2. Our TV comedy case studies
• We have to study two TV comedy case
studies which you must know about in detail
• Comedy 1: Friday Night Dinner
• Comedy 2: Bad Education
3. TV comedy sitcom genre
• Slightly unconventional in terms of the semi-
improvised (scripted but mainly on the spot,
improvised humour)
• The feel of the programme – for example the fast
paced cuts and shaky cam in moments of chaos – make
it seem more like a documentary “fly on the wall” style
of programme.
• 23-30-minute format within a 6 episode series
• Set in a familiar and domestic setting and on a
repeated set of stock characters.
• Familiar family values being exaggerated and the battle
between the parents and their children
• Some stereotypes surrounding British culture are
represented to the audience
4. Friday Night Dinner
• British TV comedy sitcom
• Written by Robert Popper
• Produced by Popper Pictures / Big Talk Productions
• Stars
– Tamsin Greig
• Prev comedy = Black Books / Episodes
– Paul Ritter
• no prev comedy but in Harry Potter, Quantum of Solace
– Simon Bird
• prev comedy = Inbetweeners
– Tom Rosenthal
• Prev comedy = Plebs
– Mark Heap
• Prev comedy = Spaced / Brass Eye
5. Friday Night Dinner
• Comedy focused on the regular
dinner experience of an ordinary
British Jewish family on each Friday night
• Originally aired in Feb 2011
• 3 series – 19 episodes
• Episode we’ll be studying:
– Series 3 episode 1 – The Girlfriend (10 pm Jun 2014)
– 6th most popular TV show on Channel 4 that week
6. Friday Night Dinner
• Every Friday night, twenty-something
brothers Adam and Jonny Goodman return to their
parents’ home for dinner.
• Adam and Jonny think of the weekly event as a
necessary annoyance – necessary because they get fed,
and annoying because, well, they have to spend the
evening with Mum and Dad.
• It’s not that M&D aren’t wonderful. They reall are. But
Dad slugs ketchup straight from the bottle, Mum is
obsessed with Masterchef, and even Grandma likes to
wear her new bikini around the house.
7. Friday Night Dinner
• Adam writes jingles for toilet roll
adverts and Jonny’s favourite party
trick is to jump out of bin-liners onto
unsuspecting victims.
• Every family has its foibles, its rituals, and its
eccentricities.
8. Friday Night Dinner
Based on the
description of
Friday Night
Dinner, what
audience
pleasures might
you expect?
9. Friday Night Dinner
Based on the
description of
the characters,
what audience
pleasures do
you expect?
10. Friday Night Dinner
Based on the
description of
Friday Night
Dinner, what do
you think the
target audience
is?
11. Friday Night Dinner
• Watch the episode The Girlfriend
• While you’re watching you should make notes
on:
– Key plot events that take place in the episode
– What audience pleasures you are actually getting
from the programme
– Who you think the target audience is based on
watching the episode
