There are only a few on network TV these days and they are all kicking the butts of the single-camera sitcoms on NBC.

Are single-camera shows cheaper to produce or do you think it's just a trend or what? I can't get into 30 rock or Parks & Recreation. They just are so boring. The Office is the only single-camera show that is funny to me.

You are one up on me since I don't like the Office. lol I do like The Middle and Modern Family though. I do agree with you. I love multi-camera sitcoms so much more. They just make me laugh more. Most of the single-camera shows are really dramedies...half the time they aren't funny. I watched Community once and although it isn't that bad of a tv show, it isn't really laugh out loud funny. Hopefully the real sitcom will make a comeback soon.

what's up with all these single- camera no-laugh track sitcoms anyway? I also miss the multi-camera ones!

Me too!!

Me three!!!!

You are one up on me since I don't like the Office. lol I do like The Middle and Modern Family though. I do agree with you. I love multi-camera sitcoms so much more. They just make me laugh more. Most of the single-camera shows are really dramedies...half the time they aren't funny. I watched Community once and although it isn't that bad of a tv show, it isn't really laugh out loud funny. Hopefully the real sitcom will make a comeback soon.
The last modern sitcom that I really enjoyed was Back To You - which, of course, got canned. I mean, how many chances do you get to have Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton AND Fred Willard in your cast?? I also loved the harried news director Ryan and the unlucky field reporter, Gary. Had the writers' strike not intervened and had FOX given BTY another chance - who knows how differently the show may have fared?

I miss them too! But at the same time, I think all the good sitcoms with the exception of "The Big Bang Theory" currently on TV are the single camera ones. I particularly enjoy "The Office," "Modern Family," "The Middle," and "Parks and Recreation"

It is cheaper from what I understand, but my belief is that the biggest reason is that the best creative minds are doing the single camera sitcom right now, so we get bland generic multi-camera ones. There aren't the witty, smart multi-camera sitcoms like yesteryear (Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, Frasier... to name a few of many).

All the real witty and smart sitcoms are the single camera ones and the bland ones are all multi-camera. Look at this past year's new shows... "Modern Family" was the most critically praised new series and there was also kudos for "The Middle," "Community" (although I don't like that show), and "Glee" if you count that. Meanwhile, on the multi-camera front, we had huge duds like "Hank," "Brothers," "Accidentally on Purpose," and "Romantically Challenged." I think we'll see a rebound though eventually, things always go in cycles.

I dont watch modern sit-coms so i dont miss them.

The last modern sitcom that I really enjoyed was Back To You - which, of course, got canned. I mean, how many chances do you get to have Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton AND Fred Willard in your cast?? I also loved the harried news director Ryan and the unlucky field reporter, Gary. Had the writers' strike not intervened and had FOX given BTY another chance - who knows how differently the show may have fared?
and Fox decided that the awful Til Death needed saving instead.:rolleyes: I wish that they would have went to CBS instead. I think it would have made it over there. Fox hasn't had any good sitcoms since Malcolm and That '70's Show left the air.

and Fox decided that the awful Til Death needed saving instead.:rolleyes: I wish that they would have went to CBS instead. I think it would have made it over there. Fox hasn't had any good sitcoms since Malcolm and That '70's Show left the air.
I couldn't even sit through 5 minutes of Til Death. BTY was a WAY better show and FOX gave it a bad shake. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I have not watched a prime time sitcom regularly in many years. The last single-camera show was Malcolm In The Middle, which, oddly enough, I stopped watching somewhere in the middle (2002 or so). The last multi-camera show I made a point to catch weekly was Married To The Kellys which didn't make it past its freshman season.

I can not say why I have no interest in even reading about the current crop, much less sampling it. I suppose I just got bored with it all and have more fondness for nostalgia than what series comedy became under the very long and very lame shadow cast by Friends.

I love multi-camera comedies, but I have also started to like single-camera comedies a bit more now. I actually like Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and I am looking forward to Raising Hope. A year ago I would have said I hate single-camera comedies, but they are starting to grow on me.

Listen, I also dislike sitcoms without any laugh tracks. A viewer of such a show can't even laugh at them (the shows) himself. CBS is the only show with the good sitcoms right now. Sitcoms of all the other broadcast TV networks are crap. Why were sitcoms without laugh tracks even created, anyway? The first such example is The Bill Cosby Show. I may have liked that, but I do not like the laugh track-less sitcoms that are currently running now.

A sitcom is not funny if it does not have a laugh track.

Listen, I also dislike sitcoms without any laugh tracks. A viewer of such a show can't even laugh at them (the shows) himself. CBS is the only show with the good sitcoms right now. Sitcoms of all the other broadcast TV networks are crap. Why were sitcoms without laugh tracks even created, anyway? The first such example is The Bill Cosby Show. I may have liked that, but I do not like the laugh track-less sitcoms that are currently running now.

A sitcom is not funny if it does not have a laugh track.
So you need a laugh track to know when to laugh? I think you can easily laugh at a comedy without a laugh track. Plenty of sitcoms are funny that do not have a laugh track. One example is the new single-camera hit, Modern Family. Laugh tracks make some shows look stupid. There are points when the jokes suck, yet a laugh track is going.

So you need a laugh track to know when to laugh? I think you can easily laugh at a comedy without a laugh track. Plenty of sitcoms are funny that do not have a laugh track. One example is the new single-camera hit, Modern Family. Laugh tracks make some shows look stupid. There are points when the jokes suck, yet a laugh track is going.
I don't need laugh tracks to know when to laugh. It does put me in a better mood though. I remember watching an episode of Three's Company back when it originally aired. I laughed so hard that I fell out of my chair. I've never done that with single camera sitcoms. Modern Family is a good show but I've never really laughed out loud at it. I really never have at any single-camera comedy. As I said ,there are a few that are good but by and large, most of them aren't funny.

Whenever I happen to see an ad for The Office etc... I NEVER laugh :confused:

So you need a laugh track to know when to laugh? I think you can easily laugh at a comedy without a laugh track. Plenty of sitcoms are funny that do not have a laugh track. One example is the new single-camera hit, Modern Family.

No, it is difficult. I have watched the Bill Cosby Show and, despite being a sitcom, I didn't laugh at it once, but I liked it. However, any post-2000s sitcom with no laugh track I do not like and I'm not going to once laugh at it. It's impossible. You'd be lucky I stopped watching the Big 3 broadcast networkd in the late 90s and switched to cable.

The early 80s sitcom House Calls did have a laugh track, I wish it didn't have one though and that it was a comedy-drama.

What if there was a single-camera sitcom with a laugh track and a multi-camera sitcom without a laugh track? Other way around, perhaps?

A show with a laugh track not filmed in front of a live audience is ludicrous.

If someone has to be told when to laugh or needs the encouragement of canned laughter in order to enjoy a show, then the producers and writers of a show aren't doing their job.

When I watch M*A*S*H on DVD, I always choose the soundtrack option without the laugh track.

A show with a laugh track not filmed in front of a live audience is ludicrous.

If someone has to be told when to laugh or needs the encouragement of canned laughter in order to enjoy a show, then the producers and writers of a show aren't doing their job.

When I watch M*A*S*H on DVD, I always choose the soundtrack option without the laugh track.
I can't picture watching the Beverly Hillbillies or The Andy Griffith Show without a laugh track. It would be too strange for me. I can understand somewhat with MASH but I still prefer the laughtrack.
'

No, it is difficult. I have watched the Bill Cosby Show and, despite being a sitcom, I didn't laugh at it once, but I liked it. However, any post-2000s sitcom with no laugh track I do not like and I'm not going to once laugh at it. It's impossible. You'd be lucky I stopped watching the Big 3 broadcast networkd in the late 90s and switched to cable.

The early 80s sitcom House Calls did have a laugh track, I wish it didn't have one though and that it was a comedy-drama.

What if there was a single-camera sitcom with a laugh track and a multi-camera sitcom without a laugh track? Other way around, perhaps?
I blind bought The Bill Cosby Show and I didn't even finish watching it. It wasn't that funny.

I did like The Wonder Years and Doogie Howser M.D. but I wouldn't call them laugh out loud funny shows anyway.

I can't picture watching the Beverly Hillbillies or The Andy Griffith Show without a laugh track. It would be too strange for me. I can understand somewhat with MASH but I still prefer the laughtrack.
'

To each his own. It's what you're used to.

The Simpsons did a funny bit once at the beginning of a show, where Homer and Marge sat at a piano, singing a parody of the theme from All In The Family and the announcer says "The Simpsons is filmed in front of a live studio audience."

In the next scene, when Bart cracked a one liner, you heard a laugh track and audience responses. Hilarious.

to me if i think if a sitcom is funny than to me its funny i dont care if its single cam mutli cam with laugh track or without if i like it im going to watch it

to me if i think if a sitcom is funny than to me its funny i dont care if its single cam mutli cam with laugh track or without if i like it im going to watch it

I agree with you I don't care about the filming format or laugh tracks that much. I focus more on the writing and the acting of shows. I do like sitcoms that don't have laugh tracks a bit more than the ones that do.

I just read this interview with Betty White where she is asked about the single-camera vs muti-camera thing and this is what she had to say.

"I was going to ask you about that – the live-camera audience. Does that take you back in time?

BW: Well, for a while, they tried to kill it, to make it go away. But there's nothing better than to do comedy with a live audience that can help with all your timing.

There's nothing worse than doing comedy on a one-camera set, as far as I'm concerned. They have to take the master shot, then the two-shot. You beat the poor joke to death."

Single camera sitcoms IMO are a step backwards.

For the record, I don't like the Office or Modern Family. Barely tolerated Back to You. But loooooved Till Death, though.

Don't know about laugh tracks.

I just read this interview with Betty White where she is asked about the single-camera vs muti-camera thing and this is what she had to say.

"I was going to ask you about that – the live-camera audience. Does that take you back in time?

BW: Well, for a while, they tried to kill it, to make it go away. But there's nothing better than to do comedy with a live audience that can help with all your timing.

There's nothing worse than doing comedy on a one-camera set, as far as I'm concerned. They have to take the master shot, then the two-shot. You beat the poor joke to death."
Betty tells it like it is. They're just funnier too.

What if a single camera comedy is played to a studio audience for live responses? An episode of that comedy is played to the studio audience on monitors and their live responses can be dubbed into it.

The single camera shows are all the same to me - not funny.

I prefer the multi camera comedy with a live audience.

i think the single camera thing is a gimmick they use to cover up for poor writing.

Okay, I know everyone here is entitled to their own opinion, but really, I can't believe folks are stating that what makes a show funny is whether it is multi-cam or single-cam. What makes a show funny is the writing and the acting. Now, I understand what Betty White is saying about performing in front of an audience, but that doesn't mean single-cams can't be funny. I laugh out loud at examples of both. I can laugh just as hard at 30 Rock or Raising Hope as I do at The Big Bang Theory. My all time favorites include multi-cams like Friends or That 70's Show, but generally speaking, I think I prefer modern single-cams, I just think there are more quality single-cam than multi currently, but that may be different by this time next year.

Okay, I know everyone here is entitled to their own opinion, but really, I can't believe folks are stating that what makes a show funny is whether it is multi-cam or single-cam. What makes a show funny is the writing and the acting. Now, I understand what Betty White is saying about performing in front of an audience, but that doesn't mean single-cams can't be funny. I laugh out loud at examples of both. I can laugh just as hard at 30 Rock or Raising Hope as I do at The Big Bang Theory. My all time favorites include multi-cams like Friends or That 70's Show, but generally speaking, I think I prefer modern single-cams, I just think there are more quality single-cam than multi currently, but that may be different by this time next year.very well said

I like a few single-cam comedies but by and large most are not funny.

i just can't get into single cam sitcoms, although i don't watch today's multi-cam shows.

with multi cam, i need to enjoy the plot, storylines, characters, humour, as well as the writing. which many of them had back in the days before mid 2000.

how do you tell if it a single or multi camera show?. Its is angles of the shots?

how do you tell if it a single or multi camera show?. Its is angles of the shots?
The Multi-cams are filmed in front of a studio audience while the single cams aren't.

I also love multi-camera sitcoms so much more.

Another thought: Single-camera sitcoms are hardly "laugh-out-loud" funny. No laugh-track/studio-audience in single camera sitcoms is the difference.

And these days, it is difficult to launch a good multi-camera sitcom nowadays. CBS has really high standards for success, and FOX is not gonna have any multi-camera sitcoms anymore after I Hate My Teenage Daughter failed.

I too prefer multi-camera sitcoms specifically for the reason that Betty White pointed out: the timing and the energy are so much better in front of an audience and honestly, timing and energy are crucial as far as comedy is concerned. Also, I'm a theatre major and shows shot in front of a studio audience are so reminiscent of that art form. So perhaps I'm biased. :)

Growing up in the 1960's and 1970's I never even thought about how the show was filmed. All I cared about was how entertaining it was. I wonder how many shows from that time period were single or multi. Shows that come to mind that were multi are I love Lucy and All in the Family.

Sadly, this is the only forum I know in which most part of the users prefer multi-camera sitcoms, with laugh-track.

I miss old times sitcoms, but I don't hate new shows only because I'm just nostalgic. I tried to watch them and I think they lack of values and emotions, and their only goals seem to be the cheap laugh and launch some catchphrase for twitter or for the web.

One of the best/worst examples I think is Community.

i think this whole generational fight stupid. many older folks are biased against the single-cam comedies, and many younger folks hate multicam sitcoms. i think if people would open their minds up a little, they'd be able to enjoy both.

why even compare the two? they are two totally different formats that are written and performed accordingly.

could you imagine seinfeld without the live studio audience/laugh track? it would have been an entirely different show. could you imagine michael richard's physical comedy, seinfeld's atrocious acting, and jason alexander and jerry stiller's hysterics translating off the stage?

by contrast, arrested development would have been a creative failure in front of live studio audience. it all depends on the content of the series, in my opinion. i personally enjoy both formats equally.

btw: there are still plenty of multicam sitcoms out there.

http://www.newshowstudios.com/blog/television/celebrating-90s-tv-the-final-decade-of-multi-camera-sitcoms/

The 1990s TV viewer was witnessing a dying vestige, though, you may not have noticed at the time. By the time shows such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” BBC’s “The Office” and “Malcolm in the Middle” hit the airwaves in the early aughts, television fans were seeing something different, even if they couldn’t put their finger on it. The “new” look was called the single-camera setup.

While single- and multi-camera (http://www.tv.com/news/tvcom-throwdown-single-camera-comedies-vs-multi-camera-comedies-27285/) setups have been around since the dawn of TV and film production, the multi-camera setup is what most of us over the age of 15 grew up with. Its slower pace elicits memories of craftsmanship, wholesome family sitcoms and networks’ bloated production budgets.

So we’d like to ask, “Whatever happened to predictability?” and revisit one of the most unforgettable aspects of the 1990s multi-camera sitcoms (http://www.screened.com/profile/bradgrenz/the-last-great-multi-camera-sitcoms/118-1011/) – the set.

One of the biggest differences between single-camera and multi-camera shows is pace. Single-camera shows tend to do a lot of quick close-ups, leaving a lot of the set out of view. I bet most of us could rebuild the “Seinfeld” apartment interior by memory. In fact, a lot of “Seinfeld”‘s plotlines revolved around the set: Poppy pees on Jerry’s couch and it must be replaced; Jerry wants his kitchen to be remodeled and he ends up with a horrendous line of sight from kitchen to living areas.

There's plenty of multi-cams on TV, so I don't get the complaining. Anyone who completely writes either format off is closed-minded, plain and simple. The idea that a single-cam can't be laugh out funny is pretty ridiculous. If a show needs audience laughter to make it funny, it's not a good show.

The Multi-cams are filmed in front of a studio audience while the single cams aren't.
That's not the only difference. There's plenty of single-cams from the 60s that had laugh tracks. I guess it's the most obvious difference today though.

Sadly, this is the only forum I know in which most part of the users prefer multi-camera sitcoms, with laugh-track.

I miss old times sitcoms, but I don't hate new shows only because I'm just nostalgic. I tried to watch them and I think they lack of values and emotions, and their only goals seem to be the cheap laugh and launch some catchphrase for twitter or for the web.

One of the best/worst examples I think is Community.
This post is like 8 months old so I'm not really sure why I'm replying to it, but if that's your impression of Community then you clearly have not seen much of it, at all. Or of any single-camera sitcoms. I mean, that's just an incredibly ignorant statement. Today's single-cams have just as much values and emotions as old sitcoms. There's so much blind hatred of new shows on this board sometimes, it's sad.

There's plenty of multi-cams on TV, so I don't get the complaining. Anyone who completely writes either format off is closed-minded, plain and simple. The idea that a single-cam can't be laugh out funny is pretty ridiculous. If a show needs audience laughter to make it funny, it's not a good show.


That's not the only difference. There's plenty of single-cams from the 60s that had laugh tracks. I guess it's the most obvious difference today though.


This post is like 8 months old so I'm not really sure why I'm replying to it, but if that's your impression of Community then you clearly have not seen much of it, at all. Or of any single-camera sitcoms. I mean, that's just an incredibly ignorant statement. Today's single-cams have just as much values and emotions as old sitcoms. There's so much blind hatred of new shows on this board sometimes, it's sad.
Then I must be one of the few that didn't mind the laughtrack. Andy Griffith and Beverly hillbillies were 2 of my favorite sitcoms of the 60's and they were single-cams. Of course they were set up to look like multi-cams. ::D

I increasingly dislike multi-camera sitcoms.

Broadly speaking, I find the format restrictive and old-fashioned.

A large part of my distaste is down to the dominance of Chuck Lorre's horrible shows, which epitomise the very worst of the multi-camera format. They are utterly unfunny and represent distasteful values. I hate their obnoxious audience laugh track, their every-line-is-a-joke dialogue, and their glacially slow pacing. I hate their awful writing with lazy recycled jokes and repetitive and forgettable plots.

Of course, bad single-camera sitcoms that think they can use the format as an excuse to avoid telling jokes are even worse. A good single-camera sitcom works far harder to get laughs than a multi-camera sitcom.

I think it's increasingly difficult to get young people, who grew up with The Simpsons, to watch multi-camera network comedies, which is why they're in decline. The key exception is CBS who have a much older-skewing core audience to grow from.

While I agree that TAAHM is done in very poor taste, I think TBBT and Mike & Molly are 2 of the best sitcoms on the air. My favorite single cams are probably The Middle and Raising Hope. Modern Family is okay too although I find the jokes as hit and miss lately.

I agree that the problem with today's multi-cams is that they're mostly low-quality and lazy, and all of the creative minds have flocked to single-cam. Two and a Half Men is quite possibly the worst sitcom to ever be a major hit, and I know a lot of people like The Big Bang Theory but I just find it to be so lazy and uninspired most of the time.

It doesn't have to be that way...but it's turned a large portion of younger audiences off of the multi-cam format. I hope that we get a truly great multi-cam sitcom soon that can turn things around.

i tried to get used to the multi-cam sitcoms that are on today like 2 and half men, how i met your mother, the big bang theory, but those shows aren't working for me.

To each his own, they work for me. The only single cam comedies I like are The Middle and Happy Endings, the rest are just not funny.

Let me confess this: I can't get into ANY of today's single-camera no-laugh-track/studio audience comedies at all. It is hard for me to even enjoy them, and I am not going to laugh at them once, and if I were to laugh at them, it will not be "out loud". Next season, each of ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOXBC are gonna have at least one single-camera comedy, and the number of single-camera comedies on these networks are probably higher than the number of multi-camera comedies by now.

This is coming from a person who is a regular viewer of "The Big Bang Theory", a multi-cam sitcom.

You got me wondering when there single-camera comedies started outnumbering multi-camera comedies on the major networks.

The cross-over point seems to be 2007-08, which is the year NBC finally gave up on multi-camera (their last multi-camera hit was Will & Grace which premiered way back in 1998) and ABC started focusing on single-camera (giving up on their old Wednesday block with George Lopez gone and According to Jim flatlining).

Laugh tracks can be annoying and insulting. If I find a show good I can overlook it, as I have with many shows. If a show's writing appeals to me then I will enjoy it no matter what.

I never liked any single-cams before 2005, they were all too dramatic for me like Scrubs where they'd deal with illness and death and many dramatic issues. The characters seem richer in the better done single-cams, but they are an acquired taste because there not 'jokey' like traditional sitcoms. I don't like many current shows on TV., about two single cams and one multi-cam. 2 Broke Girls is okay, I watch it occasionally but I an take it or leave it for the most part.

I love the characters and the cast dynamics of The Office and Parks and Recreation, but I felt the same way about the casts of NewsRadio, Cheers and Frasier. In other words, I try to be open-minded to different formats but if it doesn't appeal to me then I won't be bothered by it.

There's room for everyone and every format and genre.

I think Malcolm in the Middle and Scrubs probably began the era of today's modern single-camera laugh-track-less comedy series on network TV. Or did something else begin this trend?