Sample Essay

Unit B322 - Section B Answer to specimen exam question
4a) 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 and Scrubs.

Have I Got News For You is scheduled on BBC 1 at 9pm on Thursday nights and is repeated with extra bits on Saturdays on BBC2. It fits BBC 1 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.

Thursday night is good for comedy as it is a wind-down time of the week, so BBC 1 always shows comedy at this time. The BBC runs its comedy zone on Thursday nights. After 9pm is good as it is after the watershed and therefore the programme can contain swearing and adult content. The programme that follows (Reggie Perrin) is a comedy as well, this is so it can inherit Have I Got News For You’s audience. The programme can also be watched on the BBC iPlayer.

Scrubs is shown on E4. It shows six episodes a day at 13:05, 13:35, 6:00, 6:30, 00:40, and 01:10 on every weekday, but not at weekends. Scrubs fits E4 because it is a channel aimed at young people – the same target audience as the programme. It is fits because E4 shows a lot of comedy shows, ‘cool’ shows from America. E4 can do this as it is a niche channel that is not covered by PSB regulations as it is not a terrestrial channel. This means that 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, early evenings and late at night because these are repeated episodes and not considered important enough for prime time. It can also be watched 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 Have I Got News For You because most of its audience will be older than the E4 audience.


Examiner’s comments

- Covers the BBC 1 audience

- Covers the BBC as an institution

- Explains why Thursday 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


4b) Show how these two programmes offer their audiences different pleasures. (15 Marks)

Have I Got News For You is very different to Scrubs as it is almost live comedy about recent events in the world, whereas Scrubs is a sitcom where the comedy is based on characters and everyday situations.

Have I Got News For You is ‘infotainment’ as it offers some education on the events of that week, whereas Scrubs episodes are simply for entertainment.
Have I Got News For You has regular stars – Paul Merton and Ian Hislop – that the audience can tune in to see sparing 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 Have I Got News For You is presented by different people every week and has different guests, and the audience 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. Have I Got News For You 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 with them. For example, when JD is unlucky in love. Have I Got News For You 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 examples?

- Develops this understanding further, but still no detailed examples from the programmes

- This answer does what the top level mark brand asks for, except for detailed and appropriate exemplification. The student needs to study some episodes in detail


- This students has done pretty well. They only had just under half an hour to write these answers. However, they must learn to give more examples from the programmes. They could have used examples of panelists in Have I Got News For You 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.