DISQUS

Davebaxter1989 · 8 months ago

Yup add the Office to your list of laughtrack-less hilarious shows. Laugh tracks can die.

Ricky · 8 months ago

I won't watch a show if there is a laugh track hence why I've never watched all that much Seinfield. The only show that gets away with it is HIMYM but I only watch that on dvd and too be honest I bought and havent even watched season three yet because of it.

Joshi · 8 months ago

According to Wikipedia, they don't technically use a laugh track, but instead, film the episodes and then play it in front of an audience to get the laughter. Bit of a long way to go for something that isn't really needed since HIMYM is quite funny, but I think laugh tracks go hand in hand with any sitcom with four cameras and a stage-like set. Pretty much all the shows that don't have laugh tracks are filmed a lot like a movie or generic TV show's are filmed.

RobertFure · 8 months ago

Any show that sends an audio signal of someone laughing somewhere, for whatever reason, is doing a disservice to the show. Even if a show is filmed in front of a live audience (which increasingly few are), I don't see why you would keep or highlight the laughter. Just let the show be.

bcarter3 · 8 months ago

Yeah, the laugh track on "The Wire" used to bug the hell out of me....

curt · 8 months ago

thank you mr. fure. fuck the laugh track. i will not watch shows that have it

Joshi · 8 months ago

Very true. I still think How I Met your Mother and a couple of other shows that have canned laugh tracks are quality shows and I won't let the presence of canned laughter push me away from them. To be honest, I've grown up with them so I hardly notice them anymore. Yes, by and large, comedy shows without them tend to be better than those with them, and TV could do with getting rid of them, but I don't think that means that ALL shows with a laugh track are bad.

flameyheadgear · 8 months ago

I know some decent shows that use them, but I detest being told what to find amusing. It was different when I was a kid, when TV was a lot more innocent and a laugh track either set the tone of what you were watching or settled into it .

But the best shows were still filmed in front of a live studio audience ('All in the Family', 'The Jeffersons', 'Sanford and Son', etc.). They were smart, the audience laughed in all the right places (studio cues aside), and they aren't in syndication to this very day for nothing. I miss 'The Carol Burnett Show'. I watched that when I was really little (4 or 5) and I love(d) Harvey Korman.

Aside: I watched 'Seinfeld' the odd time when it was on, but I don't find it funny now. At all. Anyone else try to watch it now and just find it doesn't hold up for you?

RobertFure · 8 months ago

A few friends and I came to that conclusion just the other day - Seinfeld is overrated. I used to watch it, now I couldn't care less.

Anupam · 6 months ago

Was attempting to watch "Big Bang Theory" today.

Felt like breaking things after five minutes of unnecessary laugh track.

I find it bizzarre aswel how my only response to a laugh track is of an anger that I fail to represent anywhere else on a regular basis.

The thought of "Scrubs" with a laugh track makes me want to cry/die/kill.

Donotuseeharmony · 3 months ago

I personally detest any kind of laugh track. I don't need to be "told" when something is funny and more than 90% of the time those stupid fake laughs are used the very thing that they're supposedly laughing at wasn't funny at all! I've abandoned all shows that have producers whom are so insecure with their own abilities to make people laugh that the necessity is present to add in spots of laughter. Please!! I am an absolutely huge fan of Scrubs and I am so very glad
that Bill Lawrence didn't destroy that show with canned laughter. I really don't like many sitcoms anyway due to the extremely unrealistic plots, characters, and situations so if I get a bunch of fake laughter thrown at me I immediately change the channel or just turn off the TV completely. Laugh tracks ruin shows, not make them better and especially don't enhance the parts that are supposedly funny.