This is the show where simply acknowledging a character owns/owned a NES was the entire punchline of a joke.

Yeah if you turn off the laugh track this show is terrible, for so many reasons.

Like how Ross from "Friends" is crazy without the laugh track.

There's your problem. Just keep the laugh track on and it stays funny.

Same deal with Friends and also a fair amount of standup.

can't believe how underused she was in the show.

Harley is one of the funniest shows from the last decade, how the fuck was a show with her as a lead was so unfunny!!!??

The only thing worse than this show is this show with german dubbing

The whole show was only funny to people that think sitcoms are high comedy to begin with.

Mind you, anyone that enjoys them are welcome to! Humour is a very personal thing. I'm just saying that sitcom humor is not universal as a whole, and that this sitcom played to a narrow audience that heavily favors that style of comedy show. If you aren't the sort that really grooves on that template and style, the show just won't hit right.

It's like how people with really dark senses of humor tend to not be prone to liking cartoon style humor.

Sitcom specific fans know what they like, and tend not to like things that aren't similar

the good thing about sitcoms is that they are comforting. if you start liking the characters then you get to enjoy their lives vicariously.

my point isn't about sitcoms, but that Kaley Cuoco is incredibly funny (Harley is so funny and nerdy). yet all she did was being the "normie blonde". If she was given more freedom The Big Bang theory might have been actually funny.

Also, Friends just isn't funny. Every character except Phoebie is bland and unlikable.

Yeah, she is way better than that show let her be. I'm not even a huge fan of hers, but she's definitely got great comedy chops.

Phoebe is just annoying and unlikable

I will die on this hill. BBT was 6 seasons of a quality sitcom dragged out over 12. If a skilled editor went through and cut out all the filler, it would be a much better show.

This show had a character that physically could not speak to women without being intoxicated. I think they eventually created a pharmaceutical drug to resolve this.

EDIT: As for Friends, there was a lot of fat phobia and gay panic.

I wonder if the big issue is tying their twin to the show Mad About You.

I remember early in the run of BBT, when I had already decided the show was not for me (not helped by people comparing me to Sheldon -- yay, neurodivergence), I saw Jim Parsons on the Craig Ferguson show. He picked up Craig's TARDIS from his desk and giggled, saying "This is so cute! What is it?"

I think Kaley Cuoco would have recognized the fucking TARDIS.

If I recall, they literally just dropped it one episode and acknowledged it with an "oh well."

If your jokes aren’t funny without putting fake forced laughter behind them then they shouldn’t be said.

I don't get it...

Oh yeah, sure. People with dark senses of humor don't watch Rick and Morty, family guy, American dad, Archer, metalocalypse, bobs burgers, yeah. Dark senses of comedy never watch cartoon type shows. Cause none of those exist.

Edit:forgot the Simpsons, South Park, frisky dingo, aqua teen hunger force, the Xtacles...

The Big Bang Theory. Unfunny show that somehow went on for a decade and made a lot of money.

Honestly, given my age at the time, she was probably my main reason for watching the show at the time. My second being the science and third the jokes.

Yeah? What else has she shown those quality comedy chops since then? Her Harley Quinn show exists, or did, I don't know if it's still a thing. But nothing else she's done has lasted more than 2 seasons.

They're all unlikable.

He eventually got over it, but yeah it was forced and uncomfortable.

Friends I never understood. I didn't have a problem with most of it. It just... Sucked. It wasn't good. I had more of a problem with Seinfeld but accepted that it was superior.

I’d rethink any opinions you have of Jerry Seinfeld. He thinks the phrase “Free Palestine” is worse than the Holocaust.

I will save this post for later, thanks a lot

I fucking hate that show. Also, I love your username.

It's terrible with the laugh track as well.

Don't get me wrong, he sucks. But his show was better than friends.

Well BBT, and every other that has a laugh track, is scripted and edited around it. Removing that will make even the best comedy suck.

The show sucks but removing the canned laughter doesn't prove anything.

I'm probably missing a bunch. Their post was just so absurd that it couldn't go unrefuted.

Bojack Horseman

Check out sealab2021 if you like dark mixed with absurdist

The one exception to this is probably MASH. If I recall correctly they didn't want the laugh track at all, and when it aired in Europe it didn't have the laugh track and was better for it.

Not really. When the laughs are removed you just realize it’s racism, sexism, and juvenile jokes all in one.

Yeah, but what's the joke in the meme?

Reminds me of “Kevin can f**k himself”
https://youtu.be/q2qGIsOkA64

That’s the entire premise of ‘Kevin can f**k himself’ essentially spitting in the face of these feckless sitcoms covering shit writing with laughtracks.

Hard disagree. People still laughing cuz he wore a poofy shirt and it’s not even a cohesive joke. He just wore a shirt. Woopdeefuckindoo.

“Airline food. What is the deal with that?” Why are people laughing?

I’ve read 5 yr olds put together more cohesive story with crayons. Dude was just lazy.

Should we put Xavier Renegade Angel on this list? I don't think it really qualifies as dark humor, more absurdist humor, but he eats all those babies that one episode...

Woman

Unfunny and unpopular are not the same thing. A show does not stay on air for 12 seasons by being unpopular and unfunny. Producing television is expensive, and networks renew shows because they are profitable and have strong audience demand. The Big Bang Theory may have been disliked in some online circles, but commercially and mainstream-wise, it was clearly a very popular show.

CBS did not keep funding 12 seasons of a money pit out of the kindness of its heart.

Do you think Larry David is funny?

Superjail, Mr. Pickles.

Pickles is just violent. Superjail is probably the most genuinely unhinged show I've ever seen.

Woman has breasts.

Geeks like looking at breasts.

Geeks feed breasts.

Not op but nope. Same with office as well.

There are just some people that enjoy watching others be uncomfortable and I think it’s correlated with having less empathy.

When I watched the office, I just felt bad for Michael.

A lot of those shows just focus on punching down.

I would hang out with Joey.

Popular also doesn't mean good. There are plenty of shows that run for years that aren't very good, but make money. Mindless entertainment sells great, but selling isn't quality, it's just moving products. And low quality cheap schlock does sell.

This is basically how I see it:

Oh damn, maybe I need to seek out the European versions of MASH episodes then.

I loved the movie, but then couldn't get past the first couple episodes of the show because of the goddamn laugh track

Yeah my burning hatred of Friends made me blind to Lisa Kudrow's talent until pretty recently