Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Pop Kulture Korner


















So, I am a nerd. I know some of you might find this shocking, but I assure you it's quite true. And as a nerd, I like nerd things. In fact, I love the quintessential Nerd Thing, Star Trek. I also like trivia, and I retain a frustrating amount with brains cells that could otherwise be put to good use curing cancer or something. Mix the two together and I am a nerd who has seen every Star Trek movie staring the original crew, and remembers that the whales in Star Trek IV were named George and Gracie.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am that kind of nerd.

So I heard that this show, The Big Bang Theory, is liberally peppered with Star Trek references. And last night while I was waiting for Futurama to come on, I saw that there was an episode of The Big Bang Theory involving something called "rock, paper scissors, lizard, Spock" so I decided to watch.

Now this show is an American sit com, which means that it has a laugh track. This makes my ears cry. My roommate entered the living room and asked me what I was watching, then told me it sounded like Seinfeld. I agreed, "yeah it's very 90s".

Here's the thing, the content of the show was actually okay. Like, I would maybe watch more episodes. Except for the laugh track, I just can't deal. So I probably won't be watching it again. And I can't be the only one, right? Sure Arrested Development was popular because of its brilliant, hilarious writing and acting but I think people also appreciated the absence of a laugh track.

At best, a laugh track is neutral and acts as background noise. At worse, people stop watching the show because it's annoying. Plus it encourages lazy writing since there's a forced pause after every joke and a cue to for viewers to laugh. So my question is, why are laugh tracks still used?

3 comments:

m.wise said...

at first, when i saw the picture, i figured your post was going to deal with why she has chalk on her tits. but you went a different direction, which of course is fine. but it leaves me still wondering why she has chalk on her tits.
i hope atlanta (i think that's where you are at currently) is treating you well.

edluv said...

while she was writing all the complex things on the board she brushed up against it.

and sex sells.

or maybe those are hand prints.

auritus said...

I wondered the same thing myself. I assumed it was the result of some kind of nerd-nerd-regulation hottie blackboard sex.

Unrelated, I would be pissed off if I was the actor in glasses. The photo makes him look like a munchkin.