Back in the old days (like way back in the 90s) pretty much every comedy on TV had a laugh track. You know what those are: the recorded laughter (or other reactions) added to the show. There are stories about how many of the laugh tracks used date back to the 50s and 60s, containing many laughs of people who are no longer with us. Which when you think about it is pretty creepy.
Probably one of the first comedies I watched without a laugh track was "The Simpsons." Since it was animated, they didn't feel any need to add a fake audience reaction. (Though didn't they do that on "The Flintstones"?) And I really didn't miss it. Though it wasn't all that noticeable except when for instance I watched a rerun on the local CW station and then they would air a rerun of something like "Everybody Loves Raymond" and I'd leave the TV on that channel. There were a couple of times when I'd watch and think, "What the fuck are you laughing at? That wasn't funny!"
But the point of the laugh track is to tell feeble-minded people when something is funny. I mean if you didn't do that, how are people supposed to know when to laugh? Plus even if you think a joke isn't funny, hearing someone else laugh (even if it's someone who's been dead for 30 years) might convince you that it is funny. I mean if someone else is laughing and you aren't then you must not have understood the joke.
In the last couple of decades more and more shows have eliminated the laugh track. I'm going to theorize a lot of this was because of shows on cable networks, which didn't have laugh tracks. Then network TV got in on the act. Not just animated shows but live action ones like "Scrubs," "The Office," "My Name is Earl," "Community," and "Better Off Ted." (Sorry those about the only live action series I've watched in 12 years on network TV (though usually on Netflix). Feel free to add your own examples.) And just like in those early days when I watched "The Simpsons," it's not really noticeable.
Actually I think it's a lot better. Because if a show really is funny then it doesn't need canned laughter to convince me it's funny. It should be able to stand on its own.
What kind of bums me out is when I'm watching a football game on CBS and they proclaim it as "America's Most Watched Network." I'm pretty sure most of their lame comedies are still the traditional laugh track kind. Because the people who watch CBS are mostly old people or dumb people. That it's the Most Watched Network says something depressing about America. It's like buying one of those cheap, crappy Torino's frozen pizzas and seeing the label on there saying it's "America's Favorite Frozen Pizza." Or like how McDonald's cheeseburgers are the most eaten despite how much they suck.
Anyway, what would be great is if they could rerelease old shows like "Seinfeld," "Friends," or "Married With Children" without the laugh tracks. Would they still be as funny? I like to think so. And here, I'll post this YouTube clip for Offutt. It's one of his 35 "favorite" TV shows without the laugh track. Is it still funny?
Love Big Bang Theory - I married one of those guys. :) I think the theory behind the laugh track is that laughter is contagious. All we have to do is say "poop" to make my preschooler laugh, which makes the rest of us laugh, followed by 30 minutes of alternate "poop" and laughter. We don't need tv.
ReplyDeleteI watched that clip and what I saw was a man trying to finally express his sexuality, only to have a female cruelly make fun of it. What drama! Does the green shirted guy go on to commit suicide? Or does he defy convention and explain to his parents that he's actually gay and take that other guy out on a date? I would totally watch this show because it is serious and takes on important social issues.
ReplyDeleteI mean, it wasn't meant to be funny, was it?
Your post gave me a great idea, though: "Ghost Laughter."
That's all I've got so far. I'd say you can use it, but you're a big-time real-publisher author with a book deal, so you don't need the help. Enjoy hobnobbing with J.K. Rowling and George R.R. Martin, and if you actually get to do that, ask Martin why he dresses like a sailor poet.
OH, and PS:
ReplyDeleteI love McDonald's Cheeseburgers. They're in a class all their own. You have to accept them for what they are, though: They're not a six-dollar burger or trying to be gourmet. They're just the humble McDonald's Cheeseburger, with a (great) taste and texture that absolutely cannot be duplicated. I may write an Ode to them. In fact, I will.
*gauntlet thrown down, storms off*
*comes back sheepishly to pick up gauntlet.*
(It's my only gauntlet and I may need it.)
I've never liked laugh tracks but I suppose they serve a purpose. I have a theory that more people than you think are afraid to laugh. These people like jokes because a joke is a formula and you know when you're supposed to laugh whether you get "it" or not. My dad had to be told in advance that something was supposed to be funny or he didn't know what to do. I suppose laugh tracks are like this.
ReplyDeleteNot that I don't agree with you about shows not needing the laugh track, but the laugh track actually has to do with most of those shows being filmed in front of a live audience. The laugh track was to mimic the audience (because the stage mics couldn't actually pick up the audience laughter) reaction and make people at home feel like they were there, too.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it became tradition to have a laugh track long after it wasn't needed anymore.
Big Bang Theory doesn't need a laugh track to be funny.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite network shows that has no laugh track is Modern Family. If you haven't watched it, I suggest that you catch up on Hulu. New episodes air periodically on Wednesday nights.
Arrested Development went laugh trackless from its inception. When was that? 2002 maybe? I certainly noticed them more as I got older. When I was a kid I wondered if they gave the audience drugs before the show to make them laugh so much - there was always this one guy that just would flip out and his voice would carry over everyone else's.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that the Simpsons quit doing live shows because it was a terrible strain on the animators wrists. So no laugh tracks were necessary.
The Big Bang Theory is something I've tried numerous times to watch, but I find it horridly unoriginal aside from the science related gags. Those gags can't change the formulaic plots and community theater presentation each episode delivers.
You know, I'm not sure I even had a point. So I'll just stop talking.
I believe M.A.S.H. was the first to try to stop the laugh track. If you have ever watched this great show, it started off as sheer absurdist comedy with a laugh track and slowly as it developed into "dramedy" they started using less of the laugh track. From what I can recall(Yes I remember whe it was actually on!), Alan Alda tried to stop having the laugh track as he also believed people were smart enough to know when to laugh but he met with major resistance from the extecutroids. The later episodes had a much diminished laugh track but, except for a few episodes (where there is actual comedy), the executroids won. Now for "The Big Bang Theory...I have tried several times to watch that show but since I hung out with this type of group in my university days, it is too painfully realistic and I don't find it funny. Hmmm I believe humour can be quite personal. What one person finds hilarious another finds dull...oh well
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