EXEMPLAR – 4 a) and 4 b) for 'Outnumbered' on BBC and 'A League of their own' on Sky.
4 a) – Scheduling
The 2 TV Comedy Case studies of focus in determining how and why they are scheduled on 2 different channels are ‘Outnumbered’ (Hat trick Productions – BBC) and ‘A League Of Their Own’ (CPL – Sky).
‘Outnumbered’ is a well established BBC sitcom that follows a long line of successful and “classic” sitcoms from the institution, such as ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and more recently ‘Gavin & Stacey’. The BBC since it’s inception in the 1920’s as a Broadcast media institution has endeavoured to follow John Reith’s “Inform, educate and entertain” values of providing programming of mass appeal to a variety of demographics, which resonates today as in order to access BBC programming you need to pay a TV license fee.
These values are reflected in the the sitcom (Series 1 -4 – Series 5 has been commissioned and is due to air sometime in 2014) scheduling during “Prime time” (7pm – 11pm) hours in order to capture a mass audience, however despite the show focussing on the family and containing characters of a younger age, the show was exhibited after the Watershed (9pm) because the text dealt with quite adult themed issues, such as the chaos surrounding teenage curiosity and sex. However, as the show became more and more popular (for example Series 2 averaged 3-4 million viewers for it’s 6 episode, 30 minute sitcom format, whereas the recent Series 4 peaked at over 6 million viewers) it was scheduled before the watershed as the BBC trusted the show to capitalise on it’s growing fan base. This resulted in the BBC providing Christmas specials and DVD box set’s for each series.
The latest series – series 5 – achieved just over 4 million viewers on BBC 1 and over 1 million requests on the catch-up iPlayer service.
In order for the show to further broaden it’s mass appeal, the BBC and it’s Producers (Hat trick Productions – ‘Father Ted’) decided to syndicate the show out to commercial TV channels that specialise in repeat programming such as Dave and Gold (currently shown on Thursdays at 9pm). The show also capitalised on the BBC’s emerging iPlayer service, whereby existing and new fans of the show could “catch-up” on missed episodes at their own convenience through tablet/laptop/smart phone devices.
‘ALOTO’ is a game-show/quiz/panel TV comedy that is scheduled on the Commercial Satellite TV channels Sky 1 (Series 7 as of August 2013) during the primetime slot of 9pm, as well as on it’s“sister” channel Sky 2 as part of the “Comedy Fridays” allocation. Much like ‘Outnumbered’,‘ALOTO’ was originally and is now back to being aired after the watershed, however the show was also moved to a pre-watershed time of 8pm to allow for more viewers to access the show on Sky 2, resulting in the shows adult humour being censored.
In order for the show to meet OFCOM guidelines though, expletives and censorship of some of the show’s crude humour and adult language does take place in order for it to be deemed “family friendly”. This follows a long line of recent success stories for Sky 1 and 2 as they have been critically praised for shows and sitcoms like ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Modern Family’, as ‘ALOTO’ ishammocked between on Friday evenings as the show is still deemed to be less appealing than established shows like The Simpsons (7pm – 8pm).
Sky – an institution that “believe in better” – is a subsidiary institution within the News Corporation multi-media conglomerate, meaning it’s programming has huge financial backing and this is evident in the show’s high production value. Each episode is also 30 minutes in length, however does feature an advertising break in between in order to recoup the heavy investment into the show, in particular for it’s production company ‘CPL’, which is much smaller in scale compared to ‘Hat trick’.
Sky’s array of channels does mean though that it can provide more choice and options for it’s audience, for example you can now series link and record shows like ‘ALOTO’ through the remote control provided, as well as capitalise on the +1 channels available. Sky have also introduced the ‘Go’ service on line, which again means audience’s are able to access shows like ‘ALOTO’ whenever and wherever they like through a variety of e-media products (laptop, phone, tablet). This show has also capitalised on the ‘Remote Record’ service offered by Sky which immediately puts the consumer in control of their own Television consumption online and away from the traditional analogue method of TV consumption, much like BBC’s iPlayer service which has often exhibited episodes of ‘Outnumbered’.
In conclusion, both TV Comedies have adapted it’s scheduling in order to maintain it’s popularity amongst TV audiences across a variety of channels and platforms.
4 b) – Audience Appeal – 
This answer will focus on the audience appeal of the semi-improvised BBC sitcom ‘Outnumbered’, which in line with Reith’s “Inform, educate and entertain” values provides humour through ‘informing and educating’ (also in accordance with Katz’ Uses & Gratifications theory) the audience of the trials and tribulations of a stereotypical middle class family called The Brockmans’ (Dad – Pete; Mum – Sue and their 3 children), with the ‘entertainment’ deriving from the humiliation the parents from being “outnumbered” by their at times unruly children. A prime example from the show would be when the Brockman family take a day out and Karen embarrasses her Mother in public by opening the toilet door for the rest of the public to see – much to the dismay of her husband who walks off in state of despair.
The semi-improvised nature of the sitcom is one of the many appealing factors of the show, especially as this improvised humour tends to come from the stars of the show: the children. This is slightly unconventional of the typical sitcom format, along with the fact the show is filmed quite often on location and without the presence of a studio audience (for example ‘ALOTO’has this) and the canned laughter so accustomed to this genre. The sitcom also appeals to the audience as the exaggerated nature of the genre is reflected in each episode, for example Karen (arguably the star of the show in terms of humour presented on a regular basis) aggravating a well known footballer (Frank Lampard) before they step out onto the pitch during her role as mascot through verbal codes such as “you missed a goal my Granny could have scored!” – Make sure you have AT LEAST x1 Example for the exam!. Other unconventional themes of the show which the audience will appreciate are the “fly on the wall” style of documenting the lives of the family, which is something many viewers of all ages can ‘personally identify’ (Katz) with and find amusing.
The target audience of the show can be denoted as being from the B – C2 socio-economic groups because this demographic can relate to the characters roles in society, for example Pete is a teacher and Sue is a part time worker who is overwhelmed by looking after their children as well. In accordance with Stuart Hall’s ‘Audience reception theory’, the audience take on a‘dominant position’ as they accept the representation of the chaos often presented in the Brockman household as it is often presented in other texts from the genre and is often realistic enough to be accepted by the viewers.
Finally, another factor that would appeal to the audience is the ‘star appeal’ (Richard Dyer) of Hugh Dennis (Mock the Week), a well known stand up comedian and actor taking on the role of the often emasculated and humiliated Father and husband Pete, which a common theme repeated in this sitcom and other sitcoms as well.
In conclusion, ‘Outnumbered’ provides many audience pleasures that have made the show over the 5 series produced successful and popular in a competitive genre.
