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Canned Laughter Does Not Help If A Sitcom Isn't Funny: Seinfeld, Friends, Will And Grace - Bad Writing & Insults Do Not Equal Funny - Op-Ed
posted Tuesday, 5 September 2006
Canned Laughter
Does Not Help If
A Sitcom Isn’t Funny:
Seinfeld, Friends,
Will And Grace -
Bad Writing & Insults
Do Not Equal Funny
This isn’t a cooking recipe, but it does relate to
“Roasting Turkeys”
I watched an episode of Seinfeld in Reruns - it wasn’t funny.
http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9611/19/wayne.knight/link.seinfeld.jpg
As a Stand-up Comic, Jerry Seinfeld has few peers,
but this Sitcom brought him to his knees too often.
but this Sitcom brought him to his knees too often.
Maybe Cop Dramas are just easier to produce. There have been so many good ones and so few truly bad ones in comparison to Sitcoms. For one thing, none of them used a “Laugh Track”!
Obviously, comedy is not easy to do. Rarely does TV get it right. The worst thing you can say about a Sitcom is, “It isn’t funny!” I like Brooke Shields, but her Sitcom wasn’t funny. I know; I used to watch it. She was the best thing in it, and nobody would confuse Brooke with Joan Davis.
Please note I am not critiquing ‘I Love Lucy’ or ‘The Honeymooners’. If I went back that far, this Article would have to be in 3-parts.
I watched two episodes of ‘Friends’ - it wasn’t funny either.
http://hem.passagen.se/danielho/friends.jpg
“Friends” – nice cast deserved better writers! They should have unleashed the “Canned Laughter” whenever a cast member was mouthing some of that horrible dialogue. Canned Laughter doesn’t help “Friends”.
Why are these 2 shows so popular? These sitcoms make me want them to bring back “Coach”!
Frasier is funny most of the time. I like it even better than I did ‘Cheers’. The melding of Kelsey Grammer and the Frasier character is perfect, just as Ted Danson was with Sam Malone. When Diane left ‘Cheers’, it was never the same, but it was still very good.
http://www.crazyabouttv.com/ImagesTwo/frasier.jpg
‘Frasier’ cast is perfect! The only thing I don’t like about it is Grammer because he’s a Republican and I know it. I stayed away for a year and a half, but recently I came back for the reruns. I still dislike Grammer intensely, but the show is a Classic. It may be the best Sitcom of all time despite how I feel about Grammer personally.
I had to watch a show, listening for the Canned Laughter. ‘Frasier’ has it, but I never noticed before. When a show isn’t funny, the canned laughter is the only thing you do notice. When a show is really good, you pay the canned stuff no attention. Maybe that’s a clue: if you notice the canned stuff, change the channel.
‘Everybody Hates Chris’ has no laugh track. No wonder I love the show! PS This show doesn’t need a laugh track!
http://www.tv.com/everybody-hates-chris/show/34457/photos.html
Satire never had it so good! The integration of Whites and Blacks on TV has never worked so naturally or so well. The show is both inventive and risk-taking. I'm still looking for a 'Format'.
Laugh tracks should be verboten. Then you would know how awful shows like Seinfeld really are! The laugh track deceives viewers into thinking other people find it funny, when it isn’t funny at all.
There have been some funny sitcoms with laugh tracks. But the “Tracks” are really an insult to viewers - they inform you where you should laugh. Give me a break!
Allow me to identify Great Sitcoms in no particular order:
Maude,
All In The Family,
Mary Hartmann, Mary Hartmann,
(Yes, I love Norman Lear Sitcoms!)
Cheers
Roseanne
The Cosby Show
Frasier
Frank’s Place
Golden Girls
Ally McBeal
All In The Family,
Mary Hartmann, Mary Hartmann,
(Yes, I love Norman Lear Sitcoms!)
Cheers
Roseanne
The Cosby Show
Frasier
Frank’s Place
Golden Girls
Ally McBeal
Good Sitcoms:
The Odd Couple
The Jeffersons
Fresh Prince
Married With Children
Buffalo Bill (Dabney Coleman)
Murphy Brown
Mash
The Odd Couple
The Jeffersons
Fresh Prince
Married With Children
Buffalo Bill (Dabney Coleman)
Murphy Brown
Mash
This Sitcom was Good, not Great. But ‘Mash’ - is the Sitcom that almost all present-day sitcoms emulate UNSUCCESSFULLY! ‘Mash’ was a single-note pony - witty insults & double entendres. But it was well-written and it worked, despite the triviality. ‘All About Eve’ was a Great 2-hour film. When you do a half-hour weekly Sitcom, you don’t have to be “laugh ha-ha” all the time, but you do have to have more than one song in your repertoire. ‘Mash’ didn’t! The writers got stuck in “The Format”.
Hits, but Mediocre Sitcoms
‘Happy Days’ was nice, but the only thing funny about it was ‘Fonzie’!
‘Alice’ had one funny thing going for it - Flo!
Kramer, Seinfeld’s “Weirdo”. Without him, you’d
need a toilet bowl brush to put life in this show.
He helped make it a “Hit”, but he couldn’t make
it “Great” – even Fonzie couldn’t do that.
http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/lg/8/6/Seinfeld-Kramer-8613.jpg
Offbeat characters have often been the only funny thing in a successful sitcom.
Fonzie in ‘Happy Days’
Flo in ‘Alice’
Norm in “Cheers”
Kramer in ‘Seinfeld’
Klinger in ‘Mash’
Flo in ‘Alice’
Norm in “Cheers”
Kramer in ‘Seinfeld’
Klinger in ‘Mash’
Except for ‘Cheers’ and 'Mash' to a lesser degree, the ‘Weirdos’ only emphasized how mediocre those shows actually were.
Success does not necessarily imply greatness. Quite the contrary. Similarly, I could name countless No. 1 Hit Songs in America that absolutely SUCK BIG TIME! But that’s a Post for another day.
Awful Sitcoms are too numerous to mention. I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out. Let’s just say that in the last 25 years, these are the Sitcoms worth mentioning. Most of the rest are crap. I mention Seinfeld, Friends, & Will And Grace, which are awful, because they have been very successful. They possess likeable characters, quirkiness and LAUGH TRACKS. Other than that, not much. Their success only demonstrates the pitiful condition of American tastes and intelligence. Add Dharma & Greg to that Awful List - I’m watching it now as I write (PUKE!) This episode involves bears. Dharma teases the big bear to induce her to start their stalled van. OK, so it’s also Stupid. Canned laughter? You bet!
One final nail in the Sitcom casket: the same tired “Format” every week. That works for ‘Columbo’, but not for Sitcoms.
I realize that I should watch more than 5-10 minutes to fairly evaluate these “comedies?”, but covering GWB is bad enough; there are some depths to which even I won’t stoop!
If you disagree with those assessments, let me remind you who is currently President of the United States. That alone proves my point about American tastes and intelligence.
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)
comments (5)
1. Bahri left...
Monday, 7 April 2008 2:09 am
I guess you couldn't get the jokes in Seinfeld. Pity you missed a GREAT
sitcom.
2. The Truth left...
Friday, 1 August 2008 6:02 pm
It's a shame that you don't understand seinfeld's brilliant humor.
3. Tabacco left...
Friday, 1 August 2008 11:04 pm :: http://tabacco.blog-city.com/
The Truth:
4. Karma left...
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 4:07 am :: http://mercetron.com/blog/
Seinfeld consists of this recipe, repeated in eternity:
5. Tabacco left...
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 8:42 am :: http://tabacco.blog-city.com/
Folks!