When watching M*A*S*H on DVD, do you prefer to watch it with or without a laugh track?

I think the show is so much better without it, especially the pacing.

Without. It sometimes blocks out what they're saying. Although, if I haven't seen the episode in a long time, and didn't know if I missed something funny, it's a nice reminder to back up and re-watch.:D
~Sparki¤

Just thought I'd bump this thread up.

I watch it with the laugh track. I guess I'm just used to it from watching the reruns.

I have turned it off from time to time to check out certain scenes.

The laugh track was tacked on there at the network's insistence. The producers certainly didn't want it on there, so I always listen without.

I think laugh tracks for shows filmed without a live audience are foolish. It was always annoying on Happy Days when the Fonz would enter a scene and would have to pause for half a minute before continuing due to the screaming girls.

It's weird without it..I gotta have it on...

I like it better without it. It seems to be funnier when I am doing the laughing. M*A*S*H is a great show anyway so it realy doesn't mater that much.

I think the show is so much better without it, especially the pacing.I agree......... I dont think MASH is really meant to be a comedy is it?? They are a medic unit during a war!! (Laughter is stupid)

I never like laugh tracks and would like to see them all fade into oblivion.

I agree......... I dont think MASH is really meant to be a comedy is it?? They are a medic unit during a war!! (Laughter is stupid)
to quote Larry Gelbart when he heard that CBS insisted on one-"These people are in the middle of Korea; who's doing the laughing?"

Larry Gelbart didn't want a laugh track but CBS insisted the show have one. They said they didn't have to have one in the O.R. scenes though.

There 3 episodes that never had laugh tracks. 1. When Hawkeye had to stay over night at a hut with a family and had to say a monologue for 30 minutes to prevent himself from going into a coma 2. the staff had to perform on a soldier and there was a stopwatch on the screen 3. the final episode. These have worked so well without laugh tracks and are rewatchable.

I think i remember the final episode,kinda sad in a way to see the show end....

There 3 episodes that never had laugh tracks. 1. When Hawkeye had to stay over night at a hut with a family and had to say a monologue for 30 minutes to prevent himself from going into a coma 2. the staff had to perform on a soldier and there was a stopwatch on the screen 3. the final episode. These have worked so well without laugh tracks and are rewatchable.

On the season 4 DVD, there is no laugh track on the "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler" episode.

I agree......... I dont think MASH is really meant to be a comedy is it?? They are a medic unit during a war!! (Laughter is stupid)
Larry Gelbart had that exact same reaction when CBS insisted on one. "These people are in the middle of Korea" he said "Who's doing the laughing?"

There 3 episodes that never had laugh tracks. 1. When Hawkeye had to stay over night at a hut with a family and had to say a monologue for 30 minutes to prevent himself from going into a coma 2. the staff had to perform on a soldier and there was a stopwatch on the screen 3. the final episode. These have worked so well without laugh tracks and are rewatchable.
also the episode THE BUS the one where Hawkeye, B.J., Frank, Col. Potter & Radar are coming back from somewhere, they get lost and the bus they're in breaks down.

Thanks. I forgot about that one.

I voted "without laughtrack".

I prefer the show without it.

On the season 4 DVD, there is no laugh track on the "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler" episode.
Another one? Thanks. That makes 5 without laugh tracks.

I like it with the Laugh Track added.

I voted with, since that's the way I remember it. I think there were a lot more than 5 episodes without laugh tracks. The one about the dreams (from around 1980), I don't think that had one. I'm sure there are several others that haven't been mentioned.

It's been a long time since I've seen it, but did any episodes of season 11 (the final season) have a laugh track at all?

Personally, I always thought the best seasons of the show were 2 - 6. Once Alan Alda started having more "creative control", it just became too much melodramtic "message of the week" for me to enjoy. I watched it at the time but I try to avoid those seasons now. The show should have ended after season 7.

Another one? Thanks. That makes 5 without laugh tracks.

I think the whole series shouldn't have had a laugh track.

Luckily we have the DVDs for that option!

Larry Gelbart originally DIDN'T want the series to have a laugh-track right from the start but CBS insited on one. He said "These people are in the middle of Korea; who's doing the laughing?"

They relented and let him remove it from the OR scenes though.

I think the whole series shouldn't have had a laugh track.

Luckily we have the DVDs for that option!It just wouldn't work if it didn't. But I'm glad that it didn't have it during the OR scenes and those special episodes.

no; I think it would have worked if it didn't. I have the DVDs of the first 3 seasons (the best seasons, when it was funny) and I watch them with the laugh track turned off and I still enjoy it.

Laugh tracks were added to old sitcoms to induce the audience's laughter.

My opinion: If the audience can't figure out where to laugh, then the producers and writers aren't doing their job right.

I think laugh tracks are especially laughable (no pun intended) on filmed shows without a live audience and cartoons.

I'm glad that cartoons today don't need a laugh track.

I'm glad that cartoons today don't need a laugh track.

On an old Simpsons episode, Homer is doing a voiceover for a cartoon.

He asks if the cartoon is going to be broadcast live.

A woman replies that cartoons are rarely done live -- it produces too great a strain on the animators' wrists.

For some reason, your reply reminded me of that somehow. :cool:

I'm glad that cartoons today don't need a laugh track.TODAYS cartoons are garbage compared to what we watched in the 70s and earlier!!

I'll take the ones in the late 80s and early 90s.

I think today's sitcoms need laughtracks more than ever because I can't tell what's supposed to be funny. Most of NBC's sitcoms I just sit there with a dazed look on my face. lol

Where did the laughs on the Laff Box originate?

Reportedly, the earliest reactions came from a Marcel Marceau performance in Los Angeles in 1955 or 1956, during his world premiere North American tour This would make sense, because Marceau was, of course, a mime, and therefore, the only sound in the theater was the audience’s reaction.

Other reactions are widely thought to have come from The Red Skelton Show, especially the show’s mime sketches. I can state this with relative certainty, as it has been reported repeatedly by various sound engineers who worked closely with Douglass. It’s interesting to note that the Skelton show aired on CBS, where Douglass worked. So, in theory, he would have had access to those tapes. But, in the end, it’s also important to note that we may never know his exact sources.

As far as my research shows, there were never any interviews with Douglass or with anyone who worked at his company, Northridge Electronics. The secrecy surrounding his work is Hollywood legend. Only a very few people witnessed him using his machine, and it was always kept padlocked when not in use. Part of this secrecy was to protect his invention, to be sure. But part of it, too, was that, for some, inserting a laugh track may have been the same as admitting that a show wasn’t funny—or not “funny enough.” There was a real stigma surrounding the use of the laugh track, which continues to this day.

Where did the laughs on the Laff Box originate?

Reportedly, the earliest reactions came from a Marcel Marceau performance in Los Angeles in 1955 or 1956, during his world premiere North American tour This would make sense, because Marceau was, of course, a mime, and therefore, the only sound in the theater was the audience’s reaction.

Other reactions are widely thought to have come from The Red Skelton Show, especially the show’s mime sketches. I can state this with relative certainty, as it has been reported repeatedly by various sound engineers who worked closely with Douglass. It’s interesting to note that the Skelton show aired on CBS, where Douglass worked. So, in theory, he would have had access to those tapes. But, in the end, it’s also important to note that we may never know his exact sources.

As far as my research shows, there were never any interviews with Douglass or with anyone who worked at his company, Northridge Electronics. The secrecy surrounding his work is Hollywood legend. Only a very few people witnessed him using his machine, and it was always kept padlocked when not in use. Part of this secrecy was to protect his invention, to be sure. But part of it, too, was that, for some, inserting a laugh track may have been the same as admitting that a show wasn’t funny—or not “funny enough.” There was a real stigma surrounding the use of the laugh track, which continues to this day.who's Douglass?

I think today's sitcoms need laughtracks more than ever because I can't tell what's supposed to be funny. Most of NBC's sitcoms I just sit there with a dazed look on my face. lol

If they have to use a laugh track to tell you it's funny, they're not doing their job.

;)