PEOPLE DON'T LIKE A THING THAT I LIKE! WHY?

[The Funslinger]

Just watch Firefly like normal people.

TBBT is mostly embarassing, but once every few episodes I laugh at a good joke.

Fuck yeah, Firefly.

As for the show in question, I do watch it and enjoy it. partly because of the references, and partly because sometimes it's good to unwind with a show you don't really have to think about all too much. I don't want to question the metaphysical and be brought to emotional peaks all the time when I'm relaxing. Sometimes relaxing is just sitting and letting your brain stew with something simple.

Though Sheldon's character has lost some of its luster, I'll say.

 

[toapat]

But no one has ever said why. It's always been one of those things where everyone says it's bad and because no one disagrees (or bothers to) it's not elaborated on.

The reason Big Bang Theory SUCKS is because the only joke it has, is the dumb ass stereotype of Nerds being socially incompetent. The only good episodes are the episodes where it doesnt focus on this joke, because it isnt really a funny joke. the one episode i dont thoroughly despise is the one where Sheldon breaks up with his GF, then gets 25 cats.

 

[Eomega123]

The main reason I don't like it is the laugh track. I generally don't like shows with laugh tracks, but I especially don't like shows that refuse to recognize that some jokes are worthy or riotous laughter but others only deserve a slight chuckle and play the same laughs for all jokes.

 

[w9496]

It's not a horrible show, but I'm not going to sit down and watch it. From the 4-5 episodes I've seen, it's just a bunch of pop-culture references and nothing else. It's also one of those shows with a laugh track, which I don't really like, especially every 5-10 seconds.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

But I never understood why.

Let me enlighten you. While I enjoy the show I know why people don't like it and it's pretty understandable. They see characters as pretty much just walking stereotypes; the can't get laid, smart, nerdy guy that envies others of their social successes but still enjoys their life nerd; the slutty , dumb blonde that every guy hounds after and needs attention; the arrogant genius recluse that sees everything and everyone as lesser humans and is treated as a pariah (see every mad scientist super villain prior to any experiments gone wrong); I could go on but you get the point. Then they hate the abundant use of the laugh track which is definitely a fair complaint when you pay attention to it. Finally the last complaint is about the jokes they make which they see as fairly stale pokes at nerd culture and media.

It's a show that's very easy to love but also very easy to hate and it's usually decided within the first few minutes of watching an episode.

 

[Stemer]

It's the laugh track for me.
I know it's meant to be recorded in front of a live audience, but I've been to plenty of stand-up shows and the way that the BBT audience never has anyone who laughs longer than everyone else, or people who don't get the joke at the same time as everyone else and laugh later, or people who get caught up in the moment enter quiet hysterics and chuckle barely audibly throughout, leaves me with no doubt that the laughter has been digitally edited to within an inch of it's life.

Seriously listen to this and tell me the laughter sounds completely natural.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETNiMHxu8xw

 

[Stasisesque]

Lots of people here are claiming the laugh track puts them off, but TBBT does not use a laugh track. Those laughs are live, they are from the live audience every show is filmed in front of.

There is speculation that they will add laughter afterwards in editing, but this is hardly the same as using canned laughter; it is simply adding laughs in where there was previously silence (maybe a scene was re-shot after the audience went home, and without background chuckles it would feel alien) and every so often they'll use the wrong laugh for the situation and it will feel a little like that one guy who laughs too loudly in the pub.

But, again, there is no laugh track, all those laughs are real and spontaneous.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I think it's because people who are actually nerds don't see why normality is funny.

 

[axlryder]

To me it's just a generic sitcom with a nerdy veneer. I don't like sitcoms so I don't see how this one is really any different. Occasionally it's clever, but the same could be said of most sitcoms.

 

[Robot Number V]

Honestly....I just don't find it funny. Most sitcoms in that style annoy me (the only exception being "How I Met Your Mother"), and Big Bang Theory is just one of the worse ones. Maybe this has changed since I stopped watching it, but in the episodes I saw...NOTHING ever changed. Leonerd would try to get laid, Penny would act like an idiot and display no qualities worthy of his attention other then her looks (which also bothered me), Sheldon acted like a jerk, Raj can't talk to women, and Howard has a stereotype for a mother and is creepy. Same shit, different episode. After a while, the whole thing just started to feel....pointless.

I also can't stress enough how annoying Penny is. She's not just "not a nerd", she's a fucking idiot. On both an intellectual and emotional level. I mean, I have watched shows that were essentially about a guy trying to get a specific girl. It worked AMAZINGLY in "The Office", but Leonerd and Penny are no Jim and Pam. They didn't really have any chemistry, or anything in common, or any reason to be together. It's just the story of a socially awkward guy trying to get with a hot girl.

Maybe that's changed since I stopped watching it, but well...I stopped watching it.

 

[TwiZtah]

I liked the first three seasons, after that the jokes became way too predictable. Example: insert pop culture reference - "audience" laughs for some reason - someone makes a bad witty remark - "audience" laughs.

Also, there is no real emotion to latch onto in the whole show. In Scrubs I felt something when someone died or was betrayed etc. there is nothing of this in TBBT, or the bad acting just ruins the whole thing.

Also, the fucking laughing, if a joke is funny, I will laugh, I don't need help from some audience or record of audience laughing.

 

[Tropicaz]

I get upset that it gets so much attention that Community doesnt. But apart from that it's an OK show, I prefer scrubs, community and HIMYM to TBBT though.

 

[Rylot]

Lots of people here are claiming the laugh track puts them off, but TBBT does not use a laugh track. Those laughs are live, they are from the live audience every show is filmed in front of...there is no laugh track, all those laughs are real and spontaneous.

I'm aware that it's filmed in front of a live audience. I still find it insanely annoying. I would find it less immersion breaking and irritating to have someone sit next to me and poke me in the eye every few minutes saying: 'Hey you're watching a show. It's a tv show. Isn't it so funny? Hey, hey laugh." It's cool that an audience is there enjoying themselves but when I hear them it takes me out of the show and reinforces that I'm just watching a show and emphasizes how the jokes are written and how the actors are responding to the laughter. For me it's like seeing off the stage or seeing a boom enter the shot; it just ruins it.

 

[ATRAYA]

The jokes CAN get a little repetitive, but when they pull off a good, off-the-wall, humor-bone-twanging joke, it's hilarious. SEE: When Sheldon dreams he is Sméagol, after they have the ring from "Lord of the Rings".
I like it, mostly because it's not afraid to do really smart or complicated jokes, steeped in science, history, or literature. I've recently been re-watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S (I still don't know what the title stands for, but whatever), and I notice they tend to cut Ross off, whenever he wants to spew out a fact. I assume that's because the writers don't think the general audience is smart enough to understand, or will think they're in school instead of watching "the idiot box", so they just find some way to cut it off and make it funny. Meanwhile, I'm saying, "WHAT!? WHAT DID RICHARD LEAKY PROPOSE, ROSS!?" D:

 

[Sebass]

I've recently been re-watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S (I still don't know what the title stands for, but whatever), and I notice they tend to cut Ross off, whenever he wants to spew out a fact. I assume that's because the writers don't think the general audience is smart enough to understand, or will think they're in school instead of watching "the idiot box", so they just find some way to cut it off and make it funny. Meanwhile, I'm saying, "WHAT!? WHAT DID RICHARD LEAKY PROPOSE, ROSS!?" D:

I have that exact same feeling. I really liked that show (though the later seasons were a lot less funny) and it always annoyed me when any of the others cut off Ross and it's supposed to be funny when you can make someone stop you from teaching you something. Especially since Joey's 'thing' was that it was funny he didn't know anything. The guy was whiny douche but he achieved more than any of them ever will, being a professor with a phd is something to be proud of. Also, making fun of him that he wasn't a 'real doctor' but 'only' had a phd. Fuck that shit, an average GP is dumb as shit. Trust me, I'm a pharmacist(well okay, I'm studying pharmacy but still)

And I'm not entirely sure if you're being serious but F.R.I.E.N.D.S. refers to that fact that they're a group of friends ..

 

[Fappy]

The jokes are bad, people can't act, the laugh track is annoying and way too intrusive, and it's just dull.
Awful show.

Agreed completely.

It also doesn't help that I despise 95% of all sitcoms.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The jokes are tired, and the characters are firmly locked up in the Status Quo. The writing is good when it isn't treading the same ground, but that seems to be all TBBT is doing now.

I don't hate TBBT; it doesn't evoke any sort of emotion from me apart from apathy/boredom.
Though, I will say that on rare occasion it has a joke or two that aren't forced or horribly predictable.

It's one of the only tolerable shows on current TV, IMO.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I love the Big Bang Theory personally.

I remember the moment when I realised that I liked it was back in the first season when Penny was helping Leonard pick out a suit to wear for his speech thing, and they referenced Scanners, the bottle city of Kandor and the Battlestar Galactica flight suit. Specifically it was the line: 'It's a lot cooler when girls aren't looking at it.'

For a massively geeky 18 year old still not entirely comfortable with his own nerdery, it hit very close to home. I had so much stuff back home that lived squarely in the 'it's a lot cooler when girls aren't looking at it' category.

Sure it's not my favourite show, past or present, but it's inoffensive, sometimes pretty darn funny, and features a cast I actually kind of like (or at least have grown attached to over the years)

I know I have something that really bugs me that people can never explain to me why they hate it, but I can't remember it off hand.

 

[geK0]

I like the show, but I understand why a lot of people don't; most of what people say against it is pretty valid criticism. I'm just not as bothered by the flaws as some other people are I guess; the laugh track for example has been a staple in sitcoms for decades, and I have gotten used to it.