[BrianEatWorld]

You are right that its not canned laughter, but a laugh track can more generally refer to a separate track for the audience's laughter. This can be edited to compensate for jokes that require repeated takes or have its level's adjusted just like the rest of the sound in the show.

I don't watch the show, so I can't say for sure, but its possible that the way the laugh track is mixed makes it more obvious than other shows, such as 90s sitcoms.

[SeanLuke]

> I don't watch the show, so I can't say for sure, but its possible that the way the laugh track is mixed makes it more obvious than other shows, such as 90s sitcoms.

Chuck Lorre, the producer for the show, is really ticked off at people who say that BBT has a laugh track, and has been very adamant that it does not.

[forgottenpass]

Chuck Lorre, the producer for the show, is really ticked off at people who say that BBT has a laugh track, and has been very adamant that it does not.

Good for him. The television producer can split hairs about terms that have different industry and layman uses all he wants.

Either way, there is still studio audience laughter embedded in the show's audio. Dude should be well aware that home viewers can disagree with the recorded audience on whether or not punchlines are powerful enough for audible laughs, and that when they disagree often enough the audience laughter becomes very grating to the viewer.

And ultimately, that's what he is ticked off about. The way the laughs bother people is a indictment of the comedy in the show. When viewers agree with the recorded audience about what is funny, they don't notice the recorded laughs as much, so they don't complain as much.

[SeanLuke]

I'm sorry, but this isn't "layman use" of the term laugh track: it is simply wrong. A laugh track is a separately recorded or constructed track of laughter that didn't exist when the show was being shot. Calling a live studio audience a "laugh track" is an absurd black-is-white abuse of the term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_track

The laugh track has a long and sordid history in US television recording, and Lorre is ticked off that people think his shows have to result to fakery.

[cdcarter]

From the second sentence of that article: "In some productions the laughter is a live audience response".

[forgottenpass]

I don't want to get into linguistics wankery about when a definition counts, but I really don't think it's as absolute as you're portraying it. Certainly not if have to point me to wikipedia to refute the way it is often used in by people who don't know nor care about the canned/audience distinction.

On top of that, you seem to be banking on the idea I won't actually click your link, from the first paragraph:

    In some productions the laughter is a live audience response; 
    in the U.S., the term usually implies artificial laughter (canned 
    laughter or fake laughter) made to be inserted into the show.

That's an awful lot of ambiguity for such a "black-is-white abuse of the term"

[yaeger]

>but its possible that the way the laugh track is mixed makes it more obvious than other shows, such as 90s sitcoms.

It isn't. It is exactly the same as any other sitcom that was filmed in front of a live audience. No better, no worse.

It is just that some people won't give BBT a pass on that usage.

And in a dramatic twist, most people who hate BBT loooooooooove The IT crowd. Somehow I have never heard any of those fans to criticize them for using a laugh track. Weird right? Cause that show does not only use one, it is completely canned laughter as they do not film in front of an audience. Just think what the BBT bashers would have to say if BBT did it like that and The IT crowd would use a live audience. They would go mental over this.