TASKMASTER AND DAVE

For our exam, we need to know why Taskmaster is a god fit for the comedy channel Dave. 
We looked on Dave's information for advertisers, which outlined Dave's brand:

TV Advertising on Dave

Dave offers television advertisers an expansive audience base of generally younger adults, many of whom are professionals tuning into the later time slots. The daytime slot is also particularly popular amongst students, whilst, overall, the channel holds more appeal to male viewers.

Dave, known as ‘The Home of Witty Banter’, specialises in British comedy and general entertainment, such as Mock the Week, QI XL and Top Gear, with much of its content emanating from terrestrial television archives. Brands such as Love Film, Match.com, Google, William Hill and Heineken are regular TV advertisers on the channel.

What does the Taskmaster website say about the show that clearly makes it fit the channel? It is skewed to a male audience as...
 
Greg Davies is the Taskmaster. With the help of his ever-loyal assistant Alex Horne he will set out to test the wiles, wit and wisdom of five hyper-competitive, and sometimes unimpressed, stand-up comedians Roisin Conaty (Man Down), Tim Key (Mid Morning Matters With Alan Partridge), Romesh Ranganathan (Mock The Week), Frank Skinner (Room 101) and Josh Widdicombe (The Last Leg).

Expect arguments. Expect both cheating AND arguments.  

As the Taskmaster Greg Davies will set a series of stupefying tasks to test our comedians. From eating a watermelon as fast as possible to painting a picture of a horse while riding a horse, they will be tested to the absolute limits of absurdity.

As the Taskmaster's devoted associate, Alex Horne is on hand to keep track of the scores and coax the contenders to show their creativity, conniving side and competitiveness. Rivalry will be encouraged, dodgy tactics rewarded and bribes obviously accepted in what is set to be the most dogged, hard-fought, and ridiculous comedy game show on television.

QI

• for the episode you watched, state the series (this will be a letter), channel, day and time of broadcast

Series N E09

• state the genre of the programme

Panel show or quiz show. Comedy

• state the names of the host and panellists

Sandy tosvig is the host

Alan Davies is a panellist that recurs every show

Josh Widecombe is that week’s panellist

Susan Calman is that week’s panellist

Matt Lucas is that week’s panellist

• As the host, how does sandy tosvikg relate to the other panellists? Consider if the term 'genial' applies.

She is very authoritive but also very friendly, she has good banter with the other panellist and really enjoys what she is doing, she is very genial and the viewers warm to her knowledge and her reactions to certain scenarios.

• What is 'quite interesting' about the extract that you watched?

Verbal humour important: ‘quite interesting’ facts more important to entertain than to get the right answer, for example in the episode we watched they taught us about the Santa’s in Iceland. There was 4 names and the panel had to guess what the names were, one of the names was window peeper and a joke was made by Sandi saying “the only one I would be worried about is the window peeper, I think it would be more of a treat for him.” This people could find funny as it has a sexual reference that adults may find funny.

• How is Sandi toksvig's erudition (the extent of his knowledge) shown?

Answers designed to expose myths aka things you always thought were true, you are presented to laugh yourself clever as  we think we know the answer to questions but however we are proven right by the host’s knowledge. For example we were told in the episode the different between the vows of sisters and nuns, and sandi tells us what the differents is and it was something obvious that we never thought of

• Are the audience passive consumers or active participants?

The audience are active because when the panel are playing games the audience likes to join in and respond, also it is filmed in front of a live audience which adds to the activeness.

• What is the role of Alan Davies and how does he contribute to audience pleasures?

Alan Davies comedian, familiar face, ‘the bloke next door’ “rushes headlong like a puppy into the wall of ignorance." Alan Davies is the common man that people will know very well even teen audiences (Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, Johnathan creek) and relate to, he is a friendly face that is optimistic and people like him. Funny buzzers: Davies's buzzer is usually more humorous than the others which embarrasses him yet he doesn’t let it affect him. He makes us feel more powerful in comparison to him.

• How far does the programme fulfil its Public Service Broadcasting remit to inform, to educate and to entertain?

The program is able to teach us knowledge that we didn’t know, no matter how obscure the facts are, but also making it comical and presenting the facts in a funny way, such as segments that the panel compete in.

• How is the audience positioned: as omniscient or powerless?

The audience are positioned as both omniscient and powerless, against the host, sandy tosvig, the audience are presented as powerless as she has knowledge that we do not have, however against the panel they are omniscient because the panel are always inferior and loose. Especially with Alan who is always getting picked and made fun of.

Chanel ident

E4 channel ident.

The e4 channel ident appeals to younger viewers through its use of bold colour and humour which older people may not find as entertaining. The ident shows a big E4 entering a restraunt and looking up at a menu and the text on the menu reads funny lines in different idents depending on the campaign such as “do not rip off the Simpsons chalkboard” and as the Simpsons viewer is usually a younger generation such as early teens they are referencing something their target audience likes then it shows the purple E4 leaving the restraint as we see a dog and an old man on his scooter whilst you can see the name of the restraint that changes in the different idents. This creates an ident that the viewers begin to recognise and love, because of the humour, the references and the colours it attracts a younger audience.

 

The channel 4 ident

 The channel 4 ident focuses more on the nature and the things around us which may give the impression that there are more documentaries in the channel rather than things like cartoons which means this may attract an older generation who are more interested in nature, and lifestyle. The advert shows a stream running through rocks whilst going into a cave of red crystals.

 

BBC 1 ident 

The BBC ident focus on the uniting between people. The ident shows older people in the sea in different parts of England, all laughing and having a good time, it then goes on to read text saying “oneness”. This gives the idea of uniting us as lots of people watch BBC and as in the ident it is showing older people I think it is aiming for a more mature audience however because it is still uniting people I think younger viewers will be incorporated in this channel too.

Dave ident

The Dave ident shows a cat in an airport security check. Dave’s view on things is people and objects out of place. This makes me think they are attracting people that don’t always fit in and prodomeltly to a younger audience with the objects they use like a kitten that might attract younger viewers as they are cute