You know, the laughter tracks on many sitcoms? The fake laughing? Shouldn't it be banned? And have any TV shows' ratings gone down because of canned laughter? If so, could you please give me like a source, like a website that tells about the ratings going down? Thanks....
2007-01-31 05:06:10 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television
Laugh tracks have been used for many years, ever since they stopped filiming before a live studio audience. They did it, so that it would still appear that they were. I think it would be hard to find evidence that the rating went down, since most shows that started with laugh tracks stayed with laught tracks. No show actually switched. Most sitcoms these days are actually veering away from it. Office, Scrubs, etc. At least the good ones are. They are finding these to be more succesful. I suppose I could try to find you stats on that, but I should get back to work. Good luck on that. I'll be watching your question.
2007-01-31 05:16:33 · answer #1 · answered by Lisa H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with you that it's annoying. Most shows are filmed before a live audience so the laughter is real. Like any taped or filmed show there's bound to be several takes of any given scene. The audience is not likely to laugh the same for the fifth take as they did for the first one so some editing more than likely goes on while the show is put together in the editing booth. The way that all started was for pacing. It was assumed that the audience at home would miss the next line because they were laughing so they started using "canned" laughter when there was no live audience. Notice the old sitcom M*A*S*H*. There was no live audience and that canned laughter was used for the first couple of seasons. They stopped using it when the show got all serious and anti-war preachy. .
2016-05-23 23:06:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I did a experiment and paper about this in high school, which has been several years, but I still think relevant. You'd be surprised, but the laugh track actually helps elicit laughter from viewers. In my experiment, we had people watch an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond with the laugh track and without. There was obviously less laughter from those who watched without a laugh track than those who watch with a laugh track. The laugh track acts as a kind of "permission" for viewers to think something is funny.
I'm not aware of any site concerning ratings and laugh tracks, sorry!
2007-01-31 05:10:21 · answer #3 · answered by Chel 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the laugh track is inserted so that writers "funny" lines aren't missed, but do we really need to be told when to laugh?!? I always wondered why the producers of M*A*S*H would insert the laugh track on certian episodes, but not on others. I assume there was a method to their madness. Personally, I think the laugh track is so hokey.
2007-01-31 05:18:18 · answer #4 · answered by scouseryank33 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. I saw one episode of 8 Simple Rules after the dad had died and there was no laugh track. It was really uncomfortable to watch. Really awkward. Not that the show is really funny anyway.
2007-01-31 05:16:23 · answer #5 · answered by Lewis 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With the sorry writing for many sitcoms I wouldn't know where the jokes were, yeah there that bad.
2007-01-31 05:22:09 · answer #6 · answered by Billy Dee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. They can use the fake stuff til they either get real good or get real canceled.
2007-01-31 05:38:27 · answer #7 · answered by Brittany 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey, let 'em do whatever they want. You'll still laugh only if you feel like it.
2007-01-31 05:14:14 · answer #8 · answered by gaban24 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋