Editing Laugh track (section)

===1970s; Comeback of live audiences===
The use of canned laughter peaked in the 1960s. However, some producers felt uncomfortable managing a sitcom that wasn't designed to be filmed in front of a live audience. One such example was ''Lucy'' veteran and Lucille Ball's ex-husband [[Desi Arnaz]], who was more familiar with live sitcoms, as he had previously co-produced ''I Love Lucy''. In mirroring Ball's successful comeback in ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', Arnaz produced ''[[The Mothers-in-Law]]'' ([[NBC]], 1967–69), which was recorded in front of a live audience at Desilu Studios, but still hired Douglass to augment a sweetened track in post-production.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Comedy/MothersInLaw.htm |title=CTVA US Comedy – "The Mothers-In-Law" (Desi Arnaz/NBC) (1967–69) Eve Arden, Kaye Ballard |publisher=Ctva.biz |date=1968-11-17 |access-date=2013-07-09}}</ref> A year later, ''[[The Good Guys (1968 TV series)|The Good Guys]]'' (CBS, 1968–70) attempted to follow the same format. Although the first few episodes were filmed live, changes in production and location forced the crew to drop using multiple cameras for the remainder of the first season, using only a laugh track. This continued through season two until low ratings led to its cancellation in 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/good_guys/ |title=Television Obscurities » The Good Guys |date=13 June 2009 |publisher=Tvobscurities.com |access-date=2013-07-09}}</ref>

Another show that started being taped partially in front of a live audience was [[George Schlatter]]'s sketch comedy ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]'' (NBC, 1968–73), as well as its rival ''[[Hee-Haw]]'' (CBS, 1969–71, Syndication, 1971–93). ''Laugh-In'' became an enigma among other comedic shows of the time in terms of its production methods; the 1967 pilot and the first few episodes of the first season featured a studio audience to react to the comedy routines of the ensemble on-stage, while pre-recorded shots mainly used Douglass' laugh track. Eventually, as marathon taping sessions of the show became increasingly expensive, Schlatter no longer required audiences to attend the tapings. Instead, cast relatives, the crew, people who still opted to attend, and the cast themselves, composed the studio audience, and the show relied more on Douglass' laugh track. Douglass would even simulate the reactions of the audience and diversify these chuckles with the track. He would continue to  use this effect until the show's end in 1973, and for earlier seasons of ''Hee-Haw''.<ref>Erickson, Hal. "From Beautiful Downtown Burbank": A Critical History of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, 1968-1973. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2000.</ref>

Other shows that continued bucking the trend against the single-camera method was Lucille's Ball next incarnate sitcom, ''[[Here's Lucy]]'' (CBS, 1968–74).<ref>{{cite web|author=J.D. |url=http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/cbs-loved-lucy-1950s-1970s/ |title="CBS Loved Lucy"1950s–1970s |publisher=The Pop History Dig |date=2015-01-26 |access-date=2016-01-13}}</ref> Unlike other sitcoms of the era, ''Here's Lucy'' became one of the first sitcoms to embrace the social and cultural zeitgeist of the late 1960s, featuring guest stars ranging from the older guard of Hollywood to pop and rock musicians and athletes (e.g. [[Joe Namath]], [[Donny Osmond]], and [[Petula Clark]]). With focusing more on episodes revolving around a more urban setting, it ushered in what [[CBS]] had sought out to do by the turn of the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.emmys.com/news/online-originals/heres-50-years-heres-lucy-part-2 | title=Here's 50 Years of Here's Lucy - Part 2 }}</ref>

The 1970s began with [[Rural purge|the decline of rural-based shows]] (such as ''The Beverly Hillbillies'', ''[[Green Acres]]'' and ''[[Mayberry RFD]]'') and the rise of socially conscious programming (such as ''All in the Family'', ''M*A*S*H'' and ''[[Maude (TV series)|Maude]]''). What prompted CBS to revamp its new image was the success of the sitcom ''Here's Lucy'' and its new emerging hit, ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'' (CBS, 1970–77). The series' pilot episode, "Love is All Around", had been initially filmed using the single-camera method. The results were not satisfactory to Moore or the producers, who then decided to shift to multiple cameras. Since the first several episodes were taped in late summer, the pilot's first taping was not received well due to bad insulation and poor audio. The second taping, however, provided better air conditioning and a better quality sound system to the stage. Critical reception thus improved, and the show used the multi-camera format thereafter, and became a major success during its seven-year run.<ref>"''The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete First Season''." The Making of Season 1. 24 September 2002. Television.</ref>

The resurgence of live audiences began to gradually take hold. More sitcoms began to veer away from the single-camera, movie-style format, reverting to the multi-camera format with a live studio audience providing real laughter, which producers found more pleasing because it had a better comic rhythm and helped them write better jokes. Creator [[Norman Lear]]'s ''[[All in the Family]]'' (CBS, 1971–1979) followed suit in 1971. Videotaped live, Lear was more spontaneous; he wanted the studio audience to act like the performer, with hopes of the two developing a rapport with each other. Lear was not a fan of pretaped audiences, resulting in no laugh track being employed, not even during post-production when Lear could have had the luxury of sweetening any failed jokes (Lear relented somewhat in later seasons, and allowed Douglass to insert an occasional laugh).<ref name="Iverson"/> Lear's decision resulted in the show being a huge success, and ushered in the return of live audiences to the U.S. sitcom mainstream. To make his point clear, an announcement proclaimed over the closing credits each week that "''All in the Family'' was recorded on tape before a live audience" or during the show's final seasons where live audiences no longer attended tapings of the show, "''All in the Family'' was played to a studio audience for live responses."<ref name="Iverson"/>

[[Jack Klugman]] and [[Tony Randall]] expressed displeasure during the first season of ''[[The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)|The Odd Couple]]'' (ABC, 1970–75), which used a laugh track without a live audience. Co-creator/executive producer [[Garry Marshall]] also disliked utilizing a laugh track, and [[theatre]] veteran Randall, in particular, resented the process of having to wait several seconds between punchlines in order to allot enough space for the laugh track to be inserted. The production team experimented with omitting the laugh track altogether with the episode "Oscar's New Life"; the episode aired without a laugh track (laughter was subsequently added for syndication in order to maintain continuity). ABC relented by the second season, with ''The Odd Couple'' being filmed with three cameras (vs. a single camera the previous season) and performed like a stage play in front of a studio audience. The change also required a new, larger set to be constructed within a theatre.<ref name=bobwilliams>{{cite news |first=Bob |last=Williams |title= On the Air |work=The New York Times |year=1972}}</ref> With a live audience present, Randall and Klugman enjoyed the spontaneity that came with it; any missed or blown lines went by without stopping (they could always be re-filmed during post-production). In addition, it gave the show a certain edge that was seen {{who|date=June 2020}} as missing in the first season, although actors had to deliver lines louder, since they were on a larger sound stage as opposed to a quiet studio with only minimal crew present.<ref name=stark>{{cite news |first=Steven D. |last=Stark |title= Laughs are a Serious Business |work=The New York Times |date=January 3, 1988}}</ref> Klugman later commented, "We spent three days rehearsing the show. We sat around a table the first day. We tore the script apart. We took out all the jokes and put in character. The only reason we leave in any jokes is for the rotten canned laughter. I hated it. I watch the shows at home, I see Oscar come in and he says, 'Hi,' and there is the laughter. 'Hey,' I think, 'what the hell did I do?' I hate it; it insults the audience."<ref>{{cite journal | last = Gross | first = Ed | title = The Truth About Oscar and Felix: Things You Didn't Know About ''The Odd Couple'' | journal = [[Bauer Media Group|Closer Weekly]] | date = March 1, 2018 | url = http://www.closerweekly.com/posts/the-odd-couple-154956 | access-date =  March 1, 2018 }}</ref>

The sitcom ''Happy Days'' (ABC, 1974–84) mirrored ''The Odd Couple'' scenario as well. Its first two seasons used only a laugh track, and by third season, shifted over to a live audience.<ref name="Iverson"/>

The shows were not entirely live, however. With the exception of ''All in the Family'', sweetening was still a necessity during post-production in order to bridge any gaps in audience reactions. Television/laugh track historian Ben Glenn II observed a taping of the sitcom ''[[Alice (American TV series)|Alice]]'' (CBS, 1976–85) and noted the need for sweetening: "The actors kept blowing their lines. Of course, by the third or fourth take, the joke was no longer funny. A Douglass laugh was inserted into the final broadcast version to compensate."<ref name=benglenn/>

Some producers, like [[James Komack]], however, followed Lear's approach. Komack, who was involved in the short-lived sitcom ''[[Hennesey]]'' starring [[Jackie Cooper]], was a longtime critic of the Douglass laugh track, believing the laughs were too predictable and could hinder the effect of the sitcom's humor.<ref name="newspapers.com">{{cite news |title= Television's 'Laugh Track' Turns 40 |work= Hazleton Standard-Speaker |date= December 31, 1990 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62782197/ }}</ref> Komack instead employed music to counteract the sweetened laughs. He experimented with this technique in ''[[The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series)|The Courtship of Eddie's Father]]'' (ABC, 1969–72), which featured a subdued laugh track. Multi-camera shows produced by Komack, such as ''[[Chico and the Man]]'' (NBC, 1974–78) and ''[[Welcome Back, Kotter]]'' (ABC, 1975–79), utilized background music cues during scene transitions (obvious locations for sweetening) and made sure that Douglass's laugh track was used infrequently during post-production. Komack later commented, "If you ever try to do a show without a laugh track, you'll see a huge difference...[I]t flattens. The only way to get away from a laugh track is to use music, which can indicate when something is funny." On sweetening, he continued, "Then it's determined by the taste of the producers – by the morality of the producers...[A]fter a while, you learn that it is valueless. In the extremes, people are going to hear it and say, 'Why are they laughing?' and they'll turn off your program."<ref name="newspapers.com"/>

In addition to ''The Odd Couple'', ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and ''Happy Days'', other live sitcoms that were sweetened by Douglass (many of which also sweetened by Pratt by the end of the 1970s) were ''[[The Paul Lynde Show]]'' (ABC, 1972–73), ''[[The Bob Newhart Show]]'' (CBS, 1972–78), ''Maude'' (CBS, 1972–78), ''[[Rhoda]]'' (CBS, 1974–78), ''[[Barney Miller]]'' (ABC, 1975–82), ''[[Laverne and Shirley]]'' (ABC, 1976–83), ''[[Soap (TV series)|Soap]]'' (ABC, 1977–81), ''The Comedy Shop'' (Syndication, 1978–81), ''[[Mork & Mindy]]'' (ABC, 1978–82), ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]'' (ABC, 1978–82; NBC, 1982–83), ''[[Cheers]]'' (NBC, 1982–93) and its spinoff ''[[Frasier]]'' (NBC, 1993–2004).<ref name="Iverson"/>

Variety shows that became prominent during the 1970s, such as ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'', ''[[The Flip Wilson Show]]'' and ''[[The Dean Martin Show]]'' (as well as ''[[The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast]]'' succeeding afterwards) also continued to use Douglass's sweetening for any less appealing jokes performed during sketches.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvparty.com/laugh.html |title=The Laugh Track / TVparty! |publisher=Tvparty.com |access-date=2013-07-09}}</ref>

Game shows were sweetened during the 1970s and early 1980s, often played when a contestant or the host says something considered to be funny and only a small reaction comes from the live audience. Douglass's laugh track was especially heard in Chuck Barris's game shows (i.e. ''[[The Gong Show]]'' and ''[[The Newlywed Game]]''<ref>{{cite news | last = Smith | first = Austin | title = Chuck Barris, Bring Back That Gong | work= [[New York Post]] | date = January 4, 2001 | url = https://nypost.com/2001/01/04/chuck-barris-bring-back-that-gong/ | access-date = December 15, 2014}}</ref>), whose shows were designed mainly to entertain the audience; the "prizes" were often rudimentary or derisive.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kubey, Robert|title=Creating Television Conversations with the People Behind 50 Years of American TV|publisher=Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum|year=2004|page=118|isbn=978-1135694289|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeIjySvEcgMC&q=game+shows+sweeteninghttps%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DVeIjySvEcgMC&pg=PA118}}</ref> Game shows that were produced at CBS Television City and NBC Studios Burbank were also sweetened, often to intensify audience reactions, including shows like ''[[Press Your Luck]]'' (used during "Whammy" segments). During a typical game show's closing credits, the show used canned cheers and applause noises to sweeten the live studio audience applause noises that viewers did not hear during the credits. This was common on daytime game shows on CBS and NBC and some syndicated game shows from the 1970s through the 1990s. Game shows taped at NBC Studios Burbank used three different applause tracks for sweetening: one with a smaller crowd, one with a medium crowd, and one with a large crowd with a cheerful male audience member in the background. However, many kids' game shows, most ABC game shows, and most [[Mark Goodson|Mark Goodson-Bill Todman]] productions, such as ''[[The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)|The Price Is Right]]'', ''[[Match Game]]'' and ''[[Family Feud]]'' were taped with a live audience present, though sweetening was used on rare occasions.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

There were still some producers who either still did not trust a live audience, produced a show that was too complex for an audience to be present, favored the single-camera method, or could not afford to screen it live to an audience for responses. In these cases, Douglass orchestrated the laugh track from scratch. Sitcoms like ''The Brady Bunch'', ''[[The Partridge Family]]'' and ''M*A*S*H'' utilized the single-camera method for their entire run.<ref name="Iverson"/> Several hour-long comedy dramas, like ''[[The Love Boat]]'' and ''[[Eight Is Enough]]'', used only a laugh track.<ref name="Iverson"/>

In the intervening years beginning with live film, progressing through videotape and onto studio-filmed productions with no live audience back to live-on-tape, Douglass had gone from merely enhancing or tweaking a soundtrack, to literally customizing entire audience reactions to each performance and back again to enhancing and tweaking performances recorded with live audiences.<ref name="Iverson"/>