Do you like laugh tracks in TV shows?

Question

I don't really to be honest...whenever I hear those laugh tracks which sounds like the laughter from the 70's...I don't need to be reminded of when to laugh...lol!

Answer 1

God no, I hate them. I'm glad that a lot of the newer sitcoms don't use them (Scrubs, Earl, The Office, Arrested Development, Entourage, Flight of the Conchords).
Most of the shows that use them now aren't funny at all, and whenever there's the tiniest joke, there's uproarious laughter. They over do it so much.

I still like reruns of Friends and Seinfeld, but you don't really notice the laugh tracks. Every now and then I notice it and it just ruins the show because I can't stop focusing on how absurd it is.

Answer 2

i used to think the same a long time ago. seemed loud and unnecessary. then it happened that i spent a few years as a tv copywriter in advertising. sound effects are critical in this work. and a laugh track (if handled right) is just another brush you use in completing your work. have you ever used a family camcorder and noticed how you have so much dead time a few months later when you looked at it. has someone treated you to watching their creative best? like show you an hour of their kids or pets moving around with an occasional funny blooper. a little of that goes a long way, eh? in advertising or movies, a couple of seconds of dull will lose your audience. it really is not real life. it is show business my friends. be dull an get fired. no paycheck for the mortgage. so laugh tracks are usually essential to help hold interest. gotta have some music, casting is crucial. so many details to attend. or is blows. that is sends dad to the fridge for a beer. same for sitcoms. you want no laugh tracks, watch animal planet and materpiece theater. it is harder than you might think to use everything you have to make comedic entertainment. it is very, very difficult. we try sometimes it works. sometimes it sucks. you might prefer documentaries because they rarely have laught tracks or and kind of fun and comic appeal. yet, your question indicates you must watch things like sitcoms and ads. maybe you all should give it up. use he remote. stick to the news. they keep the content pretty grim lately. today bad news aplenty!

debi, shakespeare used choruses in the background to provide "laugh tracks" and he was only using what the greeks did. before that, who knows? (remember what you like and don't like such as food is mostly an acquired taste. ever been to the opera?)

Answer 3

No, i don't. Canned laughter is annoying. And i feel is always on an off-line, though it's supposed to be inserted during the 'punchline' or during certain scenes of physical comedy and other 'appropriately' humourous parts as the script calls for.

It's supposed to be there to support the comedic routine and cue or prompt laughter from the veiwing audience (i'm guessing under the assumption that we don't know if its actually funny or not so we need to be told when to laugh, like we're the ones following a script!!)

As per viewing, there are tons of shows that are funny, regardless of whether they use the canned laughter or a live studio auidence, but there are also those that are so bad and unfunny the only laughs they get are from the canned laughter! LOL.

To view, it doesnt matter. I usually block it out anyways as if it's not even part of the show. IF the show, or that particular bit is funny i'm going to laugh, and if i dont find it humourous, i'm not going to laugh regardless of the presence of canned laughter.

And, i know if it were my show, I'd prefer it to be taped in front of a live studio auidence, that way, i'd know if the comedic preformance on the part of myself and the other members of the cast was actually funny and laugh-worthy, instead of having a 10-20 year old track of laughter inserted randomly into my show.

(*thinks* .... i think i covered both aspects of your question?! that's what you were asking, right?)

Answer 4

So true. I think the canned laughter is partly the reason why I don't watch any sitcoms at the moment. Well, that and I find most of the writing pretty cheesy. They just can't compete with other types of shows like The Sopranos, Prison Break, 24 and the like. I mostly watch drama and suspense shows cause there's so much character and scene development. As for comedy, I think The Office has the idea. It's is a copy of the British show, but it's unusual for American television. No laugh tracks. Love it!

Thanks for asking such an interesting question :)

Answer 5

No, I hate them, it's like someone holding a card " laugh now - that bit was funny"
Sorry but I can judge for myself if it's funny or not.
Half the time the laughter drowns out the punchline anyway.

Answer 6

Yes, I am a red blooded American who loves to be told when to do things and how to do them!

I want to be certain that I am laughing properly, I wish they would add a cry track, aww track and a eww track so I would not have to think at all.


In all seriousness I never even notice them unless they are bad (laugh at not funny stuff).

Answer 7

No,I hate them,but I always wanted a voice-activated laugh track tape machine for my home and office. No matter what anybody said it would immediately be followed by a burst of laughter followed by a short ripple of applause. Fiendish!

Answer 8

Early television like early radio replaced into performed stay until eventually now a studio objective audience. The actors who have been in many circumstances used to engaged on point mandatory the laughter to %. their performances. they could pause until eventually now reacting to a line as to no longer communicate over the laughter and that way the objective audience does not pass over the subsequent line. an identical ingredient befell with television and the television objective audience have been given used to that outfitted in time for reacting to a humorous line. whilst television began to be filmed or recorded with no stay objective audience the chortle tracks have been put in to repair the feel of a stay objective audience. It additionally gave the television objective audience chortle time. That pracice persisted until eventually the tastes of present day objective audience replaced and commenced to stumble on them stressful. .

Answer 9

I don't really pay attention to them anymore, but to me it reminds me of late night tv that's supposed to be funny, but to me is just kinda stupid. On live tv I don't care though.

Answer 10

Only on Scooby Doo.