Sitcoms Shot With One Camera and No Audience or Laugh Track

[howilu]

With the debut this season of My Name is Earl and Everybody Hates Chris, there are two new shows that are shot in the one camera, no studio audience or laugh track style. Your thoughts on this type of production, which has been used on shows like Malcolm in the Middle, Bernie Mac and Scrubs

My take on the subject. I find this style boring. It's a throwback to the dramedy genre of the mid to late 80s. I have also noticed that there haven't been any sitcoms that have been videotaped in front of a live audience.

[Dean Winchester]

laugh tracks are annoying... why do you think MASH fans were so happy that the DVD's had laugh track on/off options? Friends was ruined because of the laugh track, the way every single line was suddenly followed by 10 seconds of laughter, it really caused the show to get to everyones head and the last few seasons of the show was all ego.

I think shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm or Arrested Development which do not rely on "this is where you're supposed to laugh" or "look, it's Larry David, cheer for 20 seconds like he's The Fonz" actually tend to be funnier than the shows that are taped/filmed in front of a live audience these days. If you watch a show for any amount of time, you know who plays in it, so why cheer just because the star of the show walks into the scene, were you expecting him or her to be sick and miss this weeks show?

[snl 70s show fan]

while i dont really find laugh tracks annoying i do find that its refreshing to have a few shows on the air like my name is earl and scrubs where the producers are bold enough to let the audence laugh on ther own i watched my name is earl last night and i laughed out loud all by myself without a machine telling me what was supposed to be funny

[ethelmaepotter]

It seems over the last few years, there have been all these issues that have come up with shows shooting before a live audience, using a laugh track or using no laughs at all. It seems that the general impression is given that shows that don't use any kind of laughter are of a far better quality.

I don't think audience response, whether live, mechanically-generated or absent, has any effect on the quality of a sitcom. For me, my personal preference, is to see a sitcom with either a laugh track or live studio audience responses. I am of the minority here that think a sitcom needs some sort of laughs being generated, not to be funny, but simply to help move the show along.

The problem today with shows is not about whether or not the have an audience, but how in the hell some of the crap that gets on the air gets on the air. Sitcoms are pathetic today and people need to learn how to write them. Once they concern themselves with that, where the laughter comes from is unimportant.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally Posted by ethelmaepotter

I don't think audience response, whether live, mechanically-generated or absent, has any effect on the quality of a sitcom. For me, my personal preference, is to see a sitcom with either a laugh track or live studio audience responses. I am of the minority here that think a sitcom needs some sort of laughs being generated, not to be funny, but simply to help move the show along.

I think the lack of a laugh track actually makes it feel like you're watching mini-movies. Just like when you go to see a comedy in the theater, there's not a laugh track, you laugh when it's funny instead of having the laughing done for you.

[Pavan]

Sitcoms that are taped in front of an audience are the best. Since that is not a fake laugh track.

I hate when sitcoms that use fake laugh tracks when they are not even taped in front of an audience.

I was never a fan of one camera sitcoms. I guess I'm a traditional sitcom lover.

[Mr. Television]

For the most part, most of my favorite sitcoms are taped in front of a studio audience and for all the recent talk about one camera sitcoms being more popular, theirs no evidence of it. Most of the recent ones including AD have been hard pressed to get viewers. I will say that my current favorite sitcom is My Name Is Earl and thats a one camera comedy but by and large I prefere the laughs.

[Raisingdad2004]

I don't mind a laugh track, if it is remotley real, so Friends/Frasier having a laugh track was not annoying - it gives it the right feel.

I just hate shows like Crumbs, which just throw in a horrible laugh track. Pathetic. I mean, the laughs sounded more releastic on The Flintstones.

[comedyfreak]

I prefer a sitcom shot in front of a live audience, makes it seem like I'm not watching alone. I think the only show I seen that didn't have a laugh track or was shot before an audience was Batman.

[slackermonkey]

Honestly, I prefer single-camera/no audience to a traditional sitcom. Single-camera shows tend to feel a little more real and natural, and laugh tracks, whether canned or from an audience, tend to annoy me, especially when laughs come during something I didn't find funny. I like being able to find humor on my own terms. But I can see where a live audience has its merits - it gives the show, and its' actors, the energy and pace they need.

I agree that a lot of the sitcoms that used the single-camera format in the past tended to be dull because they lacked that energy, but nowadays I think people have hit on a rhythm of how to make a single-camera sitcom funny.

[Mrs. John Ritter]

I like it when shows are filmed in front of a live studio audience. I don't care for laugh tracks.