Why do the major television networks and production companies doubt our intelligence?

I just watched "Twenty Good Years" on NBC.I've been looking forward to this show,I mean, They went to the trouble of getting major hollywood talent and expert writers,and it has a lot of promise in the pilot episode-but Why in the seventy thousand names of Gubba do they think we need a laugh track to pick out the jokes?We are not stupid out here in MidRealm America,and HBO doesn't dumb down their shows, so why the stupid laugh tracks?