Laughter

The other day I was looking for just a sitcom to watch and decided to watch The Big Bang Theory. Actually, I ended up watching Dan for Mayor because old habits die hard. But today I went back to watch some Big Bang which was a show that I had enjoyed watching before this whole challenge.

It was ... weird. The very first thing I noticed was the laugh track. Not going to lie, it freaked me out a little. It wasn't something I noticed but apparently Canadian shows don't use laugh tracks (leading me to believe that as a nation, we are smart enough to recognize what is funny on our own). So here this laughter was again was really bizarre. It felt so unnatural. I know it's something that I will grow accustomed too once more but it's weird. Really, really weird (after if you believe Chuck Klosterman the laugh tracks they use are pretty old so chances are, some of those people you hear laughing are dead. Keep that in mind the next time you're watching a sitcom).

And the show seemed odd. Maybe it's was the laugh track or it's the whole American style but it seemed like every other line had to be something funny or a one liner. I remember from grade ten media studies learning about the whole jpm (jokes per minute) but never really noticed it till now. Maybe Canadian sitcoms have more subtle humour? Though from watching Extras recently and then the Big Bang, Canadian comedies definitely fall somewhere in the middle.

Overall, the show just seemed weird. Watching Grey's was fine. I didn't notice anything too different but with Big Bang it was almost jarring. And Penny seems unnecessarily undressed the majority of the time. Does she own a pair of pants at all? I know they live in California but the guys are still wearing a mountain of sweaters all the time. Come on.