CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
#1
Moderator
Thread Starter
CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
maybe I'm just use to the fact that of the comedy shows I watch on network stations, Fox, NBC and ABC don't use laugh tracks - really? do I need an audience laughing to tell me when a joke is funny - come on... it's just lame and extremely out of date.
what do you think?
what do you think?
#2
DVD Talk Hero
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
agreed. HIMYM would play better imo without the track.
#3
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Southside Virginia
Posts: 6,457
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
I actually think it's nice to have some throwback multi-camera studio audience/laugh track shows, but I am happy the majority of comedy is now single camera no laugh track.
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 440
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
Wow, you know it hadn't occurred to me that the majority of TV comedies had transitioned. I remember way back in the day how cool and bold I thought it was that The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd didn't have a laugh track. Was that the first sitcom to try that?
#6
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Southside Virginia
Posts: 6,457
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
Lorre's vanity card from last season makes his position on the issue clear -- there is an audience, and they provide the laughter. I suppose that is a laugh track (perhaps the most noticeable of any show I watch), but it apparently would not be one of the variety "sweetened" with canned laughter.
#7
Moderator
Thread Starter
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
^ I just always picture an audience like the one on Home Improvement's Tool Time show with someone in the corner with a large board stating: 'now laugh' 'say ahhhhhh' and raising it up and down
#9
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Southside Virginia
Posts: 6,457
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
I don't think the sign (I think they do it with a light up sign, not a card) would get all of the precise timing of laughing on that show because the laughter is actually a part of the experience in that show. I think that's why people were charging them with sweetening, prompting that card. I think BBT is without a doubt the best use of a studio audience in ages. That probably has something to do with my fondness for having a couple of shows shot that way.
#10
DVD Talk Hero
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
Remember that laughter is infectious, and you probably would laugh harder with a group than just sitting on your couch. I laugh out loud enough watching Big Bang Theory that I'm not surprised it's a real audience. And getting a whole group to "fake laugh" isn't going to work that well, so I'm sure it's mostly genuine.
I produce a daytime talk show that has a live audience in once a week, and they HOWL at stuff I think is super-lame. So I've seen it firsthand. Some people just think it's fun to be a in a TV studio.
However HIMYM doesn't need it at all.
I produce a daytime talk show that has a live audience in once a week, and they HOWL at stuff I think is super-lame. So I've seen it firsthand. Some people just think it's fun to be a in a TV studio.
However HIMYM doesn't need it at all.
#11
DVD Talk Hero
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
Remember that laughter is infectious, and you probably would laugh harder with a group than just sitting on your couch. I laugh out loud enough watching Big Bang Theory that I'm not surprised it's a real audience. And getting a whole group to "fake laugh" isn't going to work that well, so I'm sure it's mostly genuine.
I produce a daytime talk show that has a live audience in once a week, and they HOWL at stuff I think is super-lame. So I've seen it firsthand. Some people just think it's fun to be a in a TV studio.
However HIMYM doesn't need it at all.
I produce a daytime talk show that has a live audience in once a week, and they HOWL at stuff I think is super-lame. So I've seen it firsthand. Some people just think it's fun to be a in a TV studio.
However HIMYM doesn't need it at all.
#12
DVD Talk Limited Edition
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
I am sure CBS couldn't care less as they have the top 3 comedies on television in total audience and their Monday night comedy lineup is dominant. There were 7 traditional 1/2 hour comedies in the Top 25 last week in the 18-49 demos. CBS had 4 of the top 7. CBS just moved BBT to Thursday and they just took NBC to school on Thursday at 8pm
Big Bang Theory 12.49 million viewers and a 4.0 rating/13 share
Community at just 4.29 million viewers and a 1.7/ 6 among adults 18-49
Laugh-track, single camera, animation, who cares. If the show is funny, people will watch it.
Big Bang Theory 12.49 million viewers and a 4.0 rating/13 share
Community at just 4.29 million viewers and a 1.7/ 6 among adults 18-49
Laugh-track, single camera, animation, who cares. If the show is funny, people will watch it.
#13
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Southside Virginia
Posts: 6,457
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
There are shows ruined or nearly ruined by the laugh track. I understand why people dislike it in a lot of ways. Didn't one of the seasons of Sports Night feature a terrible laugh track of obviously canned laughter?
#14
Moderator
Thread Starter
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
I am sure CBS couldn't care less as they have the top 3 comedies on television in total audience and their Monday night comedy lineup is dominant. There were 7 traditional 1/2 hour comedies in the Top 25 last week in the 18-49 demos. CBS had 4 of the top 7. CBS just moved BBT to Thursday and they just took NBC to school on Thursday at 8pm
Big Bang Theory 12.49 million viewers and a 4.0 rating/13 share
Community at just 4.29 million viewers and a 1.7/ 6 among adults 18-49
Laugh-track, single camera, animation, who cares. If the show is funny, people will watch it.
Big Bang Theory 12.49 million viewers and a 4.0 rating/13 share
Community at just 4.29 million viewers and a 1.7/ 6 among adults 18-49
Laugh-track, single camera, animation, who cares. If the show is funny, people will watch it.
#15
DVD Talk Limited Edition
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
okay, funny is subjective but the ratings are the ratings and CBS comedies are some of the most popular on television. You may not be watching but it seems like a lot of people are. Not every show is for everyone. That is one reason someone invented the remote.
#16
DVD Talk Legend
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
I don't associate CBS with comedies. I was just having a discussion about this with a friend tonight. Great network for drama and procedural but they lack in the comedy department. Raymond and King of Queens the exception here, but in recent memory CBS doesn't know how to produce a decent sitcom.
#18
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Seattle
Posts: 2,712
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
No, bitching about laugh tracks is passé. Also passé: saying a show has "jumped the shark" or calling all "procedurals" boring/awful/dumb.
Rejecting a laugh track show without even watching it only because it has one is just ridiculous.
Rejecting a laugh track show without even watching it only because it has one is just ridiculous.
#19
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
I doesn't matter to me. It depends on the tone of the show.
If the shows shot like Scrubs or Arrested Development, then I don't expect a laugh track, but if it's done in the typical sitcom format, then I don't mind it, and actually helps the show IMO.
If the shows shot like Scrubs or Arrested Development, then I don't expect a laugh track, but if it's done in the typical sitcom format, then I don't mind it, and actually helps the show IMO.
#20
DVD Talk God
re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
Easy solution to this problem. Just don't watch single camera studio sitcoms anymore if this drives you nuts.
#22
DVD Talk Special Edition
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,361
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
CBS dominate the ratings because they run way better promos then the other networks.
Content wise besides BBT and HIMYM I don't think I have watched any other scripted show on the network in years.
Content wise besides BBT and HIMYM I don't think I have watched any other scripted show on the network in years.
#23
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
As much as laugh tracks suck, the reason why they are still used is because they work. I remember watching a whole doc about it in one of my production classes.
#24
DVD Talk Legend
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Sesame Street (the apt. next to Bob's)
Posts: 20,195
Likes: 0
Received 6 Likes
on
6 Posts
Re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
Studio audience laughter works for many sitcoms, but wouldn't work on many others. There is no black & white.
Except for canned laughter, that's terrible. I'm amazed that it was the norm for so long.
Except for canned laughter, that's terrible. I'm amazed that it was the norm for so long.
#25
Mod Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Outside of the U.S.A.
Posts: 10,674
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Re: CBS comedy shows and laugh tracks - how passé
M*A*S*H was broadcast in the UK without a laughter track. There were complaints on the occasion when an episode went out with the US laughter track intact.