Laughtracks

[theundeadhero]

Does it bother anybody else when shows on tv have laughtracks? I think it's stupid. When they are there, it's entirely overused going off every few seconds. It's even worse in cartoons. Do people out there really need laughtracks to tell them when it's okay to laugh? Will people think something is less funny if only two people instead of "50" laugh at it when funny is a personal view anyway?

What do you think?

[DMKA]

I think they're hot.

[Dreddz]

Flinstones did it with class

[Cz]

Laughter is contagious, so if an audience at home hear a studio audience laughing then there's more of a chance they'll laugh themselves. Of course, a good show will make the viewers laugh anyway, so generally it's only bad shows that need laugh tracks.

[Meat Puppet]

They used to make me mad, but they're on so much of the time now that if they're not (there) it will kind of feel like having no chest or ass, I suppose.

[Buster Sword Strike]

Laughter is contagious, so if an audience at home hear a studio audience laughing then there's more of a chance they'll laugh themselves. Of course, a good show will make the viewers laugh anyway, so generally it's only bad shows that need laugh tracks.

What about that 70's Show?

[Cz]

It's not a rule, so it doesn't apply in every case, and of course there are going to be exceptions. It's just something that I've noticed seems to be true most of the time.

[GooeyToast]

Married With Children wouldnt have been the same without it

[TheAbominatrix]

M*A*S*H had the most overused laughtrack in the history of television, it drove me insane. I'm so glad you can remove it on the DVDs.

[Rye]

Planet's Funniest Animals has the worse laughtrack ever, but that's the whole charm to the show. Ridiculous jokes and bad laughtracks.

[Leeza]

I would rather not have them.

[Lindy]

Pretty much every American comedy I see seems to have them, but a lot of good UK shows either don't have them, or the laughter comes from a live audience.

I'm sure that SOME American shows have the laughter from a live audience, but it always seems...bolstered somehow.

EDIT : Except for Arrested Development, that'd be ruined with a laughter track.

[Del Murder]

I think if it is a fixed camera show it has a laugh track. It doesn't bother me either way. Some would sound strange without a laugh track (Married With Children) and some would sound strange with one (Arrested Development). Then there are some, like Cheers, which I could see with or without it. Just depends on the type of scenes and situations in the show.

[omnitarian]

I tend to find laugh tracks anachronistic. The sound of a laugh track simply reminds me of how much I am not laughing. And in that sense, laugh tracks make bad shows worse, not better.

[MecaKane]

The best sitcoms on now don't have any. Malcom, Arrested Development, Scrubs, I'm sure the American The Office didn't have any, either. And more I can't think of!