Mark Jeffries wrote:

You known damn well that most multi-camera sitcoms were shot with live audiences. Even if their response is manipulated, it was still live audiences.

Do you also want David Letterman and Jon Stewart to not work with an audience, either? That's just as much "laugh track" as a sitcom.

posted at November 18, 2006 02:54 PM

Craig wrote:

I agree 100%! Stop telling me when to laugh! It's one thing to be filmed in front of a live audience - that's not what this letter was about. All In The Family, The Honeymooners and even Seinfeld had a different kind of laughter - one that was tolerable. The issue is with someone's finger on the laugh button. 20 Good Years failed miserably because of the button (plus it wasn't funny). Arrested Developement was hilarious without it.

posted at November 20, 2006 08:22 AM

Jay Dees wrote:

Some time ago,I tuned in to a new show one evening when one of the main characters entered a room and said "hello" to the resounding sound of laughter. I thought..What th.... and never watched the show again. It got cancelled about 6 or 8 weeks later.

posted at November 22, 2006 04:27 PM

Ian Lachut wrote:

Even a live audience can be a laugh track though. I give you Will & Grace for one.

For a "live show" like the Daily Show, where the preformers sometimes work OFF of the audience it helps the show. However, when you have a laugh track over say, Sports Night, that clearly hss no audience, its just sad. Other examples; MASH and The Flintstones (that always confused me as a kid).

posted at November 29, 2006 09:44 AM

Nora wrote:

I totally disagree about the soundtrack. I think sometimes an "On the Nose" song can add to the comedy (see Weeds) and that well selected sometimes helps through what would otherwise be too tense a scene. Imagine having to listen to someone breathe and sweat for 5 minutes as they try to reattach a severed leg (see Grey's Anatomy). I agree about the laugh track for the most part. I think 20 Good Years could have been saved if they had dropped the laugh track. I think the absence of a laughtrack would have toned down John Lithgow's schtick and Jeffry Tambor, while a brilliant comedien, just isn't a "punchline" guy. He's too sophisticated for that.
I will say, just to play devil's advocate, that many smart single camera series have struggled to find an audience (Arrested Development, Freaks and Geeks, Sports Night, even the Office and Scrubs early on) from more mainstream tv viewers that don't want to search for the funny and welcome the laugh track even in shows without funny (see King of Queens) and with Networks getting more and more trigger happy when it comes to putting fledgling shows out of their misery, it makes me nervous that more quality shows will disappear before their time. Arrested Develop R.I.P. Sports Night I will remember yee fondly.

posted at December 5, 2006 12:34 AM

Nora wrote:

just read Ian Lachut's post. He's right, my apologies, Sports Night had a ridiculous laughtrack. It all came screaming back to me. Not only was it clear there was no place for a pretend audience, but Sorkin characters banter too quickly and don't really tell punchline jokes. The track cheaped the value of the brilliant subtlety.

On a side note: if you tuned out Studio 60 early, tune back in, for those of you who felt it was too precious or made the industry seem too important, he's toned that down a lot. Give it another chance.

posted at December 5, 2006 12:42 AM