NO MORE SITCOM LAUGH TRACKS!!!!!!

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-02-19 02:39pm

Is anyone else tired of the canned laughter that we are forced to endure while watching sitcoms? It's like the writers know that a good 3/4 of all the jokes are not at all funny, just stupid, so the laugh track is our cue to laugh. The writers think that we're too retarded to know when to laugh. As a matter of fact, they think that we're so dense, we need a group of people laughing so that we'll feel like we're part of the crowd.

I'm fucking sick of it! Get rid of the stupid ass laugh tracks. I hate it! I can think of only two sitcoms that I like (Seinfeld and Raymond), and the laugh tracks almost make then unwatchable! Does the Simpsons need a laugh track? No! Does King of the Hill need a laugh track?

Anyone else hate them?

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2003-02-19 02:45pm

Fucking A, man. I hate that shit. A bunch of imaginary idiots laughing at some of the worst verbal offal to be created by humanity. A good half of the reason why I hate most sitcoms. It's one thing to have shitty jokes (well, all of the dialogue is shitty, really...), but those fucking laugh tracks just make it so much worse.

Ugh. Give me Voyager.

Korvan · Post by **Korvan** » 2003-02-19 02:47pm

I don't mind sitcoms that are "filmed before a live audience", but I hate the laugh track with a vengence. I remeber a Simpsons episode that did use a laugh track, but only for satirical purposes.

Anyone remember the sitcom Webster? *shudders* The first sitcom to feature an "Awwwww" track.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-02-19 02:47pm

i hate that shit. way back when they had a live studio audience and they laughed when things were actually funny. now with every lame one-liner you get pro-logic dolby laughter....

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2003-02-19 02:47pm

Damn skippy. South Park has no laugh track, and I always crack up at the funny parts, because THEY'RE ACTUALLY FUNNY.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-02-19 02:48pm

And you know what, why the hell do the characters never seem to find the one liners funny? In the sitcom world, there is no such thing as joke. Saying stupid one liners is just the way that they talk! I HATE IT!

FUCK SITCOMS!

irishmick79 · Post by **irishmick79** » 2003-02-19 03:10pm

Here's the real problem....

SITCOMS AREN'T FUNNY. They're boring retreads of stuff the TV industry thought up ages ago, for the most part. No point to them whatsoever.

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2003-02-19 03:13pm

the best example of a crap laugh track is the 'that 80's show'....

Crap jokes...
Crap characters
Crap Laugh track...shoot them all & let bob sort them out...

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2003-02-19 03:15pm

irishmick79 wrote:Here's the real problem....

SITCOMS AREN'T FUNNY. They're boring retreads of stuff the TV industry thought up ages ago, for the most part. No point to them whatsoever.

If they were like the Simpsons, they wouldn't NEED a laugh track, because the Simpsons is actually funny. Nearly all sitcoms today suck, and I only like one-Seinfeld.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-02-19 03:27pm

I'm annoyed by the laughtracks too. I'm sure some of the jokes are so devoid of humor, they need to convince the laughtrack to laugh!

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2003-02-19 04:17pm

Its an insult to your intelegence if you have to be TOLD when to laugh

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-02-19 04:43pm

It's a thing that a few UK sitcoms have taken up and soon got rid of, the Americanisation of our sitcoms is insulting to say the least.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-02-19 05:44pm

The laugh track is a psychological trick. People are more likely to laugh at a joke if they hear others laughing.

A few American sitcoms don't use laugh tracks. The Simpsons and King of the Hill don't (I've never heard of an animated sitcom that did, come to think of it). Malcom in the Middle makes it a point not to have a laugh track, and IIRC, Andy Richter doesn't have one either. Married with Children may or may not have had one--they had a very vocal studio audience and probably didn't need one in the later seasons (I think Ed O'Neil got 60 full seconds of cheering when he entered one episode), but there was canned laughter in the early episodes and they may have kept the laugh track. Same goes for All in the Family (the pinnacle of the American sitcom, in my opinion, at least in the earlier seasons). I don't think older shows did it--correct me if I'm wrong, but I never remember hearing canned laughter in I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, or the Dick Van Dyke Show, just really raucus studio audiences (God bless TV Land).

I can tolerate a laugh track. Seinfeld had one, and it's still a great show, even in reruns. Show me an "awwww" track or, worse, an "Ooooooooooohhhhhhh!" track, and I'll show you a shitty television show.

Ren · Post by **Ren** » 2003-02-19 06:36pm

The laugh tracks only ruin the show for me if the jokes they accompany are flat, of course that's most of them.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-02-19 06:44pm

RedImperator wrote:The laugh track is a psychological trick. People are more likely to laugh at a joke if they hear others laughing.

A few American sitcoms don't use laugh tracks. The Simpsons and King of the Hill don't (I've never heard of an animated sitcom that did, come to think of it). Malcom in the Middle makes it a point not to have a laugh track, and IIRC, Andy Richter doesn't have one either. Married with Children may or may not have had one--they had a very vocal studio audience and probably didn't need one in the later seasons (I think Ed O'Neil got 60 full seconds of cheering when he entered one episode), but there was canned laughter in the early episodes and they may have kept the laugh track. Same goes for All in the Family (the pinnacle of the American sitcom, in my opinion, at least in the earlier seasons). I don't think older shows did it--correct me if I'm wrong, but I never remember hearing canned laughter in I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, or the Dick Van Dyke Show, just really raucus studio audiences (God bless TV Land).

I can tolerate a laugh track. Seinfeld had one, and it's still a great show, even in reruns. Show me an "awwww" track or, worse, an "Ooooooooooohhhhhhh!" track, and I'll show you a shitty television show.

I think that sometimes Married with children had a laugh track, I could swear I heard the same guy go "Yeah Al!" every ep.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2003-02-19 09:08pm

Its great that you can turn off the "chuckle-track" on the M*A*S*H DVDs. Makes the show much better since a lot of times the chuckles drown out the actors.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2003-02-19 09:16pm

I can think of another fun show that lacked a laugh track(At least during the First Season)
Titus-Descrbing the avarage dysfunitical American Family since 99

Only somone who watched the show got half the lines like
"Dune Buggys... Weee!"-Titus

But some shown through
"No no.. my mom was not crazy, she was just protecting me from the invisible aliens that only she could see and hear...."

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2003-02-19 10:14pm

All In The Family shot before a live audience for eight seasons, then after the departure of Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers was "played before a studio audience for live responses". As was the semi-sequel Archie Bunker's Place.

M*A*S*H began to experiment with not having a laugh track in its third season, doing one serious episode set during a deluge of wounded, then not having a laugh track for a Col. Flagg episode in season four. As the series experimented further, various serious episodes were attempted as well as comedy episodes which didn't have canned laughter. By the beginning of season nine, the laugh track had vanished from the 4077th altogether.

The Honeymooners had a live audience in all of its incarnations.

British sitcoms shot with live audiences through about 1985. But more of them have now adopted the American practise of canned laughter.

Damaramu · Post by **Damaramu** » 2003-02-19 10:30pm

Laugh tracks suck ass.

But what's worse could be heard in older episodes of The Drew Carey Show.

In practically EVERY EPISODE there was a fucktard in the crowd that would yell "HEY!" instead of laughing. EVERY episode, you could hear him say it at least 2 or 3 times. Drove me nuts, and I actually like the Drew Carey Show quite a bit.

I swear, that guy must have been one of those "professional laughers" planted to rile up the crowd. Would have enjoyed smashing a bottle across his damn mouth.

Isil`Zha · Post by **Isil`Zha** » 2003-02-19 10:30pm

Actually, for some reason The Flintstones had a laugh track....

And yes, I hate laugh tracks, so damn stupid.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-02-19 11:19pm

I don't know of one person who likes the laugh tracks. Do the studios think that people enjoy them? Are they that stupid? Have they not caught on yet?

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2003-02-19 11:25pm

Superman wrote:I don't know of one person who likes the laugh tracks. Do the studios think that people enjoy them? Are they that stupid? Have they not caught on yet?

They still keep Friends on the air, don't they?

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-02-19 11:41pm

Good point. Utter crap.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-02-20 12:55am

Superman wrote:I don't know of one person who likes the laugh tracks. Do the studios think that people enjoy them? Are they that stupid? Have they not caught on yet?

Like I said, it's a psychological trick. It's not supposed to register consciously--the only time it does is when you're watching a terrible show and it dawns on you that you can hear laughter, and if the show sucks, its got worse problems than a laugh track. On good shows, the laugh track isn't noticeable--I watched a Seinfeld rerun tonight and I had to will myself to listen for the canned laughter. The idea of a laugh track is to make you laugh more during a show, making you think you enjoyed it more.

A story from an international relations professor of mine, during a lecture on propaganda and psychological warfare:

"I hated 'Three's Company'. The women were idiots and the man obviously had some kind of neurological problem. For some masocistic reason, I watched an episode once. About halfway through, I found myself chuckling, even though I knew the jokes weren't funny. I couldn't figure it out until I realized every time they played the canned laughter, I started laughing too."

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-02-20 01:39am

I think Seinfeld had an audience, I've seen shots of Jerry talking to them.