Although the first season of "Sports Night" is a sitcom, it often is portrayed as more of a comedy-drama representative of some of Sorkin's later work on "The West Wing". Sorkin intended for the series' humor to be drier and more realistic than typical sitcoms. He initially wanted the show to be recorded without a laugh track, but ABC network executives insisted on including one. The volume of the laugh track faded as Season One continued and was abandoned at the beginning of Season Two.