That requires a sound strategic test, against a consumer-centric reality, and not just a laugh track.

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Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, so liberals and pragmatists of all stripes can cue the laugh track.

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That realistic quality and the lack of the laugh track, Sedita said, seem to appeal to the younger generation.

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Those who wish the world to resemble a 30-minute sitcom with a laugh track tended to vote for John Kerry.

ECONOMIST: Patently absurd

Once-upon-a-laugh-track, many brands kept the humor strictly off camera, but Brand Keys has put one of those categories under the research microscope to see how humor is working in a field once thought far too serious to put in the hands of comedy: Car Insurance.

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"As you can see now Kinect can track features like your smile, your laugh and even the raise of your eyebrows, " Ballmer said, offering a demo of himself as a bald avatar -- his digital eyebrows bouncing up and down.

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People sometimes mention the track-and-field runner as a comparably lonely figure, but I have to laugh.

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