Audience
pleasures of The Inbetweeners
Series 2 Episode 1 The Field Trip
It's a new term and a
geography field trip looms. A new girl, Lauren, has joined the school, and Will
has taken a particular shine to her. There's only one problem - she has her eye
on Simon. No fish were inhumanely treated during the filming of the episode!
Series 3 Episode 6 The Camping Trip
Will decides to organise one
last trip for the gang before they go their separate ways. The four heroes pack
the Fiat for a camping trip in the countryside. Will draws on his scout
training - the same however, cannot be said for Jay, Neil and Simon who aren't
prepared for the great outdoors at all.
C4 webpage on the appeal of The Inbetweeners characters:
http://www.film4.com/minisite/the-inbetweeners-movie/features/article/the-characters-whos-who-in-the-inbetweeners-movie
Read these useful reviews: here
Read these useful reviews: here
Series 1 Summary: (C4
webpage)
‘Sitcom about a bunch of
middle-class adolescent lads. Welcome to a world of futile crushes, sibling
brawls, getting drunk too quickly and casting constant aspersions about your
friends' sexuality.’
Series 2 Summary:
‘What do you get when you
have a group of people who are not cool enough to be popular and not geeky
enough to be nerds? You get The
Inbetweeners. In the first episode of the second series, it's a new term
and the infamous sociology and geography field trip to Swanage is coming up.’
Series 3 Summary:
‘The multi award-winning
show returns for its third hotly anticipated series. Will, Simon, Neil and Jay
are busy trying to navigate their way through sixth form while their hormones
run riot. There's more mishaps and embarrassing attempts to pull.’
Audience
pleasures of QI
Oficial website: http://www.qi.com/tv/
Mainstream audience pleasures Justin Pollard, researcher: ‘We do certainly want to
be popular. That means being accessible and open to as wide an audience as
possible. Being post-watershed did allow for some more freedom with language,
which could be funny but was problematic for families watching with younger
kids - and lots of kids do watch the show. We have the best comedians in the
business, so not the sort who have to swear to get a laugh, and I think they've
taken to the pre-watershed slot without a problem. Personally, I think the
point of QI, from the research and
writing perspective, is to show that everything can be interesting, if put the
right way. If that's true, then kids are a very important audience so being
pre-watershed can only help. Of course we equally don't want to be too
proscriptive with the panelists or patronise an adult audience so I think a
post watershed QI XL cut gives us the
opportunity to have a go at pleasing both constituencies.’
Show is ‘organised
around a central concept or set of attitudes - those
of curiosity, discovery and humour. These, we believe, are what make us human
and they should therefore be nurtured.’ QI is received very positively by its viewers. It was the most popular
programme on BBC Four in
2005,[54]
and one of its books, The Book of
General Ignorance, reached Number 4 on Amazon.com's best-seller
list.
QI has been supported by nearly all critics. Peter
Chapman said, "When the schedules seem so dumbed-down, it's a delight to
encounter the brainy and articulate Stephen Fry. He excels in this format,
being both scathing and generous."[55]
Another critic, Laura Barton said, "QI and its canny coupling of Stephen Fry
and Alan Davies, which manages to condense tweedy goodness, cockney charm, pub
trivia and class war into one half-hour."[5
Addresses
audience’s lifestyles, concerns, hopes
Verbal humour important:
‘quite interesting’ facts more important to entertain than to get the right
answer, QI has stated it follows its own philosophy, which is that
everything in the world, even that which appears to be the most boring, is
"quite interesting" if looked at in the right way; because
of the show's expectation that hardly anyone would be able to give a correct answer
without significant prompting, it instead encourages sheer interestingness,
which is how points are mainly scored.
Answers designed to expose myths: things you always thought were true;
laugh yourself clever. Unlike any other quiz show you will have failed to
avoid catching, QI's questions are impossible to answer, but at least the guest
panel of top-shelf comedians can laugh at themselves (and the universe in
general) while trying.
Points of
recognition & identification offered:
Audiences relate to the panelists Regular panellists: Stephen Fry QI
Master, ‘magic’; very clever chairman; shares knowledge & is affable never
arrogant.
Alan Davies comedian,
familiar face, ‘the bloke next door’ rushes headlong like a puppy into the wall of
ignorance." Variety
of panellists: the show's other panellists mainly
come from a stand-up comedy
background
Banter between panellists
Funny buzzers: Davies's buzzer is usually more humorous than the others
Panelists are apt to branch off into
frivolous conversations, give voice to train of thought, and share humorous
anecdotes from their own lives.
In some episodes, the panelists are
given an extra task to complete during the course of the game. Those who do the
best are often awarded extra points.
Audience
placed in position of power (positioned as superior) Points of recognition
& identification offered:
Audiences relate to the
characters; audience laughs at Alan Davies giving wrong answers & "rushes
headlong like a puppy into the wall of ignorance"; it's okay to be wrong, but don't be obviously,
boringly wrong. In this way, QI tries to rid the world of the flotsam of
nonsense and old wives' tales that can build up in your mind. QI not only makes
us look more closely at things, it encourages us to question all the received
wisdom we have carried with us since childhood.
Audience is
active participant contributor (can guess the answers with the panelists) ands the show is filmed before a live studio
audience
Audience
pleasures of The IT Crowd
Are We Not
Men?
Series 1
Episode 1 First Broadcast: 10PM Thu 31
December 2009
The unloved and
socially-awkward Roy and Moss give computer-illiterate Jen a lukewarm
welcome to the IT department. Soon, however, they realise a female presence in
their team can have its benefits as she becomes their 'relationship manager' and helps the technicians bridge the gap with the rest of the business.
Script
for episode: http://www.theitcrowd.co.uk/script/1.1/en/1-1.2-yesterdays-jam.htm
Yesterday’s
Jam
Series 3
Episode 2 First Broadcast: 10.35PM Wed 14
January 2009
A new football website
allows Roy and Moss to pass as 'proper' men for a momentous couple of days.
Meanwhile, Jen is trying to date a man who looks like a magician.
Niche audience
young adults behaving like teens;
geekdom with computer bits lying around, comics, CDs; boys better with
technology than people
Addresses
audience’s lifestyles, concerns, hopes
Characters are small cogs in
a big anonymous organization; mystery about what the company actually does; they
are buried in the basement & ignored unless technology goes wrong; the boys
are desperate to belong (‘be real men’) and have a social life & girlfriend
(Roy). The show tries to add a large number of references to geek culture and
professionalism, mostly in set dressing and props. Dialogue (both technical and
cultural) is usually authentic and any technobabble used often
contains in-jokes
for viewers knowledgeable in such subjects. Roy regularly wears shirts that
feature Leet speak,
such as the acronyms OMFG
and RTFM. Roy wears the Music
Elitism Venn Diagram tee and I Screw Robots sticker from the webcomic Diesel Sweeties. On
occasion, there will be movie-style scenes that parody fight scenes and
melodrama.
Audience also
placed in position of power (positioned as superior)
Sense of superiority: we
feel superior to the foolish behaviour; we can predict some of the characters’
foolish responses; computer savvy audiences can understand the jokes made at
the expense of those ignorant (‘Have you tried turning it off and on again?’)
With predictable running gags Jen shows her computer ignorance; her restaurant date
goes wrong;
Roy fails to impress the
girls;
Moss speaks the truth at the
wrong moments (trip to Amsterdam);
Points of
recognition & identification offered:
Audiences relate to the
characters
Recognizable, familiar types
(stereotypes) ‘standard nerds, that’s what we are to them’; in jokes; buddies-bonded-by-loserdom; updates
old-school physical shtick for the high-tech age; three dysfunctional people thrown together
Moss: highly
intelligent with a lack of social skills, Moss is a "standard nerd" computer geek who struggles to
communicate with anything that does not have a keyboard. Moss lives at home
with his mother, who also dresses him and packs him lunch; reclusive &
avoids social contact, struggles to communicate with anything that doesn’t have
a keyboard; takes everything literally, butt of jokes, buttoned-up clothes,
large glasses, awful hair; tries
to mimic "proper men" by taking online course in how to talk like
football fans;
Roy: a
laid-back IT technician from Ireland, Roy goes to great lengths to fob off
workmates so he can sit around doing nothing. However, when something does
happen, he is always the one who gets the wrong end of the stick and is
constantly either injured or in distress. He and his co-worker Moss are
described as "standard nerds"
computer geek; desperate for girlfriend but despised by rest of company; wears
teenage T shirts/behaves immaturely; sexist jokes; wants to be a ‘real man’
Jen: made
Head of IT computer illiterate so she lands in ludicrous situations, agony aunt
to boys, people person
Slapstick humour Expertly crafted by writer-director Graham Linehan (Father Ted, Black Books), The IT Crowd proves that nothing beats
funny walks or electroshock-therapy pants when it comes to getting a big-ass
belly laugh.
Verbal humour
Basement geekdom
with computer bits lying around, comics, CDs
Studio audience filmed in front of live studio audience; laughter
Upbeat, optimistic,
people you’re supposed to like; contains no strong language or violence so
‘old-fashioned, sweet’ comedy; depiction done with real affection
Audience is
passive consumer but the show is filmed
before a live studio audience
The IT Crowd: Season 2
http://www.barb.co.uk/index
About the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/
BBC Audience: http://www.barb.co.uk/index
