TV Situation Comedy Coventions and Audience Pleasures - Peter Kay Carshare

Sitcom TV Episode Analysis

Peter Kay Carshare - Series One, Episode One

With situation comedy it is very important to establish the conventions and audience pleasures within the first episode so that an audience demographic is made clear. In Peter Kay's Car Share there are several uses of audience pleasures and comedic conventions that adds to the overall atmosphere to make the programme as humorous as possible for the audience.

Episode One is 30 minutes long and starts with a style of observational comedy, by introducing the character John through his angry interaction with an in-car satellite navigation system it is a mixture of observational and situation comedy as many viewers will have had an experience of this frustration at their own navigator but would never notice it as something to mock and laugh at. This genre of comedy has become popular among viewers and some would say that it is a comedic cliché. This immediately creates a pleasure of character identification as the viewers can relate to the characters and by establishing the genre they will know how to look out for the humour (they will know when to react). This in turn introduces the uses and gratification theory as this pleasure is used to give gratification from the audience.

Furthermore, the programme narrative is structured around John and his co-worker Kayleigh who begin to car share to and from work each day. The format of this is the same for each episode: drive to work, break in narrative format and then the drive home which usually includes a scene showing one of Kayleigh's day dreams. Because all of these scenes are filmed in the same car setting it is another convention of situation comedy. This creates a pleasure of predictability for the viewers which adds to the continuity of the programme. In addition the Transgressive pleasure of Voyeurism is also used. This is a situation comedy convention as the viewers feel that they are in the car with them so the puns and seemingly private conversations are more humorous for the audience. This type of humour and audience pleasures are part of the uses and gratification theory as it offers entertainment and escapism for the viewers.

The programme also uses slapstick humour to give a range of comedy. For example, the sequence with Kayleigh's urine in a water bottle. This incident is awkward and rather humiliating for Kayleigh as John and her are both colleagues that do not know each other well. This Transgressive pleasure of Schadenfreude makes the scene quite hilarious for the viewer as it makes them take pleasure in the misfortune of John (even though it was done for comedic effect). This scene establishes Kayleigh as being rather awkward and unintelligent. This contrast between John's frank and sardonic persona and Kayleigh's awkward and clumsy personality creates entertainment for the viewers as it keeps them involved in the narrative. This is emphasised by the repeated references of the urine incident by Kayleigh "see you in a wee while". In addition, the programme uses cultural references through the radio channel: Forever FM. Through Forever FM, many well-known songs from the 1980s/1990s appeal to a C1 30-45 year old target audience demographic. The many adverts from the radio station are written as comedy sketches, for example a window company with the slogan "smashing the cost of conservatories" and an advert for Brillington College which is a parody of adverts for less academic students. By using these innuendos for celebrating the mundane and normal parts of life it is a convention of situation comedy. Furthermore, the audience demographic is established further through the references to the 90s. Especially when John is seen wearing his Beyoncé vest top which Kayleigh describes as being as "big gay vest" to make the stereotypical homosexual outfit obvious. This is later referenced by John at the end of the episode when he says "I am what I am" which is a line from the stereotypical song about freedom sang by Gloria Gaynor. By using these cultural references it falls into the uses and gratification theory as it creates social identification for most of the viewers in the age range for the audience demographic.