Sit-Com Shows with Laugh Tracks

[NCTexan]

What's wrong with me?

I have never been a fan of TV sit-coms... especially the ones with laugh tracks.

But all of the sit-coms that are currently "popular" now evoke a visceral gag response from me. I can't even stand to click channels through one of them.

They all go something like this...
"Lame joke, CANNED LAUGHING, dirty word, CANNED LAUGHING, cute kid saying something "cute", CANNED LAUGHING, sexual innuendo, MORE CANNED LAUGHING."

I guess the canned laughter is supposed to make me laugh too.

These shows are wildly popular with millions of people and renewed year after year ... The actors in these shows become mega-stars and make mega-bucks.

Is it just me or do they affect you that way? Or are any of you fans of any of these shows?

 

[pownal55]

Fake laughter and applause has been around for as long as I can remember. I guess it's suppose to stimulate the viewer who seems to have trouble laughing without it. Skilled comedians never needed it.

 

[rock doc]

I can't stand the canned laughter either. Makes me think that the home viewers are too stupid to know when something is "funny".

 

[feralmerril]

Man did you hit a pet peeve of mine! I have always hated it and even more so after a experience years ago. I never could relate to dennis miller, especially now that he`s bill o`reilleys sidekick. First, I am pretty close to both of their politics but not their phony humor that it seems only both of them enjoy. About 15 years ago I had a mentally challenged nephew that I somehow inherited the job of being his keeper. Now this at the time 35 year old "boy" was sharp enough to know how to work the system for all freebies. He was a member of the local mental health club that always had something going on like free field trips to zoo`s, museum`s, whale watching etc. One day he told me the nut club took the short bus to a studio in hollywood to see a act by Dennis Miller. They were paid $20`s apiece to go laugh at his "funny?" wisecracks!
I cant help thinking about that every time I see O`reilley and Miller have that "mutual admiration society" of "intelligent" humor that only they seem to get a kick out of!
I would like to call in and harass miller and tell the story of how he might have got where he is due to "The short bus" and a bunch of free tickets with $20 bills!

 

[Tom K]

Most of the sitcoms that I've liked in the past few years have not had laugh tracks. Scrubs, The Office, 30 Rock, Community, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Raising Hope, probably some others I can't think of. (Of course some of these are no longer on.) I think about the only one we're watching right now with a laugh track is The Big Bang Theory, and it would definitely be better without it.

I tried to start watching a new workplace sitcom called Ground Floor and not only was the laugh track grating, it did nothing to disguise the fact that the show was not funny.

 

[blujax01]

When someone first pointed out hoe invasive the Laugh Track has become, they said it was intended to let people know not only when something was funny, but exactly how funny it was and the tone of ridicule (smirk) or cuteness (awww). Viewers don't even need to minimally engage their brains anymore. The TV knows best...

The next time I watched a sitcom, I concentrated on the laugh track in order to verify his findings. And it is true. A big insult to my intelligence and sense of humor.

Now I can't stop thinking about it and as a result have been unable to watch any laugh track show for years. And I haven't missed a thing.

 

[25elk]

I can't stand it either and can't watch most of what is supposedly funny these days...not to hijack this thread, but I'm afraid to even like feralmerril's comment for fear of being dinged. Almost sounded like he was describing a bus load of voters being taken to the pools.

 

[Marshwheeling]

I can't stand it either and can't watch most of what is supposedly funny these days...not to hijack this thread, but I'm afraid to even like feralmerril's comment for fear of being dinged. Almost sounded like he was describing a bus load of voters being taken to the pools.

'At's okay. I liked it for you.

 

[Mydogmax]

I get more laughs reading this forum then watching the sitcoms.

 

[Wingmaster]

I have never noticed laugh tracks......until now.

Gee, Thanks guys.

Wing master

 

[RonJ]

Big Bang Theory has a live audience.

 

[Bullzaye]

When reading this post title, the first show that came to my mind was The Big Bang Theory.

Man, how I hate that show. Every attempt at a joke is obvious, and you can see it coming from miles away. But to make it even worse, the constant laugh track is soooooooooo freaking annoying!

There are a few episodes of the old Hogan's Heroes and MASH that were done without laugh tracks. Wow, they're so much more enjoyable to watch!

Tim

 

[hotrod150]

When I was a kid growing up in L.A., my folks took me to see a taping of the Carol Burnett Show. There were signs up above the stage "appaluse" "laught" etc.
I thought actual canned "laugh tracks" had died off years ago. They were dumb, you can really see how dumb now when you watch an old 1970's show with them. Even some cartoons had laugh tracks- how phoney is that?

 

[Tom K]

Big Bang Theory has a live audience.

No difference. It is laughter, applause, etc. artificially added to the show. Although there are people in the seats making the sounds, they are as scripted as the actor's lines. Would a real audience react the same on the fourth take? Unlikely.

 

[vigil617]

Thanks for the memory. The last time I railed about laugh tracks, it was because I was having to get up and walk over to the "TV set" to change the channel.

 

[Smoke]

I think about the only one we're watching right now with a laugh track is The Big Bang Theory, and it would definitely be better without it.

BBT does not have a laugh track and if you keep an eye on Penny there are at least a couple of scenes in every episode where she looks like she is doing every thing she can not to bust up laughing

 

[shouldazagged]

I haven't watched a sitcom regularly since the "Taxi", "Barney Miller", "WKRP In Cincinnati" days. Even "Golden Girls", which I liked, wasn't regular fare.

What little I've seen of the recent ones, laugh track or not, just doesn't seem funny to me. And I have a very active sense of humor.

Conjugate the verb "to curmudge".

 

[Tom K]

BBT does not have a laugh track and if you keep an eye on Penny there are at least a couple of scenes in every episode where she looks like she is doing every thing she can not to bust up laughing

See reply #15 above.

On a semi-related note, what is the opinion on "mockumentary" style shows? The Office pretty much started it, where the fourth wall is broken and the characters speak directly to the camera. Most times they didn’t directly acknowledge the documentary crew but in the last season, there was a small subplot where one of the sound guys had feelings for Pam, which was either the result or cause of his failing marriage. Then in the last few shows, they scripted the showing of the documentary on PBS and how it and the filming of it had affected the character’s lives.


Other shows use some of the mockumentary elements where the characters have chats with the camera (Parks and Recreation, Modern Family), but they don’t seem to be trying to sell the concept that they are making a documentary so much as using it as an opportunity to write gags that they couldn’t otherwise. The camera chats are almost like voiceover (often used in Raising Hope, and in every show on Scrubs) but with video to go with it. I personally like it as a way to get more out of the characters by allowing them to express internal dialog, allowing them to say things out loud that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to readily convey. It also gets rid of the laugh track/trained live audience.​

 

[BaldEagle1313]

Emmy-winning comedy writer Ken Levine (M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier and others) has a daily blog I read. It was several years ago, but he addressed a reader question about laugh tracks. If there's anyone who would know why or why not, it's him.

The link is to his blog post, so while I suppose it could technically be called copyrighted material, since he puts it on his blog he WANTS people to link to it. Hope the powers-that-be here are okay with it.

By Ken Levine: Laugh tracks

 

[timn8er]

Laugh tracks? Just not something I worry about or care about. And anyway, Big Bang Theory Rules!

BAZINGA!!!