LogFAQs > #886608795

mooreandrew58 posted...

wah_wah_wah posted...

Laugh tracks are padding for lazy television producers. There is no reason for them to exist on any show anymore.

read what I said. it does give at least that. i've actually missed dialogue in shows that didn't have them because I or someone in the room was laughing. other than that though, it does make the show look awkward as you have the actors standing around just staring at each other

It isn't done for that narrow and easily-fixed-by-other-means reason. With a laugh track you can write far less jokes in every scene because you've got the set up *laugh track* the joke *laugh track* the reaction *laugh track*. It also makes shows less funny because the need for a laugh track makes it so the writers cannot put as many jokes into a scene and have it flow one into the other uninterrupted. They have to pause for that laugh track. A show without a laugh track like Arrested Development, for example, could never have had a laugh track at all. Everything in the show goes so quickly that there's just no time for it. And it's funnier because of it.