4 ms·

It's not even a nerd thing. I found that I enjoyed technical jargon even when I didn't understand the meaning behind all the words. I doubt every viewer underst

It's not even a nerd thing. I found that I enjoyed technical jargon even when I didn't understand the meaning behind all the words. I doubt every viewer understands everything Big Bang Theory physicists say, but it's still fun! It does seem to enhance the experience plus it has the side benefit of buying good will from the experts in the relevant field.

smnplk 10y ago
I never understood what people find funny in Big bang theory show. Can you still laugh at the jokes if there is no laugh track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY0Zkthn8Og https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY0Zkthn8Og ? :) I like IT crowd much better.
- beedogs 10y ago
  Agreed. BBT is a terrible show with mostly cringe-worthy humour.
- veridies 10y ago
  First of all, while BBT may sweeten the track, it is still filmed in front of an audience; people really do laugh at the jokes. It doesn't work at all in part because the actors pause to let the laughter subside, and if you watch without that, it just feels bizarre. Second of all, the show's humor isn't entirely verbal. The overbroad stereotypes and exaggerated reactions are part of a joke, and a lot of that requires a familiarity with (and appreciation of) both the specific characters and the archetypes they're playing on. Of course some people just won't find the show funny, and that's fine. But a lot of very experienced, talented people put a lot of work into that show; it would be unfortunate to dismiss it entirely. (And for the record, I personally don't find the show funny in the least bit.)
  - forgottenpass 10y ago
    First of all, while BBT may sweeten the track, it is still filmed in front of an audience; people really do laugh at the jokes. I never really understood the idea that this is meaningfully different from a canned laughter track. A live audience applauding because the applause light goes on isn't any more authentic than a editor mixing it in. It's just easier to make the end product sound like it flows realistically. And while there may not be a "laughter" light, the audience knows that they're expected to laugh at the punchlines. Just like they know to "ooh" and "aww" at all the right moments too. In fact the crowd warm-up often tells them to make sure they laugh and laugh loud enough for the microphones to pick it up. -- In either case, the reason people bounce off of laughter in the mix is because the jokes don't land. It's the fact people would find it funny that people complaining about the "laugh track" perceive as artificial. Not because the audio is stilted enough that someone can recognize it as edited in after the fact. Getting pedantic about the colloquial use of "laugh track" or "canned" is generally irrelevant.
- na85 10y ago
  I've never even cracked a smile at BBT. It's easily the worst show on television.
racl101 10y ago
I think this, what you have stated, is the appeal of that scene in the Social Network where Mark Zuckerberg is building Facesmash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSKoVsHs_Ko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSKoVsHs_Ko Most people probably don't understand what Emacs, Apache configuration or "wget magic" is but they don't have to. Sorkin's screenplay makes, what might otherwise be a boring evening to a external observer, seem really exciting while communicating the high level ideas. In other words: people who saw the movie partook in the excitement of watching a programmer build something cool, fairly quickly, that elicited strong feedback and reaction, which is rewarding to any programmer and they did not have to get bogged down in the details. As well, this scene also doesn't embellish in the details of hacking with absurd looking command lines nor GUIs like "Hackers" (the movie) does and, therefore, does not elicit an obligatory 'eyeroll' from the programmer/hacker community.

smnplk 10y ago

I never understood what people find funny in Big bang theory show. Can you still laugh at the jokes if there is no laugh track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY0Zkthn8Og https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY0Zkthn8Og ? :) I like IT crowd much better.

beedogs 10y ago
Agreed. BBT is a terrible show with mostly cringe-worthy humour.
veridies 10y ago
First of all, while BBT may sweeten the track, it is still filmed in front of an audience; people really do laugh at the jokes. It doesn't work at all in part because the actors pause to let the laughter subside, and if you watch without that, it just feels bizarre. Second of all, the show's humor isn't entirely verbal. The overbroad stereotypes and exaggerated reactions are part of a joke, and a lot of that requires a familiarity with (and appreciation of) both the specific characters and the archetypes they're playing on. Of course some people just won't find the show funny, and that's fine. But a lot of very experienced, talented people put a lot of work into that show; it would be unfortunate to dismiss it entirely. (And for the record, I personally don't find the show funny in the least bit.)
- forgottenpass 10y ago
  First of all, while BBT may sweeten the track, it is still filmed in front of an audience; people really do laugh at the jokes. I never really understood the idea that this is meaningfully different from a canned laughter track. A live audience applauding because the applause light goes on isn't any more authentic than a editor mixing it in. It's just easier to make the end product sound like it flows realistically. And while there may not be a "laughter" light, the audience knows that they're expected to laugh at the punchlines. Just like they know to "ooh" and "aww" at all the right moments too. In fact the crowd warm-up often tells them to make sure they laugh and laugh loud enough for the microphones to pick it up. -- In either case, the reason people bounce off of laughter in the mix is because the jokes don't land. It's the fact people would find it funny that people complaining about the "laugh track" perceive as artificial. Not because the audio is stilted enough that someone can recognize it as edited in after the fact. Getting pedantic about the colloquial use of "laugh track" or "canned" is generally irrelevant.
na85 10y ago
I've never even cracked a smile at BBT. It's easily the worst show on television.

racl101 10y ago

I think this, what you have stated, is the appeal of that scene in the Social Network where Mark Zuckerberg is building Facesmash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSKoVsHs_Ko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSKoVsHs_Ko Most people probably don't understand what Emacs, Apache configuration or "wget magic" is but they don't have to. Sorkin's screenplay makes, what might otherwise be a boring evening to a external observer, seem really exciting while communicating the high level ideas. In other words: people who saw the movie partook in the excitement of watching a programmer build something cool, fairly quickly, that elicited strong feedback and reaction, which is rewarding to any programmer and they did not have to get bogged down in the details. As well, this scene also doesn't embellish in the details of hacking with absurd looking command lines nor GUIs like "Hackers" (the movie) does and, therefore, does not elicit an obligatory 'eyeroll' from the programmer/hacker community.