Big Bang Theory

[mr. tegu]

It’s a good show.

[Bearcat]

I did a ctrl-f for 'laugh' and sure enough 10 years ago people were complaining about the laugh track... it's obnoxious.

I've never started Big Bang from the beginning, but just seeing random episodes it seemed like it was just okay.... I just reached the end of Young Sheldon and found that show to be quite a bit funnier, but will probably give BBT a shot one day.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

I did a ctrl-f for 'laugh' and sure enough 10 years ago people were complaining about the laugh track... it's obnoxious.

I've never started Big Bang from the beginning, but just seeing random episodes it seemed like it was just okay.... I just reached the end of Young Sheldon and found that show to be quite a bit funnier, but will probably give BBT a shot one day.

I'm quite sure BBT was filmed in front of a live audience. There's one really funny scene in particular, where Penny gives Sheldon a napkin autographed by Leonard Nimoy, that you can hear somebody in the audience with an obnoxious laugh so loud that it was distracting. No way that was part of a laugh track.

As for Young Sheldon, the commercials for it annoyed me enough that I've never watched a minute of it. That kid is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Of course, I'm a cranky old fart who's never had any kids, so pretty much all kids are like fingernails on a chalkboard.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I'm quite sure BBT was filmed in front of a live audience. There's one really funny scene in particular, where Penny gives Sheldon a napkin autographed by Leonard Nimoy, that you can hear somebody in the audience with an obnoxious laugh so loud that it was distracting. No way that was part of a laugh track.

As for Young Sheldon, the commercials for it annoyed me enough that I've never watched a minute of it. That kid is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Of course, I'm a cranky old fart who's never had any kids, so pretty much all kids are like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Once in a while shows bring in professional laughers. This may have been overboard.

Yes, it is a thing.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

Once in a while shows bring in professional laughers. This may have been overboard.

Yes, it is a thing.

It was a funny show. I can't believe they'd bother with that. There was just no need.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I'm quite sure BBT was filmed in front of a live audience. There's one really funny scene in particular, where Penny gives Sheldon a napkin autographed by Leonard Nimoy, that you can hear somebody in the audience with an obnoxious laugh so loud that it was distracting. No way that was part of a laugh track.

As for Young Sheldon, the commercials for it annoyed me enough that I've never watched a minute of it. That kid is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Of course, I'm a cranky old fart who's never had any kids, so pretty much all kids are like fingernails on a chalkboard.

They do use a live audience. But they also edit the laugh track by adding and removing noise to fit their needs. Which results in a very overused canned format that is insanely annoying once you notice it. Lots of sitcoms do the same thing, but this show just hammered it mercilessly. You start to notice the actors stopping dialog for no other reason than totally pointless laughter.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Fish

They do use a live audience. But they also edit the laugh track by adding and removing noise to fit their needs. Which results in a very overused canned format that is insanely annoying once you notice it. Lots of sitcoms do the same thing, but this show just hammered it mercilessly. You start to notice the actors stopping dialog for no other reason than totally pointless laughter.

I guess I never really thought about it, but that does make sense. I've seen those scenes on YouTube and it's definitely kind of jarring to hear them without the laughter.

Maybe it's because I'm used to it, or conditioned by decades of laugh tracks, but it just doesn't really bother me. I've seen clips from M*A*S*H that don't have the canned laughter, and they just seen wrong. I'm also not really a fan of modern comedies that don't have it.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I guess I never really thought about it, but that does make sense. I've seen those scenes on YouTube and it's definitely kind of jarring to hear them without the laughter.

Maybe it's because I'm used to it, or conditioned by decades of laugh tracks, but it just doesn't really bother me. I've seen clips from M*A*S*H that don't have the canned laughter, and they just seen wrong. I'm also not really a fan of modern comedies that don't have it.

Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

No laugh track.

Funny as hell.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I guess I never really thought about it, but that does make sense. I've seen those scenes on YouTube and it's definitely kind of jarring to hear them without the laughter.

Maybe it's because I'm used to it, or conditioned by decades of laugh tracks, but it just doesn't really bother me. I've seen clips from M*A*S*H that don't have the canned laughter, and they just seen wrong. I'm also not really a fan of modern comedies that don't have it.

MASH had some canned laughter, but never in the OR.

[displacedinMN]

BBT is a great show. SMART people navigating life. Johnny Galikie's looks are amazing.

No one is without issues. Adding the girls added a better dimension. Raj should have tried harder with the redhead.

[DJ's left nut]

I hate this show.

It's a 'smart' show for stupid people.

"Oh you just don't get it...."

Yeah, that's it. A show that supplanted 2 and a Half Men in mass market media consumption in this country is just too damn smart for me.

They make 'sciency' references as stand-alone attempts at humor that aren't actually clever and definitely aren't funny and in so doing get some sort of odd rep as being brilliant. Mentioning Schrodinger's Cat without any meaningful effort at a joke doesn't make anything intelligent. It's just a fly-by name drop of sorts.

You want clever and funny? Watch Silicon Valley. If you want stupid but funny, watch How I Met Your Mother and just skip the final 2 seasons.

Big Bang Theory is neither of those things.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

If you want stupid but funny, watch How I Met Your Mother and just skip the final 2 seasons.

Final 2 seasons ruined the entire show. Still won't watch it on Hulu.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

Final 2 seasons ruined the entire show. Still won't watch it on Hulu.

Yup.

I can't even watch the re-runs. The ending was THAT bad.

How do you blow a landing so badly that you wipe out everything that happened before it? Even Seinfeld didn't do that.

It blows my mind how they thought that was a good idea. Like you, Hulu can keep 'em. Which is a shame because it really was a good show.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yup.

I can't even watch the re-runs. The ending was THAT bad.

How do you blow a landing so badly that you wipe out everything that happened before it? Even Seinfeld didn't do that.

It blows my mind how they thought that was a good idea. Like you, Hulu can keep 'em. Which is a shame because it really was a good show.

Caught a few episodes when the wife was watching awhile back until I remembered how it all ends and I had to quit watching.

[Chitownchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yup.

I can't even watch the re-runs. The ending was THAT bad.

How do you blow a landing so badly that you wipe out everything that happened before it? Even Seinfeld didn't do that.

It blows my mind how they thought that was a good idea. Like you, Hulu can keep 'em. Which is a shame because it really was a good show.

If the show had ended after 3 or 4 seasons the ending wouldn't have been that bad at that point.

After 10 seasons it became clear that Ted and Robin should not be together. I was so sick of ted pining over her. Their characters had grown so much since those first couple seasons that the ending was a slap in the face.

That is a cautionary of locking yourself into an ending and not allowing the story to change as the characters do.