There’s something vaguely insulting about CBS’s The Big Bang Theory.
I think it comes primarily from the fact that, these days, it’s accepted lore that The Big Bang Theory is actually “on our side,” as it were. The conventional wisdom, as espoused by show writer and former computer programmer Bill Prady, is that the comic book- and science-fiction-loving main characters aren’t actually being lampooned but lionized. The notion that—even though the characters are stereotypical, one-dimensional and not at all human—we’re supposed to be happy with their portrayal because, after all, it’s a modicum better than The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, seems a little absurd.
Set against the backdrop of a university where most of the central characters work, season one’s premise was that four geeks had their world upset when a gorgeous girl moved in across the hall from them and distracted one from his studies and his comics. Leonard (Johnny Galecki) fell in love with Penny (Kaley Cuoco) almost immediately and hilarity ensued. Or at least some minor chuckles.
Of course, it’s clear that some very smart people, who also happen to be interested in (or at least kept abreast of) comics, sci-fi and other geek culture, are on the show’s writing staff—and some of the conversations they have in season two are the same as you might hear your friends having at the comic shop or around a role-playing game board. But really, that’s not enough for me.
The second season saw Wolowitz finally get laid after spending the entire first season chasing tail, and finally saw Penny and Leonard making out. You also got the vibe, toward the end of the season, that Penny was really into him and maybe if he weren’t going away for roughly the same amount of time that the viewers were, he could score. My favorite character, Leslie Winkle (played by Sara Gilbert in what’s surely the show’s most inspired performance), gets a lot of mileage this season, too—she’s the most well-adjusted of the geeks, and the most well-rounded, too. In her first appearance (back in season one) she had sex with Leonard (the central character and the one usually referred to as the most well-adjusted), and then walked outside and fixed a calculation error on the whiteboard of Sheldon (ostensibly the most brilliant person on the show). While they never again depict her as showing up any of the men in her circle with brains, she’s easily able to do so with attitude and sex—something that drives a few of the stories in the second season as she takes Wolowitz down the rabbit hole for a while.
So the romantic B-plots were much-improved. And with the increase in popularity the show enjoyed its second season, they managed to swing some impressive cameos (by actors, and by ACTUAL noted scientists instead of actors playing fictional ones)…so I guess it’s fair to say that the recently-released-to-DVD The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Second Season is a substantial improvement over the show’s first season (something ratings will attest to).But still—it stings to watch. Even when the show is funny, I find myself laughing at it with half of my brain, while the other half is trying to figure out if I’ve just been insulted. And frankly, up against competition (on its own night and network) like How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men, it’s just not funny enough for me to feel like it’s worth thinking that hard.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Wow, I couldn’t disagree more. My wife and I stumbled upon The Big Bang Theory shortly after Season 2 got underway, and we were immediately hooked. The show doesn’t feature insults; it features *truth* — an exaggerated truth to a degree, but a truth nonetheless. My wife HOWLS with laughter every time there’s a reference to “Wednesday as new comic day.” It kills her every time, and I laugh too. Yes, I’m laughing at myself in those moments.
I believe the geek appeal of the show is actually universal. We’ve ALL got an obsession or hobby that makes us crazy. My wife isn’t into comics, sci-fi or any of the stuff the Big Bang character obsess over, but when the release date of a new U2 album approaches, she transforms into the ultimate fan-girl. Armchair quarterbacks turn into Sheldons when the NFL season arrives; that incarnation of Sheldon is simply more mainstream and familiar.
September 28th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
This is a popular problem with many of the population these days.
The hyper-sensitivity of anyone who would rather try to find something insulting instead of learning to laugh at foibles that you yourself might possess has led to such political correctness that it is disgusting.
Lighten up and laugh.
September 28th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Agree with Don on this, the guys are exaggerated stereotypes that everyone knows, they’re just our kind of geeks.
And maybe it’s just me, but Penny and Leonard don’t seem right together, Penny and Sheldon on the other hand… odd couple spin off, please.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Russ,
You’re insane.
Big Bang Theory isn’t insulting because it GETS IT. It doesn’t talk down to the viewership. It assumes we’ll get jokes about the Speed Force. I guarantee that you, I and everybody who visits this site on a regular basis knows somebody just like each of the male leads. My wife went to MIT and she can’t watch the show because it makes her too uncomfortable. That’s how accurate it is.
If you want a show that’s insulting to its audience, try Heroes, which expects its audience to buy into every crap plot twist and mind-boggling motivation change.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Russ, given you weak and easily-threatened sensitivities and insecurities, I suggest you stop watching television. In fact, stay away from popular culture altogether. There’s a church basement waiting for you somewhere.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:13 am
” Even when the show is funny, I find myself laughing at it with half of my brain, while the other half is trying to figure out if I’ve just been insulted.”
That’s what Comedy is supposed to do. Still, if it’s not your taste, there are also compilations of Two and a Half Men to laugh your nights away.
September 29th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Wow, it’s amazing to see folks deride the blogger for being too-sensitive…by hurling personal insults at him. I didn’t realize that so many of the BBT’s writers and actors apparently trolled the Newsarama blogboards!
There’s a bit of…irony?…something at work there that makes many of these churlish responses seem icky.
Anyway, I’ve watched the show and I just don’t find it funny–I mean, it’s funny in that mainstream way a lot of conventional sitcoms are funny (non-challenging, vanilla and rather predictable) but I frankly don’t find it all that different than 2 1/2 Men and the other shows that people want to ridicule. You like it, you like it. You don’t, you don’t. Yeesh.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:41 am
It really isn’t all that different then 2 and a half men. Pretty much replace “geek culture” material with “relationship stunted males” and it’s pretty much the same show. I think BBT manages to pull off some genuinely funny moments without “dumbing down” the delivery of the jokes as often as 2.5 M does, but Sheen and company also have a much broader crowd to appeal to. I personally am not insulting the poor paper thin skin of the blogger, I just wonder why someone who apparently can’t make up his mind about liking a show or not would sit through a season of it, then post a slightly negative/sort of positive review of said season on a blog currently linked to a website promoting the crap out of the show. I don’t think the blogger will be leaping off a building because a bunch of media junkie nerds thinks his taste in sitcoms sucks.
Comedy isn’t always about the fart joke, it’s about showing us the truth, sometimes in an uncomfortable way. A show about social retards is going to attract social retards, and if we can learn to laugh at our own inane behaviors,so much the better.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:37 am
The episodes can be hit or miss, but overall I love BBT. It’s the only sit-com I regularly watch…
September 29th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I’ve only seen the show once and the only geek character I cared about was the main character you mentioned. But then again I’m not the type that watches sitcoms, I stick to Cartoon Network and the History Channel.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
@Dhaise – The answer to your question is simple. Why would someone who doesn’t enjoy the show sit through a whole season and then write a tepid review of it? Warner Brothers sent me a copy and said, “For your consideration.” I review almost everything I’m sent for free, and don’t feel like I have to LOVE something in order to review it. In comics one of the problems I have with the way things are covered is that fans write reviews and haters troll message boards. Why can’t we just have reviewers who do whatever comes across their desks without people saying, “If you didn’t like it why bother writing?” Movies, books and every other form of entertainment has that dynamic! And anything that I get from a studio/publisher/whatever and don’t care for enough to keep it in my library? I’ll give it away to some lucky fan at a convention. Everybody wins.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Russ, though we disagree about TBBT, please know I don’t think your disinterest in the show stems from any kind of insensitivity on your part. It’s not your bag, and you’ve stated why. For people to assign your thumbs-down view to some kind of failing on your part is out of line.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
@Don MacPherson – I appreciate the kind words, but another part of being a critic on a site like this is having a thick skin. Comics and sci-fi fans are often fiercely loyal to their entertainment…and since so am I, it’s a matter of putting myself in their shoes. If someone were savaging “Booster Gold” or “Strangers in Paradise,” my claws might come out, too.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I am in a small town that has many educated seeming people who believe people in other places behave exactly like what is seen on tv. On the other hand there are many out there who are over sensitive. I can understand the recoil at stereotypes, but I agree with what others said. You like it great. You don’t it’s cool. Think I may check this out, the review actually stirred my interest but if it really mentions the speed force I’m there as long as I get a laugh.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
No offense, but you lost me when you said Sara Gilbert gives the show’s most inspired performance. It’s Jim Parsons and it’s not even close. There’s a reason the dude was nominated for an Emmy against the likes of Alec Baldwin and Steve Carrell and will be for years to come. He is the engine that makes this show go.
Also, I really don’t think the show is trying to insult that “geek” culture. It’s not talking down to the geeks, it’s talking them. From what I’ve seen, the writers go out of there way to ensure what they’re saying in terms of “geek-ness” is correct and not just a demeaning generalization. That counts for science and pop culture. And of course they are exaggerations of people you know. It’s a sitcom, not a documentray. But hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
October 1st, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Russ, don’t let others rankle you. I can see where you’re coming from when watching the show. We were at my in-laws this summer, and my bro and sis-in-law were there too. Somehow, we got to talking about BBT and my sis-in-law said, talking about her oldest son, “We came SO close to having a Sheldon… I’m glad we didn’t.” I wasn’t sure how to take that one. I mean, this lady practically at Renaissance festivals every summer. I found it ironic to say the least.
I haven’t watched much of BBT myself, but my wife and I have watched a few times. She likes it more than I do. I feel like the characterizations are certainly exaggerated, and other times I feel like the jokes hit a little too close to home, but I think it’s all meant in good fun. It’s really not my thing, but I can see why some people dig it.
It’s sort of like reading The Onion… Sometimes, they’re talking about people a lot like you but, hopefully, it’s something that you can see the joke in and have a laugh about. Usually, the writers know enough details about what they’re (gently) mocking that you figure they have to be big geeks themselves (I mean, where did they get that Flash issue #123 the other night??).
Oh, one thing I think we can all agree on though: Penny is really, REALLY hot.
Don’t tell my wife I said that!
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I didn’t like this show either. It seemed very superficial and brought out a sad melancholy feeling when watching it. There are much better DVDs to spend your money on.
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I meant to say my sister in law practically LIVES at those kinds of fairs each summer… Nothing wrong with that, but I did find her “Sheldon” comment interesting. (corrected spelling!)
September 25th, 2010 at 5:36 am
“BBT” follows the witty and sarcasm-soaked misadventures of Leonard and Sheldon, two socially awkward scientists thrust full-force into standard sitcom story lines– themes of rejection, friendship, and pride, among others. The important thing is, the standard sitcom story lines feel new for the first time in decades, mainly because the mile-a-minute dialogue now comes with gloriously incomprehensible techno-babble and high-level jargon that could send Kissinger screaming from a room.
December 4th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
She really does have a great voice. I wish her well.