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[Kirian]

Benecio del Toro is Keyser Soze

Also: Snape kills the mother.

[SirPeebles]

All of these spoiler tags have made me wonder how the star wars prequels would have been received if, somehow, it was a surprise in the end that Anakin is Darth Vader.

[pingpongsam]

The Cosby show, live laugh track, strange isolated guffaws at inopportune times. The good ole days.

[Kirian]

The Cosby show, live laugh track, strange isolated guffaws at inopportune times. The good ole days.

A live audience is so much different from a laugh track though.  Not necessarily better though.

[Witherweaver]

I actually don't even notice the laugh track.  Unless someone points it out.  If we weren't talking about it and I never heard anyone bring it up, I wouldn't be able to tell you if How I Met Your Mother had a laugh track or not, even though I've watched the entire series.  The same with other shows.

[SirPeebles]

The first time I really noticed Seinfeld's laugh track was when I downloaded George's answering machine message.  This was back when tracking down something like that on the Internet was tricky.  Sadly, the laugh track is going through the whole recording, completely ruining it outside the context of the show.

[theory]

Shortest answer? It has a laugh track. Those tend to correlate well with other things I hate about shows (yes, I looked beyond that obviously but it is the shortest way to communicate what I am saying).

Seinfeld also has a laugh track.  I think it depends a lot on how it's used.

From what I've seen, laugh tracks are always terrible. It just depends on whether or not the show can grab my attention in spite of the laugh track.

I enjoyed Seinfeld and That 70s Show (at first anyway), even though they had laugh tracks. But in general I really hate for a TV show to tell me when something is funny. If it's funny, I'll laugh on my own terms, thanks. And if there is raucous laughter in response to a joke I didn't find all that funny (which I presume falls under what you mean by how it's used, Theory), then it really grates on my nerves. Married…with Children is a really bad example of the laugh track. On a bright note, Married's laugh track at least was spoofed nicely on Simpsons and Futurama.

When I find a comedy without a laugh track, I take note. This allows for more subtle humor to be inserted, because how do you handle a laugh track for a subtle joke? I really enjoy Malcolm in the Middle and Arrested Development. These shows had some great comedic moments that weren't marred by a laugh track.

I didn't realize how much I hated laugh tracks until I was watching a Friends episode in a plane. Those cheap-ass headphones just pipe the sound down a tunnel, and that distortion made the laugh track exceptionally tinny. It drove me nuts.

I think that not every comedy is meant to be like Arrested Development.  AD would be horrible with a laugh track; Seinfeld is perfect with one.  Laugh tracks provide pacing and slow the show down a little bit, which is great for a show built around jokes instead of just wry humor.  HIMYM is closer to Seinfeld than AD, in my view; the laugh track isn't crucial to the show but it's not a show that abuses the laugh track like Big Bang Theory.  Good laugh track shows are built around the track; they provide a small pause to let the audience rest a little bit before moving on.

[Voltaire]

Shortest answer? It has a laugh track. Those tend to correlate well with other things I hate about shows (yes, I looked beyond that obviously but it is the shortest way to communicate what I am saying).

Seinfeld also has a laugh track.  I think it depends a lot on how it's used.

And that's actually the perfect example, because it's the exception that proves the rule - I love Seinfeld.

[Voltaire]

But really, what Kuildeous said.

Also, it's not all laugh track - I find shows that use laugh tracks tend to have far less clever humor (along the lines of, we need a joke with a punchline so they know when to laugh).

And getting to stuff that has nothing to do with a laugh track, shows that employ them tend to correlate with shows that can't find a good balance between being completely episodic and having arcs. This really bugs me. It makes character development murky. If the characters are never supposed to change, that's fine (if it's the "given circumstances" of the show), but then don't try to pull some tearjerker of an episode on me because I won't buy it. That sort of thing. There's plenty of other examples, but I don't feel like writing the paper it would take to explain this because I'm sure it already exists elsewhere on the internet.

Which, from what I've heard, are things HIMYM somewhat avoided, because I have friends with what I consider good taste and they like the show, even if I don't.

[Kirian]

Shortest answer? It has a laugh track. Those tend to correlate well with other things I hate about shows (yes, I looked beyond that obviously but it is the shortest way to communicate what I am saying).

Seinfeld also has a laugh track.  I think it depends a lot on how it's used.

From what I've seen, laugh tracks are always terrible. It just depends on whether or not the show can grab my attention in spite of the laugh track.

I enjoyed Seinfeld and That 70s Show (at first anyway), even though they had laugh tracks. But in general I really hate for a TV show to tell me when something is funny. If it's funny, I'll laugh on my own terms, thanks. And if there is raucous laughter in response to a joke I didn't find all that funny (which I presume falls under what you mean by how it's used, Theory), then it really grates on my nerves. Married…with Children is a really bad example of the laugh track. On a bright note, Married's laugh track at least was spoofed nicely on Simpsons and Futurama.

When I find a comedy without a laugh track, I take note. This allows for more subtle humor to be inserted, because how do you handle a laugh track for a subtle joke? I really enjoy Malcolm in the Middle and Arrested Development. These shows had some great comedic moments that weren't marred by a laugh track.

I didn't realize how much I hated laugh tracks until I was watching a Friends episode in a plane. Those cheap-ass headphones just pipe the sound down a tunnel, and that distortion made the laugh track exceptionally tinny. It drove me nuts.

I think that not every comedy is meant to be like Arrested Development.  AD would be horrible with a laugh track; Seinfeld is perfect with one.  Laugh tracks provide pacing and slow the show down a little bit, which is great for a show built around jokes instead of just wry humor.  HIMYM is closer to Seinfeld than AD, in my view; the laugh track isn't crucial to the show but it's not a show that abuses the laugh track like Big Bang Theory.  Good laugh track shows are built around the track; they provide a small pause to let the audience rest a little bit before moving on.

Ah yes, Big Bang Theory: a nerd blackface minstrel show with a side of "Asperger Syndrome is hilarious."

Another comedy with no laugh track: SportsNight.  And then Comedy Central picked it up for reruns and added one.  Which was just horrible.

[Ozle]

Laugh tracks always seem condescending to me

I know what I find funny thanks.

Also, it kind of implies that the jokes don't hold up well enough on their own. I can't think of a British comedy that uses them, is it just an American thing?

[Voltaire]

Ohmygod SportsNight didn't originally have a laugh track? I need to give it another shot. I apparently unintentionally watched that version and didn't know it wasn't the original.

[WalrusMcFishSr]

Laugh tracks always seem condescending to me

I know what I find funny thanks.

Also, it kind of implies that the jokes don't hold up well enough on their own. I can't think of a British comedy that uses them, is it just an American thing?

"Keeping Up Appearances" I believe...I was just watching it on Netflix

[Twistedarcher]

I actually don't even notice the laugh track.  Unless someone points it out.  If we weren't talking about it and I never heard anyone bring it up, I wouldn't be able to tell you if How I Met Your Mother had a laugh track or not, even though I've watched the entire series.  The same with other shows.

Ditto this, I don't notice the laughtrack when I watch HIMYM.

I notice it when I watch Big Bang Theory, although it's less annoying than how Penny reacts to jokes.

[Kirian]

Ohmygod SportsNight didn't originally have a laugh track? I need to give it another shot. I apparently unintentionally watched that version and didn't know it wasn't the original.

I don't know which of the versions if any are on Netflix and Amazon streaming.  I hope it's the non laugh track version.

[eHalcyon]

I've never liked Seinfeld, but I can't quantify why.  Something about it just never clicked with me.  Maybe it would if I gave it another shot.  I didn't like Arrested Development at first either, but I love it now... granted, that's because I was just catching random AD episodes on TV at first, and (as a friend let me know later), AD is the kind of show that you really need to watch from the beginning.

I really don't mind laugh tracks if they match up decently well with what I actually find funny, in which case I don't even notice it.  I dislike it when the laugh track kicks in at points that feel completely off to pacing -- that's when the canned laughter sticks out like a sore thumb throat.  HIMYM never felt off to me though.

@Witherweaver, yes I fully understand that HIMYM's ending is not so rushed within the actual story, because many years pass between each scene that we do not get to see.  The criticism is not that Ted returning to Robin is unrealistic in terms of the in-universe timeline.  The criticism is that some of those events feel rushed in terms of how the story is told to us.

Robin and Barney have been a big focal point for many seasons, even the primary focal point for much of this last season.  We got some 20 episodes about the 2 days leading up to their wedding... and then it all ends in just a few minutes.  Now, this worked fine for me, but I can see why people would find it rushed.

But for Ted coming back to Robin, that was unexpected to me because of how big a deal was made about her not being the one for Ted, and about how Ted had to let her go and move on.  Yeah it's been 6 years for Ted, but it hasn't been that long for us, as far as the story is concerned.  This is why I said I would have liked it if we had seen some intervening moments of Ted and Robin reconnecting... they could have tied it in with the kids by making it a simple wordless montage while Ted narrated about Tracy's death, how it impacted him, how some people will always be a part of your life... something to ease up back. 

I also think it would have been nice if they had underscored that Ted doesn't necessarily love Robin the same way he loved Tracy, and that his rekindling of their relationship is a new step forward rather than a step back.  Leave us with the uncertainty that maybe it won't work out with Robin, instead of heavily implying that this was end game all along.  It would be tough because of their lengthy history together, but I think it would have helped the story.  Granted, I think they did try to plant some seeds of that idea.  I just think it could have been done better.

Overall though, I'm fine with the ending.  As I said, I'm mostly ambivalent about it right now, and I expect that I'll grow to like it more over time.  It'll probably re-colour older episodes in a new light.

[Witherweaver]

@eHalyconYeah, I understand your sentiment.  But I guess I'm okay with just having some facts and filling the rest in my imagination or personal understanding instead of having them shown.  So for me knowing all those years passed was enough, I didn't actually have to see a montage or anything.

Plus, I liked it as a final reveal, and I think ending in a open and hopeful way is very much in line with what they've done and how they've shown Ted all these years.  It was also a nice touch  by ending it the same way things started, except now what was an insane and irrational display of emotion is a sweet and touching display of emotion.  And Robin's reaction showed this.  It also shows that both characters have changed throughout all these years.. Robin is finally past her being totally free and independent phase, and is ready for something serious. Ted is showing that he can still be thoughtful and romantic, but instead of being the young crazy guy who is ready to fall in love with everyone he sees, he's an older, more mature man who has come to terms with his emotions and all that he's been through.  But he still has that capacity of hope, except now it's a much more mature and responsible hope.

[Kuildeous]

Also, it kind of implies that the jokes don't hold up well enough on their own. I can't think of a British comedy that uses them, is it just an American thing?

I believe that the IT Crowd had a laugh track, but I'd have to go back and look.

What sucks is Monty Python's Flying Circus had a freakin' laugh track. Even the closed captioning tells you when the audience is laughing. Flying Circus is definitely a case of misplaced laugh track, because that show never should have had one (though I believe no show should have one).

[Kuildeous]

Ah yes, Big Bang Theory: a nerd blackface minstrel show with a side of "Asperger Syndrome is hilarious."

I had to +1 this just for that description. Fortunately, I knew it was funny because the laugh track told me so.

I feel like there is at least a certain amount of integrity when the laugh track comes from a live studio audience. At least that is more sincere than a recording of laughter being inserted. I know there are prompts for the audience, and I don't know how often it gets used. I'd like to think that if a show is legitimately funny, then the audience needs no prompt, but if they shoot the same scene four time, then I'm sure the laughter becomes more forced.

But it does lead to those awkward moments like the Cosby Show or Monty Python.

The problem with laugh tracks is that I don't think anyone actually enjoys them. The best you get is indifference. But despite the fact that the mean response is negative, they persist, which means there's a marketing reason that laugh tracks are used, and I hate that.

[sudgy]

The freakiest thing about laugh tracks is that most of them were recorded ages ago so it's a bunch of dead people laughing.

[Witherweaver]

I always felt like Monty Python's laugh track was more of a meta thing.  Like it was lampooning shows that have laugh tracks.

[Voltaire]

Thinking back on it, I like Monty Python's laugh track.

Now I'm scared.

[Dsell]

http://www.homestarrunner.com/

First update in years!

[Axxle]

Monty Python was filmed in front of a live audience, no laugh track except for the skits that incorporated one really obviously.

[Ozle]

Monty Python was filmed in front of a live audience, no laugh track except for the skits that incorporated one really obviously.

Ahh Python.
Are you taking about flying circus?
Didn't realise it was live