I have looked at two programs; Bad education on BBC 3 and
Friday Night Dinner on Channel 4. They are both comedy sitcoms so follow a lot
of similar conventions, but have different audiences due to the type of comedy.
For example Bad Education has typically more inappropriate behaviour that would
appeal to their audience of young teens, 15-20.
BBC 3 in general has a target audience of young adults,
15-25 so a program like Bad Education would fit with their ideas. The show is
set in a school with the characters being a class and teachers, the students
are year 11 so would naturally appeal to people of similar age. In comedy it is
important to have something the audience can relate to, in this case school.
The creator Jack Whitehall is a young comedian that has been involved in many
sitcoms that attract younger audiences. He plays the main character, Alfie
Wickers; Alfie is the unconventional teacher which is the main joke of the
show. Bad education is on after the watershed at 10pm because of the inappropriate
behaviour and humour. This is another drag for the audience as this type of
comedy appeals to the audience. Bad Education shows an over exaggerated view of
a typical British school, it explores the types of people are at school and
will make a joke of everyone.
All of the bbc is payed for in taxes so doesn’t have breaks
or advertisements for anything other than shows on the bbc. Sitcoms are usually
30 minutes long.
