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 it's just lame and extremely out of date.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?

agreed. HIMYM would play better imo without the track.

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.

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?

does the Big Bang Theory have a laugh track?

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.

^ 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

I refuse to watch anything post-seinfeld that includes a laugh track.

There's no excuse for it these days.

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.

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.

same thing prob goes for late night comedy

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.

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?

but 'funny' is subjective... the laugh track on 'How I Met Your Mother' is downright annoying and distracting, I can't watch it - it just make me cringe.

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.

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.

You spelled comedy wrong in the title.

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.

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.

Easy solution to this problem. Just don't watch single camera studio sitcoms anymore if this drives you nuts.

Fixed

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.

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.

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.

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.