Please help me with my FMP?

Hey guys for my final major project in my foundation art course i am drawing some storyboards and doing character designs from my sitcom.
To get a high mark in this project i need to get some research of people's opinions on comedy
so if you could answer these questions i would be extremely grateful:

1) what is your favourite sitcom?

2) what is your most proferred sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?

thank you for your time! and please try to answer as fully as possible.

1)Sarah Silverman Programme (its American and on alluc, if you want to see it)

2)social satire

3)Yes, with avengence

4)No

5)Yes, it helps to get the point across which is that prejudice of any kind is retarded

6)Yes

7)I tried to do one about advertisers so it would be advertisng, in the same vein as Nathan Barley

1) UK: Space US: Scrubs

2) I don't have a preffered type. If it's funny it's funny, if not then i'll move along.

3) Yes. heh

4) I could relate to characters. Yes. I drift off into my own fantasy world all the time and think zombies are attacking.

5) Depends really. Cartoonish humor can work but i like to be grounded sometimes and it's a better emotional payoff.

6) If the jokes are good then i think you can easily ignore it.

7) I'm out of ideas right now. But probably a Comedy Detective show about a video store owner who is mistaken for a detective and takes up the position. Then he begins to think his enw life is reflecting the movies his seen.

1) what is your favourite sitcom?

Only Fools And Horses

2) what is your most proferred sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)

Farce!

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)

Not really, no. Only Fools has lots of different types of comedy, some things are subtle, others more obvious, there's a bit of farce, sarcasm, great visual humour and good old fashioned one liners.

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

My brother IS Rodney Trotter. Otherwise, no.

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

I think the best comedy is always realistic, from stand up to TV. People can relate to it.

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?

I'm too stupid to notice it.

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?

Probably about football. The live of a supporter. A manager or a bloke who coaches a kids team. Something I can relate to and pass on my experience of.

1) what is your favourite sitcom?
Green Wing

2) what is your most proferred sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)
Surreal (but it has to be sharp, clever and witty as well, and needs a good balance of visual and verbal jokes)

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)
Absolutely

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

Yes (well, some of the more 'normal' characters...to a certain extent...)

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

Exaggerated - yes, but only in a 'slightly-larger-than-life' way, Caricatured - no. Characters need emotional complexity.

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?
Yes! Yes, yes and yes.

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?
Err, don't have any brainwaves at the moment... I think any situation is potentially funny, as long as you can find a new and innovative way of looking at it.

1 - Maybe the Office (although this probably contradicts what I've written elsewhere)

2 - Subtle with occassional OTT's.

3 - Yes - I think so

4 - Yes

5 - Most real but one or two exaggerated (true to life)

6 - Definitely (genuine laughter is OK)

7 - Middle aged failed songwriters (see my Hitmen for Hire in critique - PLEASE)

Hope this helps and good luck

1) what is your favourite sitcom?

Hard to choose! Right now though: Spaced

2) what is your most proferred sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)

Surreal

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)

To some extent, but I like Spaced because of its a simple idea and the script is so clever. I find it hard to quote as a lot of the jokes are very visual which also makes it stand out to me.

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

Many people are like Daisy - want something but are too lazy to get up and get it!

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

It depends on the show. In Spaced, they all have their quirks and that's what makes the relationships in the show work.

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?

Yes.

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?

Eeek! I have no imagination. Ummm........something that didn't have much continuity to it, so that episodes could be as random as they liked but didn't have to be chronological as such.

thank you for your time! and please try to answer as fully as possible.
[/quote]

1) what is your favourite sitcom?

Fawlty Towers (followed by Red Dwarf / Spaced / Black Adder / Simpsons / Frasier) It's too hard to limit my choice to one.

2) what is your most proferred sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)

If it's funny it's funny. I like physical humour but also witty one-liners

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)

This question is totally meaningless. I would never rate a comedy as my favourite (or even like it) if it failed to reflect my humour. No one on earth would.

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

Nearly everyone in the business would argue that the viewer has to empathise in a basic way with the lead characters. If the writer fails to make the viewer care then he / she has failed and the show too will fail.

Take Fawlty, not many would feel they were similar to him but the empathy comes from his feeling of frustration, his feeling that the world conspires against him, that he is brow-beaten. He is a bully but we excuse it because he too is bullied. People also secretly wish they could be as direct and as forceful as him. Empathy is the one KEY ingredient. It softens the harshness of realising we are laughing at misfortune and misery. Without it, the show dies.

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

A mix of both. You can't go too far beyond the premise (real / surreal worlds) because it breaks the viewers' suspension of belief. An example is Fawlty leaping up and down on a pretend insect to distract attention. It was way over the top, even in FTowers setup.

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?

In some shows its unnoticable. In British shows especially it is very irratating. An example is Operation Good Guys. Series 1 is non-canned laughter. They added canned laughter in 2 and 3 and ruined my enjoyment. The laughter is too loud, strained, and amateurish.

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?

1) what is your favourite sitcom?

EXTREMELY hard to choose, so let's just say Fawlty Towers.

2) what is your most proferred [sic] sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)

Like SlagA, if something's funny, it's funny. I don't have a particular type of humour which I prefer; neither do I have one which I implicitly don't like.

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)

Fawlty Towers has elements of pretty much every kind of humour, and that's why it's so universally popular. It knits them together so closely and with such attention to detail that, unless one really studies the show, it's hard to notice.

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

Again, as SlagA said, there's elements in most of the characters - notably Basil of course - with which most people can identify. His frustration at what he sees as his being dragged down by those around him, whilst he's just aiming for something better and trying to improve is something which everyone has experienced in some form. His catch-22 situation; he really is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't. And his take-no-shit attitude is something which I think particularly endears him. Everyone has some element of that in them, but are just too polite or restrained to voice it. The partial repression on this front which Sybil imposes, represents that repression which most of us have within ourselves.

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

Both work on such different levels and can be put in such different situations that I don't think they can really be fairly compared like that. Exaggeration, Basil being a prime example, can help to express something which most experience, know, or understand inside themselves. Normality creates a different kind of link on which people can connect. They have their strengths in completely different areas and have different uses within a plotline.

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?

No.

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?

Oooh, the possibilities.

1) what is your favourite sitcom?

At the moment it's Scrubs.

2) what is your most proferred sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)

Cleverness and Sillyness combined in a glorious union.

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)

Yup.

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

I can relate to the Todd! But yeah, JD.

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

Depends on the character/sitcom. Both can work fine.

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?

Generally it annoys.

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?

I am already writing a sitcom and it's a secret! Sssshhhh.

thank you for all those who answered, i appreciate it greatly and shall be added to my project

1) what is your favourite sitcom?

Friends

2) what is your most proferred sense of humour (e.g. sarcasm, slapstick, satirical)

A good combination of sarcasm and slapstick

3) did the sitcom reflect this type of humour (if not please say why you liked it anyway)

Chandler Bing certainly provided me with plenty of sarcasm.

4) could you relate to any of the characters or know people that are like the characters?

I actually feel that I am a combination of all of the male charcters in Friends.

5) is it better when characters are exaggerated (sorta in a cartoony way) or kept normal?

Both can work. Father Ted, Black Books and Green Wing were briilant. The Office and Extras was too.

6)Does canned laughter in comedy annoy you in general?

Not at all.

7) if a t.v station told you that you could create any sitcom, what would it be about and why?

A sitcom that rips off characters from other shows and claims them as their own. Save me a bit of time creating original characters.

1) Seinfeld

2) Surreal & satirical

3) Yes

4) In a surreal way, I guess Seinfeld is the closest.

5) There's room for both.

6) Always.

7) Naa. Due to current writing circumstances, this one I'm keeping to myself if it's all the same to you.

1) Seinfeld

2) I like lots, social satire I like a lot, but I also like witty humour.

3) Yes very much so

4) Not totally, but little things about each characters I could definitely sympathize with or agree with

5) Depends, it can work in both ways, realistic stuff like The Office and The Thick Of It are very good, yet more exaggerated characters like Seinfeld for example can be just as great if not more.

6)Not really, unless you can tell its fake and just dubbed over.

7) Already writing a sitcom which was originally about buskers but since I got my feedback from Marc Blake, but now it has changed some-what.