Big Bang Theory

Anyone else watching this?

Of course - it is hilarious.

The show is boring, unimaginative, obvious at every interaction and a shameful typification of a specific population demographic.

Bazinga!

You fell for another one of Sheldon Cooper's-- yeah I watch it.

I watched the first episode and thought it would annoy me, but I actually find the characters very sympathetic. I think it catches the geek vibe very well and portrays it in a way that is not nearly as insulting as that show Chuck (which I hate).

It definitely makes my inner nerd giggle. I'm actually surprised it's not referred to on this forum more tbh. The latest Halloween episode is particularly good, and Jim Parsons really deserved the Emmy.

I particularly like the interplay between Sheldon and his family. His mom, in particular, really does the whole Texas fundy Christian thing in a way that is both endearing and mildly frightening at the same time.

I also think, however, that Galecki is probably the most underrated member of the cast. His performance of Dr. Leonard Hofstader is understated where most of the other roles are very over the top, but that seems to be precisely why the chemistry works. He reminds me of a much younger (and geekier) Bob Newhart.

Man, I can't stand that show

It was funny the first two times but it NEVER CHANGES.

I think the fact that they have an actual physicist acting as science consultant to make sure that all the science from the dialog to the formulae on the white boards is correct gives them mad props in my book.

Actually, Amy Farrah Fowler is a biologist, and acts as a second science consultant.

duckilama wrote:

Actually, Amy Farrah Fowler is a biologist, and acts as a second science consultant.

Yup. I read an interview with the actual physics consultant who said that the addition of Miyam Bialik to the cast made his life a lot easier since he could split the script vetting with her.

That was a cool interview.

Don't we already have a BBT thread around here somewhere?

The science occasionally requires a bit of squinting, but it's generally the best vetted show on American TV as far as the science goes. Even the equations on the white board check out, though they're generally not things someone like Sheldon would even require to be on a whiteboard (though I'm willing to let that slide).

As far as a humorous geek story/entertainment, I like it well enough, but it's getting long in the tooth, and they don't have enough real life commentary/plot development/character development for my liking. The characters don't feel authentic because they don't develop enough. Leonard, in particular, doesn't gain as much self-confidence as I would have expected from having had Penny as a girlfriend.

WHEATON!!!!!!!!!

Haven't seen S4 yet.

I always watch it. Jim Parsons is hilarious, and the rest of the show just kind of works for me. Normally I instantly rule out anything with canned laughter but this one gets a pass from me.

Not a huge fan of the show. It's one of those sitcoms I'll watch if I catch it, but won't go out of my way.

I find it pretty pandering and can't stand Sheldon.

There's always Genshiken as an alternative.

Is it strange that I don't watch the show because I think the sets are terrible?

My problem with the show is that they talk about all this effort they put into getting the "science" parts right, and they mostly do in terms of facts/theory stuff (Although I have also seen them get some stuff ridiculously wrong at times. There is a scene where Amy Farah Fowler is supposed to be cutting brain slices, and is doing so with practically a knife and fork, and they are these huge thick slices as opposed to using a microtome and producing slices of a mm or less in thickness. Not to mention that Sheldon is eating lunch at the table next to her while she is doing this, which is wrong and unrealistic on so many levels.) But they get the culture and realities of working as a scientist at a university completely and utterly wrong. I can't watch the show without trying to figure out what position these people are supposed to have. They seem to be working just doing research, with no teaching, no grad students, and also no bosses. They aren't post-docs, as then they would be working in someone else's lab (i.e. they would have bosses). If they are supposed to be professors of some sort, they should have grad students working for them, and not really be spending that much time in the lab themselves (and would also often have to do a little bit of teaching at least). Especially if they are supposed to be at a fictional Cal Tech! If they had said that they were working at a national lab, rather than in academia then they might actually make sense, or maybe in a med school but even then they should have grad students or techs or post-docs or something.

I know these are just the sort of alterations shows need to make for tv/comedy purposes and this is just like doctors complaining about medical shows, but when they go on and on about how they try to get the science stuff right, their complete and total laziness in this aspect bugs me.

I've actually found this show to be very boring lately. I used to like it but ever since it became all about relationships it's become super boring. I was ok with the Leonard/Penny business but then Howard got a girlfriend which completely ruined his character and Leonard's screwing Raj's sister but she moves to India then Sheldon got a girlfriend just so they could introduce a female Sheldon and now every other episode is about trying to get Raj some poon. I don't care about who they're f*cking, I just want to see them doing goofy sh*t. And, contrary to what most people seem to think, I find Blossom's character to be really annoying.

With regards to the science, sure they get it right but I hate how they'll clump unrelated concepts together just to fill out the white boards. In one episode, Sheldon was teaching a class and there were at least four distinct topics on the board that had no business being together. It also usually bothers me when Leonard talks about lasers but that's a very specific gripe for me because I work in that field. I also don't like how they have some sort of vacuous "researcher" position at a university where they clearly aren't professors (they don't teach or have grad students) and they aren't post-docs (they aren't working for anybody).

edit: I didn't refresh the page so I didn't see Pacman's post.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

I've actually found this show to be very boring lately. I used to like it but ever since it became all about relationships it's become super boring. I was ok with the Leonard/Penny business but then Howard got a girlfriend which completely ruined his character and Leonard's screwing Raj's sister but she moves to India then Sheldon got a girlfriend just so they could introduce a female Sheldon and now every other episode is about trying to get Raj some poon. I don't care about who they're f*cking, I just want to see them doing goofy sh*t. And, contrary to what most people seem to think, I find Blossom's character to be really annoying.

Are you suggesting that a sitcom, after a number of seasons has become one dimensional? Not uh!

Sadly, this is the fate of many, many shows.

Thin_J wrote:

I always watch it. Jim Parsons is hilarious, and the rest of the show just kind of works for me. Normally I instantly rule out anything with canned laughter but this one gets a pass from me.

It's actually a live audience. http://www.audiencesunlimited.com/fmi/xsl/shows/browserecord.xsl?&Show=big+bang There are occasionally spots where it's really obvious that it's not canned laughter.

deftly wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I always watch it. Jim Parsons is hilarious, and the rest of the show just kind of works for me. Normally I instantly rule out anything with canned laughter but this one gets a pass from me.

It's actually a live audience. http://www.audiencesunlimited.com/fmi/xsl/shows/browserecord.xsl?&Show=big+bang There are occasionally spots where it's really obvious that it's not canned laughter.

Ok, well, it still sounds stupid on TV. Quit recording the audience. It adds nothing.

deftly wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I always watch it. Jim Parsons is hilarious, and the rest of the show just kind of works for me. Normally I instantly rule out anything with canned laughter but this one gets a pass from me.

It's actually a live audience. http://www.audiencesunlimited.com/fmi/xsl/shows/browserecord.xsl?&Show=big+bang There are occasionally spots where it's really obvious that it's not canned laughter.

I don't think there is a single show being produced today which uses "canned laughter" like they did with The Brady Bunch (for example). Pretty much every sitcom these days is filmed, as has been mentioned, in front of a studio audience. The laughs you hear are the audiences "real" reactions to the material. Granted, they hire warm-up acts to get the crowd going, and they basically laugh at anything (see: Whitney).

If you mean you don't like shows recorded in front of live audiences, I tend to agree.

EDIT:

BTW, here's the old thread.

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/4...

Real or fake audience, I think there will always be people who don't dig it.

Also, shouldn't Leonard have some confidence now? Hot Penny, Hot sister, Hot comic book nerd, etc!

I don't really care what their position at the school is. I find it irrelevant, and doubt it would add any funny.

duckilama wrote:

I don't really care what their position at the school is. I find it irrelevant, and doubt it would add any funny.

I think it would be awesome to see Sheldon taking office hours. I had profs that were easily that socially inept and/or arrogant and, if it weren't so tragic and consequential, it would have made great comedy.

I have to say the first time I watched it, I hated. I thought Sheldon was too over the top but now that my wife has got me watching it more I think its hilarious. Amy Fowler is my favorite, I even have a bazinga T-shirt in my closet.

Love this show. The writing is clever, funny, and character-driven — which is incredibly rare in a sitcom these days. I was just saying to my wife the other day that I'm amazed that Sheldon hasn't become a caricature of himself after all this time. That's a testament to the actor, the writers, and directors.

As far as the addition of the women on the show, I think it was both necessary and really well done. Amy Farrah Fowler is a fantastic new character and foil for Sheldon. Listening to her talk on a recent panel, she nailed the differences between the two: being the way they are, they've both missed out on a lot of social and interpersonal events (sex, etc.). Sheldon is fine with that. Amy is definitely not.

Sounds like they just dropped Pria (sp?). She slept with someone, so... it's over. They called Leonard "single" this last episode.

And the hot comic chick from the previous episode was hawwwwwwwwwwwwwt.

I particularly loved the episode in which pria reviews Sheldon's roommate agreement. That was hilarious.