Outnumbered
Slide 1
I'm using an episode from series 4 of Outnumbered where Ben is trying for the talent competition, Jake has a new girlfriend and Sue's sister turns up unexpectedly.
Audience
Around 10-40 around those ages will get the humour and it's an all ages show so it will appeal to them
Appeals to boys and girls because it follows a family with male/female children so it's easy for both genders to watch
Psychographics are mainstreamers because the programme is about a family so it will attract families to watch it and parents might feel like they can relate to the parents in the show.
The show is aired on BBC One at around 8pm so it's an appropriate time for them on a channel that can be accessed through Sky and free view. The show follows a family with two young children, they can relate to them and find them funny so enjoy the show.
Mode of Address
The tone is informal to some extent because they're children and it's in their personalities to not take it seriously. For example where Ben says: "big kids keep coming up to me and saying oh you're jail baits' brother... that's his nickname" when he said it his mum is shocked by it but he doesn't think twice about it and goes on to ask for a mini eclair.
The gratification for Outnumbered is entertainment and the show makes us feel happy because it makes us laugh when we're watching it which fulfils the aim for this show which is to make the audience laugh because we're laughing and enjoying the show it makes us feel happy.
Karen and Ben are very grown up for their ages with what they say and the fact that they're children is what some people find funny. When Karen opens the door to Brick and she just says "I'm getting bored now" and closes the door in his face is rude but because she's 10 she gets away with it. Their tone is very sarcastic sometimes, at 9:27 onwards in this episode http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsdkug_outnumbered-s04e05_shortfilms when Karen sees her Auntie and says "oh Jesus" and she says to her face that it's not a good idea she stays with them "it won't be a nice surprise".
Genre
It's a comedy sitcom. We know it's a comedy because of the language used which is informal, humorous and quite laid back. Also due to the fact that it has such a simple setting - an ordinary house in London but the plot throughout the episode and characters add to that. Which is what comedies do - take something simple and make it funny for example when you see stand up comedy shows like Live At The Apollo, it's a simple stage with a sign and a comedian which is a very simple idea but people pay to go and see it.
It entertains me purely because it is a comedy, these are my favourite kind of shoes because are quite a few characters who are all different and it's fun to watch them and what their situations are throughout the episode. Also I'm getting a laugh out of it so it's good to watch.
Genre is so important to audience because they want to know what they're watching is going to be right for them. Some people who can only watch comedies and struggle watching dramas will know that this is appropriate for them so will tune in to watch, letting the audience know about the genre is ahead of time can improve ratings. The show does follow the generic conventions of a comedy which usually are; slapstick humor, using different kinds of actors - age/gender so that the show will appeal to a wider audience and putting actors in situations to get different reactions, which in Outnumbered, are often made up on the spot.
Including conventions like this is good because the audience know what they're letting themselves in more and they're comfortable watching it and they can see similarities between the style of this and other comedies, like Miranda. However the down side of this is that it makes the show quite predictable so it's good for the producers to challenge the conventions so that the audience is kept entertained, the structure of the show always the same and they're left wanting to watch more episodes.
The show isn't funny for telling jokes which you'd expect in a comedy, it's more the witty remarks from Karen and Ben and how the parents react to them.
The show uses mainly wide shots and mid shots, we get a few close ups of Pete/Sue's faces when there's something to react to. We tend to get a lot of wide shots in comedies so we can see everything that's happening in the scene, we want to know what it is that actors are reacting to and what everyone's doing which can be shown using wide shots.
Narrative
It has a linear, narrative, episodes are chronological and straight forward. This episode is multi strand, each of the characters have something for us to follow along while we're watching. In this episode we follow Sue's sister coming, the story of Jake having an 18 year old girlfriend and his mum trying to hack into his Facebook, as well as Ben trying to pick something to do in the school talent show, he's using a book as a prop, reading stunts that professionals have done and wants to try and copy. The parents have to deal with each of these strands throughout the whole episode.
We want to watch to find out what's happening with Sue's sister and Misty, why they lied about hotels being fully booked. They leave it on a cliffhanger with a "to be continued.." at the end making us want to know what happens next. No one speaks, they all just look at each other shocked and they don't know what to do.
It's entertaining for me because I want to know what happens next, it's good to have the mystery almost of what Angela is hiding. The fact that none of the episodes are single strand is appealing to me because I find that boring whereas following different characters is more entertaining because you have more going on and more to watch.
Representations
Costumes represent an average middle class family living in London. Kids wearing school uniforms, mum and dad wearing laid back typical "parent" clothes with simple colours.
The characters can be seen as stereotypical because the mum is the one who is stressed out the majority of the time while the dad is very chilled.
Jake is shown as a typical teenage boy because throughout the scenes he's given props like a laptop, showing that a teen in school is always on the computer whether it be for work or on facebook. Also in the whole episode and in the majority of the rest in the season, he's wearing his school uniform which is an accurate represention as most don't get changed out of their uniform after school and in parts he's set in his bedroom with the door shut showing he wants his privacy which a lot of teens will argue about.
Him being represented like this, a typical teenage boy is appealing to me because I can relate to it.
Similarly the two younger children are also always in their uniforms and are shown as typical children really, Karen is shown as a young girl with what she plays with - she's given a plastic toy dinosaur and a bucket of water and knocks it into it, children can be easily entertained and by using this in the scene it shows how she is a typical child.
The children "run" the house and out number their parents, hence the title and some people see that as a negative thing. In the scene from the screenshot from her facial expression she looks fed up and stutters because she's going over it too much and getting stressed. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsdkug_outnumbered-s04e05_shortfilms
In my opinion the representations are debatable as to whether they're good or bad as the mum is shown negatively being the one who's stressed out and other mums who watch might think it's very stereotypical of the husband to be the one who's more chilled. On the other hand you get the kids who are shown positively, very cheeky and witty and in the episodes they're never naughty so it isn't giving us a negative impression.
Concluding slide
I think that the programme is good at targeting me because the language is quite informal, it's on at a time when I can watch it and it's humorous so it isn't dull to watch.
"I'm in the target audience age range for this show but I don't watch it because the concept of the show doesn't appeal to me. I don't really think it's funny and I prefer all adult comedy shows." Lena
Oppositional readings could be from people who don't find shows like this funny, the fact that no one fully follows a script is unappealing to some people and it makes the show seem thrown together.
"The way the scripts are written it is as if they were written by two different teams, one for the adults and one of the children and then it is a surprise to the adult actors what the children will say." IMDB review.
Or some older people who are still in the target audience because they just don't find it funny or they prefer comedy sitcoms like Miranda with an all adult cast and the language is more targeted at adults.
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