Television

You know what really sucks, I can never tell if I'm saying something that is originally funny, or if it is just my mind subconsciously ripping off someone else's ideas I've already read/heard.
Poor segway into this topic, the laugh track. That thing makes me so angry. If you really need a laugh track to tell you when something is funny, then you really shouldn't be watching television. You probably need to be in personality reshaping class or something. Also, when I am watching tv, it is not necessary for me to feel like there are a bunch of other people there with me sharing in the laughs. Although I will admit that watching comedies with other (real) people around does tend to induce more laughter, if a show isn't making me laugh out loud when I am by myself, how funny is it really? Does the piped in laughter make me want to laugh at lame jokes...no.
Which leads us to Arrested Development. While I understand that it could be hard to jump into that show without starting at the beginning, would it really have helped if there was a laugh track so uninitiated viewers would know when a seemingly innocuous line was meant to be funny? I mean, in some episodes the laugh track may have not stopped from the beginning to the end. Even world-class hookers arent' purported to have the lung capacity to maintain one breath for 21 minutes straight. But I can understand why people didn't really catch on with AD if they didn't bother to start from the beginning. Of course that doesn't excuse Fox from not running AD marathons of FX in lieu of another crazy episode of World's Most Exciting Hand-held Camera Footage of a Redneck Officer Chasing After A Drunken Man Who Only Managed To Get One Leg Into His Jean Shorts Before He Took Off Running. I guess my point is either you can appreciate good humor on its own, or you can sit back and enjoy that episode of Raymond when his cousin who is just as annoying as Raymond visits...
To Be Continued...