In my last post, I reminded you that when you open the Component 2 exam, Section A, you'll be greeted by two questions: a twenty marker and a ten marker.
I also reminded you that the 20 marker will be on Representation or Media Language.
The 10 markers, on the other hand, will be on the slightly smaller topics of Media Industries and Media Contexts.
A Media Industries question will look at the ways in which industry influences the production, presentation and broadcast of sitcoms. You'll need to consider both how production companies work and what sorts of decisions they have to make that ultimately persuade a television company to purchase and broadcast their sitcom.
For Friends you'll want to consider that it was originally broadcast on NBC at 8.30PM Eastern Standard Time. The US watershed starts at 10PM. However, you also need to consider that (unlike the UK) the USA spans several time zones, with EST being the latest. A programme broadcast at 8.30PM in New York City could be watched as early as 5.30PM on the West Coast.
This has influenced Friends' content, meaning that it has to be suitable for pre-watershed audiences. Blue humour is implicit rather than explicit and stronger themes are not present in Friends' narrative. Profanity, of course, is not part of the script.
Equally, you have to consider NBC's reasons for agreeing to broadcast Friends. As one of the three largest US networks, NBC brands itself as America's #1 Network, and a sitcom reflective of the trends, fashions and life of 90s New York had the potential to resonate with young, trendy, urban audiences.
This was doubly the case given that the sitcom Cheers had finished the year before after 11 seasons and with a finale that still remains the second most watched in TV history with almost 85m viewers (Friends' finale managed 5th place with 52m!) NBC needed a replacement that would appeal to audiences who had enjoyed Cheers. You also have to consider that NBC was taking a risk on young new talent. The production company, Bright/Kauffman/Crane had, until that point, only produced one-off episodes of TV programmes. Friends was their first series, cast as it was with relatively unknown actors. Taking such risks can be dangerous, even for big networks, but can pay off (as it did with Friends) as it shows the network is willing to nurture emerging talent.
This of course meant that the initial series were a cheaper investment - which naturally changed as the show's popularity grew!
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