If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by dylan604 on Monday November 19, 2018 @09:50PM (#18491500)

If it has a "studio audience" laugh track, I'm out.* If the joke is funny, I don't need a laugh track to tell me about it. If it's not funny, it's not funny, and a laugh track doesn't make it funny. If it's so esoteric of a joke that I missed, then I missed it. Silicon Valley has a lot of these. "Is it Apple Maps bad?" There was one about Theranos that if you had no idea what Theranos is/was, then you'd never have a chance to understand the insult.

*with the occasional rule breaking exception

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by pcthrowaway on Monday November 19, 2018 @10:35PM (#18491652)

Seinfeld had a laugh track also, and still managed to be one of the funniest and most original shows on television, breaking major ground for its time. Don't blame Big Bag Theory's gaping inadequacies on the laugh track; the writers, actors, and producers are largely at fault.

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by coldtea on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @03:24AM (#18492517)

>Seinfeld had a laugh track also, and still managed to be one of the funniest and most original shows on television, breaking major ground for its time.

People keep saying that, but what it really that funny and original? I'll take e.g. MASH any day.

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by tobylane on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @05:38AM (#18492919)

I haven't seen Seinfeld yet but I intend to.

"Whoever is first to do something isn't likely to be the best at it, simply because everyone that comes after is building on their predecessors' work. Named after the sitcom Seinfeld, which many people won't watch any more because everything about it has been copied." https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunn...

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by coldtea on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @07:48AM (#18493409)

Yeah, though I'm not sure about that (Seinfeld not being appreciated because it was a pioneer show).

I still find funny very manny pioneering shows -- heck, even back to Charlie Chaplin, ‎Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy, and all kinds of 80s and even 70s sitcoms.

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by awakeasleep on Monday November 19, 2018 @11:26PM (#18491786)

Has anyone published seinfeld without the laugh track? Im really curious about that now.

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by enneff on Monday November 19, 2018 @11:42PM (#18491838)

Most of it was shot in front of a live audience so there is no version without the laugh track.

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by KyeRussell on Monday November 19, 2018 @11:21PM (#18491774)

Laugh tracks are of their time. It's unfair to pick TBBT out as a bad show because it has a laugh track. TBBT is a bad show because it's a bad show. There are plenty of good "laugh track" shows - old ones.

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by dylan604 on Monday November 19, 2018 @11:46PM (#18491858)

While my reply was to a comment about BBT, I never mentioned it. I don't care what it is, but if a laugh track is used like that, then I'm not a fan of it. It's the final part of the equation of pandering to the lowest common denominator. I understand why they choose to do it. Without it, they'd have a fraction of the fan base. With it, they have/had the highest watched show. So clearly, the numbers don't lie; it's a good show. <ducks>

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Re:If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon V... by coldtea on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @03:26AM (#18492525)

>Laugh tracks are of their time. It's unfair to pick TBBT out as a bad show because it has a laugh track.

No, it's a bad show because it's badly written, cliche, and lowest common denominator humor, just with nerds as subjects instead of some regular families as per usual.

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