Many comedies say at the beginning of their episode "filmed in front of a live studio audience". It's usually a good call to announce this little fact, because the laughs always seem so fake. It almost convinces you the laughter is genuine. Almost.
My question is this: What is the alternative? Why say "live" in the "live studio audience" part? I am seriously concerned that the comedy industry has in the past attempted some other form of studio audience that did not work, and so now they always say "live" so that you as a viewer know their audience is alive and well. Was there perhaps a time when Cheers filled its studio audience with dead people? I can't see how that's good marketing. Whoever came up with that idea was an idiot.
Of course, they don't have to be dead. Just not really what we would consider at the peak of being "live". I think a live studio audience is happy, lively, and excited to be there. This could lead to many different types of audiences that aren't live. For example, a room full of drunk people. The actors would make a joke, and the drunks might laugh, if they laugh at all, thirty seconds late. That wouldn't be good for the show at all. Perhaps they even rounded up a bunch of homeless people with promises of alcohol and fast food. Then you'd have an angry studio audience. That also wouldn't go down well.
What types of studio audiences do you think they tried before they reverted to "live studio audience"?
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