Panel Shows

Popular titles - 

- Mock the Week

- QI

- 8 out of 10 Cats

- Would I Lie to You

- A League of Their Own

- Celebrity Juice

Codes and Conventions - 

- The title sequence is often a montage on current affairs

- The soundtrack is often upbeat and fast

- There are often two panels either side of the host - they are usually split into two teams

- There is usually a live studio audience

- The set is often backlit (at least to start) and the name of the program is usually behind the panelists

- At the start, the camera usually pans from the audience to the host
-There are often lots of cameras filming the show from many angles.

The shows are very often 30 minutes long and share formats - they usually have specific rounds/sections for the opposing teams of celebrity panelists to win points. They are broadcast by most of the major TV channels including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. They are mostly broadcast late at night, after the watershed so it can appeal to an older audience and make use of transgressive pleasures through the comedians; they can swear and say more offensive, vulgar jokes.
Panel shows are likely quite commercially viable as they simply have to pay for a set and the panelists- therefore, they are likely to make a profit. 
The audience being catered for are mainly young to middle-aged adults, as they are aware of current affairs which are addressed in the shows and will understand the satirical humour often expressed by the comedians.

Audience Pleasures - Car Share

Peter Kay's Car Share utilises many audience pleasures to create comedy for the program. 

The first episode is opened with the relatable situation of the sat nav playing up which many members of the audience will be able to relate to, and consequently find funny as they can identify with the anger felt by newly introduced character John. The viewer is then introduced to new character Kayleigh, and her first act within the car is to start the transgressive and snowballing narrative of her urine sample hitting John in the face; this causes a gross feeling for the audience which is risky but could (and in this case does) also lead to humour. References to this are repeated through the episode so it snowballs and becomes a funny joke - the audience find themselves laughing critically at the expense of the two characters. This strange and unique situation introduces the narrative pleasure of the difference in personality between John and Kayleigh - the constant clash between their personalities provides definite comedy as it documents their struggle to connect and understand each other.

Episode two comes straight at the audience with a new transgressive, snowballing piece of humour. The episode is set a while after the first; this means that the dynamics and proxemics between Kayleigh and John have changed so they are much more open with one another. This means that John finds no reason to hold back when Kayleigh reveals that she commonly goes 'dogging' with her neighbour Ken, demonstrating her naive and innocent attitude that leads to several pleasures for the audience through the series. John reveals to her the alternative meaning to the word, which Kayleigh denies and continues to innocently claim it simply means dog-walking. The audience feel a sense of dramatic irony as they know, just like John, the true meaning of the word and find Kayleigh's naivety humourous as she fails to accept that it has that other meaning. This engages the audience, and gives the opportunity for this narrative to snowball. The two continue to argue on the meaning of the word until later in the episode when Kayleigh sees a dog-walker and demands John pulls over so she can quiz him on whether or not he goes 'dogging'. The audience anticipate a funny occurrence in this situation, and therefore the pleasure of anticipation is used incredibly effectively. Kayleigh asks the man if he goes dogging, and after some hesitation he admits that he does. Kayleigh still fails to see that he is not referencing dog-walking, and proceeds to have a lengthy conversation with the man on the joys of dogging - both of the characters, of course, are clearly talking about different things which the audience sees and finds themselves laughing at the cringe-worthy elements of the situation. The encounter culminates in Kayleigh commenting to the man that John simply doesn't understand dogging, to which the man responds "Well he's clearly never f***ed in front of a crowd, has he flower?". An embarrassed Kayleigh shouts at John to drive straight on, and the audience are left in hysterics at the absurdity of the situation. The joke is not left there, however, as Ken approaches the car as John is dropping Kayleigh home; the audience are again left in anticipation for a cringeworthy situation to unfold. Ken asks Kayleigh if she's going dogging later and John is unable to hold in his laughter, neither are the audience as the episode ends on the satisfying climax of the joke.

Kayleigh's almost childlike view of certain things remains a constant source of narrative pleasure and character identification as she constantly finds herself in situations where her innocence shows. This continues in episode four, when she announces that she has a new date, named Si, and that he is Japanese - she has consequently been taken Japanese lessons in order to impress her new date. However, after her date happens over her lunch break she is left disappointed. Kayleigh reveals to John that he was not actually from Japan and that the confusion stemmed from his dating site username - 'japsi'. John comments that this isn't the first time this has happened to Kayleigh and recalls another time that she thought 'pussylover' was just a massive fan of cats. The innocence of Kayleigh's character gives so much opportunity for transgressive humours that the audience will enjoy, as she can constantly be found in awkward situations due to her lack of understanding.

Research Task - Peter Kay's Car Share

Writer(s) - Paul Coleman, Peter Kay, Sian Gibson, Tim Reid
Scheduling Time - 21.30
Starring - Peter Kay, Sian Gibson
Viewing Figures - The first episode had the highest number of viewers, with 7.01 million UK viewers. The series was the most watched full box-set on BBC iPlayer.
Critical Opinion - 
"The BBC has been seeking a mainstream sitcom to succeed Miranda and file alongside Mrs Brown’s Boys. Car Share could well be it." - Michael Hogan, The Telegraph
"Kay’s new un-hyped TV show is big-hearted and silly and reminds us what a terrific comic actor he can be" - Brian Logan, The Guardian
"I laughed over and over again, loudly and gracelessly" - Grace Dent, Independent
Codes and Conventions of Sitcom - 
A humorous series featuring the reactions of a regular cast of characters to unusual situations, such as misunderstandings or embarrassing coincidences. These comedies are usually centred around a common environment, for example a family home or workplace.

Audience Pleasures - TV Comedy

The type of audience pleasures you need to write about in the exam include:

• narrative pleasures such as those of narrative resolution, 

• character identification, snowballing narrative, suspense, comedy, and so on

• pleasures of recognition, familiarity and anticipation

• pleasures of difference-within-repetition

• performance unpredictability and spontaneity

• transgressive pleasures

• specific pleasures associated with performers or personalities.

Walliams and Friend - Audience Research

Walliams and Friend - Codes and Conventions of a Sketch Show

Canned Laughter - Walliams and Friend commonly makes use of canned laughter. After a joke is made, canned laughter usually follows. This clip shows this being used. Canned laughter is an inserted track of laughter that is inserted at a moment that is meant to be funny.