Watching tv on the internet- or fuck you laugh track

[Professor Smarmiarty]

So we got real blasted, watching some tv, watching How I met your mother cause it was on tv then we're like- shittt, let''s watch the new series- so we did online and it has a a laugh track on it. Perplexed we thought- maybe it's just making a point or some kind of funny joke- so we pulled up some other episodes- they al had laugh tracks.
And it was the worst thing ever. A once watchabe show descended into massive cringe.
But for some reason, on the versions we had on tv all the laughs were goe- not the jokes at such, the laughter was not dead- meary the laugh track. Are you so different britain and US? Can you not live together as one or must we forcibly edit your shows (even if vastly for the better) to suit our fatty palette

[Kerensky287]

Laugh tracks are an insult to the viewer's intelligence.

You may as well put the ol' Ranier Wolfcastle "THAT'S THE JOKE" gif in the corner every time someone makes a funny.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

It's so loud I can't hear thea ctors!Shut up! Shut up!

[Osterbaum]

I hate laugh tracks. They are horrible and one of the main reasons I tend not to like sitcoms all that much.

[Nique]

Related: Why does 'That Mitchell and Webb Look' have a laugh track on it?

[BitVyper]

To be perfectly honest, I don't think laugh tracks are really what people tend to think of them. I mean, I dislike them, but I think the main reason they're present is to incorporate a pause-for-laughter into the show without leaving a bunch of dead space. They're disadvantaged by the fact that they can't actually hear you laughing to base their timing around, so this is what you get. The pause in action is necessary in live theatre/comedy where no one's going to hear you over the rest of the crowd. It may or may not be needed for TV, depending partly on the situation, but there is a decent reason for it to be there, and the laugh track is a pretty reasonable way to fill up the space, since that's actually why the action is paused. If you're laughing with it, it may also be engaging you a bit.

I tend to fall on the side of it being an unnecessary artifact of live theatre though.

[Kerensky287]

To be perfectly honest, I don't think laugh tracks are really what people tend to think of them. I mean, I dislike them, but I think the main reason they're present is to incorporate a pause-for-laughter into the show without leaving a bunch of dead space. They're disadvantaged by the fact that they can't actually hear you laughing to base their timing around, so this is what you get. The pause in action is necessary in live theatre/comedy where no one's going to hear you over the rest of the crowd. It may or may not be needed for TV, depending partly on the situation, but there is a decent reason for it to be there, and the laugh track is a pretty reasonable way to fill up the space, since that's actually why the action is paused. If you're laughing with it, it may also be engaging you a bit.

I tend to fall on the side of it being an unnecessary artifact of live theatre though.

In a theatre, you're surrounded by other people. You laugh as a community. You laugh harder than you would alone for other peoples' benefit, consciously or otherwise. You laugh as a group.

If you're watching TV on your own, you can be amused without laughing out loud. Maybe you just grin, maybe you giggle to yourself. Hell, maybe you DO laugh out loud. But when you have a track of voices just bursting into hilarity every time someone makes a minor poop joke, it verges on uncanny valley territory. These are not real people, because real people would not laugh this hard. It shocks you out of your amusement, and there's useless, dead silence while they wait for their artificial laughs to calm down.

Some of the best comedy shows on TV work because there's no time in between jokes. It's rapid-fire humor, which allows for a different kind of pacing. The writers can rely on the fact that you have to hold in your laughter to hear the next joke, meaning that you haven't QUITE relieved your tension for joke number two. It turns a knowing smirk into a full-on guffaw. And even when they don't do it to pack in more jokes into a shorter time period, the silence lets you interpret jokes at your own pace, instead of laughing mindlessly at something you don't quite get.

[synkr0nized]

But that's part of the problem.
The laugh track just makes the pauses more noticeable, as the fake laughter is distracting and detrimental. I would much rather have a funny show pace itself in its dialogue without such unnecessary noise than to have one. To me, laugh tracks are irritating enough to change the channel regardless of the quality of the show.

e: And as posted above, much along the lines I am aiming at with the pacing comment, well-written comedies don't need this crutch, imo.

[Amake]

I've followed "Yo' Mama" closely for several years, and I can tell you you get used to the laugh track.

[Nique]

Sitcoms with laugh 'tracks' were fine when they weren't laugh tracks at all.

'Cheers was filmed in front a live studio audience'.

[synkr0nized]

I've followed "Yo' Mama" closely for several years, and I can tell you you get used to the laugh track.

Laugh tracks were huge here for a long time. You do get used to it in a sense. But it's still a terrible distraction. It's mitigated by how well the show moves on, though. Take the mentioned show Cheers, for example. For some reason I don't feel that laughter is as intrusive as, say, Big Bang Theory. Though, in fairness, I don't find the latter amusing to begin with, so there's that.

[Arcanum]

Shows in Britain don't have the laugh track? Ugh how I envy you. Hell one of the reasons I love Corner Gas (other than it being awesome) is because of the complete lack of a laugh track. Though to be fair that's a Canadian show and not American. So let's go America, ditch the laugh track already. And while you're at it convert to the metric system.

[Nique]

Shows in Britain don't have the laugh track?

Related: Why does 'That Mitchell and Webb Look' have a laugh track on it?

'That Mitchell and Webb Look'

They do too!

Actually so did lots of other older British sitcoms. Blackadder had it ... Mr. Bean ...

Yeah Brits totally use laugh tracks.

[Aerozord]

Honestly I'm not too bothered by them, because I dont really notice. If its a show interesting enough for me to even watch I am too engrossed to pay attention to ambiance.

[Kim]

Pretty much my take on it. The laugh track is really only a problem in shows that already aren't that good.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Pretty much my take on it. The laugh track is really only a problem in shows that already aren't that good.

This.

Most of the time I either don't notice it or it just doesn't bother me.

[Token]

Pretty much my take on it. The laugh track is really only a problem in shows that already aren't that good.

Agreed.

Weirdly enough, there are a few shows I love a lot, and entirely forget they have a laugh track. Coupling, for example (although that might just be because I'm laughing harder than the track at any given time. :ohdear: )

[Drownball-Champ]

Wait... The US 'HIMYM' has a laugh track? How have I never noticed this? Damn you, Smarty. Now I'm going to notice every time I watch it. Why can't more shows be like Scrubs? That show was wonderful and required no laugh track at all.

[Magus]

Jesus, do they actually add in laugh tracks when they send them over here, then? 'Cause I watch the British sitcom re-runs on PBS and most of them have laugh-tracks, unless they're filmed in front of a live studio audience or something (I usually have a hard time telling the difference, personally, though sometimes it's obvious...)