As far as I can tell, we don't have a topic about this TV show, which surprises me. I assume that many of you watch this sitcom, based around the lives of four scientists, Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, Raj, and their waitress friend Penny. I enjoy the show, now in its sixth season, and you should too. How many of you watch it?

The reason I was looking for a Big Bang Theory topic is that in 6x04, the episode from this past Thursday, Sheldon comes up with a game called "Physics Fiesta," described as physics questions answered in remedial Spanish. Their exchange goes like this:

Sheldon: Donde esta el boson de Higgs?
Leonard: Es in la accelerator linearis
Sheldon: Bueno, mi amigo! (high-five)

I am positive that this is a reference to Community, namely the famous "Donde esta la bibliothequa" rap. Thoughts?
I watch! I believe I have the episode from last thursday recorded and will watch it some time.

Also, sounds about right when DoorsCS thinks that this topic and this one are related.
Yup, seems about right, except perhaps about M-Theory (String Theory) versus loop quantum gravity. Have you been watching from the beginning? I think I started around the second season, after nagging from TIFreak8x and my IRL friend Deian.
I tried watching it, but I find it rather boring and weak in entertainment value; it's too "geeky" to be of any interest to me.
I would expect you to be square in the middle of the target audience, Ashbad. If anything, actually, I find that the science is dumbed down to be entertaining to a relatively low common denominator, subject matter notwithstanding.
Not really adding much to the conversation, but I have been enjoying this show since their first episode.
I dislike it (and I believe Merth shares my opinion on this). This essay covers my feelings on it better than I could express them.
Quote:
We aren’t laughing with Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard. We’re laughing at them. Chuck Lorre has given us four exceptionally intelligent, nerdy main characters and he’s positioned us as an audience against them.
That depends on which season. I loved seasons 2 & 3, because they embraced nerdiness and nerd culture.
I watched it and liked it, then, one day, I watched a version of it with the laugh track removed.

I could not find anything from TBBT funny since then.
qazz42 wrote:
I watched it and liked it, then, one day, I watched a version of it with the laugh track removed.

I could not find anything from TBBT funny since then.
Do you happen to know if that's on YouTube? I'd be very interested in watching that.

Tari: I think that that essay was very well-written, but I do have an issue with it. It assumes that the audience is meant to identify with Penny, whereas I've always felt that the audience is meant to identify with Leonard, and in fact I think I identify with Sheldon more than Leonard. It never would have occurred to me to identify with Penny, as many of the issues that the four guys confront are issues that I too have confronted in life.
sure, here is the one that completely turned me off from TBBT

KermMartian wrote:
Tari: I think that that essay was very well-written, but I do have an issue with it. It assumes that the audience is meant to identify with Penny, whereas I've always felt that the audience is meant to identify with Leonard, and in fact I think I identify with Sheldon more than Leonard. It never would have occurred to me to identify with Penny, as many of the issues that the four guys confront are issues that I too have confronted in life.

I am too lazy to actually make my own post so instead I quote people and then don't say anything new.
I never knew that people actually disliked this show. I love it from the nerdy point of view, but as stated in this thread, the science is all dumbed down so anyone can enjoy. My grandma even loves the show, and she doesn't have an ounce of nerd blood in her stream.
Qazz: Wow, that was surreal. I found it totally unfunny without the laugh track. What else have laugh tracks manipulated me into thinking?!
KermMartian wrote:
I would expect you to be square in the middle of the target audience, Ashbad. If anything, actually, I find that the science is dumbed down to be entertaining to a relatively low common denominator, subject matter notwithstanding.


It is, but I find it incredibly hard to relate to (or like) the nerdy characters; however, I mainly just find the humor a bit weak. I don't find it as hilarious as many people claim it to be, to put it simply.
KermMartian wrote:
Qazz: Wow, that was surreal. I found it totally unfunny without the laugh track. What else have laugh tracks manipulated me into thinking?!


I used to do stand up comedy, and I've had the exact same routine bomb on one night and kill on another. Absolutely every piece of comedy seems funnier when other people are laughing.
KermMartian wrote:
Qazz: Wow, that was surreal. I found it totally unfunny without the laugh track. What else have laugh tracks manipulated me into thinking?!


That's the first stage. From here on each time you watch TBBT, you will imagine in your head the lines being said with no laugh track.


and no funny shall be found.
qazz42 wrote:
KermMartian wrote:
Qazz: Wow, that was surreal. I found it totally unfunny without the laugh track. What else have laugh tracks manipulated me into thinking?!


That's the first stage. From here on each time you watch TBBT, you will imagine in your head the lines being said with no laugh track.


and no funny shall be found.


I watched it with no laugh track and I still giggled a bit. Part of the problem is the awkward silence, since most tv and movies are designed to have a soundtrack of some kind.
Going off of what Tari said, this is a good video that talks about the commodification of nerd culture, and does touch upon The Big Band Theory, and why nerds and non-nerds alike enjoy it. Skip to around the 6:50 mark to get to the part specifically addressing TBBT.

I haven't yet found a good article that really delves into the misogynistic and misandric issues with the show, and don't really have the will to go into it on my own, but that's probably my biggest complaint about the show. Here's a quote from the article Tari posted that explains a bit:
Quote:
And this isn’t even touching on the way TBBT portrays women. Most notably the fact that until recently the only female character on the show had no understanding of science or nerd culture, and the episode in which it’s treated as a miracle that a woman is in a comic book store – “she must be lost” they say. Even Amy Farrah Fowler isn’t the geek girl representative we may have hoped for. She’s portrayed as distinctly asexual and when she mentions sex it’s always played for laughs, because of course intelligent, socially awkward women shouldn’t think about sex at all.


Overall, it's not just that it's a show I don't like (such as Doctor Who or The New Girl, which I don't like but don't mind that they are on the air), I think it's a damaging show and representative of many things that are wrong with our culture right now.
merthsoft wrote:
Quote:
And this isn’t even touching on the way TBBT portrays women. Most notably the fact that until recently the only female character on the show had no understanding of science or nerd culture, and the episode in which it’s treated as a miracle that a woman is in a comic book store – “she must be lost” they say. Even Amy Farrah Fowler isn’t the geek girl representative we may have hoped for. She’s portrayed as distinctly asexual and when she mentions sex it’s always played for laughs, because of course intelligent, socially awkward women shouldn’t think about sex at all.


Pretty sure Amy isn't intended to be the geek girl representative. Bernadette is (or Leslie, back in the old days).
  
Register to Join the Conversation
Have your own thoughts to add to this or any other topic? Want to ask a question, offer a suggestion, share your own programs and projects, upload a file to the file archives, get help with calculator and computer programming, or simply chat with like-minded coders and tech and calculator enthusiasts via the site-wide AJAX SAX widget? Registration for a free Cemetech account only takes a minute.

» Go to Registration page
Page 1 of 2
» All times are UTC - 5 Hours
 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 

Advertisement