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I think we can all agree that, going forward, no new show should have a laugh track. Everyone who watches any comedies without laugh tracks has surely noticed by now that laugh tracks only highlight how unfunny sitcom jokes are, even on otherwise good sitcoms like HIMYM or The Big Bang Theory. Laugh tracks are basically wincing-cues now. So, ABC Family has this new show called Roommates, and it’s supposed to be terrible, as outlined in detail by Eliot Glazer on TV Squad.com. Eliot takes the show to task for, among other things, its horrible laugh track:
Someone in post-production seems to have gone overboard with Roommates, adding shrieks of laughter to the show could make the most passive of viewers highly suspicious.
This will sound familiar to anyone who’s accidentally seen Two And A Half Men on an airplane, or watched it on purpose stoned because they thought it would be funny that way (I hear it’s not.) But then, BUT THEN, Eliot provides a video he found on the ABC Family Roommates site that was (I think very obviously) accidentally put up without a laugh track, providing a peek behind the uncomfortable sitcom curtain that’s straight out of The TV Set. OUCH:
The worst thing about this, besides the deaf joke, is the fact that you actually can hear (slight) laughter at two separate points, meaning it was presumably filmed in front of an audience of appropriately silent, unamused, probably angry people.
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I actually laughed more without the laugh track.
Though I think I was laughing for the wrong reasons…
Finally, a TV show with the courage to make fun of decaf coffee!
Ridiculously uncomfortable.
I watched this show last night. The frontal lobe of my cerebral cortex cried out “WHY??!!” until it was over. Then it whimpered and made me hit myself. Repeatedly.
As an audiology student (aka someone who works with many, many individuals who are Deaf) that joke could be borderline offensive. As in, think of the joke being her telling someone in a wheelchair to carry her across the street only to have the person yell “I’M IN A WHEELCHAIR!” Yeah, this is stupid writing at it’s worst.
That being said…I laughed quite a bit at how bad this was. Add to that one of the Mowry sisters (which bitch is this?) and you got yourself a trainwreck worth making fun of!
NO!
I love the awkward pauses for the non-existant laughter.
if you could see an episode of the show that airs directly after this, it wouldnt seem so bad. Compared to “sophie” its kind of a charming throwback.
Reminds me of “Garfield Minus Garfield” except this made my skin crawl.
The pause-for-laugh moments left room for the sound of those jokes falling flat. Yikes.
Hey, wait a minute! Is that Shawn’s girlfriend from Boy Meets World?
We’re gonna need a bigger pair of pants for my boner.
Oh, it’s just Tamera from Sister, Sister.
Now we’re gonna need a bigger Boner Letdown Machine.
Shawn’s girlfriend was amazingly hot, mostly due to all her sass. So much sass.
The Big Bang Theory is funny in the sense that it is so far from funny, and the universe being circular, that it is paradoxically near funny. It is not, however, funny.
This show is so funny. I love this show, which reminds of the classic show Three’s Company. The clip above, was from last week’s episode, where they made up the name Phil my crack.
^Somebody actually said that.
after we get rid of laugh tracks, let’s get rid of the awkward pause, which — let’s be honest — is the new laugh track. the uk office originated it wonderfully, but it’s become the tiresome affect of tv shows and (worse) every ‘awkward-funny’ commercial on tv.
And pause…pause….pause
I love it. The “I’m deaf” line surrounded by awkward silence was so beautiful. I mean, we’re talking about To Catch A Predator-level unintentional laughter.
I cracked up at that moment.
Lindsay, this laugh track conversation reminded me of the British show “The I.T. Crowd” that I have been watching that I think uses laugh tracks pretty well.
I don’t know if you haven’t seen these shows from the UK (The I.T. Crowd, Peep Show), or what, but I’m feeling like a commentary is mandatory! They are SO good!
i can vouch for that. peep show is AMAZING!
Made it 58 seconds in, right after the deaf joke. I am proud of my accomplishment.
Is it just me, or do the actors kinda look a little bit disappointed when they don’t get the laughs they though they would? I mean, they all look so unsure if they should continue or not…
Wow, that’s just sad.
Like when a coworker says, “Hey, listen to my band!” and you do, and they’re crap, but you can’t say that, so you just have to say, “That’s… pretty good,” and everyone else does the same thing, and no one can talk about how bad it is until that coworker leaves.
THAT sad feeling.
I laughed so hard after the deaf joke, and there’s no way I would’ve even smirked had there been a laugh track there. It’s the complete absence of the canned laughter in a show that’s so obviously built around it (weird pauses, etc.) that makes this so great.
conclusion: being stoned AND a cut without the laugh track might actually make an episode of Two and a Half Men watchable
that wasn’t taped in front of an audience – some shows aren’t and then the taped episode is shown to an audience and the laughs recorded (then sweetened)
the few laughs you hear are from the crew members
I don’t know if it’s the same ad at the beginning for everyone, but Halle Barre advertising lip gloss just told me “I want it BOTH ways.” So there’s that.
Also, this is one of the best things i have seen this year. Whoever is in charge of memes needs to get on garfield minus garfield’in the hell out of laugh tracks right now. Let’s end the sitcom era with a bang, you guys.
this was painful. it reminded me of the one episode of “my boys” that i watched. it had the weirdest pauses after what i’m guessing were supposed to be jokes. i’m not a big fan of laugh tracks, but if the dialogue isn’t quick enough or the jokes not tight enough, they’re necessary. not every show can be the office or 30 rock, unfortunately.
I want to hate them for their bad jokes, but then I want to laugh at the end product of a clip like that without a laugh track…I’m so confused. One show that did no laugh track pretty well was Sports Night. THAT was a great show. I think they had a track in the beginning, but then they abandoned it halfway through, if I remember correctly.
I think Sports Night had a laugh track for 4-5 episodes, then went with a live studio audience for the rest of the first season, then went without for the second season.
I think the show is more interesting without a laugh track.
…And it’s gone.
I think the laugh-track is up now on that video, but there’s always this to fill that void:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvB_ybcKt0
Sometimes a laugh track IS necessary Lindsay!