Oh yeah I knew it was a live studio audience - sorry for the generic use of ‘laugh track.’ But yes, what bothers me is the audible laughter. Interesting aside - a friend of mine once went to a taping of 3rd Rock From the Sun. He said that they re-shot scenes quite frequently just to get better audience reaction - complete with cues for when to laugh.
Nerd, please.
Edit: shame on a nerd that try to run game on a nerd, BBT buck wild with the turd
I’ve seen bits of this show. Usually I’ll pick out little interesting bits in the set backgrounds. The problem with the laugh track (or studio audience laughter) is that there doesn’t appear to be anything genuinely funny happening. The Youtube videos sort of prove this out … it seems like a bunch of non-jokes.
For example: someone walks in the door carrying a box. This person says to another character: “Great news … my mom sent me my old Nintendo 64”. The audience laughs uproariously. Why is that a joke? Is any video game reference automatically funny? I don’t get it.
I guess modern comedies like Arrested Development, Community, Curb your Enthusiasm, Parks and Recreation, etc. have made this stuff unwatchable for me.
You can’t ignore a laugh track when you’re never laughing along with it. That’s why I’m confused that modern shows still use it; when it’s not completely alienating, it’s condescending: do they think that someone will be tricked into laughing because a bunch of other people (in another room, in another state, taped last year) are “laughing” too? Then again, it helps to have a cue, especially when your jokes are that subtle. I saw a BBT episode that featured a smoking monkey, and I wasn’t quite sure what to think until the laugh track kicked in.
Still, while a laugh track usually accompanies a bad comedy, it doesn’t cause it. Doesn’t add anything else, though. Throws off actors’ timing (the scene pausing while the crowd cheers for Kramer, the three second pause on supposed laugh lines in BBT), too.
Because to normal people, men are funny if they get giddy and excited (in kind of a squealish, non-manly way) over what the rest of the world essentially views as childrens’ toys .
They did the same thing when Sheldon was all giddy excited and hopping up and down like a little school girl over his Mr. Spock lifesize cardboard cutout. I rarely see (I’d say never, but I guess I can’t guarantee that) “normal” men visibly giddily excited (e.g. bouncing up and down) over getting a new golf club. I’ve seen geeks do exactly that over their toys.
As they say on the Simpsons, it’s funny because it’s true.
Feck orrrrf!
While I don’t watch it regularly, the show has produced some pretty clever episodes. Yes, Leonard and Sheldon are stereotypes, as are Howard and Raj. Whats interesting to me is while they are all nerd stereotypes, they are also all unique characters. Howard goes out of his way to score with women. Raj wants to score, but is so socially awkward that he cannot talk them unless drunk. Stuff like that.
On another note, my family (all of them, usually independently) claim I am a dead ringer for Sheldon. To which I respond, “nonsense, he’s my least favorite character. He’s so unrealistic. Anyone that annoying and socially unaware would never be tolerated and included in a group for such a long time.” Awkward silence follows.
I have a feeling if the people around you love this show, and you don’t, you might just be a Sheldon.
I just watched the no-laughing version and it’s odd how often they interject laughter. I watched one also with the laughter completely removed and the scene squished back to normal timing with no pauses and it was much better.
I think there are enough shows without audible laughter that I can do without this one.
Now a serious drama with live studio audience sound would be awesome though. People ‘ewwing’ at the crime scene! yes please. lol
I’ll throw my two cents in here just to say I’ve watched an episode or two and don’t find it particularly funny. I’m nerdy but I guess those guys feel a bit to over the top for me. For instance, I might be having a discussion at work with someone who also plays games, where in the middle of a conversation we might throw out a line about something in Skyrim, whereas it feels like on the show, the nerdy guy would spend 50% of his time making video game or nerd references.
It doesn’t bother me that other people like it though, so if you like it, go right ahead!
Any show with a laugh track/live studio audience is going to sound awful with laughter removed because they pause for laughter constantly.
Which is probably why something like Community seems to cram SO much into their 22 minutes by comparison; standard sitcoms are wasting like 40% IC their running time on laughter…
Have you ever seen grown men jump up and down at a sporting event?
This might be one of the stupidest things I’ve read here.
True, Sheldon would never watch a show like The Big Bang Theory. :)
I enjoy the show. It is always funny, not always but often enough it is. I came to it late but with re-runs know all over the place it is easy to see old episodes. For the most part the show hits the mark, as I can see several people on this site in those roles. I know from my little geekiness that the stuff shown on the show is probably truly geeky stuff to most people. From what I have read the science they represent on the show is actual science so that is cool.
I can see why true geeks may not like the show, just as true jocks would hate a show that made fun of them. It is not always easy to see the humor in things you do yourself.
Much of humor is based in exaggeration. That is what you are describing.
I rarely see (I’d say never, but I guess I can’t guarantee that) “normal” men visibly giddily excited (e.g. bouncing up and down) over getting a new golf club. I’ve seen geeks do exactly that over their toys.
Power tools and new sports cars. Old guys with motorcycles. Strange what can really excite someone.
Then why do nerds like Community so much?
I have never watched Community. I know my daughter loves it, but she is nowhere near a nerd. I did hear about the WoW thing they did. From what I understand it is a very good show that has ratings problems.
Because it’s much better written, and more tasteful and respectful of its source material, and presented in a much more intelligent way that doesn’t require hearing an audience to know when to laugh.
Abed is awesome in Community.
I have never watched Community.
Allow me to explain, then. Big Bang is a show with nerd characters written by non-nerds, in standard stereotypical sitcom fashion. Community is a show with nerd characters written by actual nerds.
It’s got nothing to do with it “not being easy to see humor in things you do yourself,” because Community is even more vicious on that account. It has to do with verisimilitude. Big Bang Theory has as much to do with nerd culture as Amos & Andy had to do with the civil rights movement.
Yeah, Abed is someone I wouldn’t mind being a friend with in real life, whereas the folks on BBT are just so annoying I’d want to shove spikes in their eyes and let them bleed to death.