TV shows that have been ruined by having a laugh track:

[busydude]

All of them.

 

[Red Storm]

Really, it ruined them for you?

Yet Another Exaggerated Rant Thread

 

[Eug]

Not ruined, but after watching several good comedy series with no laugh track, going back to a show with a laugh track makes me cringe sometimes.

So yes, all of them with laugh tracks are diminished by those laugh tracks. Well, except for maybe The Flintstones.

 

[Mixolydian]

How dare you! Some of those laughs are from a live studio audience!

 

[zerocool84]

Seinfeld did just fine with one. Usually they suck but Seinfeld's jokes are actually great

 

[busydude]

Really, it ruined them for you?

Yet Another Exaggerated Rant Thread

A good show is good regardless of a laugh track, but it doesn't enhance the experience in anyway. I love The It crowd and That 70s Show, but having a laugh track is nothing but a major distraction.

It is pointless and doesn't add anything.

 

[Hugo L.]

Seinfeld did just fine with one. Usually they suck but Seinfeld's jokes are actually great

It's because most of Seinfeld was shot in front of a live audience. The laughs are the actual laughs. Basically everything was shot this way except the «exterior» scenes in later seasons, which were shot on a bigger sound stage w/ laugh track.

 

[Printer Bandit]

I stopped watching Big Bang theory after seeing that YouTube clip without a laugh track

 

[Hugo L.]

I stopped watching Big Bang theory after seeing that YouTube clip without a laugh track

I never started watching it after my daughter tried to convince me it was good, and failed. I reminded her that I was around when Seinfeld aired and that, therefore, no other sitcom can even be remotely as funny.

 

[BudAshes]

I think the laugh track is pretty much dead, what you are hearing is studio audience which they "sweeten" post production. Unfortunately sweeten is not a show-biz term for "add sugar to" as Mitch Hedberg said.

 

[Lounatik]

MASH was awful with the canned laughter. The best episodes were the ones that had a more serious tone and no fake laughing in the backgrounnd.


Peace


Lounatik

 

[CPA]

comedy/skit show with live audience > comedy/skit show with no audience

Now, that said, The Office and Parks and Recreations certainly would not work with a live audience, but that's because they are shot as if they are "reality tv" shows.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I think it would be cool to add a laugh track at inappropriate times to a show like American Gothic or Supernatural.

*laughtrackgoingthewholetime*

 

[SamQuint]

I remember watching I Love Lucy as a little kid and there was always the same laugh in every episode. It was some lady and it sound like "Uh oh Huh ha ha ha ha" I think that is when I realized that it was fake laughter they just played in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnLlZzCtBHw

Some guy remembered it too on youtube.

(seems like many on the net are saying Lucy was taped in front of a live audience, however you can hear the same laugh patterns multiple times. I would assume they augmented the real laughs with some canned laugh. Or they played the canned stuff to prompt the audience to laugh at the right times)

 

[Krazy4Real]

Laugh tracks are pretty terrible. I hate them.

 

[Tencntraze]

Before even opening this thread I thought: "All of them". Laugh tracks instantly ruin any chance of me liking a show.

 

[T9D]

There are some shows I liked but the laugh track so ridiculous and bothered me so much I had to stop watching.

 

[bignateyk]

But how else would I know when to laugh?

 

[NutBucket]

I remember watching I Love Lucy as a little kid and there was always the same laugh in every episode. It was some lady and it sound like "Uh oh Huh ha ha ha ha" I think that is when I realized that it was fake laughter they just played in the background.

I can hear that laugh in my mind. That's bad.

 

[BrokenVisage]

I feel bad for people who don't watch a show simply because it has people laughing at some scenes, canned or live (though live is of course more real). Actually, no I don't, enjoy watching your humorless NBC shit-coms with your nose pointing north and a thumb up your anus even though it skews viewership numbers because of jaded losers like you.

 

[Hugo L.]

There is a scene in Seinfeld «The Race» episode where one guy in the entire audience laughs longer than others, and just before the next joke he actually starts to laugh in advance. My god, it's actually funnier than the jokes themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YoliGLJT2Y

0:18 to 0:21 and 3:28 to 3:33

 

[Spungo]

Seinfeld did just fine with one. Usually they suck but Seinfeld's jokes are actually great

It really bothered me when they added obvious fake laughing. Example: Jerry's car has BO. Jerry asks what a smell is and Elaine says she thinks it's BO. Then there's loud laughing from a laugh track. It's not that damn funny!

 

[cheezy321]

There is a scene in Seinfeld «The Race» episode where one guy in the entire audience laughs longer than others, and just before the next joke he actually starts to laugh in advance. My god, it's actually funnier than the jokes themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YoliGLJT2Y

0:18 to 0:21 and 3:28 to 3:33

Seinfeld. The best show of all time.

 

[Ruptga]

+1 for OP.

Shows with canned laugh can still be funny, but it really takes away from the experience. I haven't quite made up my mind about shows shot in front of live audiences. But, I think it can be ok if the audience mic isn't too hot and and each scene is shot from beginning to end with no do-overs. In that case it's exactly like you are watching it live, there's nothing fake about it.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

+1 for OP.

Shows with canned laugh can still be funny, but it really takes away from the experience. I haven't quite made up my mind about shows shot in front of live audiences. But, I think it can be ok if the audience mic isn't too hot and and each scene is shot from beginning to end with no do-overs. In that case it's exactly like you are watching it live, there's nothing fake about it.

The Carol Burnett show comes to mind when you say this. Although they did edit some. And yea, the heinous M*A*S*H laughtrack nearly ruins that epic show. Live audience's are sometimes ok. Canned laughter NEVER.