STUDIO PRODUCTION: MRS BROWNS BOYS (RESEARCH)

Since we're planning a Sitcom about Superheroes and we know that it will probably be about friends who live in a flat together as that's the most common one to go with from my research, I decided to look into 'Mrs Browns Boys'. An Irish Sitcom which is broadcasted on BBC1, this was first aired back in 2011 but was originally a stage show which travelled around the UK until it was pitched as a Sitcom to the BBC and taken on for a pilot episode. The show tells the story of Agnas Brown, an elderly Mother of 4 boys and 1 girl. All of which are grown up. 2 of the children still live at home, the daughter Cathy Brown and son Dermot Brown. We get the other children coming into the show as well.

What I found interesting about this Sitcom wasn't the structure, format or the characters. This has all the standards you'd expect from a Sitcom and follows with the classic structure very well. But, Mrs Browns Boys stood out when it came onto BBC as an original sitcom because it did what no current sitcom does on Television. They left the mistakes and the outtakes in the programme. Almost every Sitcom will have outtakes which can often be viewed in behind the scenes footage once the programme has been released. However, Mrs Browns Boys brought forward a new format for studio Sitcoms by showing not only the outtakes, but at the beginning and the end of the show, showing the audience the studio and the audience watching and at the end they all take a bow as a cast as if at the theatre.
The outtakes have been characters messing up lines, camera crew getting in shot and also the lead Agnas Brown just having a joke to fool around with the crew. An example is below:

These outtakes have been in the series since the first series was aired. Brendan O'Carroll (who plays Mrs Brown) will often do ad-libs in character to get other cast members to break character It really brings out humour and keeping in the character of Mrs Brown has added to the entertainment. Other mistakes have happened which aren't intentional, such as once a camera man smashed a window on the set:

The outtakes for the programme are what has made this series so popular and they continue to do them, although they aren't written into the script, Brendan O'Carroll will go out of his way to break the actors out of their characters and into a fit of laughter.

This is one of the ways which makes the Sitcom unique. It's stood out from other sitcoms due to the outtakes and adult humour but still done in a studio environment. Showing the audience that this is a show and not taking us into a new world like other shows do such as The Big Bang Theory and Friends.