Laughing matters

Whitney (Whitney Cummings) and her boyfriend (Chris D'Elia) stroll into their own version of “Cheers.” He’s wondering why an ex would want to stay friends with her, because she “not that friendly.”

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I’m not a “Whitney” person -- though I am a Whitney person. Her standup talent gives me occasional hope that her sitcom has finally stopped sucking. Then I tune in. The show’s jokes are cute but impart the feeling that too many Cheez-Its have been consumed.

But I get the same feeling from "Two and a Half Men," "Anger Management" and even a much better sitcom than all of these: "How I Met Your Mother." So I blame the laughter.

The studio audience seemed floored by that “not that friendly” joke, and that made me resent it. This amazing ability I have to decipher, all by myself, which words are amusing when strung together -- honed by watching “Arrested Development," “The Office” and every single funny movie I’ve ever seen -- was suddenly stripped and there I was watching “Three's Company" in seventh grade again.

So why is this remnant still with us? Part of the answer is Desi Arnaz. He was the genius behind “I Love Lucy" and the three-camera shoot. So he must also have been a genius for inventing the studio audience. Right?

Sixty years ago, Americans were comforted by associating this newfangled box of images in their living room with something more familiar to them: a vaudeville show. Plus, it was thought, you're way more likely to do something you see or hear others do first. (It’s the same reason your mom was always on you about jumping off buildings.)

But not every show could afford a studio audience like that of "Lucy." So it was widely faked. Laugh tracks appeared everywhere, even places that were ludicrous if people ever stopped to think about it, which they didn’t. (What group of people could possibly have been sitting there laughing at "The Flintstones" or "The Jetsons”?)

Even sitcoms with audiences prompted them to laugh with signs, and "sweetened" their reactions with prerecorded laughter when they didn't. The combined effect was that viewers learned to associate sitcom laughter with unfunniness. (We are a lot more like dogs conditioned by bells than we like to think.)

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Laugh tracks went out long ago, but studio audiences clung. Network executives and sitcom creators grew up on them, and the success of "Seinfeld" -- which still seems funny even with the laugh-prompting -- pumped at least another decade into the old paradigm.

But that's changing. Laughlessness is the new norm. And, like every other TV decision, this one comes down to money. Beginning with "Malcolm in the Middle" 13 years ago, networks saw proof that they could achieve the same returns on less of an investment. Sometimes, networks do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

"Whitney" is now the only NBC sitcom with an audience. And it is likely to be the last.

Does sitcom laughing annoy you, too?

"Whitney" airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.