This document provides guidance for a GCSE Media Studies assignment on TV comedy. Students are asked to analyze two different television comedy programs by exploring their audience pleasures and how they were scheduled. They should pick one program to examine in detail for the exam. Examples of programs that would make good case studies are provided, such as pairing a sitcom like Friends with a panel show like Have I Got News For You. Key audience pleasures of sitcoms discussed include their regular time slots, resolution of narrative and problems by the end of each episode, use of humor, relatable characters, and escapism.

1. AUDIENCE PLEASURES
GCSE Media Studies: TV Comedy
Learning Objectives:
To be able to…
• Explore the audience pleasures
of US sitcoms.
• Compare US and UK sitcom
audience pleasures.
SJS: Research, Teamwork

2. TV Comedy Sub-Genres
Sitcoms Sketch shows
Panel shows Stand-up

3. Exam Information
• You need to study two television comedies in two different
ways, so you can explain:
• How and why they were scheduled on British television
• The audience pleasures of the two programmes
• The exam questions will ask you
• Either to compare the two comedies
• Or to examine one comedy in detail
• This means you need to study the comedies in enough
depth to that you can write about one programme in
detail, and you will need to know the similarities and
differences between them.

4. Exam Information
• You will need to create two case studies on two comedy
programmes of your choice.
• It is probably a good idea to pick two programmes that
are:
• Of a different type
• Aimed at different audiences
• On two different sorts of channels
• Offering different audience pleasures
• Examples: QI and How I Met Your Mother; Have I Got
News for You and Friends; Gavin and Stacey and 8 Out of
10 Cats.

5. Audience Pleasures
• Regular timeslot
• The narrative and problems are always resolved at the end of the programme
• Intertextuality (the shaping of a text's meaning by another text).
• Use of celebrities
• Different types of humour
• Relatable characters and situations (so we can also laugh at
ourselves/friends)
• Audience escapism
• Audience feels superior to characters as they never learn from their mistakes.
• Easy to watch (30 minutes long and self-contained episodes mean audience
can ‘dip’ in and out of series).
• Pleasure gained from resolution at the end of episode
• Social and family issues often used (audience can relate to)
• Themes are easy for audience to understand
• Warm mode of address - everyone can watch and enjoy.
• Familiarity (e.g. Catchphrases)
• Predictability – For example: audiences know character

6. US Sitcom Examples
• New Girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1NDNFZGY7k
• Friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3k18-LmaxM
• Do the audience pleasures of US sitcoms differ from
British sitcoms?

7. How I Met Your Mother
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0btS4kVGcI
• How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that originally
ran on CBS from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014. The
series follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his group of
friends in Manhattan. As a framing device, Ted, in the year
2030, recounts to his son and daughter the events that led him
to meeting their mother. The show ran for nine seasons, with a
total of 208 episodes.
• In the UK, HIMYM is broadcast on E4. The series has now
ended, but repeats are broadcast several times a day on E4 as
part of its stripped scheduling.