Define the media term, 'genre' analyse 3 television programs for their codes and conventions.

The stock characters are the contestants who are different each week, and the audience.  The contestants tend to be of a similar age to the viewers however sometimes slightly younger, and the audience is mixed.  The contestants play a series of games and have to guess the price of items to win bigger and better prizes; there is a final game in which the winning contestant gambles his/her prizes for the best prize, which is usually a holiday, car or money.

In Bruce’s price is right there are a few icons, which have become familiarities over the years.  These include his catch phrase, the buzzers, Bruce himself and a spinning wheel, which ends the game.  The background settings for the game are a loud studio, with an audience and bright lights.

Michael Barrymore’s strike it rich is similar in many ways, because of its time slot the protagonist is an older man.  I think the reason they chose a male presenter is because of the older audience again, they are probably more comfortable with a man than a woman.

Similarly the stock characters are the audience and the contestants, the host introduces them and aloud to talk about themselves while the host makes comments which are supposed to make people laugh.  I found this program hard to relate to as it was boring and the host spent the whole time making fun of a foreign lady; I don’t think many people would like it.

The plot follows a similar form to Bruce’s price is right as the contestants answer questions to win a car, holiday or money.  And again similarly there is a catch phrase, buzzers and Michael Barrymore himself that have become icons.  The background is colourful and light, and slightly tacky.

Finally I watched Les Dennis’s family fortunes, which out of all three I found the most enjoyable.  The protagonist Les Dennis was slightly younger than the other two, and probably easier for a younger audience to relate to.  I also thought that out of the three this program was the most original, of course they still gave away a car, money or holiday but to win them you did more interesting things.

The stock characters were the audience and two families who acted as the contestants.  To win things they were asked a question like “what would you take to the beach?” and had to pick the answer they thought 100 people were most likely to say.  Then at the end when one family wins, they send one person to play in the final quiz.

The icons for this program were similarly the host and buzzers, however the families have become icons and so has the phrase “our survey says”.  |The background for this program is less vibrant, with a board in the middle and more subdued background to reflect the fact it is a more serious show.

The forms and conventions of quiz shows are generally similar, this is because the viewers are expecting it, and they don’t need to do much to get people to watch.