I've watched Scrubs and currently watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

I need similar series without the laugh track because it just ruins it for me.

It seems like i will be busy for many months :) Thank you all for your suggestions

8 years ago*

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8 years ago
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I really like King Of Queens and M.A.S.H. Great TV series but I think King Of Queens has a laugh track...

8 years ago
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No Bundy? No Fundy!

8 years ago
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Arrested Development and Modern Family.

8 years ago
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Community
It's always sunny in Philadelphia

The only 2 I can think of without a laugh track. Community was a personal favourite for me. Both of these programs were so good that I binge watched the entire thing!

8 years ago
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2 words - Benny Hill

8 years ago
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I generally can't stand most comedy sitcoms anymore.

I used to like Sunny till the formula of each episode basically went to repeat.

Cartoons are where the darker more brutal humor is for me these days.

Rick and Morty

Archer

Bojack Horseman

Ugly Americans

8 years ago
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Leverage tends to hop between drama and comedy a lot, but when it's funny- it's very funny. :D

8 years ago
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Wilfred
Baskets
Idiotsitter
moonbeam city (animated)
unbreakable kimmy schmidt
limitless (not strictly a comedy but has its moments)
pretty sure none of these have laugh tracks XD

8 years ago
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Check out Sirens. Kinda similar to scrubs, except it follows the guys who go out in the ambulance instead of nurses at the hospital

8 years ago
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black's books

8 years ago
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+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
(but it has the hahahaha track)

Also The IT Crowd

8 years ago*
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Here's the list and then below a TL;DR:

  1. The Office (UK)
  2. The Office (US)
  3. Parks and Recreation
  4. Community
  5. 30 Rock
  6. Curb Your Enthusiasm
  7. Arrested Development
  8. Veep
  9. Louie
  10. House of Lies

I've bolded the three I most recommend and did a little blurb paragraph about each.

Shows that are off the air:

The Office (UK): Great, but brief. More like a mini-series if you're more used to US television. Here you have the brilliance of Ricky Gervais, and a bunch of other good UK actors that I've seen in other productions. Easily the choice for someone who doesn't want to invest in what literally adds up to days of television watching, which is the case for most of the other shows.

Note: NBC Thursday night was the strongest block of comedy for a few years there in the 90s. Maybe even the 80s, but we don't want to talk about the anchor of their Thursday night in the 80s anymore. Anyway, it was the best night of comedy in the Friends/Seinfeld/Frasier era (though Frasier moved from Thursday), even if NBC usually created a shit sandwich by sticking garbage between Friends and Seinfeld, or between Seinfeld and ER. The 00s/10s era of The Office, 30 Rock, Community, and Parks and Recreation was arguably a better era (by arguably I mean that I'm arguing it was better), as there were fewer shit sandwiches, including none at all while the four shows aired together, but the four shows weren't nearly as popular with viewers.

The Office (US): NBC Thursday night anchor. Recommended in part because it has the most episodes of any of the shows on this list. More of something that is good is good, yeah? The original is great too, and the first few episodes of this are pretty slow (and almost word-for-word adaptations of the original), but this show had a long life, and was fantastic for most of it. Each of the main characters that are complement to the original UK character are distinct from their UK forebear, and because of the sheer volume of episodes compared to the original, you get to know more (and care more) about the US characters. Even if you think the original is a notch better, this reigns supreme over it because each season (other than the first) has almost as much content than the entire UK show. Helped launch or expand the careers of Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, and Craig Robinson.

Parks and Recreation: Continued the NBC Thursday tradition of single-camera comedies without laugh tracks based upon a fake documentary presence. One half of the sometimes comedy team of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler here. Helped launch or expand Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, Aziz Ansari, and Chris Pratt.

Community: NBC Thursday night here again. Much more surreal than the other shows. Very meta. At least one claymation episode, at least one animated episode, paintball fight episode, and The Darkest Timeline. I've forgotten more about this show than I know about some of the other shows. Lots of novel (or at least uncommon for the genre) choices regarding presentation. Launched/expanded/resurrected triple-threat Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Joel McHale, and Chevy Chase.

30 Rock: This show is a bit meta, and one of the quickest to incorporate current popular memes. Fey is brilliant, as is Alec Baldwin. Tracy Morgan brings his characteristic absurdist humor, Jane Krakowski her attention-starved wannabe star, and Jack McBrayer his earnest and kindhearted backwoods hick.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Either you like Larry David, or you don't. There are episodes here that are absolute gold. However the core of the show is David's neuroses. Notwithstanding that Seinfeld has a laugh track, if you like Seinfeld (like the way it is written), then you'll like Curb as David wrote many of the most lauded episodes of Seinfeld. Lots of great comedic actors here, lots of good guest stars, and the scenes are semi-improvised with lots of improvised dialogue. And it shows. This is mostly a good thing. One knock is that it is a little formulaic in that it feels like every episode ends with the that show's central conflict (often instigated by David and often fairly trivial) is some sort of ironic comeuppance for David. I said if you like Seinfeld, you'd probably like this, but to be more accurate, if you really liked George Costanza, and wanted to see an angrier, more offensive, and more pedantic version of him, then you'll like this. This show is technically on hiatus, but it hasn't aired a new episode since 2011 and David has said season nine looks unlikely.

Shows that are still airing:

Arrested Development Underappreciated in its day (low ratings) but loved by critics, and for good reason. A bit of meta here as well.. Launched/expanded/resurrected Jeffrey Tambor, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Tony Hale... pretty much everyone on this show, including hilarious guest stars from yesteryear like Henry Winkler, Scott Baio, and my favorite, Carl Weathers... though someone may not want to give it too much credit for the Tambor, de Rossi, or Cross. Has a decade-long gap between seasons three and four, but Netflix has commissioned a fifth season, so this show can be considered active.

Veep Julia Louis-Dreyfus proved that there is no Seinfeld curse, and that The New Adventures of Old Christine was not a fluke. More Tony Hale here, arguably even better than he is in Arrested Development. The real return of everyone's favorite mortician's daughter, Anna Chlumsy. This show is just awesome, and my current fave of active shows. If I had one show to recommend, this would be it. Of the three bolded shows, this is the only one on premium television and is thus not required to hold as much back as The Office or Arrested Development.

Louie: Either you like Louis C.K. or you don't. This is the sort of show that comedians want to make rather than a banal three-camera sitcom with a studio audience and laugh track. Often subdued and not trying for laughs or a truly substantive plot. Not as "tight" as the other shows, even the improvised Curb Your Enthusiasm. This can be good or bad, depending on your point of view.

House of Lies: Dramatic as well, some might even consider this more of a comedic drama. But there's lots of hilarity here as the main cast regularly insult each other as part of their normal interaction (as well as pretty much insulting/making fun of everyone they meet). Cheadle breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the viewer often. Features Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell. This is the only show with nudity, if that matters (of course it does).

Thank you for creating this thread. It was interesting (to me) to type out what I thought about these shows.

8 years ago
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Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts. I'll definitely watch the Office and i'll check the others too

8 years ago
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Just be patient with the first season of The Office (US). The first original episode might be the basketball episode (episode five). For the most part to that point as someone who had seen and loved the original series, the US version was derivative and compared quite poorly, as it tread a lot of the same ground, almost word-for-word, as I said above.

But I had hope that it would improve, it's worth it.

8 years ago
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IT Crowd

8 years ago
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Better Off Ted is awesome, but don't remember if it has a laugh track or not.

Checked and no laugh tracks.

8 years ago*
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That was quite a gem! Loved it

8 years ago
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Freaks and Geeks, my name is Earl.

Thank me later.

8 years ago
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Louie
or the newest one - Horace And Pete
Portlandia - is very fun too 8D

8 years ago
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I too hate laugh tracks.

Master of None
Louie
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
The old Arrested Development

8 years ago
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A lot of great recommendations in here, but one I noticed nobody mentioned is a show called Sirens. Very funny show about EMS workers, kinda like Scrubs, but much more raunchy. Though he doesn't act in it, it's done by Denis Leary.

8 years ago
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Trailer park Boys CA
Coupling UK
Peep Show UK
Entourage US

8 years ago
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Modern Family always and forever.

8 years ago
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one of my favorites is better off ted. can't remember if it has a laugh track but i don't think it does

8 years ago
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Corner Gas

8 years ago
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I recommend stuff on Adult Swim.
-Metalocalypse
-Newsreaders
-Infomercials
-Robot Chicken

and of course... the one and only South Park.

(Oh, and The Trailer Park Boys....I see that some people mentioned it, and yeah... funny as heck.)

8 years ago
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