There are plenty of good reasons why laugh tracks have become almost universally abhorred in the television landscape. Not only do savvy audiences recognize that they are being pandered to whenever they hear canned laughter, but television executives have repeatedly failed over the 60-or-so-year history of the technology to demonstrate that they know how to exercise restraint when using this manipulative editing device. That said, we wholeheartedly applaud YouTube user Unclejubalon’s decision to add a laugh track to select portions of Alan Ball’s campy vampire soap, True Blood. Specifically, these edits cleverly positioned as a sitcom called At Merlotte’s pay tribute to some of the over-the-top cheesiness that goes on within the four walls of everyone’s favorite restaurant in Bon Temps. Television historians might sneer at us for saying this, but we vastly prefer this to Alice!
‘At Merlottes’: A True Blood Sitcom [Buzzfeed]
