Until the past couple of seasons, Channel 5 has traditionally always telecast the finale and reunion show as close to the US telecast as possible, that is, around 7pm on Monday. However, recently, this has not been the case, and for the past two or three seasons the finale was delayed for four days, to be shown at its regular time slot.

In response to my previous feedback on this, Channel 5 gave the excuse that shifting the finale to Monday 'resulted in fewer people watching the programme as TV viewers tend to follow a fix viewing pattern'. I respectfully disagree - this excuse does not apply to reality TV programmes and, in any event, Channel 5 has had no qualms changing the programming of other TV series mid-season to fit its own scheduling decisions.

All that is currently done to effect these changes is an announcement in the trailer for the following episode, and a ticker running at the bottom of the screen stating: 'From next week, catch Desperate Housewives at a new day and time slot of xxxx".

If Channel 5 still insists on delaying the telecast of the finale of a major reality TV show by four days (notwithstanding the fact that we live in a world where news is available almost instantaneously), then there needs to be better communication between MediaCorp's TV arm and its newspaper arm, because Today newspaper blatantly announced the Survivor winner on Tuesday, May 13.

I fail to understand how MediaCorp's Channel 5 can delay the telecast of the results, expecting viewers to remain in suspense, when its very own Today newspaper gives away the result three days before the scheduled telecast.

Clarissa Yong (Ms)