Amazed I’m the first one to post this, given that I know a bunch of people here love it… but the first season of Sports Night had a laugh track and was funny (along with being so many other good things).
Both Cheers and The Cosby Show announced that they were filmed before a live audience.
Didn’t a lot of shows once announce that? Why was that supposed to be a plus?
I thought the implication was that there was no laugh track, which may be what they tried to make the TV audience think, although bouv above stated that they sometimes still used a laugh track too.
Eh? This classic show does not have a laugh track, it’s clearly a studio audience. A number of jokes are not “got” by the audience at the time but the actors expect a laugh and pause accordingly. At other times they clearly have to pause unexpectedly when the audience laughs more than they expected.
Well said. I can’t imagine that show without the overblown laugh track – you’re right, it was practically a character unto itself.
I’m pretty sure there were a few times in both shows (often the closing gag while the credits rolled) when the camera pulled back to reveal something funny, and there was laughter – clear indication of at least some laugh track meddling, since a live audience would of course have seen the joke before the camera even pulled back.