America Dumbs Down

[D'Snowth]

I heard that one reason said movie got virtually no publicity when it first came out six years ago is that test audiences.....didn't get the joke. Wow. People here really are dumber than anyone realizes.

It's actually been this way for decades.

Back in the 60s, before Hogan's Heroes went on the air, the network screened two versions of the pilot episode for test audiences, one had a laugh track, the other didn't: the audience that watched the version without the laugh track were left confused, because they were unsure what it was they were watching, whereas the version with the laugh track was a lot more successful, because people got that it was supposed to be a sitcom.

And the irony of it all is that there's a lot of people out there who believe in the misconception that a laugh track forces you to laugh, or tells you when you're supposed to laugh, and is therefore an insult to viewers' intelligence... and the irony to THAT is that there's some people out there now who are complaining about modern-day sitcoms relying to heavily on the gimmick of NOT using a laugh track, which makes sitcoms seem "droll" and "ghastly" these days.

 

[Hubert]

So the average Joe stands a fair chance at winning.

Unless they're name is Bill, in which case the average Bill stands a fair chance at winning.

(Sorry, I know I've said that before, just can't resist)

Did someone really say....
Hey diddle the cat in the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon!
Wow.

You missed a "diddle"
*Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, and Maria walk in laughing and saying "diddle."
(Super obsessed fans will know what I just referenced there)

 

[Drtooth]

And the irony of it all is that there's a lot of people out there who believe in the misconception that a laugh track forces you to laugh, or tells you when you're supposed to laugh, and is therefore an insult to viewers' intelligence... and the irony to THAT is that there's some people out there now who are complaining about modern-day sitcoms relying to heavily on the gimmick of NOT using a laugh track, which makes sitcoms seem "droll" and "ghastly" these days.

Because only some of them even work like that anymore. Chuck Lorre is the ONLY one who can make a decent laugh track sitcom. How I Met your Mother has one, but the story is too deep for me to to even notice, and half the time I actually forget it even has one.

It's one of those things that you eventually grow out of, like eating white bread. After a while, you realize how flavorless and spongey it is, and even thinking of having it on a sandwich makes the entire sandwich seem unappetizing.

I'm loving Neo-sitcoms that are more like short 30 minute movies with commercials. If nothing else, it gets rid of those insane one liners they have to spout every 2 seconds to get a laugh out of everybody. It's like a 5 year old with a joke book, when you're younger, these jokes are funny... but the more times you hear it, the worse they get. That said, most of the shows that do this do indeed get it right. My Name is Earl would have sucked with a laugh track. It needed to be treated like a movie. And there's a LOT more character development and dramatic angles that make you like the characters without having them flail around like Kramer and Urkel wannabees. I actually hate Step by Step because their quirky wacky neighbor kid was a wife beater in reality.

Think of it this way... the worst of the early 00's sitcoms were laughtracks, and you even wonder why they laughed. According to Jim? The world is richer for that being canceled.

On the subject of sitcoms, the only thing I call America Dumb for is that 2 and a half Men is still on. Say what you will about Charlie Sheen, that was a show about him. They could have just wrote him off as going insane and ending the show there, but Lorre wanted to be a passive aggressive schmuck about it and stick it to Charlie and put Ashton "not at all funny past that 70's Show" Kutcher in the show. I thought it was a scare tactic, actually. Now the show, which SHOULD have ended 2 years ago anyway, is insanely bad, and almost like you're watching a failed sitcom idea that they forced into this show so they didn't have to sell it. And he has 2 other PERFECTLY good shows to focus on. I was really hoping that the first episode with him would get a rise in viewers who wanted to see a trainwreck and then they'd quickly turn the thing off the episode after. But I guess the spot between 2 Broke Girls and Mike and Molly is too sweet for it not to keep getting good ratings.

 

[D'Snowth]

Chuck Lorre is the ONLY one who can make a decent laugh track sitcom.

I still don't agree that his sitcoms are decent... and he actually has been stressing for years in interviews that he does not use laugh tracks on his shows, they're all shot in front of live audiences, with no sweetening (the process of adding addition SFX in post) whatsoever, if something's funny, there are laughs, if something isn't funny, there's no laugh, and that's the way it airs.

 

[Bannanasketch]

I'm sorry, but "something absolute crap on TV" is far from America dumbing down. We're already there, and have been for some time now. Dumbing down is calling a NOT at all French product "Freedom fries" out of spite for a smarter foreign government that foresaw that a certain war being a quagmire is DUMB. Refusing any reforms to Health Care because some rich fat loud mouths that can afford to abuse prescription drugs say it's "Commy-en-ism," basically using a Jedi Mind trick on everyone saying "You really don't want health care reform" after years of the public saying the contrary... that's dumb. Denying a woman stuff women use because they're afwaid their taxes will go up, and are so afraid they have to basically liable that not public figure by saying how much sex they think she has (still not half as much as Rush has) is DUMB! Heck, the whole "we let Dubbya write a blank check for 2 unwinnable wars, yet count every single penny the Demmy-crats spend, but refuse to raise taxes because having them pay for their share of the drunken debauchery that's been going on since the 80's to basically fill the till because the world owes the rich a living" almost Stockholm Syndrome feeling in the US proves that we're already there.

We're at the risk of becoming at best either the Mike Judge film Idoicracy or Wall*e, or at worst some sort of more Mad Max styled Hunger Games.

Turning a discussion about a reality TV show into a political statement? Yeah, that's dumb.

 

[Drtooth]

Turning a discussion about a reality TV show into a political statement? Yeah, that's dumb.

No... it's a political statement you don't agree with. I'm sorry you don't, I do not mean to offend... but there are a LOT of acts of stupidity that's tearing this country apart, and the least of our worries is a stupid TV show on a stupid fringe network that's of note for not having programming of note.

 

[Bannanasketch]

No... it's a political statement you don't agree with. I'm sorry you don't, I do not mean to offend... but there are a LOT of acts of stupidity that's tearing this country apart, and the least of our worries is a stupid TV show on a stupid fringe network that's of note for not having programming of note.

Yeah, I don't agree with it. That's not my point at all. I've seen your political rants before, and I've left it alone. Sometimes, they actually have something to do with the discussion at hand. But putting another one of your right-wing bashing rants on a thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the discussion at hand is just dumb. Keep your political opinions to political threads. All I'm asking.

 

[jvcarroll]

Exploitation Television:
I think the networks should rise above the innate sense of schadenfreude all human being seem to have rather than pander to it. It's also human nature to stare at grotesque freeway accidents, but they don't design primetime television programs around it...yet.

Laugh Tracks:
People do seem to mimic the behavior around them. We've all been guilty of yawning or coughing because we see others do it. Laughter isn't much different. Most writers and actors don't really want the laugh tracks unless it's coming from a live audience. That's usually a studio decision and I have to admit that it seems to work sometimes. What else could have kept Full House and Family Matters on the air so long? We forget that the Muppet Show had a laugh track, but I always felt that added to the illusion of having a live theatrical audience. It think the need for it should be a case-by-case basis.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah, I don't agree with it. That's not my point at all. I've seen your political rants before, and I've left it alone. Sometimes, they actually have something to do with the discussion at hand. But putting another one of your right-wing bashing rants on a thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the discussion at hand is just dumb. Keep your political opinions to political threads. All I'm asking.

I'd mock the left if they did something. It's not right wing politics that bugs me, it's this whole "We love our corporate overloards" crap. These overloards control ALL parties. Right, left, indie... we don't even have capitalism. We have corporate socialism. A system made to just give OUR money directly to corporations in the form of massive tax cuts and Corporate Welfare. How conservative are conservatives if they don't want to get rid of it? It's the biggest case of government waste out there. We get our news FROM corporations that want said tax cuts and welfare. They're going to do their darnedest to keep it, no matter how liberal their rubber suits are.

I dunno about you, but I don't want to have my tax dollars go to keep the wealthy wealthy when they should be doing their jobs anymore than some welfare cheating bum. How come we don't cut both of them out of the picture?

The true left the true right and the libertarians actual agree on quite a lot of stuff the government can't deliver, no matter who's in charge.

All I'm saying is there's a LOT more garbage that dumbed this country down than a low rated crap show on a crap network no one really watches anyway.

 

[Bannanasketch]

I'd mock the left if they did something. It's not right wing politics that bugs me, it's this whole "We love our corporate overloards" crap. These overloards control ALL parties. Right, left, indie... we don't even have capitalism. We have corporate socialism. A system made to just give OUR money directly to corporations in the form of massive tax cuts and Corporate Welfare. How conservative are conservatives if they don't want to get rid of it? It's the biggest case of government waste out there. We get our news FROM corporations that want said tax cuts and welfare. They're going to do their darnedest to keep it, no matter how liberal their rubber suits are.

I dunno about you, but I don't want to have my tax dollars go to keep the wealthy wealthy when they should be doing their jobs anymore than some welfare cheating bum. How come we don't cut both of them out of the picture?

The true left the true right and the libertarians actual agree on quite a lot of stuff the government can't deliver, no matter who's in charge.

All I'm saying is there's a LOT more garbage that dumbed this country down than a low rated crap show on a crap network no one really watches anyway.

Look, I don't want to get into a political argument with you. I just want you to stop bringing politics where they don't belong.