1. EXAMPLE EXAM ANSWER – TV COMEDY
4(a) Pick two TV or radio comedies you have studied. Discuss why they were scheduled:
on the channels that chose them
on the days and times they were transmitted. [15]
My two comedies are Have I Got News For You (HIGNFY) and Scrubs.
HIGNFY is scheduled on BBC1 at 9 pm on Friday nights and is repeated the next day. It fits BBC1 as it
is a mainstream programme that will appeal to a wide audience because it is funny. It is also
educational as it covers serious subjects like politics, so this makes it fit public service broadcasting.
It is essential the BBC fits public service broadcasting because it is funded by the licence fee and so
has to have some reason for charging everyone to watch it.
Friday night is good for comedy as it is a wind-down time of the week, so BBC1 always shows
comedy at this time. After 9pm is good as it is after the watershed and therefore the programme can
contain swearing and rude subjects. The programme that follows is usually a comedy as well,
because it can inherit HIGNFYs audience. The programme can also be downloaded on BBCi.
Scrubs is shown on E4. It shows three episodes a day at 8.45am, 2pm, and 2.30pm on every
weekday, three episodes on Saturday at 2.05pm, 2.45pm and 3.05pm, and two episodes on Sunday
at 9.05am and 9.35 am. Scrubs fits E4 because it is a channel aimed at young people - the same
target audience as the programme. It also fits because E4 shows a lot of comedy shows, especially
'cool' shows from America. E4 can do this as it is a niche audience channel that is not covered by PSB
regulations as it is not a terrestrial channel. This means it can have stripped schedules and repeat
programmes over and over again that are aimed at young people. This makes it easier for young
people to know what is going to be on E4.
Scrubs is shown at the moment at lunchtimes and early mornings because these are repeated
episodes and not considered important enough for prime time. It can also be downloaded on 4oD.
The BBC does not show lots of imported programmes such as Scrubs because it is supposed to make
its own programmes. E4 would not show HIGNFY because most of its audience will be older than the
E4 audience.
Examiner's comments
Covers the BBC1 audience
Covers BBC as an institution
Explains why Friday night and explains why after 9pm, but not in much detail
Covers E4 as an institution and how it targets its audience
Explains times, but not in much detail
Explains how programmes fit their channels
This answer does what the mark scheme asks for, so it just needs more detail for a higher
mark

2. EXAMPLE EXAM ANSWER – TV COMEDY
4(b) Show how these two programmes offer their audiences different pleasures. [15]
HIGNFY is very different to Scrubs as it is a comedy panel gameshow about recent events in the
world, whereas Scrubs is a sitcom where the comedy is based on characters and everyday situations.
HIGNFY is 'infotainment' as it offers some education on the events of that week, whereas Scrubs
episodes are simply for entertainment.
HIGNFY has regular stars - Paul Merton and Ian Hislop - that the audience can tune in to see sparring
with each other every week. This is similar to the regular characters in Scrubs, such as JD and Turk,
who are in some ways like a family that the audience can drop in on regularly. One big difference is
that HIGNFY is presented by different people every week and has different guests, and the audiences
can tune in to see who is presenting this week and how well they will do. Scrubs, on the other hand,
usually has more or less the same cast in every episode, but different storylines for the audience to
follow.
Scrubs is a drama, so it has episodes with narratives that are resolved at the end of the episode. This
gives the audience the pleasure of a story being told. HIGNFY follows a similar pattern every week,
but there is little sense of narrative resolution - one team will win the competition, but this is really a
throwaway ending. The quiz is an excuse for people to be funny.
Scrubs will have situations where we can sympathise with characters as well as laugh at them or cry
with them. For example, when JD is unlucky in love.HIGNFY is more about people performing for TV
as themselves, so we tend to judge them on how well they have performed instead of feeling for
them.
Examiner's comments
Understands the differences between the programmes
Shows understanding of how the programmes offer different pleasures, but where are the
examples?
Develops this understanding further, but still no detailed examples from the programmes
This answer does what the top level mark band asks for, except for 'detailed and appropriate
exemplification'. Tim needs to study some episodes in detail
Tim has done pretty well. He only had just under half an hour to write these answers, so we can't
expect lots of writing. He must learn to give more examples from the text, though. For this answer,
he could have used an example of the panellists in HIGNFY being funny, an example of a storyline in
Scrubs that is resolved, and perhaps an example of an everyday situation that is explored in one
episode of Scrubs.