Big Bang Theory: TV comedy

Brian G Turner

Brian G Turner

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Anyone here watch Big Bang Theory?

Recently got into it after nagging by eldest daughter, and after a couple of episodes really got into it - very very funny, and very original, too.

Anyone else watching it? :)
 
I do enjoy many of the earlier episodes but I'm having real problems with the latest series. I still love Amy Ferrer-Fowler loads, she's brilliant, and so is Bernedette. But it's got to that point in a long-running show where the characters have largely been distilled into their 'funniest' bits and so become caricatures of their previously more nuanced personalities.

And lately I just cannot standard Sheldon. He has always had misogynistic tendencies but in this latest series they have become just awful. Moments where he actually appreciates Amy are great but mostly it's him just being a complete ass towards her. And I am very leery of the writers using the whole "it's Sheldon, he's so clever he doesn't have any real understanding of these social things/common sense" as an excuse. It just doesn't ride anymore.

Conversely I think the character that has made the most improvement is Howard.
 
I haven't been watching the last two series, largely because I don't watch E4 except for this, I miss it when it starts and the seasons seem to have mid-season breaks which put me off.

I have really enjoyed earlier seasons, but I agree that it seems to be declining somewhat. Maybe that's because, to an extent at least, it's shifted from being purely about alpha nerds with Penny for contrast to more about relationships (and frustrated loneliness is far more amusing than happiness).
 
I haven't seen series seven, so can't comment on Hoops' feedback, but I grok where the sentiment is coming from. However, I love all the other series. It was a guilty indulgence for a while, but now Mrs Foyle (actually it is Dr not Mrs), is happy to waste time chuckling at it.
 
The first three series are excellent, and the first third of the fourth isn't bad, but then it started to seem as if the writers didn't really know what to do with the characters, and everything went stagnant for a couple of series. With the sixth, though, it's started to improve, and whilst it isn't yet back to its best, it's doing well. It will be interesting to see if the seventh series continues the improvement.

There are far better comedy series out there, with a real story and character development. However, if you just want to sit down and watch an episode of something that can be funny, TBBT isn't a bad choice by any means.
 
Ah, I love Big Bang.

But I kinda agree with others about Sheldon. I really like him, but in this last season he does seem to be a bit over-the-top in his child like behaviour. I would really like to see him growing into a 'normal' person, more.

I adore Amy. She's hilarious, and I especially love her because she's Blossom (one of my fave shows as a kid!)

And Raj (I'm not sure if that is the correct spelling?) totally cracks me up.
 
Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like Sheldon. I think he's an awful character, a vile, nasty, spoilt manchild.

I do adore Raj though. (Apart from the whole not-speaking-to-women thing, which I think is poo).
 
Mouse said:
I do adore Raj though. (Apart from the whole not-speaking-to-women thing, which I think is poo).
Click to expand...

Considering how we're usually similar in these matters, were you the same as me and hoped that the blossoming friendship/maybe more with Stuart really had gone that way? ;)
 
Of course! There was one episode where Raj wakes up in bed and there's an arm around him and I was so thinking it was a guy and then the camera pans out and it's just a rather large woman. Disappointed.
 
I also think it's gone off the boil a bit. Raj has become a caricature of his early self. Maybe they all have.

Probably my all-time favourite episode is "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary". Not only do we have the epic card-game battle between Sheldon and Wil Wheaton (and Wil Wheaton playing himself as a nasty scheming piece of work) but the hilarious "healthy bowel movement" dinner-table exchange between Howard and Bernadette.
 
Possible spoilers







I agree with what is being said about Sheldon being less human rather than more this season, but that was mitigated a lot by one of the later episodes - where the boys have A D&D evening, that takes a sudden turn when the girls turn up.

In my opinion probably the best episode of the season, thanks to Howard's impressions and... dare I say it... Sheldon's compassion/empathy to Amy.

Throughout the series there is a running Raj storyline concerning him having a girlfriend, and this too is well handled and sees a major character development in one of the characters.
 
Perpetual Man said:
Possible spoilers

In my opinion probably the best episode of the season, thanks to Howard's impressions and... dare I say it... Sheldon's compassion/empathy to Amy.

Throughout the series there is a running Raj storyline concerning him having a girlfriend, and this too is well handled and sees a major character development in one of the characters.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on this. I think one of my favourite moments was when Sheldon sort of opens up to Penny. And he says something in the lines of being out his comfort zone and that possibly he would be able to have a 'physical' relationship with Amy. And the girl they've written for Raj couldn't be more perfect for him. Hope he can talk to her without booze soon! (the scene with the library date was too cute!)

I think my previous post may have given the impression that I don't like Sheldon, I do -- I find him hilarious -- I'd just like his character development to hurry up a bit!


EDIT: Also, would just like to add: I LOVE Fun with Flags. Those scenes are so funny, esp the one with Penny being a guest. His facial expressions when he's filming them are just classic. Bazinga!
 
I quite enjoy this series. Personally, I think the best character is the much underused Kripke. Quite like Amy too (and her cigarette smoking monkey).
 
I kinda love Kripke, especially in the later series. I'd like to see more of him.

And yes, as I said earlier, parts where Sheldon isn't being an ass -- like when he opened to to Penny (I LOVED her reactions to what he was saying!) -- are very nice. But it's like the writers feel like they have to make him completely insufferable for the rest of the time.
 
HoopyFrood said:
And lately I just cannot standard Sheldon. He has always had misogynistic tendencies but in this latest series they have become just awful.
Click to expand...

Actually, that's one thing that bugs me about Big Bang Theory - I'm not sure which series I've started watching from - possibly 3 - but I find a general undercurrent of misogyny that makes me sometimes quite uncomfortable, especially expressed by the way the characters put Penny down, and not just Sheldon.

Otherwise, the running jokes (especially the door knocking) and characterisation can be very funny. :)
 
Yes, there are things I find problematic throughout (the one where Sheldon's sister turns up drives me up the wall) but it's become especially bad with Sheldon in later series. There was one in the latest series concerning sexual harassment in the workplace that almost turned me off the series completely.
 
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