I can't watch sitcoms with a laugh track/studio audience

[Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake]

@Hades

They never bothered me growing up, but not watching TV for a few years and coming back, they were jarring. I refuse to watch anything with a laugh track now.

That’s exactly what happened to me.

[AndyLee]

Without it how would you know when to laugh? I find on old shows, before my time it can help me. If I hear a big laugh and I don’t get the joke I can go look up the subject and figure out what they are talking about

[Peremensoe]

SD column: Why do sitcoms have laugh tracks?
A previous thread: Can you watch shows with laugh tracks? Because I can’t.

@steronz

When you can feel like you’re laughing along with people, it can make the show more enjoyable.
…
As an experiment, someone should filter out all the laughter from a stand-up routine. It’s amazing how quickly something can seem non-funny when nobody else is laughing.

I’m more likely to have an opposite problem. If I think it’s just mildly funny, and you’re LYAO, my enjoyment is cooled by the thought, I’m here with a moron.

Anyway, stand-up is normally filmed in front of live audiences. That’s pretty different from canned laughter.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@jamiemcgarry

When “Malcolm in the Middle” first started airing, I enjoyed watching it for a while. I couldn’t put my finger on why exactly I liked it so much until I realized the show had no laugh track. It seemed fairly similar to other sitcoms, albeit without the voice-over narration, it just didn’t have that one annoying aspect of automated laughter. It seemed to give the show a much more authentic feel.

When “Malcolm in the Middle” first started airing, it was one of the few single camera sitcoms on the air, but since then, the single-camera setup has become common for sitcoms.

Whereas single-camera shows are like films, three-camera sitcoms, which were the norm earlier, are more analogous to stage plays, and often are filmed in front of a live studio audience, and the laugh track seems a lot more appropriate.

[Bryan_Ekers]

I can tolerate tracks for an exceptional show like Cheers, but on a middling series… nah. Not any more. NBC’s Thursday lineup has spoiled me.

[GuanoLad]

I don’t mind live audiences, but canned laughter certainly bothers me. How I Met Your Mother has unconvincing canned laughter, as a live audience doesn’t work with their back-and-forth fast cutting style. I like the show, but the fake laughter just grates.

[Taomist]

@Kimstu

Another vote for hating laugh tracks. This is why I can’t really watch The Big Bang Theory, which I think I’d quite enjoy if it weren’t for the hyuck-hyuck-hyucks all the time.

QFT