Comment on Do you think that sitcoms on TV today are horribly unfunny? Compared to older ones?
imsufferableninja@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Watch an old sitcom without the laugh track. It’s all just cringe.
Of course - a sitcom intended to have a laugh track, and edited that way, is always going to sound totally wrong when that element is taken out.
The presence of a laugh track in the original show doesn’t automatically make it bad though. Many genuinely great comedies have had a laugh track included.
Some have actual studio audiences.
I think you’re ignoring the core point of the above comment, which is that the long pauses in the show for the laughs are a planned part of the show. If you’ve never been to a recording, the audience noises aren’t spontaneous. There are signs telling the audience when to make noise.
Live audiences sound better than canned laughs, but in terms of pacing for a sitcom, it’s the same thing.
They had to tell the audience in Seinfeld to stop cheering for Kramer. And Seinfeld is still gold, baby!!!
So did The Big Bang Theory
The audience laughing wasn’t the problem with that show
Yea, they still added laugh tracks digitally, and also cue cards to laugh, as well as have a certain reaction. Yikes…
Oh yeah, definitely.
The history of the laugh track is pretty interesting
That was interesting, thanks for the link 👍
The presence of a laugh track is irrelevant. The necessity of one for people to find the show funny is a different matter.
Agreed - but with the caveat that examples where there was one, but it was later removed, don’t really count, because the way it’s done screws up the timing.
To judge them fairly you’d have to somehow see what the same show was like if intentionally made without laughter from the start. Some might pass, others wouldn’t.
It is hard to not have a laugh track in front of a live studio audience.
Anonymous_Leaker@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Malcom in the middle doesn’t have a laugh track and it is gold.
Pieisawesome@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
With the laugh track it was still horrible
Anonymous_Leaker@lemmy.world 1 week ago
You are completely nuts if you think Malcolm in the middle was bad.
Pieisawesome@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
I meant big bang theory, as Malcolm in the middle does not have one