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

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IT_Crowd

The IT Crowd: Season 2