SECTION B Sample Essay - This is for SCRUBS and

HIGNFY REMEMBER YOU ARE DOING BBT. Make

sure you look at the examiners notes too!
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.

Comment [IS1]: Describe the shows

briefly

Have I Got News For You is scheduled on BBC 1 at 9pm on Thursday nights and is repeated

Comment [IS2]: This is not correct!

Make sure you find the correct times/ days

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

Comment [IS3]: HIGNFY

proved itself-popular
when it was shown on BBC2 so thus
justified its move to BBC1
Comment [IS4]: Examples?

to have some reason for charging everyone to watch it.

Comment [IS5]: More specific? Remit?

BBC Inform, educate, entertain?

Thursday night is good for comedy as it is a wind-down time of the week, so BBC 1 always

Comment [IS6]: What about Friday?

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 Yous audience. The programme can also be watched on

Comment [IS7]: What other scheduling

tricks does it use?

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

Comment [IS8]: Remember you are

doing the Big Bang Theory!

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

Comment [IS9]: How do you know?

Logo? Other shows? Part of Channel 4?

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.

Comment [IS10]: Significant for young

people?

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.

Examiners 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

Comment [IS11]: Panel quiz show?

recent events in the world, whereas Scrubs is a sitcom where the comedy is based on
characters and everyday situations.

Comment [IS12]: Brief examples?

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.

Comment [IS13]: Links to theory? Uses

and gratifications and Utopian solutions?
Comment [IS14]: Example Host/
Panellists?

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

Comment [IS15]: Examples? Pleasure

through Todorovs theory?

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.
Examiners 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.

Comment [IS16]: What other

pleasures try to give as many as possible
with examples!

Comment [IS17]: Give better more

detailed examples than this!!!!