For those of you that are unfamiliar with the show the basic premise is this taken from their IMDB page
"Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper are both brilliant physicists working at Cal Tech in Pasadena, California. They are colleagues, best friends and roommates, although in all capacities their relationship is always tested primarily by Sheldon's regimented and non-conventional ways. They are also friends with their Cal Tech colleagues, mechanical engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali. The foursome spend their time working on their individual work projects, playing video games, watching science fiction movies or reading comic books. As they are self-professed nerds, all have little or no luck with "popular" women. When Penny, a pretty woman and an aspiring actress originally from Omaha, moves into the apartment next to Leonard and Sheldon's, Leonard has another aspiration in life, namely to get Penny to be his girlfriend."
The creator of the show is a man named Chuck Lorre who has been mostly responsible for the majority of bad sitcoms on CBS right now. Though he did have a hand in "Roseanne" but that was never a show that I liked all that much. I found her loudness tiresome and not amusing in the least. But his biggest crime is that he created "Two and a Half Men" and in doing gave Charlie Sheen a career resurgence that has since allowed for the epic meltdown we all got the pleasure of experiencing earlier this year. I feel that for this crime alone Chuck Lorre should be flogged and hung from the town clock tower but I digress.
The concepts behind "The Big Bang Theory" (TBBT) are pretty basic and the show is filmed the same way that all sitcoms are filmed. As far as technique goes it could be "Laverne & Shirley" or "My Two Dads" there is nothing groundbreaking about what is going on behind the camera in each episode. The has some slight foreshadowing but the only kind of continuing story arc was the will they or won't they of Penny and Leonard. Believe me they are not Sam and Diane as much as Chuck Lorre would like us to believe they are. The interplay and the pining of Leonard towards Penny is interesting and believable. Who hasn't pined after someone who is out of their league. I realize that we are supposed to accept some fantastic things when watching a television show. But there is no way on Gods green earth that this woman
Is going to date this man
I really think that over the course of the first season Leonard has been releasing some form of gas into Pennys apartment and this is making her more malleable to his advances. There is no other reasonable explanation for them even getting involved. I have an incredible personality and I am good, good friends with many woman who are far out of my league and there is no way that it will be any different. This show does a disservice to poor lonely nerds everywhere (Who, lets be honest, have no where near the amazing personality that I do) in making them think that they could ever date a smoking hot babe like Penny. It is never going to happen. LET THE DREAM DIE NERDS!!!! LET IT DIE!!!
The show is also filmed in front of a live studio audience and I am just not a big fan of that. I do not like being told when to laugh based on the reactions of the audience of the laugh track that is being played. It isn't a horrible show but it isn't an amazing show either. I think that is why it is a success. It thrives in it mediocrity. The audience doesn't have to think. They do not have to feel. They can sit in their stupefied state. They are allowed to just float along without any effort on their part.
So that being said. I do find it something that I can just stare at and listen to while I do other things and let it just wash over me. So if that is what you are looking for then "The Big Bang Theory" is the show for you.
7 comments:
Oh, Lance, you have pushed a major button with me here. Someone might find a bigger button to push, but I seriously doubt it.
Big Bang Theory is currently my favorite show precisely because of how smart it is. I have watched it for its entire run (has it been five years already?), every single episode, and each season it gets better and better. I have stumbled across many stupid American sitcoms that have tried in a half-hearted way to portray true geek/nerd culture, but not until now have I found a show that actually got it right.
I grew up with these people - the ones who played video games before it was cool and knew how to program in BASIC and loved math and bought fake swords and could quote hours of Star Trek and Lord of The Rings. I was never quite smart enough to be one of them, but I've spent most of my life living among them. And enjoying it.
The writers of Big Bang put a lot of research into their material. They pay such careful attention to detail; they consult experts and scientists and their jokes make real engineers laugh (just ask my friend Sun). I'm sure you can enjoy the show without understanding the science behind it, but it's a lot more satisfying to me when I do. I'm sure you could enjoy the show without ever actually having known anyone like Sheldon or Raj or Leonard or Howard (or Amy or Bernadette or Leslie Winkel), but it's so much fun to see what I've already known in real life finally being portrayed on screen with some accuracy. Exaggerated, of course, because it's a sit-com, after all, but still completely recognizable. I laugh at these characters because I *know* they're real.
Bit of supporting trivia: their latest character, Amy Farrah Fowler (Sheldon's 'love'interest) who is a nuerobiologist, is played by an actress with an actual doctorate in neuroscience. (She was Blossom back in the 90's.)
What I've really loved about the show is that over the seasons it's expanded to be about much more than Penny and Leonard. They've got eight regular characters now, four guys and four girls, every one of them on a different point of the geek/notgeek scale. (I swear Sheldon could be diagnosed with Asbergers.) I also love the fact that just by hanging out with each other, the characters are rubbing off on each other and changing in subtle ways.
I watch the show precisely because it feels so real to me, in a way that most television shows almost never do. For so many years I watched shows that portrayed these worlds that (I assumed) were what other people found to be normal; finally I found one that portrays MY world. Not everyone is going to find that interesting, of course, but I really take offense at the idea that the creators were lazy or were aiming for mediocrity, when I see so much evidence that the opposite is true.
P.S. For the record, I find Two and a Half Men completely unappealing and didn't think much of Roseanne, either.
I watched a few episodes, but it wasn't very funny to me, honestly. It takes a lot to make me laugh I guess but all of the jokes fall flat. Yes I recognize their geeknitude and that's well handled, but its not funny to me, just familiar.
I enjoy this show very much! I think the writers do a great job and that it's very different from all the other shows on right now. It takes a lot to get me to like a show and stick with it, this one is a keeper. Start season 2... it gets better with age :)
30 Rock finale is on tonight. That's what Thursdays and TV are for.
Thank you so much for all the comments everybody. I got more today then I have in a long time. I understand what you are saying Marcy and it is true that the nerd or geek aspects of the show are pretty spot on. But I just feel like some of the jokes are pretty stereotypical of sitcoms. They are not breaking any new ground. But I do agree that with the new dynamic of the girls it has changed the show for the better and as I watch season two and move into further seasons I will revisit my reviews. I think like Christopher I am just to close to the material. So everything seems familiar.
O.k. - I'm totally sold Marcy - I'm going to check it out!
We are just catching up on Big Bang Theory as well and I am a FAN! It's not as consistent as I would like, but there are enough great episodes to keep me watching. I also agree that it is a smart show and reminds me frequently of some boys I know and one I live with :)
Post a Comment