Studio audience, laugh track, or no response?

[24/7 reruns]

I don't know if this has been discussed. I wanted to know what sitcom format works best for you. Aby shows that stand out in that format? Any shows you like in formats that you don't like?

I like live audience response best. All in the Family, and The Dick Van Dyke Show stand out for me. Burns and Allen Show I think was with and audience with laugh track added. There was on woman's laugh that I thought was funny all to itself. That laugh was often heard during the run of the show.

Laugh tracked Show are OK. But live audience works better for me.

As for shows with out response there are few that I watch. Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 and Corner Gas are a couple that I laughed a lot without any prompting. I must be lazy since most other no response shows don’t work well for me.

[Dude111]

Ya LIVE seems the most natural. Like on the honeymooners

[stevea]

I like the more-realistic sets that single camera (most of which include a laugh track) provides. Also single camera shows go on location to varying degrees, while live-audience shows rarely do.

As noted the Burns and Allen Show (and from the same time period, Ozzie and Harriet) were played to audiences for live responses. Burns and Allen may have been "sweetened" by canned laughter when possibly needed, but O&H, not so much. To me that's the best of both worlds. By the way, live audience multi cam shows--I've read many of those are sweetened with canned laughter when needed, too.

I also can enjoy a good live audience show, like Dick Van Dyke, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy. My least favorite format were the live audience videotaped shows. There were shows I liked in that format, but they would have been better on film. For example, evidently Bob Newhart agreed, because Newhart switched from videotape to film after one season.

[Wawwie]

I hate laugh tracks.
No laugh tracks: The Office, The Goldbergs, Young Rock, Hazel (most of the time) and soap operas.

[Dude111]

I dont understand Wawwie why MASH has a laugh track!

Isnt Mash a War hospital??

NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT WHAT GOES ON THERE!!

[24/7 reruns]

Originally Posted by Wawwie

I hate laugh tracks.
No laugh tracks: The Office, The Goldbergs, Young Rock, Hazel (most of the time) and soap operas.

I forgot that Hazel lacked a laugh track. It did well without one even though the last season should not have happened.

[24/7 reruns]

Originally Posted by Dude111

I dont understand Wawwie why MASH has a laugh track!

Isnt Mash a War hospital??

NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT WHAT GOES ON THERE!!

Well the first couple of seasons of MASH was intended to be funny with some serious stuff. The focus was more on the main characters than the hospital issues. And towards the end of the run Alda and others found ways to impress upon the fact the the laugh track was distracting and hurting the flow of the episodes.

Had the original format in the early seasons had stayed the laugh track would make some sense for the run of the series. And even though I liked the Alda driven format it seemed more like a drama than a comedy. Luckily the laugh track was reduced during those seasons.

[24/7 reruns]

Originally Posted by stevea

I like the more-realistic sets that single camera (most of which include a laugh track) provides. Also single camera shows go on location to varying degrees, while live-audience shows rarely do.

As noted the Burns and Allen Show (and from the same time period, Ozzie and Harriet) were played to audiences for live responses. Burns and Allen may have been "sweetened" by canned laughter when possibly needed, but O&H, not so much. To me that's the best of both worlds. By the way, live audience multi cam shows--I've read many of those are sweetened with canned laughter when needed, too.

I also can enjoy a good live audience show, like Dick Van Dyke, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy. My least favorite format were the live audience videotaped shows. There were shows I liked in that format, but they would have been better on film. For example, evidently Bob Newhart agreed, because Newhart switched from videotape to film after one season.

I agree with the proper recording process should be film and not videotape. Videotape quality falls apart over time. Newhart had a completely different feel when it was filmed from season 2 to the end.

Look at the programs that Norman Lear created, All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, etc. The video tape prints are so poor that these episodes very hard to watch now. Almost like old Kinoscope programs.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by 24/7 reruns

I agree with the proper recording process should be film and not videotape. Videotape quality falls apart over time. Newhart had a completely different feel when it was filmed from season 2 to the end.

Look at the programs that Norman Lear created, All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, etc. The video tape prints are so poor that these episodes very hard to watch now. Almost like old Kinoscope programs.

Also another problem with old videotape shows is that they can't be remastered in HD. Also they often screw up frame rates when mastering, mostly resulting in jerky credit rolls. This also happens with film sometimes--check out The Honeymooners credit roll on MeTV sometime. It's gawd-awful. So is Mama's Family.

[Yong Fang]

I saw a couple of episodes of MASH without the "laugh track" (the one where Harry Morgan played the deranged general and everyone was standing at attention with Klinger walking up in drag.

It was sort of strange, it is almost that the "laugh track" is telling us to laugh.

[Duster76]

I have no problem with a laugh track being used to enhance the viewing experience. Shows have music beds to enhance the viewing experience (so do films), the music is added after filming, real life doesn't have a music bed, what's the difference?

[Alan Brady's Hair]

It's sort of an irrelevant question: they really haven't learned to do the single-camera/no laugh track shows very well. Here's the annual Nielsen rankings for the ones NBC thought would be the successors to Cheers and Cosby, Friends and Seinfeld:

The Office (2005-2013): 102, 67, 68, 77, 52, 41, 53, 77, 88
Parks & Recreation (2009-2015): 96, 108, 116, 134, 111, 115, 119
Community (2009-2014): 97, 138, 144, 133, 96
30 Rock (2006-2013): 102, 111, 69, 86, 106, 130, 99
The Good Place (2017-2020): 77, 77, 99, 92
Superstore (2015-2021): 66, 91, 102, 113, 87, 100
Brooklyn 99 (2013-2021): 98, 113, 118, 137, 161, 138, 105, ?

None of them ever crack the top 40, NBC just gives up and stops making comedies.

Young Sheldon has done well, of course, and Modern Family could be described as a hit, but across the board these shows just haven't performed well.

[principehomura]

Both studio audience or laugh tracks are fine by me.
I really hate single-camera comedies without any of those.