L3 tv comedy

B322 exam - Section B = TV Comedy

9 lessons

Friday Night Dinner – Institution

• Channel 4• Publicly-owned, commercially-funded,

non-profit• Remit to be:– Innovative– Experimental and distinctive– Champion innovation in TV

• Nurtures and grows new ideas, formats, views and voices, faces, talent, audiences and production companies


• Work with more independent production companies than any other terrestrial channel

• Known for taking risks with broadcasting• More new programme ideas tried each year

than any other UK channel• First broadcaster in the world to offer on-

demand TV service• 1/3 of its audience is 16-34


• Popper Pictures• Big Talk Productions• 3 series• First series outperformed its usual 10pm time

slot viewing figures (1.5m)• Broadcast in 16 different countries• Commissioned for one series version in US• “We’re all just idiot children trying to be

grown up” – Tamsin Grieg


• 20th June 2014 – The Girlfriend• 1.56m viewers• Second most popular comedy in that time slot

during that week• C4 had first and second most popular comedies in

that time slot (8 out of 10 cats does countdown no 1)

• Beat QI on BBC2 – 1.34m • Only competition was:– BBC News (BBC1) 4.92m– ITV News (ITV) 1.77m

Friday Night Dinner – Scheduling

• Post-watershed – 9pm • Prime Time – when networks

battle over the 18-49 ABC1 audience

• Why do you think FND wants to target ABC1?


• Typically comedy is shown on C4 from 10pm until late (sometimes earlier on Fridays)

• FND Series 1 on Fridays on Channel 4 at 10.30pm• Hammocking – putting a ‘new’ show between two

‘strong’ shows in the hope viewers will be too lazy to switch over and watch the show anyway

• Popular technique with new shows that haven’t built an audience yet

• FND was ‘hammocked’ when it first aired

Friday Night Dinner – Scheduling• FND Series 2+3 on Sundays Channel

4 at 10.00pm• Why the change to the schedule?

Why move FRIDAY night dinner to SUNDAY?• Typically C4 shows movies on Sunday evenings from 9pm• Pre-echo – putting a less popular show on before a

popular one to catch viewers tuning in early• Stand alone show – avoiding competition• Counter-programming – scheduling a programme to

draw viewers away from other stations (BBC MotD, News, ITV drama, etc.)


• Targeting specific audiences– Family audience on a Sunday evening –

traditionally time when all together– Potentially offensive to Jewish – Friday night dinner

moved to Sunday (religious implications)– Relaxing / unwinding before bed – chilling out before

return to grind on a Monday– Not hitting original C4 target market of

16-34 yr olds on a Friday night as they’re typically ‘out’ at 10pm on a Friday

– Post watershed so older audience (language and adult themes)


• FND can now be viewed on All 4 – on demand service

• All three series are available to watch• Why does C4 want FND available to all?– Not massively popular so encouraging new views– Encourages audiences to re-view before new

series– Encourages audiences to get excited before new

series is released– Channel loyalty and good will

Friday Night Dinner – SchedulingQUESTION:How does FND fit in with the ‘brand identity’ of Channel 4 and its scheduling? (15 marks)

Remember to include:• Details about C4 and WHY you think people watch the channel• HOW FND matches C4s aims and responsibilities• Discussion of C4 target audience and how it matches FND’s target audience• FND scheduling details (times, days) and WHY it was scheduled then –

including any reasons why scheduling might have changed• Use specific examples to support points (e.g. post watershed for adult

language and themes – demonstrate which ones from the episode)

• 15 minutes

Education

L3 tv comedy