Compare how and why two programmes were scheduled on different channels

Bad Education was first shown on BBC Three on Tuesday the 14th of August 2012 at 10.00pm and Friday Night Dinner was shown on Channel 4 on Friday the 25th of February 2011 at 9:30pm. Bad Education was commissioned by the BBC and produced by Tiger Aspects Productions. Friday Night Dinner was commissioned by Channel 4 and produced by Big Talk Productions and Popper Pictures.

The target audience for Bad Education is teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 because the humor is quite immature and it is also set in a school which is relatable to that age group. It may also be directed towards older people in their 30s and 40s as there are pop culture references that younger people probably wouldn't understand. on the other hand Friday Night Dinner has a more specific target audience of Jewish families because they can relate to it because having a Friday night dinner is part of their culture. 

I think Bad Education is shown at 10.00pm after the watershed because a lot of the content isn't suitable for children, similarly, Friday Night Dinner is also on after the watershed at 9:30 for the same reason. This is because it is known that after the 9 o clock watershed shows being shown are likely to be inappropriate for children because they contain things like strong language, sexual references and violence. In the case of these two shows it's mainly strong language and some sexual references. Bad Education is shown on the BBC because the humor on it is more controversial, this is allowed on the BBC as it is a public service and doesn't have to meet advertisers demands.

I think the audience demographic for Bad Education is mainly category E because students watch the show, however also people in category A because a lot of the jokes are more complex and refer to things in the 80's and 90's which a lot of people in those categories can relate. The audience demographic is category B because the audience is slightly older. 

Audience Pleasures- Bad Education

The Narrative pleasure in Bad Education is that the main character Alfie gets into trouble about something and then continues to lie about his problems which lead him into worse situations. This always ends in the lies and problems coming out in a humorous way. In this episode there is the problem of marking the papers which he keeps putting off, he then thinks he has solved the problem however the audience know it won’t work and therefore find it funny. This then comes out later on parents evening when he has to tell the parents which is humorous for the audience as they can watch him struggling. The other main lie he tells in this episode is that one of his student’s parents has a disease in order to get a date with another teacher. He continues lying about it to her and the narrative is snowballing until the truth comes out at the end of parents evening which provides audience pleasure as they can laugh at him embarrassing himself. In the end this is resolved as parents evening is over and Alfie isn’t fired, it also shows him and the student at the end to leave the audience with a feeling of satisfaction that everything has gone back to normal after the incident.

The suspense of waiting for the poor decisions the main character has made to catch up to him keeps the audience entertained. Even though the main character makes a lot of mistakes and isn’t a very good teacher, the audience still supports him and stay on his side because a lot of the other characters aren’t likeable and Alfie is the most realistic and relatable one even though he gets into extreme situations. The show also makes the audience feel like they are part of the class who also laugh at their teacher even though they like him because he has good intentions and is entertaining even though he makes poor decisions. This is because he acts like a teenager and the target audience is older teens who can relate to him and therefore he is more likeable. For example in this episode he avoids marking the papers in a way that teenagers avoid doing their homework and he also makes references to pop culture which will be amusing to teenager and people in their twenties.

The audience also has pleasure of recognition which means they understand the personalities of the different characters. This is because each character Is a very over-exaggerated stereotypes of different groups of people. They enjoy the anticipation of what the character will say next including things like catchphrases. An example of this in bad education is how the head teacher always talks about ‘banter’ or how Chantelle always tried to flirt with Alfie. These running jokes are pleasing to the audience as they find them familiar and have a sense that they are in on the joke.   There is also difference within repetition which means the audience recognise how the narrative is similar in each episode however there is a different problem and different gags in each episode which keeps it interesting and entertaining for the audience.                                                                                                                                                                                   

Research- Scheduling

Bad Education-

Bad education was first shown on BBC Three on Tuesday the 14th of August 2012 at 10.00pm. It was commissioned by the BBC and produced by Tiger Aspects Productions. I think the target audience is teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 because it is set in a modern school and they would find it relatable. I also think it is more aimed at males. I think it was shown at 10.00pm because some of the jokes can be rude and it also contains strong language which means it isn't suitable for children therefore is shown after the watershed. It may also be because Jack Whitehall is a well known comedian and the anticipation of the show could be why it was shown at 10 which is a prime time for television comedy. It was probably shown on BBC Three to attract a younger audience and because the channel may also be popular with the shows target audience



Friday Night Dinner-

Friday night dinner was first shown on Channel 4 on Friday the 25th of February 2011 at 10.00pm. It was commissioned by Channel 4 and produced by Big Talk Productions and Popper Pictures. I think the target audience for this show is families with teenagers as they can find it relatable and the Jewish community as dinner on a Friday is part of there culture which makes it appealing to them. It is on this channel because it is a popular channel with the target audience.