It seems like when ever a discussion about good sitcoms comes around it always turns to single vs. multi camera. But I think the real difference is between laugh track and no laugh track. So are/were there any shows that break the tradition?
I think you have that backwards. Single camera pretty much requires a laugh track because of the impossibility of capturing reaction shots and performing for a live audience in such a way as to get a genuine reaction. Multi-camera shoots allow a camera to be on the performer talking as well as the performer reacting and a wide shot of the whole scene, so the performers can do a whole scene as if it were a play.
No, enalzi has it right. Shows like 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, Scrubs, Andy Ricther Controls the Universe, The Tick, Malcolm in the Middle, The Wonder Years and so on are filmed like movies: one camera per set-up; coverage and reaction shots filmed later. These types of shows usually do not feature laugh tracks. And playing off an audience certainly isn’t necessary for comedy, otherwise there would be no funny movies. It’s just a different style and requires different skills.
Sitcoms with in-studio audiences almost always use multiple cameras, so they can edit live.
Sports Night and MASH are two single-camera shows I can think of that had canned laughter added in their early seasons.
ETA: I could have sworn some episodes of Malcolm in the Middle had a laugh track added, but my googling seems to indicate otherwise. I never watched it regularly so I probably have it confused with something else.
Sports Night didn’t have a laugh track in the early episodes, but the network later insisted they add it. MASH always had a laugh track (though the producers would have preferred otherwise), but did not run it for any scenes in the operating room.
Here’s a list of comedies without laugh tracks. Most are single camera.
MASH aired without a laugh track in the UK. I recall there being quite a fuss on Points of View when an episode was mistakenly shown with the canned laughter intact.
Leave it to Beaver and* My Three Sons* were single camera shows with laugh tracks. Oh, and Andy Griffith. Probably lots of shows around that time, actually.
And the DVD’s allow you to turn the laughter off. Trust me, it’s better without the ridiculous canned laughter.
The first season DVD of Sports Night has a laugh track throughout, I hadn’t realized that it was added after the original airing. Now I’m wondering if there is an option on the DVD to turn it off (it never occurred to me before now to check).
The single-camera shows that used a laugh track are numerous. From the 1960s:
Dennis the Menace, Car 54, Where are You?, Peter and Gladys, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Farmer’s Daughter, My Three Sons, The Donna Reed Show, The Real McCoys, Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mr. Ed, Hazel, My Favorite Martian, McHale’s Navy, Petticoat Junction, The Patty Duke Show, The Addams Family, The Munsters, Bewitched, Gilligan’s Island, Green Acres, Get Smart, My Living Doll, Family Affair, I Dream of Jeannie, The Monkees, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., F Troop, That Girl, Hogan’s Heroes, The Second Hundred Years, The Flying Nun, The Ugliest Girl in Town, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, several others.