. They took a show that was a staple for soccer fans, aired at a prime time when people could actually watch (honestly, I much prefer Monday night over Sunday night), and instead of sticking to the script, they decided to cook up yet another idiotic mashup of random nonsense.

1. Internet Corner: Tihana Zrnic is a hot chick, no doubt. She’s charming, and she’s probably smart (hard to tell just from watching Music TV), but when it comes to sports, she knows absolutely NOTHING. She’s proven that multiple times now. The questions she reads out, pretending they’re from viewers, are just stereotypical and boring. Any real sports fan can predict exactly what the answers are going to be.
For example:
"A viewer from Pittsburgh wants to know if Bosko Balaban will be in the lineup against Bulgaria, and if he'll be starting from the kickoff."

Cica Kranjcar's response: "For now, Pršo and Klasnić have the edge, so they'll likely start, but if God forbid there are injuries or my assessment changes, Balaban could play. He’s physically and mentally ready, performing well at his club, and is naturally a candidate for the match."

We knew all of that ten minutes ago. They wasted two whole minutes of airtime on nothing.

2. I couldn't care less about that mindless back-and-forth between Ivica Miocic Stosic and Zlatko Mates regarding some positional battles. Let the selection committee meet and make their decisions. I don't give a damn which one of them earns a salary of 26k $0.00, versus 43,000. It's no big deal. They're both just overpaid nobodies. 🙄

Bottom line: Five Plus feels incomplete. They show maybe two or three matches while Jura Ozmec or Bruno Kovacevic just read off the rest of the scores, and that's it. Five was a cult classic. Give it back to us.

It feels like they’re just shamelessly ripping off the Italian networks more and more lately... they've really found their niche in imitation.

The Italians actually have a slightly larger budget to work with, so their stuff looks somewhat decent, whereas this is just a total disaster. Honestly, both Tihana Zrnic and that blonde woman are completely killing my passion for football.🙄

If they're going to keep ripping off the Italians, where are the hot dancers and the hosts? My old lady and my sister both know all about that Zrnićka woman, so she’s already getting on my nerves, especially with her acting like she's so smart.

I agree that five plus isn't even close to being on par with five, especially considering how they split up the leagues. For instance, they'll put the Premier League on around 8:20 PM, then save the last one—say, the Bundesliga—for midnight. In between, you're stuck wading through God knows how many boring segments just to catch all the games. And of course, they drop the schedule at the start, which basically becomes useless after the first twenty seconds of the show...
That’s the real issue. If they just aired them back-to-back, it wouldn't be much different from five. Honestly, five would basically just be a subset of five plus or something like that...😢

Seriously, what’s so terrible about that five plus show anyway?
Instead of just giving those surface-level previews for every match, they're actually diving deep into the details now—and they aren't just cherry-picking games played on Sunday nights to fill the slot. Plus, the old five-hour block used to run for maybe an hour or ninety minutes, whereas this thing drags on for four hours, sometimes even longer... and obviously, you can't have all four hours dedicated strictly to soccer (though, let's be real, most of the time it is). There's also a prize giveaway that's actually decent. If you're dying to get the old version back, stop complaining and start flooding PBS with emails. You know how it goes:
FIGHT The Power 🙂

Look, Five plus isn't exactly a disaster, but it doesn't even come close to being on the same level as Five.
I mean, seriously, Five was such an absolute cult classic. I honestly can't wrap my head around why they thought it was a good idea to swap out a legend for some cheap knockoff called Five plus.

:2up: 🙂 🙂

nimblemarlin17 said:At least I’ve got Eurogoal on ESPN on Monday night. They run it twice and then just dump a massive pile of replays on you.

It's the truth...

Michael Carter6 said:Honestly, FIVE was such a cult classic show. I truly cannot wrap my head around why they thought replacing it with some mediocre clone called Five + was a good idea.

I agree. Five + doesn't even come close to the original FIVE. Personally, I preferred the entire concept of the original show, and even the title felt much more impactful. With a game scheduled this Sunday, that’s plenty of football for one day—especially since there’s usually something playing on the other network anyway, allowing us to catch two matches in a single day.

Chicago Blackhawks fans said:Look, if you actually bothered to watch the five plus show, we wouldn't even need to waste our breath explaining this to you, but since you guys just won't let it go:

NO, we aren't moving it back to five. We're sticking with the Sunday slot for the five plus show. Period.

Thanks for reaching out.

Jura Ozmec

PBS sports

Hit 'em with this: 2up:

Chicago Blackhawks fans said:The email I got back after hitting up PBS with my inquiry:

If you were actually paying attention to the five plus broadcast, we wouldn't even need to bother responding to you, but since you're being so persistent:

NO, we aren't bringing back the five. We're sticking to the Sunday slot with the five plus show.

Thanks for reaching out.

Jura Ozmec

PBS Sports

Jura's gonna realize his mistake when it's way too late. Just wait until the whole damn country rises up and starts calling for his head on a platter because they scrapped the five. 😁 🙄