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I hate sitcoms, period.
shareThe laugh box, imagine watching a sitcom with silence ? They experimented with live sports too. No play by play or analysis ? It sucks!
shareThe first sitcom I can remember watching that didn't have a laugh track was The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, sometime in the 80s. It was the first (and last?) intelligent sitcom I've ever seen. I loved that the writers respected the audience enough to not feel they had to cue them as to what was supposed to be funny.
shareIt's not about telling the audience when something is funny (although that is the purpose of sweetening the "laugh track"), it's about recreating the atmosphere of a theater audience. I think sitcoms with audience laughter and those without have totally different vibes. The interaction with the audience also lets the actors and writers know when a joke doesn't work or goes on for too long.
shareGood point about trying to recreate the atmosphere of a theatre audience, but your points apply to sitcoms that were filmed with an actual audience, not a laugh track.
shareI agree that it's totally different if a sitcom uses "canned laughter" because it has no use whatsoever. But most sitcoms will claim they have a live studio audience and at the most sweeten the laugh track. Weren't MASH and The Love Boat like the last shows to use completely artificial laughter?
shareMany British sitcoms do NOT have the ridiculous laugh box.
I have to correct my stance on sitcoms. I grew up in the 50's and 60's and watched ALL of them. "Mr Ed , Burns and Allen ,Lucy , etc " and adored them . I also am a Seinfeld nut for the show! But today's sitcoms are full of smut jokes, T&A and bathroom humor. I do not find that entertaining.
I also love the British sitcoms like "Last of the Summer Wine , Are You Being Servec", etc.
I agree about the smut jokes, etc. I don't find deliberate insults entertaining either. Nor do I want to see kids smart-mouthing their parents.
I think today's sitcoms are mislabeled - they're not situational comedies - as in the comedy comes from the situation. Remember that on I Love Lucy the laughs came from the ridiculous or silly circumstances she got herself into. Today's so-called comedy comes mainly from smutty jokes or insults. No thanks.
Exactly, makes you wonder who is watching this stuff?!
shareI agree, I hate today's sitcoms.
share:)
shareBut they're no different than many 70s cartoons where "meddling kids' were always perfect.I prefer 60s shows, and speaking of which THOSE and the older ones had outside scenes. and in the mid 60s Gilligan's Island and McHale's navy were always outside.Stratego,. nice to see one of the younger set (I assume you are) on here..
shareThey do go "outside", it's just that it's also an indoor set. I actually hate it when on soaps they never go outside or the rooms don't have any windows. That really gives me a claustrophobic vibe.
shareThe only time that ever really got to me was in I, Claudius. Which isn't a sitcom of course, and which is also a masterpiece. But every single scene was indoors. I don't think they had a single real outdoor scene in the whole series. It's possible they had one or two, but that's it. I loved the show but it felt claustrophobic. I think it kind of worked though because the claustrophobic feeling kind of amplified the feel of tension in the halls of power in Rome.
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