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Post by Gilberto on Jan 18, 2012 19:45:23 GMT -5
They ruined Sports Night with a laugh track, but that's partly because the network insisted on filming parts of the show in front of a live studio audience (this was before single camera comedies were popular), so the parts without seemed weird.
I can watch shows like How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory, but I have to overcome my hatred of the format first. After a while you filter out the laugh track, but I prefer single camera shows.
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Post by lynn on Jan 18, 2012 20:04:28 GMT -5
I remember when Scrubs first came out and we were trying to define what we liked about it and I mentioned the no laugh track thing. My friends all fell silent then all at once agreed how much of a difference it had made without them noticing.
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Post by broox on Jan 18, 2012 22:19:11 GMT -5
Of course most of you will have no idea what I'm talking about, but we put a laugh track on one of the episodes of the sketch show we did in college and I actually thought it helped the show. Strange.
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Post by lynn on Jan 19, 2012 5:26:42 GMT -5
You put a laugh track on the sitcom episode of this show and I can't listen to it.
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Post by broox on Jan 19, 2012 12:48:31 GMT -5
I'm sorry. Maybe we should re-release a "non laugh track" version of that episode.
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Post by Gilberto on Jan 19, 2012 18:29:14 GMT -5
The laugh track probably isn't the problem on that episode. On the TV show we were spoofing sitcoms, so the laugh track worked, but sadly it also let people know when to laugh and they seemed to appreciate that. Our humor was kind of out there on the show. I think people were just happy to have jokes that made sense.
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Post by Gilberto on Jan 19, 2012 18:30:14 GMT -5
Plus, after 150 episodes of TVAMD, I'm not re-mastering crap. The show is what it is.
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Post by lynn on Jan 19, 2012 20:06:01 GMT -5
No, don't worry about non-laugh tracking things. There's plenty of episodes I like to listen to without making more hassles for you guys. I just don't like laugh tracks.
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Post by Gilberto on Jan 21, 2012 7:31:48 GMT -5
On the subject of laugh tracks, I think what bothers me more about the sitcom format is that vaudevillian setup where they wait for the laugh. The comedy is so formula, that's why I can't stand stuff like "Two and a Half Men". So when they don't get the laugh they have to use box to fill out the awkward silence. I hear they liquor up the audience to make them an easier sell, but that's probably still not enough for most shows.
Some people - especially in the business - enjoy the sitcom format because it's old fashioned and it's one of the last bastions of live performance still captured on film, and I can appreciate that. I just don't personally enjoy them.
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Post by drivebyluna on Jan 21, 2012 11:29:11 GMT -5
I don't either. I think the last one I watched with any kind of regularity was Will and Grace. I'd rather watch 30 ROck or Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
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Post by Gilberto on Jan 22, 2012 15:16:58 GMT -5
Here's another one they just pulled on Alcatraz: Whenever somebody doesn't drink in a movie or on TV, they go to a bar and order a club soda. I've never known anyone who drinks club soda. I've never even heard anyone say club soda except on TV.
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Post by broox on Jan 22, 2012 19:00:02 GMT -5
Also, people never eat, sleep, or use the restroom in movies (unless it's a set up for something funny/scary). Like we mentioned earlier with star wars, Luke sets off first thing in the morning chasing after R2 and by bedtime he's blown up the death star without so much as a snack. I thought it was cool that LOTR actually showed them eating and sleeping.
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Post by lynn on Jan 22, 2012 19:50:57 GMT -5
Because eating and sleeping is boring, that's why they mainly cut it out of big brother etc. LOTR had to show them eating and sleeping because otherwise Frodo and Sam are just walking the whole time, doing nothing else. It's actually a little sad that eating and sleeping are the most interesting things they can show them doing. But I do agree that it adds good context to a scene.
That being said did anybody actually like the way they set every other dialogue scene in the bathroom in Allie McBeal? Look, we're quirky, we're showing people in the bathroom like real life! Where people talk and pee at the same time! Doesn't everyone do that?
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Post by drivebyluna on Jan 23, 2012 10:38:11 GMT -5
I hate when people try to talk to me while I'm trying to use that bathroom. Just let me pee in peace and I can talk to you after I get out.
Also I do know ONE person in my retinue of friends who likes club soda. He bought a bottle of it over to our apt and now it's just chilling there. I think it's been there for over 3 months.
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Post by lynn on Jan 23, 2012 17:23:34 GMT -5
Yeah, I spoke to a barman about this; he says most people drink squash or soda or something when they're not drinking alcohol, very few soda waters.
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