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General discussion (archive)Does anybody actually like laugh tracks?(88 posts)(88 posts)
(88 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 08, 2014
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Rohan15: They have them in some European shows, the prime example for me being The IT Crowd. It oddly works for that show.
Not watching that either...in fact all those sitcoms and shows have a big sign *Avoid it* for me and seeing that i am one of
those that don't watch commercial tv i follow that sign.
If you are asking what i call commercial tv...we in Germany have our public channels, 19 or 20. Everybody who owns a tv or radio must pay a monthly fee for them regardless if he watches them or not. Advertising on them is strictly restricted and
a no no after 8pm so watching movies without advertising interruption is possible. And than of course there are the
others were you have advertising every few minutes. And i consider my time too precious for watching commercials.
Well, its me :p. Raised in a time were the idea of free will was high (to each his own).
Posted March 08, 2014
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Schnuff: Socialist Marxist Propaganda
Yes, yes, I see good sir. To each their own. :D
Posted March 08, 2014
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Shaolin_sKunk: It's 2014, haven't we moved far beyond telling the audience what jokes are funny? Granted, I haven't watched any show with a laugh track since That 70s Show but it's a bit baffling to me that some shows still use it.

Now that I think about how unfunny those shows are I'm beginning to think it's to drown out the crickets you'd hear otherwise.
I very much dislike laugh tracks.
I vastly prefer watching my M*A*S*H DVDs without them, for example.

It's time for laugh tracks to go away.
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Schnuff: If you are asking what i call commercial tv...we in Germany have our public channels, 19 or 20. Everybody who owns a tv or radio must pay a monthly fee for them regardless if he watches them or not.
You have to pay this "fee" whether you own a TV / radio or not.
Since I own neither a TV nor a radio you can imagine how joyous I am about this.
Post edited March 08, 2014 by user deleted
Posted March 08, 2014
They always annoyed me - especially on cartoons!

Still, there are some shows that are so bad, and the jokes are not funny, that they could use a laugh track.
Posted March 08, 2014
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Potzato: This is psychological (Edit : psychosomatic to be precise). Past the fact that the "laughs" tells you when a joke is made, it is used for the contagious effect of laughter (if someone laugh next to you and there are laughs in the show you are watching, you are more likely to be in the mood to smile/laugh).

This is no remedy for bad humor though .... and this is not the reason why I completely stopped watching Big Bang Theory either.
Yeah, I was going to make that point. Most of the time when people are getting annoyed at things like this it's because they aren't actually paying attention to what's happening on screen.

If you're paying attention to things like this, then you're probably not really into the show anyways.

Also, Big Bang Theory has a studio audience? I never noticed that.
Posted March 08, 2014
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hedwards: Also, Big Bang Theory has a studio audience? I never noticed that.
They did like a jokey flash mobby Carly Rae Gypsum thing once, but I had totally forgotten they had a studio audience.
Posted March 08, 2014
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goglier: You have to pay this "fee" whether you own a TV / radio or not.
Since I own neither a TV nor a radio you can imagine how joyous I am about this.
Right sorry, its now per dwelling regardless how many persons.....fun for those with more than one house/apartment :p
Posted March 08, 2014
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jjsimp: Man, isn't that the truth. How is that show still on the air? Perhaps the dark haired girls rack. All they do is lame sexual innuendo, gay jokes, and height jokes.
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Randalator: Yup, Kat Dennings' ginormous tits. Nothing else...
I tried to watch that show for Titzilla, but it is just horrible. Not even a great rack can keep me watching that train wreck. She's always got a second career lined up in the porn industry.
Post edited March 08, 2014 by jjsimp
Posted March 08, 2014
I don't mind laugh tracks, but generally comedies like It's Always Sunny or Curb Your Enthusiasm just work so well without them. I enjoy the live audience laughter from shows like Seinfeld, though. :)
Posted March 08, 2014
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AFnord: Most people will claim that they don't like laugh tracks, yet they work. People laugh more and find the show more funny (and yes, that probably means that they work on you as well). You need to enjoy the jokes to begin with, but you'll enjoy them more with the laugh tracks on.
And people who claim that laugh tracks don't work on them are fooling themselves as much as people who claim that advertisement don't work on them (which would be most people).
This.

Although let's face it, on people who insist on laugh tracks being stupid and everything that features them also being automatically stupid, laugh tracks can have an (almost) exclusively negative effect - it's probably just stubbornness but hearing laugh tracks may keep people from laughing when they normally would and consider writing - that they would normally consider great - just awful.

Anyway, I enjoy them and know that many shows would be far less enjoyable if they didn't have those. Not that a laugh track would make me laugh at a show that I couldn't ever enjoy otherwise (and I do find laugh tracks irritating in shows that are utter crap and where the sole idea of anybody laughing at the things happening on screen appears absurd) but I know that it does remove certain barriers and makes it easier for me to laugh and that's a good thing in my book.

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tinyE: If it's below me it's beyond bad. :O
This may be the most brilliant thing you have said in your whole life.
Post edited March 08, 2014 by F4LL0UT
Posted March 08, 2014
When I first got MASH on DVD I assumed I would watch it with the laugh-track off, but I surprisingly found I preferred it with it on. Not to tell me when to laugh, but more to make the whole thing seem more fun and lighthearted.
Posted March 08, 2014
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StingingVelvet: Not to tell me when to laugh, but more to make the whole thing seem more fun and lighthearted.
Yeah, it's a huge misconception that laugh tracks are simply meant as a primitive trigger for inducing laughter. Laugh tracks have an amazing psychological effect and their invention is among the biggest achievements in audio design IMO. Not that I'm saying everything should have laugh tracks but they undeniably do a whole darn lot for many shows including ones that would already be great without them.
Posted March 08, 2014
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StingingVelvet: When I first got MASH on DVD I assumed I would watch it with the laugh-track off, but I surprisingly found I preferred it with it on. Not to tell me when to laugh, but more to make the whole thing seem more fun and lighthearted.
That's something considering the show wasn't very funny.

The movie on the other hand is one of the greatest comedies ever.
Posted March 08, 2014
I'm starting to see why According to Jim lasted as long as it did...
Posted March 08, 2014
Anyone here remember the show "Sledge Hammer"? Laugh tracks totally ruined it and I don't mean a little. It went from classic to unwatchable all because of a laugh track. The humor in it Zucker-esk 'Airplane' type stuff and you JUST CAN'T have a laugh track over that.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Does anybody actually like laugh tracks?(88 posts)(88 posts)
(88 posts)