Did the pandemic kill canned laughter? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 11-06-2021, 05:24 AM

https://mashable.com/article/laugh-track-history

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to mark the passing of one of the most frequent visitors to our homes," says Chris Taylor. "We speak of the creature with a hundred voices and no face. The creature that, studies suggest, effectively manipulated our emotions more than anything on TV over the years. Yep, we're calling it: The sitcom laugh track, more recently known in the trade as 'sweetened' audience laughter, canned laughter to its enemies, is finally stone-cold dead in its eighth decade." While Taylor points to The Big Bang Theory's finale as a possible end to canned laughter, he notes that the pandemic has essentially signaled its death knell. "Historians will dispute the exact moment of death," says Taylor. "Was it when The Big Bang Theory, the last major sweetened sitcom, went off the air in 2019? Was it early in the COVID pandemic, when even the most unfiltered studio audience started to sound weird and quite possibly illegal? Was it only proven brain dead in late 2021, when no sweetened TV sitcoms debuted on U.S. networks during the all-important fall season?"

RetroGuy2000 · 11-06-2021, 06:28 AM

This article is quite strange. TBBT had a live studio audience, not a laugh track. And during the pandemic, many shows relied on canned audience cheering. The Conners and other shows are back to a live studio audience.

Alan Brady's Hair · 11-06-2021, 10:04 AM

They really have to address that no one's watching the new sitcoms. The only sitcom in last year's top 30 is Young Sheldon, which is of course a child of the last hit three-camera show.

Network sitcoms are divided into two categories now: ones people used to watch that they don't make anymore, and ones nobody watches that they keep making more of.

11-06-2021, 05:24 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,759	Did the pandemic kill canned laughter? https://mashable.com/article/laugh-track-history "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to mark the passing of one of the most frequent visitors to our homes," says Chris Taylor. "We speak of the creature with a hundred voices and no face. The creature that, studies suggest, effectively manipulated our emotions more than anything on TV over the years. Yep, we're calling it: The sitcom laugh track, more recently known in the trade as 'sweetened' audience laughter, canned laughter to its enemies, is finally stone-cold dead in its eighth decade." While Taylor points to The Big Bang Theory's finale as a possible end to canned laughter, he notes that the pandemic has essentially signaled its death knell. "Historians will dispute the exact moment of death," says Taylor. "Was it when The Big Bang Theory, the last major sweetened sitcom, went off the air in 2019? Was it early in the COVID pandemic, when even the most unfiltered studio audience started to sound weird and quite possibly illegal? Was it only proven brain dead in late 2021, when no sweetened TV sitcoms debuted on U.S. networks during the all-important fall season?"

11-06-2021, 06:28 AM	#2
RetroGuy2000 Julie,Julie Anne,&Felice 4Ever Forum Star Join Date: Dec 27, 2013 Posts: 16,914	This article is quite strange. TBBT had a live studio audience, not a laugh track. And during the pandemic, many shows relied on canned audience cheering. The Conners and other shows are back to a live studio audience.
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11-06-2021, 10:04 AM	#3
Alan Brady's Hair Member Senior Member Join Date: Aug 30, 2014 Posts: 1,831	They really have to address that no one's watching the new sitcoms. The only sitcom in last year's top 30 is Young Sheldon, which is of course a child of the last hit three-camera show. Network sitcoms are divided into two categories now: ones people used to watch that they don't make anymore, and ones nobody watches that they keep making more of.