Laugh tracks

[Shiny]

Wiki says it is.

So does this interview with the executive producer of the show: '30 Rock' Shares Details of Its Live Episode - NYTimes.com

They may opt for one camera when they shoot inside of Silvercup Studios since it's easier to control an interior set, but that day when it was outside in NYC streets, there were two. For Ugly Betty they were also shooting the exterior scenes with multiple cameras. It would be insane to try to get everything done in an unpredictable environment such as NYC and with such tight deadlines with just one camera, but I'm sure there are some shows that do that on a daily basis.

[Miriel]

I'm not doubting that there were two cameras the day that you were there. I'm just saying that 30 Rock is defined as a single camera show.

If you think Wikipedia isn't a reliable source (and neither is the executive producer?), NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and good ol' TV Tropes all refer to 30 Rock as a single camera show. And like I said in my previous post, a single camera show doesn't mean that a show always and forever can only use 1 camera. Just that for the most part, it does. It's a category of tv shows, not some sort of strict dictate that says that the show will fall into oblivion if they ever use more than one camera.

I mean, you can just google it. It's not like I'm lying to you. :o

[Shiny]

Wiki is not always reliable no, but that's besides the point. Whether it's defined as a single camera show is really a moot point since it isn't that way all the time, but back to laugh tracks.

They suck.

[Breine]

I don't mind laugh tracks. Some of my favourite shows used them.

Also, like Rye I think there's something cosy (perhaps even nostalgic) about a laugh track on a sitcom. But of course laugh tracks are best if the show is actually filmed in front of a live studio audience, otherwise it's just weird (except for maybe e.g. How I Met Your Mother).

[Heath]

A laugh track for me can actually highlight how bad something is, I find. It I hear the laughing at jokes that are simply terrible, as is the case in a lot of modern sitcoms, then I just find that I notice how unfunny it is. Having said that, I like plenty of programmes with laugh tracks (Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Frasier, etc). I think I might slightly prefer there not to be one, but that might just be because I've been watching a lot of 30 Rock, which doesn't have a laugh track, as of late and it hardly makes or breaks a show for me.

[Meat Puppet]

They pissed me off when I was a little kid, and I can't really watch shows with them anymore. I've never seen the big bang theory or whatever it's called, but the most ridiculous laugh tracks are on those rl disney shows. It makes me feel like man if that were a real ordience... ordience? What the smurf, wait a minute
audience
It makes me feel like man if that were a real audience, they'd have to be on some top quality drugs.