Pilot season

Pilot season has become far cooler with the advent of torrents and crooked reviewers.

The Big Bang Theory is a sitcom about two socially awkward geniuses. It has a laugh track, which just feels wrong. I haven't watched a comedy with a laugh track since... I don't know. (How I Met Your Mother has laughter, but I don't know if it's a track or studio laughter.)

My guess is that they're just using the canned laughter for the pilot. It's an odd choice. Even real studio audience laughter is leaving network comedy. All of NBC's comedies have no audience-helping laughter. Generally people know when to laugh. A laugh track is for shows where the humor is easy to miss and people need help. Those shows shouldn't make it to air.

It's not surprising that this show is slated for CBS. It's the only network with good laugh-track comedies. Two-and-a-half Men isn't terrible, and How I Met Your Mother is one of my favorite shows. But as I said, the laughter just feels wrong.

This is because TV has become a more and more insular medium. The laugh track used to make the audience feel like there were other people in the room, because the TV was a scary object and watching it alone made people feel anti-social or perhaps like they might be sucked in. They liked to feel included. Laughter also made the watcher more keenly aware of the fact that the show was really live, which is why it's still important for stand-up comics and talk show hosts, both areas where the performer feeds off of the audience's energy. There's a danger in those live settings where the performer can succeed or fail, and the failures give the performer an opportunity to improvise.

But there is no failure in a sitcom with a laugh track. Everything is success, and all danger is gone. Comedy without a laugh track, like Scrubs or Arrested Development or 30 Rock, are sure of their humor. And because they have no laughter, they can deal with more serious topics. Not that 30 Rock or Arrested Development did, but Scrubs and Sports Night deal with a lot of serious topics.

Any show with a laugh track gives up that ability. If they try, they come off as preachy with their "A Very Special" episodes.