That the days of the sitcom with a laugh track, or ones that are "filmed in front of a live audience" are long gone. How I Met Your Mother was probably the last one that could get away with it, but the writing for that show was pretty damn good to make up for it. If they're smart, they'll get rid of this, and this show could stand a chance.
I'm always dragging that horse around...
I disagree with that notion entirely but that's just my opinion. I still enjoy them and I still enjoy the ones from the past as well. I'd buy into your notion that those days are long gone if there had been a long period or even a short period of time where they ceased to exist on any of the top broadcast networks. As you know, such a time has never occurred so why would those days be long gone? How I Met Your Mother didn't even use a real audience. I think it was 100% canned but I'm not sure. It didn't even resemble the sound of a real audience. Laugh track or no laugh track, it's the writing that matters the most above all else.
shareUh ever see The Big Bang Theory? It's a big hit and has a laugh track.
Fincher's Alien 3
I have only seen a few scattered episodes of TBBT,not a big fan at all. I still like older shows that used it, and I'm sure some shows could still get away with it, but with a lot of these newer shows? You can tell they are just written around the laugh tracks.
I'm always dragging that horse around...
I agree it belongs in the past. How many shows in the last five years has been successful with one?
shareTBBT does not have a laugh track, that is filmed in front of a live audience.
shareIronic that HIMYM was the one show that actually used a laugh track. All the other ones I watch (or at least know) are filmed in front of a live audience (with "Melissa & Joey" even saying it before each episode begins (soon ´began´ - show´s got cancelled after four years).
However I think some shows only work in front of a live audience whie others don´t.
And new shows always have a hard time getting an audience before they become better known and find their place. ("Friends" is a good example).
Another problem is the setting of these MultiCam sitcoms. Since they´re 90% shot in a studio there´s not much more to do than either roommate/family shows or workplace shows (f.e. Spin City). I think that´s why many people consider them boring.
This one is acceptable but not good enough for a big network. It would work better on ABC family or so.
A beautiful Caribbean trip on a huge cruise ship.
3500 zombies - 10 survivors.
Not fair!
Friends is not an example of a show that had a hard time. It was an instant hit.
Fincher's Alien 3
[deleted]
I meant finding its place. It had a completely different style/writing in the first episodes (considering they used parts of dropped "Seinfeld" episodes it makes sense).
A beautiful Caribbean trip on a huge cruise ship.
3500 zombies - 10 survivors.
Not fair!
I guess you don't remember all of the on location shooting shows like Home Improvement did back in the day. Let's be real here, networks don't shovel out big money for shows anymore unless they are a huge hit from the getgo like Modern Family. Modern Family is the only show I can think of right now that actually looks like the network gives it a lot of money to do more things like on location shooting. Multi cams can be just as versatile as single cams but these days networks are cheaper than they were back then and they try to get more (good results) with less which is why they LOVE reality shows; they're cheap and they bring in ratings.
shareNot that many people even watch single-cams there's very few hits out there in that genre, multi-cams are still doing very well there hasn't been a hit in a while on NBC but I really like Undateable. SNL is pretty much a multi-cam too and still very successful.
Actually single-cams are becoming a thing of the past because the next transition in comedies are that they are going to start being live you will see this trend in the next 5-10 years that's the next evolution in TV comedies. NBC is already testing the format later in the spring with Undateable to see if it works on a permanent basis.
I was hoping this show would be more in the vein of Happy Endings. As much as I love Ellen, the only reason I'm actually watching this is for Elisha Cuthbert. Which is probably the only reason I'm being such a whiny baby about it. I'm still utterly heartbroken that was canceled.
I'm always dragging that horse around...
I agree 1000 % with everything you said. You took the words right out of my mouth. It's such a dated, corny set up that just doesn't belong in 2015. It immediately seemed off to me for that exact reason. It felt like the 90's all over again. Don't get me wrong, 90's television was great but it's over. (Roseanne, Home Improvement, Full House, Seinfeld...it was all fine but it's time for a fresh format.) That's what's preventing me from really like this show. The lead guy is great, the lead girl is equally great(not Cuthbert but the brunette) and what's really scoring extra points for the whole production is that she's not waif thin like most sitcom actresses... the problem is that laugh track, it's awful.
I also don't like the lack of a theme song. I'm a theme song fan. I'd rather they kept that installment from the 90's and ditched the laugh track instead of the other way around.
Someone else beat me to mentioning the Big Bang Theory, but they mentioned it in the opposite way I was going to bring it up: That's another example of a sitcom utilizing this device over a decade too late (though I think TBBT started in 2007. Still late.) I don't like the implementation of the device on TBBT either. Just because one hit show uses it doesn't mean it's necessarily good. To me that show can't 'get away' with it either as it diminishes my enjoyment a great deal.
Can't they at least tape shows in front of a live audience if they really can't rely on the show itself to form organic laughs from their audience or they think we as their audience are too dumb to know when to laugh?
Renegade,
Have you ever seen a multicam without a laugh track? It's torture. You have no clue what you are talking about. Good shows with a laugh track aren't stale. We just haven't seen one in ages because the execs don't know what a good multicam is anymore. OBH is abysmal writing, acting and direction. That is the problem, not the track.
Shows with a laugh track, or filmed in front of a live audience still have a place - they just need to be funny/well written. The problem with One Big Happy was they had hysterical laughter at jokes that weren't funny - or at the most worth a slight giggle. If it's a track, they really need a good sound department to put the right laughs over the jokes.
Also - I'm not sure how many people might know this but even shows filmed in front of a live audience use a laugh track in places - and not just (as you may think) to add laughter where there was none, but also to alter the length of the laughter if it goes on too long and you can't hear the actors next line. I saw a behind the scenes show about Friends and there was a section devoted to explaining the sounds.
px54,
There is an art to it. You are right. The sound guy in charge of the audience track has to have a very subtle hand. A lot of times on the last show I worked on, the laughs actually had to be shortened and taken down. Not only were they stepping on the next lines, even the showrunner had to say "That just wasn't that goddamned funny. They'll think we are going nuts with canned laughs." That's what you get when you load an audience full of low-lifes and people bussed in from halfway houses. Part of the problem with the track now is there just aren't enough sound guys still around who know how to properly run the audience track. It's becoming a lost art.