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I Just Tried To Watch, The Big Bang Theory

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While last week's episode of 30 Rock wasn't very good to begin with but the live audience completely ruined it for me. I've never watched The Big Bang Theory but I've always thought it looked dumb.
 
I saw a commercial for the BBT and that was enough to tell me to never watch that smoldering pile of crap.
 
Fortunately for you The Big Bang Theory doesn't have a laugh track, it has a studio audience. Apparently actual people laughing is insulting to your intelligence.

If anything that makes it worse, unless somehow people actually laughing at it can be excused by some elaborate Saw-esque trap.

Those people laughing are an insult to intelligence in general.

No Big Bang Theory isn't the worst show on TV, it does after all get followed by Two and a Half Men. Of course, that should give you an idea of the audience that actually tunes in to watch.

Its really not that bad, but its definitely a poster child for TV's mind deterioration abilities. Watch people watching this show and you'll actually see them losing intelligence.

As for laugh tracks, since that's been brought up that some of these shows don't have them (its a live audience!), they're done in the same manner as though they do have a laugh track, with pauses written into it. You can argue semantics, but the results are the exact same.
 
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I'd like to just go ahead and say that I really enjoy The Big Bang Theory. I also watch 30 Rock, Outsourced, The Office, etc.
 
I don't know why but I never even noticed Seinfeld had a laugh track. Looking at youtube, yep it's pretty bad. Great show, but why would they vandalize it like that??

The best comedies do not draw attention to the fact that something funny was said. If you get the joke, you laugh. If you don't get it or you didn't hear it, you don't feel like a moron for not getting it because the conversation did not stop or pause for the joke.
I remember a few times as a kid I would be watching Simpsons and my dad would be laughing even though nothing funny (imo) was said. It was usually some kind of political stuff or something sexual. That was such a great show.
"I'm dick tracy, take that prune face. Now I'm prune face, take that dick tracey. Now I'm prune tracey, take that.." (video cuts out) 😀

Arrested Development was probably the best show for having very subtle jokes. In one episode, George Michael was trying to find out if his cousin really was his cousin. He asks Gob "has aunt Lindsay ever been pregnant?" and Gob says "oh yeah dozens of times" then the camera pans away from George Michael and starts focusing on Gob's conversation with a different character. If you're not paying attention, you wouldn't even realize you missed a joke.
Another one from that show was Michael making some comment about how TV completely lacks realism, then when one of the other characters starts talking, Michael opens one of the kitchen cabinets and the audience sees that there is absolutely nothing in the cabinets.
 
Of course if you remove the laugh track it will look retarded, the pauses are still there for it so the flow of the conversation is retarded. Say what you want about the show, but removing the laugh track to point that it sucks is not the way to go about it.
 
And I came to a realization. I can not stomach shows with laugh tracks. It's insulting to ones intelligence.
Why in Gods name do they do this?

The show is incredibly unfunny, so they need a laugh track to clue people in when they think they've made a funny.

As a matter-of-fact, I don't ever recall seeing a show that I thought was less funny than Big Bang Theory.
 
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I can not think of a single (new) comedy I watch (and I watch A LOT of comedies)with studio or canned laughing.
I think the last one was likely Seinfeld. But that is funny with or without it. That show would have worked flawlessly without any laughter overlay.
 
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