Why Aaron Sorkin's ABC Sitcom Sports Night Only Used A Laugh Track For Its First Season

In the pantheon of great TV shows about sports, "Sports Night" consistently pops up on most people's lists. The Aaron Sorkin creation was clever, sharp, bitingly sarcastic and, unfortunately, canceled after only two seasons, despite many people wishing it would get a second chance. Sorkin's first attempt at a television show might have had a longer run, however, if he and ABC could have agreed about the use of laugh tracks.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sorkin said ABC wanted the show filmed in front of a live audience, but he was against that idea. "Once you do it in front of a live audience, you have to use a laugh track," Sorkin said. "The other reason we didn't want a live audience was that we didn't have a traditional multi-camera set." But it was the laugh track that ruffled the most feathers on set, including from cast members like Felicity Huffman. "I loved doing it in front of an audience, but I hated the laugh track," she told Entertainment Weekly. "It cheapened it."

While many comedies at the time were using laugh tracks, Sorkin saw it as one of the many problems with sitcoms in general. In 1998, he told The New Yorker, "It feels as if I'd put on an Armani tuxedo, tied my tie, snapped on my cufflinks, and the last thing I do before I leave the house is spray Cheez Whiz all over myself." But despite his complaints, the laugh track was used for the show's entire first season.

One of the reasons ABC insisted on the laugh track was because of the unique way the show was written. It wasn't a sitcom, but it wasn't a drama either. When "Sports Night" premiered, the president of ABC entertainment, Jamie Tarses, defended the laugh track. "The show starts off confusing viewers," she told The New Yorker "People will wonder, 'Am I supposed to think this is funny or serious?' People need the comforting aural cue of laughter."

As the first season progressed, however, the "Sports Night" team slowly started to fade the laugh track out. "We never won the battle with ABC," Director Thomas Schlamme said in an interview with The Feed. "But we got closer." Then finally at the end of the first season, ABC relented and let Sorkin remove it completely. Unfortunately, much of the original audience had given up on the show by then. After its second season, the series was canceled by ABC due to low ratings, although it lives on as one of the best workplace comedies of all time.

Not long after "Sports Night" left the airwaves, a string of comedies ended up having success with no laugh tracks at all like "The Office," "Parks and Recreation," and "Modern Family." "Sports Night" cast member, Joshua Malina, said the show might have just been ahead of its time. "Maybe it never would have hit. Maybe it was too niche," he told Entertainment Weekly. "If it came up after 'The Office', I think it would have gone a very different way."