I still found myself laughing though you definitely get more of the awkwardness of the situation that you would get it real life with these guys without the laugh track.

Well, the problem with editing out just the laugh track is that there are these huge gaps of no audio that throw off the comedic timing of the jokes. It’s most noticeable during long gaps, where it makes the person look like they forgot their lines.

I can’t stomach this show, so I have no thoughts on it and the laugh track. I have noted, however, that sometimes it is the absence of a laugh track–not the removal of it, but its very lack–that causes problems. The latest Red Dwarf installments are a perfect example. They are problematic on so many levels, but one of the key issues is that they are the first incarnations of the show not to have a laugh track. As annoying as I find laugh tracks, 1) they apparently have become part of Red Dwarf where I am concerned, and 2) they might have made the whole thing come off as far less serious than it did. And serious and Red Dwarf are a bad combination.

Yeah, I can’t stomach the show either. I have no problem with people who are fans of it or even really love the show, it’s just that the show tries too hard to be funny/geeky. It seems like the show was made by people who aren’t geeks. I mean sure they put in plenty of references but they’re very obvious references to comics and movies that are well known to people. The characters are little stereotypes of what people *think* geeks and nerds are like. It’s not like they’re ever going to pull out a Logan’s Run joke. Well that movie IS kinda popular, but still. That’s why the laugh track was an annoyance to me. It would come on and I’d be like “Wait…what was the funny part? I was supposed to laugh at that?”. Laugh tracks DO make me feel like laughing though. Maybe it’s because we’re a bit conditioned to laugh along with our friends to fit in, y’know?

“We’re the only one’s who even remember ‘Logan’s Run.’” –Free Enterprise

I totally agree with your assessment of the show. And as for laugh tracks, I really was surprised how much of a difference they make. They’re obnoxious, but without them a comedy has to be really on top of its game to work. And if a show has had them in the past, like Red Dwarf, releasing all-new episodes without a laugh track is problematic.

Yeah, I had the exact same issue with Blackadder. All the previous episodes and specials had laugh tracks, but the last special they did had none and it just didn’t have the same effect on me even though the material was still good.

Heh, I was thinking about Free Enterprise the other day. Run RUNNAH!!

Logan’s Run is in my Netflix queue for me to watch for the first time ever.

Dude! And you call yourself a geek? >;)

Well, at least you ARE planning to watch it.

RUN, RUNNAH! Hah! Love that movie. It tickles me every time. And I had totally forgotten that “Blackadder” did that, too. Good catch.

Or you could just wait for the remake that is in the works. Isn’t that how it goes these days? Why revisit the old when something vacuous will be along eventually to eradicate any meaning inherent in its predecessor?

“BSG” being a clear exception to this rule…. >;)

Pssh! No! Don’t wait for the inevitable remake! While the better remakes introduce new concepts to a movie, the majority of them are just…bad. Though I can’t knock the remake of Psycho, since it was almost a shot for shot remake. Logan’s Run needs to be watched in its original, slightly cheesy, form. Then you can go around shouting “There is NO sanctuary!”

Sadly, my friends and I intone “There is NO sanctuary” at least once a day. NO JOKE.

I said it yesterday while standing in the kitchen at work. And I said it today just a few minutes ago, naturally based upon this thread.

A preview of your future viewing experience:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Amt30_QVQ

I guess you shouldn’t watch that, though, since it gives away the end. >;)

I’m with Ben and Amber on Big Bang Theory…it’s like a bunch of execs sat around and tried to guess what geeks like, and basically gave us recycled characters from Revenge of the Nerds with generic “geek” references.

I think the laugh track lets people get little yuk yuk chuckles out of jokes that would otherwise be awful. I never was more disappointed in my friends than when they made me watch that show

Sorry, Christy — I’m late to the discussion on this one, and you even called me out in the first paragraph!

You’re partially right — the laugh track bothers me, but it goes deeper.

Part of the reason the Big Bang Theory bugs me is that it doesn’t so much showcase geeks as it does just show them.

As I’ve said before: the whole “look — these geeks are playing a game on their computers, and talking to each other on headsets… and… wait for it… they’re in the same room” approach isn’t funny to me. It’s Tuesday.

Compare that with “Galaxy Quest,” a movie which both lampooned geeks and paid tribute to them. There was plenty of inside joke material for us nerds, but it was still accessible enough to outsiders. And, most importantly, the movie had genuine heart.

This show feels over-studioed and focus grouped to me. Like Jason Harris said above — it’s like a bunch of suits tried to make a show for geeks… but acceptable to commoners. True, I’ve only watched a handful of episodes, but it just doesn’t have that same heart to me.

That said, I’m all for any show that’s not reality television, and I’d rather watch a thousand Big Bang Theories over That’s So Kardashian, or whatever is being passed around these days.

You can tell commoners are the ones that mostly watch the show because the show has ridiculously high ratings while genre shows have dramatically less.

Even Community is able to take geeks and make them accessible but also have obscure references to stuff sometimes. Though Spaced and Freaks and Geeks are probably one of the few shows that had real heart to them.

Does the rolling help!?!

I’m with you Christy, i like this show a lot too. It and How i met your mother are two of only 3 shows i regularly watch on tv anymore. But i think that it might have appealed to me as a physicist first, honestly. I think it’s a little cute that a lot of people here think that they pick major geek things that everyone knows about though. Geek culture isn’t as main stream as the internet leads us to believe, i promise you. A very large chunk of that audience did NOT know who wil wheaton was before seeing that show.

I find the characters are stereotypes. That’s what I don’t like. I don’t watch sitcoms, anyway, to be honest, but this one is just really stilted to me.

For the most part the “geeks” I have known have all seemed like everyday people to me. I’m always surprising people by admitting I like sci-fi and fantasy because I don’t come off as that kind of person. And most of the people I know are the same way.

Now I have run into one or two people like those portrayed in this TV show, but that’s it. Well, except at conventions. >;) Out in the day-to-day I don’t meet anyone like this.

Since the show is written to have a laugh track, the timing of the dialogue and of responses both verbal and physical is different. So it is kind of weird to see it with the laugh track taken out, especially in the second example where it’s not done nearly as well. A laugh track isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and kind of suits this show (although it’s nearly impossible to be objective here). Some just seem better that way. Compare two of my favorites, Black Adder and Twitch City. The former has one, the latter doesn’t. The writing and everything else is different depending on whether the show is intended to have one or not.

Btw – favorite character? Howard. Although I love the rest, and Sheldon’s appeal is obvious, I probably laugh hardest at Howard’s antics.