EXAM Q. 1b) TV COMEDY

Today we looked at the character studies of the 4 Inbetweeners sitcom characters. We made improvements to our homework essay answers by changing form a merely descriptive style to an analytical style. We need to frame all our examples of characters' behaviour as evidence for our understanding of 'the audience pleasures offered by the comedy programme'.

1 b) Exam question: Compare the audience pleasures offered by 2 comedy programmes.

Give examples from the programmes. 

• The sitcom genre is a short 30 minute format that uses stereotypes to offer audiences the pleasures of rapid recognition and easy, entertaining escapism. In the sitcom  Inbetweeners, the audience readily recognizes character stereotypes like 'the geek' Will who....... He makes audiences laugh because.... when... Another example is when.... If Will is the know-it-all geek who nevertheless gets his come-uppance regularly at the hands of friends and teachers, then Neil is the sitcom's fool who is his foil and often the butt of jokes. Neil....
• Quiz shows offer the pleasures of real personalities, not constructs, but nevertheless the panelists take up certain stereotypical positions that emerge out of their allocated roles, such as the quiz master Stephen Fry who is omniscient (he asks the questions and has the answers) and Alan Davies who is positioned as the fool (he always comes last and is the target of Fry's scolding and patronizing as he tends to offer answers that are generally held 'truths' but exposed by Fry as wrong.The audience is positioned as both inferior (we don't know all the answers and often hold the same beliefs as the panelists) and omniscient (we can shout out answers in the privacy of our sitting room without embarrassment).
•  Equally important in the sitcom genre is the way narrative is often constructed around running gags, which sitcom uses to establish stereotypes and offer audiences the pleasures of anticipation, reassurance and predictability. In the same way that audiences can predict that Simon will attempt to impress Carli and fail, so we know that Will will be embarrassed and left out by... when...because...
• Quiz shows also have running gags in the form of repeated rituals such as the allocation of silly buzzers to each of the panelists, with Alan Davies always being gently humiliated by getting the buzzer that makes the silliest and most embarrassing noise. Alan Davies always scores the fewest marks, often with negative scores.