Show's got ideas on the brain |
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"When you show it to people with the laugh track, which it had on CBS, they see it as light and sometimes almost silly," says "When you show it to them without the laugh track, it becomes something very different. It becomes dark." The "M*A*S*H" producers also thought the laugh track changed the whole show, but could only convince CBS to drop it for operating room scenes. CBS, of course, figured "light and funny" would draw more viewers than "dark," which was true. But then, part of the subtle genius of "M*A*S*H" is that it worked on multiple levels. In any case, what's interesting is that researchers would break down the difference a laugh track makes. Reporting that kind of information is the mission of "The Infinite Mind," which Lichtenstein started in 1998 and for which he just won a Guggenheim Fellowship. The show just got a new host, Dr. Peter Kramer, and New Yorkers can check it out on WNYC (820 AM) at Take that laugh business. Turns out 70%-80% of the times that we laugh, it's not because anything was funny. We're using laughter as a social mechanism to help put someone at ease. After Sept. 11, "The Infinite Mind" explained why "trauma and tension" debilitated many people to the point where they lost interest in food or sex. "When we feel threatened," explains Lichtenstein, "the brain channels all its resources into protection." Soon after the "We looked at studies that measure people's instinctive response to, for instance, blowing things up," says Lichtenstein. "People like it. Put the data together and it becomes clear war is driven less by the geopolitical reasons that are usually cited than by primal needs of man." As this might suggest, the goal of "The Infinite Mind" isn't to stake out a position and outtalk or outshout anyone who disagrees. The program seems to have found a place anyway, which is encouraging. "The model for this show was 'Cosmos,'" says Lichtenstein, referring to the 1980s public television series about the universe. "We try to make neuroscience entertaining. Maybe someday we'll inspire our own 'Star Wars' or 'Star Trek.'"
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The classic CBS series "M*A*S*H" would have been perceived very differently, it turns out, if it had been broadcast without its laugh track.