has e4 cracked the formula for successful teen tv

Daniel Bailey Media studies Exam Work

Task one:

A.) ‘Skins is a BAFTA-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of sixth form. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness (including eating disorders), sexual orientation identity, substance abuse and death. The show is known for its casting of amateur actors and young writers. The cast are entirely replaced every two series, when the characters leave sixth form and begin their adult lives. There are usually about eight main cast members, although the second generation had nine. Most of the central actors are amateur, but more well-known actors, such as Nicholas Hoult, Jack O'Connell and Dakota Blue Richards have also held main roles. Additionally, the show has traditionally cast well-known British comic actors as the parents of the central cast, who appear sporadically.’ Skins was premiered on e4 on the date of 2007 25th January, and has produced 4 series on e4 and the fifth is being produced. ‘The show's writing team has an average age of 21, and includes several "teenage consultants". The series co-producer Bryan Elsley said, "It's all about the writing. [...] We're about letting our audience feel they are not alone. [...] We're always having people miss [writing] meetings because they've got A-levels or even GCSEs".’

The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 on E4. The show has been nominated for 'Best Situation Comedy' at BAFTA twice, in 2009 and 2010. At the British Academy Television Awards 2010, it won the Audience Award, the only award voted for by viewers and in 2011 the show won the Best Sitcom award at the British Comedy Awards. The inbetweeners was written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will (Simon Bird), and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. Looking at the development through popularity the first series began on 1 May 2008, with the pilot episode garnering 238,000 viewers. The series averaged 459,000 viewers, with 474,000 viewers watching the series finale so the programme varied a balanced and healthy fan base due to the outcome numbers of viewers.

Misfits is a British comedy-drama series about a group of young offenders forced to work in a community service programme, where they attain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and

Has E4 cracked the formula for successful Teen TV?

http://lccollectiveidentity.blogspot.com/2011/02/has-e4-cracked-formula-for-successful.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_McKenzie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Morris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Beesley


was produced by Clerkenwell Films. Both the series and its writer Howard Overman were nominated for RTS Awards in March 2010. The series won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series. Also misfits have received positive criticism from the times and the guardian;

The Times; The Times gave it four out of five stars, calling it "a new union — salty British street humour with whizz-bang special effects" which should "keep E4's core audience happy".The Guardian; An online review by The Guardian said that it was "confident enough to operate in its own universe and set up something new" and that it was aimed at showing us "real people" rather than the stereotype of the "ASBO teenager”. The Guardian's print reviewer was also enthusiastic, saying: "Misfits is indeed silly — sillier, even than it sounds — but it's also brilliant: sharp, funny, dark and, in places, quite chilling. Both the writing and the performances ensure that everything but the preposterous central premise remains entirely believable.

B.)I’ve found that skins has developed into a world wide impact upon the teenage media due to it’s performance of presentation which leads to conservatism showing a deep complex of a 17-21 years olds life. They have increased their narrative into focusing to the realism of the show e.g. sex, drugs, skins has succeeded in improving their competition and unique performance of links to other dramas in representational elements e.g.;

It's made by Company Pictures (who brought us Shameless), so you can expect a realistic portrayal of drinking, socialising and shagging. But the drama also aims to portray the complex emotions of people on the brink of adulthood. This shows that skins has targeted it’s enemy due to comparison, by this they’ve learnt how they can aim in a different aspects and criteria’s which can affect different sorts of trends of teens for e.g. series one and two Episode one, "Tony", is an ensemble piece that introduces the characters and the format. We meet the effortlessly attractive, popular and intelligent Tony as he arranges for his friends to attend a party held by posh girl Abigail Stock (Georgina Moffat). But with teenage dramas is there is a high roll over due to cast as the actors grow up, but this can be good as skins have presented a new era for a new cast in series three and four as audiences were introduced to the new cast on their first day at Roundview College in the series premiere, "Everyone". JJ Jones, James Cook and Freddie McClair are best friends to begin with; twins Katie and Emily Fitch know Naomi Campbell from school but are distant with her because Katie is homophobic and suspects her of being a lesbian. Basically it a circle that recycles older casts and keep the teenage elements comfortable and realistic for

the viewers as they target the teenage population.




The key phrase of appraising skins is that it sustained its competition in the last decade ‘How many great teen TV dramas have there been in the last 10 years? The OC, Buffy, Sugar Rush? The majority are full of impossibly pretty people leading impossibly perfect lives. It's not surprising you hear teenagers complain "There's nothing on TV for me!” The MySpace generation is more likely to spend time online or watching DVDs.’This shows that skins has increase in social activity, this shows the power of the drama and that teenagers are discussing the programme on facebook, twitter, also fan pages shows the number of popularity in which people watch the show. It is so affective to other programme mentioned due to the sheer graphical content in which the drama is mediated and shows its binary opposites sharp and real so its performance when showing the graphical content is successful and portrays e.g. death, drug overdose of Episode five, "Sid", shows Sid's struggle with his parents' breakup while Tony organises a scheme to set him up with Michelle. A heartbroken and fragile Cassie attempts suicide by drug overdose. Through it’s mediation by affecting its audience as that didn’t happen on sugar rush or the OC.

Overall skins have targeted the raw emotion of teen life. But the formula in which it is mediated upon the teenage audience correlates with their beliefs which has a structured comparison and that the audience can relate skins to everyday life. Yes adults fear this programme but it shows what teenagers are up to and shows the limits of how far and graphical things can be in teenage life if it happens. With skins being over the top it shows the positives and negatives, the positives due to the cast gelling and being all social with the life and directions they are taking, but negative due to drugs, sex, and alcohol. These quotes back up questions and concerns which some audience may contribute to as they may find the drama offensive; "We're not attempting to help or instruct anyone," says Elsley. "What we're trying to do is write a show about relationships. It's not about whether or not you should have sex, or whether or not you should take drugs."But most of the majority I think is coming from this quote that why skins is so successful and appeals to the teenage era; Skins is often very funny. Not only do we get to snigger at trendy parents fighting for the Coldplay album, the teens are convincingly narcissistic. "I recently re-read all my old diaries and, God, are they bleak!" laughs Long. "They're a combination of intensely emotional and really superficial.

The inbetweeners has a unique formula which has sort of an genetic bond with acting and their own personal life’s;The cast are in their mid twenties ‘Will (Simon Bird, 26), Jay (James Buckley, 23), Simon (Joe Thomas, 27) and Neil (Blake Harrison, 25)’ this shows in my eyes that they’ve already experienced what they are enrolling in the actual programme which is so affective as they can translate certain parts to the full potential entertaining the crowd. Mostly inbetweeners is "sexist, stupid, deluded, ill-mannered, unbelievably vulgar and terribly funny".




I agree with this statement about what main reason is why teenagers watch this programme; one of the most compelling elements in the show is the boys' obsession with sex. Mostly in nearly every episode strong sexual references are quoted and sprung upon of the cast, they are always trying to get girls but wonderfully it dramatically ends up being a disaster. What makes this shows carry on due to the cast is that they all get along and feel free to do basically whatever they want to amuse and entertaining their audience, they’re all like a family in each episode, they are always together and talking, it could be a doubt to them as they only find it funny, James admits; "In the back of your head you do think, 'we're just making each other laugh and mucking about ... will anyone else find this funny?'"Another affective element to teenage is that they are copying the slang used in the programme, so they’ve corresponded with the body language and what to expect out of the cast; it has added to the wealth of the English language – well, its store of swearwords anyway, "bumder" and "briefcase wanker", “bus wanker” “football friend”. I being myself have watched these episodes and I have found them utterly funny and have said the catchphrases to my friend. But the beautiful development of this programme is that they all love their job and commit everything into this programme doing whatever to make teenagers laugh and correspondent to their mis-beliefs and troublesome actions; This isn't something that concerns Buckley. "I've never worried about it. I'm just an actor, and although the last two years what I've done has been comedy, I'm not particularly funny. I just do whatever I like and whatever's written in front of me, and I'll carry on doing that."

The Misfits – teenagers with Asbos and superpowers – are back, and still no closer to saving the world. Thank goodness. It's the characters' bleakly comic approach to "ordinary" problems that makes the show special, and this remains unchanged in the face of an increasingly surreal plot. It Brushes with celebrity and serious crime threaten to overwhelm the clumsily appealing development of the group's friendships. Still, it's compelling viewing, slickly written and constantly innovative.




Task two:

The thing is with Britain and American TV producers / gatekeepers are mainly associated with the laws and ‘over the top’ are completely different to one another. For e.g. the age limits for drinking in Britain is 18 when in America its 21, this already shows a powerful opposite which affect the American in which they present their show as skins mostly revolves around the night life, drugs, sex and alcohol.

Because the British has already been broadcasting and that the American version is being slandered and is copying off the British they will already get negative criticism and feedback as the British version has developed into a successful TV drama series.

The British show ‘no boundaries’ but with the American the lack to meet this for e.g.; They bleeped

out all the naughty language, but there was a bit of fairly vanilla nudity, some recreational drug-

taking, and one or two scenes involving teenagers groping each other. Also with American is that

they are very tolerant with what they present, as there response for the American series being

produced ended up occurring into this result; “The most dangerous show for children that we have

ever seen.” and "dangerous" territory by making "sexual objects" of every one of its young characters.

But me being in teenage trend, I agree

with this comment for the American

skins; The PTC made noise, so now every

kid who's free at that hour will watch

Skins! Responsible parents should watch

the show, too, and decide for

themselves if it is proper viewing

material for their children.

The dramatic affect has shown mass

effects upon being protesting and axing the adverts associated with the actors in skins which

decrease the advertisement and marketing aspects which lack the popularity base. The main

element of people being offended of this show is that a naked 17-year-old actor is shown from

behind as he runs down a street.

But the main reason why they present such content is because the influence and element in which

it’s shown in the British aspects, it competition. But what the US skins have not realised it that the

actors are aged between 15-19, this is main aspect of the dilemma in broadcasting these ages in

what characters they represent. It’s classed as child pornography and falls in the paedophile era, as

teenagers watch this shows they may copy the trends and lifestyles as they might find the actors role

modals which parents do fear. Looking at the for I think that parents should watch the show first and

think carefully, as for the law teenagers can have sexual relationships at the age of 16 so why can’t it

be broadcasted on TV?




Another alternative is that the producers can warn the programme containing strong nudity,

language and other references which some viewers may find offensive informing the audience that

the programme is suitable for a certain age range. And mostly the real argument is that teenagers

and the actors are happy with seeing this as it happens in real life anyway. The parent mostly fear it

presented in graphical content and shows what can actually in real life, but who’s to say if it right or

wrong in broadcasting as it happens or teenagers should no the limits. It a viscous controversial

spiral containing no right or wrong answers. There is only evidence and backed up opinions, due to

the media industry being so popular and high invested in money income it’s very hard to axe or un-

explicit certain contents without the producer suing the organisation that are against it. Overall it

entertainment and is not all real, it only describes the intensity to teenagers of limit or sex and drugs

in life. In my opinion adults should watch and be strongly agreed or disagreed in letting their

teenagers in the ages of 15-17 to watch the programme. 18 + teenagers are mature enough to judge

themselves and no the consequences if they proceed it in life.

US skins is a off spin of the British skins and because the popularity of the British was so successful

and positive that Us skins is trying to do the same technique as it’s not presented on their TV

Boardcastment and is mediated in a different criteria which has a different cultural impact. And if

they make the prudish complaints are working wonders for the show’s TV ratings: Skins got 3.3

million viewers last week, setting a record for a new show in the all-important 18-35 demographic

then they must be doing something right?

TASK THREE:

Mostly what these programmes are presenting stereotypes under theses reasonable examples;

Troubled and depressive teenager - Mostly in skins lots of the acting is troubled, showing

confusion; mostly you will see the teenagers in one group socialising about life and memories from

recent episodes or in a enclosured room showing the facial expressions of the person and tense music

will be played in the background to create the tension in the atmosphere and the characters actions

and movement. It will insulate into one big dilemma in a drama series showing how all of the episodes

are combined into this outcome, the way it will be mediated is that it will be a twist right at the very

end or an e.g. from skins suicide to drug overdose.

The ring leader – Looking from the Inbetweeners they show these stereotypes very clear, the

character of actor James Buckley / Jay Cartwright mostly goes on about sex, a high social factor in the

teenage life as at this age you experience it. But Jay is obsessed with sex, with almost all his

comments being about the subject. He frequently lies and exaggerates about his experiences – sexual

and otherwise – often making crude comments about girls/women in general and offering highly

questionable 'advice' to his friends. This is mainly to big himself up and that he been there and done

that and is boasting about it, an example of someone believing and following him as a role modal in

the program is Neil Sutherland, is the dim witted member of the group. Due to his slow nature, he is often




the only person who believes Jay's outrageous stories, and often fails to pick up the sarcasm in Will's

comments.

The Nerd – A good example of this is Will from the inbetweeners again, he mainly is the protagonist

character who serves as the show's narrator, this shows his opinions and beliefs showing weather the

events that he has been in are good or bad, he is leading the episode all the way through, this is smart

mediation in phrasing this stereotype. His parents have recently divorced, and due to his mother's

financial troubles, he is moved from his privileged private school education to the Sixth Form at Rudge

Park, a local comprehensive school. However this all this going on Will falls into the wrong crowd

Initially Will fails at making friends when he begins at Rudge Park in the episode you see Will being

stereotyped due to his appearance; "gay hair", "clumpy shoes" and "actual briefcase" phrased by Jay,

Neil and Simon. These are very bland and clear steortypes, also Will wears glasses and voice is very

squeaky and formal, he does use the term of ‘slang’ much and if he does he make a sarcastic sentence

about it, it’s shows his ignorance to the teenage trend and pushes him out the circle. But eventually

he several attempts he joins the friendship, but in episode they take the mic / Banta with him or he’s

the one who sorting them out.

Usually nerds are the binary opposite of the negative side of the teenage trends in modern aspects.

Zero to hero – Basically the teenager will go through a phase of being presented negative and

taking roles in negative activity, but as the drama progresses they are mediated and have a chance to

prove they’re worthy. This is mainly used for enigmas and entertainment purposes in the way of how

teenagers react when they are respected by others. A good example of this is misfits; Nathan Young is

sent to community service for stealing some pick 'n' mix, then aggravating the situation by insulting

and then assaulting the store manager. Mostly enigmas or dilemmas like this will show at the very

start of the series to inflict and major impact and entertain the audience straight away, and describes

the story of the character and the way they are towards others. Mostly the image that we get of

Nathan is defining his personality trait that he is outspoken, mischievous nature and propensity for

insulting those around him, regardless of whether he actually cares for them or not. Mostly these

sorts of this stereotype will show the character grab anything that in for them or benefits their needs

and no one else, they are selfish, strong minded and experience in life aspects for e.g. Early in the

series, this results in him being kicked out of his home by his mother and abandoned by the majority

of his friends. With nowhere else to go, he breaks into the community center and takes up residence

there, sleeping on the floor and stealing food and drinks from the concession areas. This shows the

standard of the stereotype and how low the character can go; audience can pick up this very easy which is

why it’s so successful for entertainment purposes.

Mainly something unique will happen to them or life situation will change the way in they act; While

the rest of the Misfits discover their powers on the day after the storm, Nathan's doesn't surface until

much later. Nathan spends a great deal of time early on trying to figure out what his power is his

power is revealed to be that of immortality after he falls from a building and is impaled on a metal

fence. He regains consciousness days after his funeral, only to find that he is trapped inside his coffin

underground, left with his iPod which Kelly placed in his hand prior to burial. Basically this a unique

method and very unusual representation of change in the character which is so appealing to watch on

how Nathan reacts and can get himself out of this situation, it can translate into comparisons and




generates into social activity e.g. Facebook twitter status, or fan pages are updated after the episodes

as it’s such a major climax after it has been aired and broadcasted.

You see the change in Nathan due to him expanding his emotions in ways of Nathan's power, that it

reflects aspects of his personality: most prominently, his apparent immunity from hurtful comments

pointed out by both his mother and Kelly. In addition, it also reflects his recklessness, and the way he

will do anything for fun and never gets embarrassed or regrets it. It is unclear if this power includes

immunity from aging or if he simply cannot be killed, although it would appear that—in contrast to

portrayals of immortals that are still vulnerable to head wounds—Nathan can even come back from

being shot in the head without permanent damage. But the main regret for his emotions is when

someone does shoot him for his personality or punched that Nathan cannot heal himself unless he is

actually dead, as shown when he is reduced to a state of vegetation in the second series' final.

So they will always pay a vengeance with balances out Nathan in the way of even if he does have

super powers his emotions stay the same and his standards of personality will never change.



has e4 cracked the formula for successful teen tv

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