I’m rewatching some older sitcoms and the laugh track is so odd to me. I remember thinking nothing of it growing up, but now that I’ve been watching sitcoms without it, it feels completely pointless. Who thought it was a good idea and why?
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Sometimes the audience reaction isn’t loud or sustained enough to be worth using in a broadcast. A quick guffaw or chortle can be more of an disruption of a scene than a laugh that goes on for a few seconds. And sometimes a joke just doesn’t land, but they need to fill in the pause that was supposed to be there for the audience reaction. Hence using a laugh track to “sweeten” the reaction.
Something that doesn’t get talked about too often is that there’s also the reverse, where audience laughter gets toned down (desweetened) if it’s too loud or goes on too long.
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