Awkwardness sells, but who’s buying? How students navigate awkward TV comedy series

Abstract

Drawing on in-depth interviews, this study examines how students engage with awkwardness in television comedies. The article contributes to studies of awkwardness, its configuration in popular culture, and audiences’ response to awkward-comic texts. Our findings show typical sequences and resources for producing awkward scenes. Participants tend to evaluate awkward scenes in terms of ‘realism’, i.e., whether they could relate the scene to their personal lives and/or imagine themselves in that situation. Furthermore, awkward sequences and feelings of awkwardness from the characters increases the evaluation of scenes as realistic. Finally, in line with Kotsko’s (2010) characterisation of awkwardness as a social feeling, awkwardness spreads from the television screen when participants perceive if the character is feeling awkward or imagine themselves feeling awkward in that situation.