Why Things Suck, Chapter 23

A classic network television story, from Alan Sepinwall's interview with Bill Lawrence, creator of "Scrubs" and "Cougar Town":

"When they wanted to put a laugh track on "M*A*S*H, Larry Gelbart did a test where he tested it with laughs and he tested it without, and he went to those guys and said, 'Look, people responded the same way whether there were fake laughs in it or not.' And the network said, 'Well, great. Then we'll keep the laughs.'"