The laugh track is the key to the show's draw, but it's also the reason that I'm so disgusted with the show sometimes. Jerry makes a joke and the little club he's playing doesn't just chuckle; it roars with laughter, even if the joke is stupid or obvious. The laugh track makes Seinfeld easy to watch. It takes you out of actually interacting with the show and puts you in a place of comfortable numbness where you get cues to laugh. It creates an experience like that scene in Fahrenheit 451 where Montag's wife is interacting with her video-wallscreen thing, becoming a part of the story all the while avoiding real creativity or social interaction. It makes for a "TV family." The viewer is alone, but you receive some shadow of that feeling of camaraderie one gets from watching a really funny movie with friends or standing underneath an awning in high school exchanging dead baby jokes. This self-involvement seems to work pretty well for Seinfeld and other sitcoms of its ilk. The creators ofArrested Development have built an entire show around self reference, though it also thrives on the absence of a laugh track and a beautiful subtlety. Everybody Loves Raymond and According to Jim, conversely, rely on this numbness. In the absence of cleverness or creativity the producers of the show find a weak point in American culture (i.e., laziness, feebleness of family structure, intense isolation) and help the audience pretend that some– where, somehow, the perfect form still exists. It's mindless, it's numbing, and it relies too heavily on easy jokes and thoughtless scenarios. I try to avoid spending too much time in front of the television. For the most part, I feel that I'm conscious of and therefore immune to the snare of numbness. I try hard to think. My girlfriend's roommate always laughs at Full House and I simply can't comprehend this. We're watching television at their apart– ment (I feel like I'm treading on thin ice. I should not write about col– lege life. Or relationships.), and I'm waiting for K. to finish some ofher homework. We're going out afterwards, probably to some coffee place. I shoot A., the roommate, a weird look and snort when she laughs as fohn Stamos picks up one of the Olsen twins and delivers a cheesy line. 35
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