Does anybody actually like the standard sitcom format? The three-camera sitcom with a studio audience and/or laugh track? Do you need people to tell you when to laugh?
I much prefer the single-camera, no-laughter format of shows like Arrested Development, Malcolm in the Middle, and Scrubs. (I’m not commenting on the quality of the shows themselves, only the format.) Since the days of The Flintstones and Scooby Doo, we’ve realized that an animated show doesn’t need a laugh track. Even children are smart enough to realize what’s funny without it being spoon-fed to them. Can’t we extend this to live-action shows and finally put this idiocy behind us?
I recently got the DVD for the first season of Sledge Hammer, which is excellent by the way, and that was one of the creators biggest battles with the network. It showed a scene with and without the laught track and it is 100 times better without the stupid thing. The laugh track ended up being a major distraction that took away from the enjoyment of the show, IMO. I think I have a decent sense of humor and don’t really need to be prompted to laugh because of a recording.
The only two sitcoms I currently watch, infrequently, are Malcom in the Middle and Arrested Development. I have not really thought about it, but part of the reason, besides them being good, is that they don’t have an annoying laugh track.
I think anyone who enjoys Scrubs should try watching Arrested Development and vice versa. I think the senses of humor are similar enough to entertain the same audience… and AD needs as many viewers as it can get. Aside from those, I don’t care for any other sitcoms.
Laugh tracks don’t bother me that much… I guess I’m so used to them that I kind of block them from my awareness but what really annoys the hell out of me are when the C List Guest Star makes his entrance and the crowd (or track, whatever) orgasms in their praise.
Really, who the hell would cheer for David Arquette, let alone that loudly?
Sports Night was another interesting example of this. It started off with a laugh track, then they managed to get rid of it after a while. The show is far better without it.
I never really noticed laugh tracks. Then one night our roommates were watching Will & Grace in another room and all I could hear was the laugh track. The pacing was obvious. There was just enough time for line + witty retort, then laugh track. Surreal as hell.
Now, thanks to Scrubs, Malcolm, and AD, I notice the laugh track in everything. I’m not sure if it is the laugh tracks or just the crap format. Every show is the same: line/witty retort/laughs/lather/rinse/repeat.
I agree about laugh tracks. I haven’t thought much about it, but that’s probably why Scrubs is the only sitcom I watch. Some of the other shows might be bearable if we were allowed to make up our own minds about what’s funny.
I don’t know about the 3-camera thing – if one show looks different from another, I guess I’ve never thought about why that is.
Studio audiences put pressure on writers to pace the show for audience reaction, rather than let situations develop naturally.
Um, according to this thread, the great majority of them on today have laugh tracks, hence the OP’s reason for posting the thread. I know some of the biggest sitcoms ever, like Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier all had them. Arrested Development and Scrubs, which have enough faith in the audience to not include laugh tracks, are exceptions to the norm.
Possibly. There were different version of MAS*H with and without a laugh track. The laugh track version was in the U.S. I remember being a kid and visiting my relatives and being shocked when I heard a laugh track on the show.
Then later, I was able to tune in to U.S. TV stations and noticed it there. So depending on what channel I was watching it would or would not have a laugh track.
I can understand why laugh tracks were “invented.” Most people will agree that it’s a lot more fun watching something funny (TV show, movie, stand-up comedian, or whatever) with a group of people who are enjoying and laughing at it than it is to watch alone. Laughter is infectious. And though I am usually “smart enough to realize what’s funny,” it really actually does help me to catch some of the humor that I might have missed if I hear somebody else laughing at something.
That’s one reason (though not the only one) why so many TV shows (and, earlier, radio programs) are/were performed in front of a live studio audience. Even if you’re watching at home by yourself or with just one other person, you sorta get the illusion of being part of a large audience and sharing in their reactions. Canned laughter, then, is an attempt to fake this effect when there isn’t an actual audience there. (That’s why comedy movies have never had laugh tracks: they’re meant to be seen in a crowded theater with a bunch of real live laughing people).
I haven’t made up my mind whether a laugh track, in and of itself, is a good or a bad thing, but it certainly lends itself to abuse. “Hey, we don’t have to make our show actually funny. We can just play a lot of canned laughter and pretend it’s funny! If viewers don’t find it funny, they’ll think it’s their fault!”
Actually I believe every episode of MASH had a laugh track, but it was never used in the operating tent. And I’m sure the last episode didn’t use a laugh track at all since it was more drama than anything.
If you want irritating in a laugh track, check out That 70’s Show. Damn … they literally laugh after almost every line. Once you notice it, it starts to drive you crazy.
I went to the taping of the first episode of Perfect Strangers. Behind me was a mini-army of the writers and their friends. They laughed like insane people over lines like “someone’s at the door” and “are you ready to go?”.
I understand they were desperate to make the show seem as funny as possible, but they became so distracting, several people in the front rows were actually turning around to see what morons were rolling in the aisles and guffawing because the telephone rang.
In the old I Love Lucy show, you will often hear a single loud laugh of a woman, over the laughter of others. Some thought that was Lucy’s mother in the audience, but I recently read it was a woman who came to one of the tapings and because of her laugh, she got seats to every taping of the show.
