Will the Laugh Track Ever Come Back?

**thedamndest** · 07-09-2009, 04:56 PM

The first non-laugh track comedy show I remember watching is probably Malcolm in the Middle. It actually took me a while before I even realized it was missing the laughter. Probably because the show was funny enough on its own. One reason I think laugh track shows have reached the end is that they have just become so predictable. I don't want to make a blanket statement like "everything has been done", but everything has been done. If you're going to build a show around a family with 2.6 kids, you're basically going to be doing the same show that has been done for the last thirty years. But then you have shows like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother which feature the laugh track but are not that. They are only three seasons old, but both are on CBS, so I suspect CBS was the last to get the memo that the laugh track was out. They have a few other comedies that use it too.

**DAMN iNATOR** · 07-10-2009, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedamndest

The first non-laugh track comedy show I remember watching is probably Malcolm in the Middle. It actually took me a while before I even realized it was missing the laughter. Probably because the show was funny enough on its own. One reason I think laugh track shows have reached the end is that they have just become so predictable. I don't want to make a blanket statement like "everything has been done", but everything has been done. If you're going to build a show around a family with 2.6 kids, you're basically going to be doing the same show that has been done for the last thirty years. But then you have shows like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother which feature the laugh track but are not that. They are only three seasons old, but both are on CBS, so I suspect CBS was the last to get the memo that the laugh track was out. They have a few other comedies that use it too.

You never saw The Wonder Years? It didn't have laugh tracks either. It was told from a narrative perspective. And don't pull that "it's not a comedy, it's a drama", because it's not (a drama, I mean).

07-09-2009, 04:56 PM	#1
thedamndest A Property of Matter Posts: 25,543	The first non-laugh track comedy show I remember watching is probably Malcolm in the Middle. It actually took me a while before I even realized it was missing the laughter. Probably because the show was funny enough on its own. One reason I think laugh track shows have reached the end is that they have just become so predictable. I don't want to make a blanket statement like "everything has been done", but everything has been done. If you're going to build a show around a family with 2.6 kids, you're basically going to be doing the same show that has been done for the last thirty years. But then you have shows like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother which feature the laugh track but are not that. They are only three seasons old, but both are on CBS, so I suspect CBS was the last to get the memo that the laugh track was out. They have a few other comedies that use it too.