Laugh Tracks, Good or Bad?

[GlutusMaximus86]

One of the presents I got for xmas was a season one DVD collection of the show "Sledge Hammer". I had never heard of this show until I got it for xmas. What is though is a parody cop show (like the Police Squad show and the Naked Gun movies, just with different actors essentially), made back in the mid-late 80s.

I've watched the first DVD so far and in the beginning of the DVD the director of the show comes on and says he has removed the laugh track from the DVD. He said he removed the track because he felt the audience should know when to laugh and that they should not be so stupid as to need a laught track to tell them when to laugh. I have to say I do agree with him on that, and I have personally always found laugh tracks a little annoying. What do you guys think are laugh tracks good or bad?

P.S. I know this poll may seem stupid, but I'm just curious as to other people's opinion on the matter.

 

[il_duce]

It depends on the show.

Usually, I think laugh tracks are bad, because they force the viewer to laugh at parts which aren't that funny at all. On shows like Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond, laugh tracks are bad. Then again, those shows would be weird without laugh tracks, because nobody would ever find those shows funny anyway.

Then you have shows like Seinfeld which could still be very funny without one, but rely on the laugh track to make a bolder punch line to the jokes.

 

[Yotsuya-san]

The lamest thing I've ever seen is laugh tracks in cartoon shows. Mostly cartoons of the 60s and 70s. I think the Jetsons and Flintstones had it. So did a few other Hanna Barbera cartoons. Especially during the 70s when the Scooby Doo cartoons started doing those lame-o Scooby meets Sonny and Cher and whoever. Scooby always rocked except in that case! At least it seems that way looking back now.

 

[cant think of a user name]

Haha they had laugh tracks in cartoons???

Laugh tracks good/bad? It depends on the show. Shows like Everybody Loves Raymond usually have a punchline and then the laugh track goes ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON while the characters just STAND THERE STARING AT EACH OTHER WASTING TIME . That is boring.

However, shows like Seinfeld are hilarious already and don't need to rely on the laugh track to fill up the timeslot.

I wonder who thought up of the laugh track in the first place?

 

[GlutusMaximus86]

Originally posted by cant think of a user name


I wonder who thought up of the laugh track in the first place?

500th Post Hurray!!! Anyway to answer your question:

The laugh track was "invented" on 1940's radio to spice up the studio audience. With the advent of Television it made the jump over with the "The Hank McCune Show" in 1950.

The Laugh Track was first introduced by engineer Charley Douglass.

Source: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/3100

 

[Hot Ice]

The laugh track was "invented" on 1940's radio to spice up the studio audience. With the advent of Television it made the jump over with the "The Hank McCune Show" in 1950.

The Laugh Track was first introduced by engineer Charley Douglass.

I don't think he really wanted to know that