I've forced myself to watch this show a couple of times when I had nothing at all to do, and I must say I emerged underwhelmed. I noticed a poster on the first page (four years ago, to boot) compared this show to Frasier. That couldn't be more wrong, in my opinion. Frasier had some of the most subtly brilliant writing ever, with a slew of esoteric references delivered by a whole crew of exceptionally good actors. That's not to say that the actors on BBT are terrible or anything, but the writing is certainly far more in-your-face "look at how nerdy we are!!!", and consequently suffers greatly by its lack of grace. Someone else said it best in this thread (lalala90210). For a show that's supposed to be intelligent, the delivery of the jokes and the jokes themselves are oftentimes very obvious.
I don't usually watch sitcoms or primetime tv anymore but someone finally introduced me to this show this year and it's hysterical. Some of the humor is pure geekdom and you almost have to be a pure geek to get it. I mean, come on, the guy is giving up Fantastic Four #48 - the first appearance of Silver Surfer!! Actually, I think they blew that one because everybody knows that issue is greatness for the first appearance of Galactus moreso than the first appearance of Silver Surfer... jk. The show seems to be on some channel dang near all week long. TBS has something like 2-4 episodes in a row, don't they? Sheldon's character really does carry the show, though. Leonard and Raj just don't seem to fit in acting-wise. Howard would be hysterical if it weren't for Sheldon overshadowing him. Awesome show.
I Love the geek factor. That is the show's hook. Sheldon -"Thanks to you I'll spend the rest of my life here in Texas teaching evolution to creationist's" Mother - "Be careful Shelly, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but..." Sheldon - "Evolution is not an opinion, it is fact." Mother - "And that is your opinion!" It's way better than the IT crowd from england, way freaking better.
You know who Howard reminds me of: I just thought of this: Mr. Furley. I don't know if the writers were influenced by Don Knots's acting style or if Howard, Simon Helberg, based his character off of him but the resemblance is eery.
BBT really doesn't have a geek factor. It's like saying the Cosby show has a black factor. Chuck has geek factor.
I agree with DoD and pcl about the geek factor/elements. Obviously its more accessible because it is a traditional network sitcom, but i've enjoyed the references. They are well done. Some of my fellow geeks response to this (such as thinking they are being 'insulted') is misguided imo.
Their geek factor sucks. Parsons is supposed to be a theoretical physicist but mostly talks about biology and DNA. It is also pretty obvious none of the writers have seen the inside of a research university.
Sheldon considers himself an expert in ALL disciplines, hell, he considers himself an expert in EVERYTHING. you guys are taking this way too seriously, its just a lite comedy about 4 geeks and a girl. it isn't pretending to be some deep intellectual show, its main characters are the intelligent ones, they never said the writing was also.
I'm just starting on Season 1, do they give Raj more lines??? He is my favorite character on the show and funniest...
Not around girls, jajajaja. Although there is one episode when summer from firefly is on a train and he becomes don juan demarco, lolol
One of the episodes I watched had those guys building some convoluted mechanism via TCP/IP and X10 to turn lights on and off. When asked by Penny why they built something so complex to do something as simple as turn a light on and off and why they couldn't just flip the damn switch, their response nailed what it is to be a geek AND a nerd : "because we can". A couple of co-workers and I laughed so hard when talking about this because it perfectly encapsulated the thought processes of the geek + nerd combo. It's never about doing things the most efficient or simplest way - it's about doing it the coolest way. Sadly, I work with developers that sometimes think the same way. lol. *EDIT* : The video -- <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PqFSRwgqgYk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He's a good friend and a huge Rockets fan. I directed him in about a dozen plays before he blew up and we still talk Rockets all the time.
