Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Section B consists of 2 questions. You should spend 30 minutes in your exam on this section. Question 4(a) is about the scheduling of comedy programmes. You are discussing ‘Blandings’ and ‘New Girl’ in this question. You should spend 15 minutes answering this question. Question 4(b) is about the audience pleasures of comedy programmes. You are discussing ‘Being Eileen’ and ‘New Girl in this question. You should spend 15 minutes answering this question.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(a) This question will ask you to explain the scheduling of one or two programmes. Remember to read the question carefully so you know how many programmes to talk about. To achieve a Level 4 (A/A*) you need to: state the scheduling of the programmes use terminology explain why the programme is suited to the channel it is on explain how scheduling helps the programme appeal to the audience In this question you are focusing on Blandings and New Girl.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(a) – ‘Blandings’ Scheduling – Sunday, 6.30pm, BBC1. Why is it on BBC1? BBC1 is a public service broadcaster so has to follow regulations to produce mostly British programmes, and aims to ‘entertain, inform, and educate’. Blandings is a British production based on the stories of PG Wodehouse, so reflects and promotes British culture. Average age of BBC1’s audience is 50 – historical settings, older main characters, would appeal to this audience. BBC1 is a mainstream channel aimed at a mass audience – the gentle humour of Blandings is suited to this audience.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(a) – ‘Blandings’ What scheduling techniques are used? Stacking – BBC1 shows a block of programmes aimed at a similar demographic and psychographic on Sunday afternoons and early evenings including Songs of Praise, Antiques Roadshow, Chatsworth, and Country File. This would encourage the audience to keep watching and encourages flow. Counterprogramming – BBC1 shows ‘Blandings’ at a time when other channels are showing programmes aimed at different demographics and psychographics, e.g. BBC2 was showing darts, ITV was showing Dancing on Ice, and Channel 5 was showing films aimed at younger people.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(a) – ‘New Girl’ Scheduling – Tuesday, 9pm, E4 Why is it on E4? E4 is aimed at a niche audience of year olds. ‘New Girl’ would appeal to this demographic as the characters are a similar age group. It would also appeal to the psychographic of the audience as the storylines are about dating, friendship, and socialising which are similar interests to the target audience. ‘New Girl’ fits in with the programming mix of E4 as it shows lots of American sitcoms about young adults. E4 can show lots of American entertainment programmes as it is a commercial broadcaster so does not have to follow public service broadcasting regulations.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(a) – ‘New Girl’ What scheduling techniques are used? Stacking – ‘New Girl’ is shown as part of a block of American sitcoms about young adults such as ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘How I Met Your Mother’. Inheritance – ‘New Girl’ is one of the most popular programmes on commercial television with year olds, so its popularity is used to encourage people to watch the new sitcom ‘The Mindy Project’ by showing it after ‘New Girl’. Counterprogramming – the other major channels show programmes aimed at an older demographic, e.g. BBC1 shows ‘The Syndicate’, BBC2 shows a documentary about the NHS, Midsomer Murders on ITV, and a documentary on Channel 4.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(b) This question will ask you to explain the audience pleasures of one or two programmes. Remember to read the question carefully so you know how many programmes to talk about. To achieve a Level 4 (A/A*) you need to: show detailed knowledge of audience pleasures explain how programmes create these pleasures use specific and relevant examples In this question you are focusing on New Girl and Being Eileen.

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(b) – ‘Being Eileen’ State different audience pleasures offered by Being Eileen Being Eileen offers a range of audience pleasures such as humour, identification with situations and characters, exaggeration, and narrative resolution. Identify specific examples of audience pleasures Being Eileen uses situations an older target audience can relate to, e.g. (children’s birthday party, DIY, etc.) This would be appealing to the audience because… Being Eileen uses role reversal for example when the old people get competitive when playing pass the parcel. The audience would find this funny because… Being Eileen offers the pleasure of narrative resolution, for example when we find out that Mandy is pregnant at the end of the episode. This would be enjoyable because…

Section B Exam Technique and Practice Exam Lesson Objectives: To be able to answer exam style questions on the scheduling and audience pleasures of television comedy. Question 4(b) – ‘New Girl’ State different audience pleasures offered by New Girl Being Eileen offers a range of audience pleasures such as identification with situations and characters, exaggeration, and schadenfreude. Identify specific examples of audience pleasures New Girl uses exaggeration, for example when Jess listens to a sad song over and over again after she breaks up with her boyfriend. The audience would… New Girl uses schadenfreude when the characters make fun of Winston’s earring. The audience would enjoy this because… The audience can identify with the situations for example…