Sitcoms

[Dr. Insomniac]

Eh, don't mind laugh tracks as long as they're used sparingly.

Oh, and my favourite's Absolutely Fabulous.

[Avaitor]

As you all know, mine is HIMYM. But I've really been falling back in love with Lucy lately.

[Foggle]

Eh, don't mind laugh tracks as long as they're used sparingly.

You get used to them, yeah, but I just think a laugh track cheapens the essence of comedy. I don't like being told what's funny and what's not.

[Kiddington]

Going to be honest, my favorite sitcom is The Addams Family. Don't give a damn what anyone says, that show is hilarious. Just wish it didn't have a laugh-track... I hate that crap.

See, I don't think laugh tracks are that bad when they're just there, and they're not so loud that it distracts you from actually watching the show. I mean, I don't go out of my way to vouch for them or anything, but I can live with it if it's not too obnoxious. It's a formula of the traditional sitcom, after all, even if it's not a great one.

For me, it just depends on how they go about using it. Seinfeld had a good laugh track; one that wasn't too loud, too overbearing, just kind there. BBT, on the other hand, has probably the utmost ungodly awful laugh track in television history. There is a difference.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I prefer live audiences, in all honesty. Not to "tell me when to laugh" (Ugh, I hate that argument), but because it feels like you're watching a live play preformed in front of an audience. Laugh tracks are kind of counter-productive to that feeling since they're canned and tend to not fit the show.

To be honest, I like a lot of sitcoms. Cheers, Fraiser, Seinfeld, Married With Children, Night Court, Titus, NewsRadio... And those are just from the 90s.

[Foggle]

BBT, on the other hand, has probably the utmost ungodly awful laugh track in television history.

The audience practically starts convulsing at every awful joke. I rage every time.

I prefer live audiences, in all honesty. Not to "tell me when to laugh" (Ugh, I hate that argument), but because it feels like you're watching a live play preformed in front of an audience.

Laugh tracks tell you when to laugh. Live audiences are cool for exactly the reason you said.

[Commode]

Uh, The Simpsons.  Helloooo.

In seriousness though, I'm not sure what my favorite(non-cartoon) sitcom is.  There's quite a few I enjoy, but I guess the ones I come back to the most are Married, That 70's Show, Roseanne, and Home Improvement.

[Kiddington]

BBT, on the other hand, has probably the utmost ungodly awful laugh track in television history.

The audience practically starts convulsing at every awful joke. I rage every time.

About 80% of those "jokes" would go over any normal persons head anyway. I just... I don't know who in their right minds could possibly find this show funny, when it's impossible to understand half of what they're even talking about with all these scientific references that are as old as dirt (and the other half just being a piss-poor excuse for "comedy" in general). Unless Sheldon being the biggest dick on the planet is funny to people, I just don't get it.

Really, I don't get the appeal to that entire network as a whole. CBS has some of the absolute worst garbage on television (both as far as sitcoms and procedural go), and yet they're constantly tops on network TV from a ratings standpoint. The American viewing public really has the worst taste sometimes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, I miss when they went out of their way to tell you that it was filmed in front of a live studio audience. Even Boy Meets World (a 'kid-com') was filmed in front of a studio audience. I think after the 60s most were done that way, with exceptions, for a long time.

Titus, I remember, took that idea very seriously. Commercials were used as genuine act breaks, and the audience knew when to keep it in check during dramatic moments, and could reel it in for the funny scenes. It's also sometimes fun to hear what other people might find funny when hearing reactions in unexpected parts.

But stuff like Full House, that was obnoxious.

[Avaitor]

I think 2 1/2 Men is shot in front of an audience.

I know that the Disney Channel shows are, and the way they're set up is weird. You can go into a recording for free, but you need to have someone under the age of 18 with your party if you do. So that means that kids can go in without any accompaniment but adults can't go without bringing their children or nieces or whatever. I guess they do that to weed out pedophiles, but it's still pretty weird.

[Foggle]

I think 2 1/2 Men is shot in front of an audience.

[Kiddington]

I think 2 1/2 Men is shot in front of an audience.

...and yet, at the same time, I can't say I'm really all that surprised.

[Spark Of Spirit]

If it is, you really can't tell. Every joke has the exact same reaction.

[Kiddington]

If it is, you really can't tell. Every joke has the exact same reaction.

Because they're all drones. 

[Avaitor]

You know, I still don't really hate Two 1/2 Men, but I can understand why you all aren't so hot on it, and I'm not its biggest fan either. The show really struggled in its earliest run when it tried to combine "edgy" sex jokes with cutesy Jake jokes, and shortly after it edged out the more family friendly stuff to focus on Charlie and Alan after Jake started to grow up, the writing became considerably less clever.

I really do wish that the new season would have tanked, though. Ashton just doesn't fit with Lorre's type of humor at all, and what I've seen of his run of the show is just dreadful.

Speaking of Chuck Lorre, have you guys seen Mike & Molly? It's fucking awful, and exactly what it looks like- nothing but fat jokes. I still can't believe that Melissa McCarthy won an Emmy for being a bland glutten over Amy Poehler.