Product: F Troop: The Complete First Season (2006)
Rating: 3.0
F gets a C
I've been conditioned over the last few years, for better or worse, to enjoy television comedy without the crutch of a fabricated laugh track. Not to say that brilliant televised comedy hasn't made proper use of the this technological marvel, but so many fine programs, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Scrubs don't bother with it, and each just got nominated for Best Comedy for this year's upcoming Emmy Awards--I know, one got cancelled, but there no accounting for network executives, or Fox TV's scheduling.F Troop brings back wonderful memories in a Mel Brooksian, Larry Storchian, Civil Warian fashion and I've missed seeing the dopey troopster in the camp lookout get shot down every week. But to uproarious laugh track guffaws? The premise is still great, the perfomances are there and the characters jogged my memory, but I couldn't continue viewing more than two programs without marching over to the DVD player and smashing it with my fist. I suppose that I should have turned down the volume, but I wanted to make a point to my 7 year old. "Laugh tracks are BAD! VERY BAD," I screamed, and my wife later tore my head off.It's funny--no REALLY funny: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had the benefit of live audiences to get their comedy cues as if on stage. I often wonder how much funnier many programs might be if they employed that simple technique, as did Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett and Seinfeld.Missed it, but alas, back on the shelf you go, Larry. Where's the ice?