The Big Bang Theory?

[Kavok]

So here is a show I had seen commercials for when it first premiered (what, like 6 years ago?) I didn't like the show from the episodes I had seen and thusly forgot about it. I never heard anyone ever talk about it and in fact I had just assumed it bombed and got canceled. Then, the past 2 or so months happened...

I learned that this show had not been canceled, pretty far from it it would seem. Suddenly EVERY person I know is watching it. Most of them even thought it was even a new show! What happened? How did this ting drop off the face of the earth for years (at least in my experience) then suddenly resurface with such a huge fan base that (up until now) I have never heard from?

Now I see posters for it in Walmart, more and more jokes/reference from/to it on the interwebz, (and as I mentioned before) everyone I know seems to be a fan of it. Anyone else get this feeling that it just came back outa nowhere!?!? Anyone know why? And what do you guys think of the show?

I personally don't see the magic that everyone else seems to be getting. All I saw in the few episodes I watched was an extreme exaggeration of nerd/geek culture centered around characters representing the most stereotypical nerd/geek roles I have ever seen (which I guess is the point, its just I have seen it done so many times before I think it lost its magic for me). I did get a few chuckles from the very small amount of episodes I've watched, but I saw nothing in it that would explain why all my friends love it so much. Not my cup of tea I guess... What about you guys?

 

[Kae]

Yeah I'm fairly sure it's been popular all this time, most people I know seem to like it, I don't though it makes my eyes roll and I keep saying "ugh" when I watch it, I really just don't find it funny at all, and they keep getting the references wrong, my friend stopped trying to make me watch it because I kept pointing out those things, I just don't like it I guess.

 

[Ympulse]

Those intelligent enough to empathize with the characters portrayed are intelligent enough to spot the idiocy of the show itself.

so you're left with the viewership of A: "lol let's laugh at the nerds" and B: "omg they are like, so like me!"

And those two demographics entail a HUGE majority of TV viewership.

 

[Kermi]

Big Bang Theory has always been going strong, it just seemed to be unpopular because it got a lot of hate. It has occasionaly inaccuracies, the laugh track is overused, and it's simply just not all that plausible - so the nerds the show was meant to appeal to have shunned it and it's bred a subculture of people who think being nerdy is cool now so they wear stupid glasses and dorky clothes, co-opting an aesthetic and lifestyle that real geeks and nerds suffered with for decades before it suddenly became mainstream.

We earned the right to be nerdy. We fought for that. Now hipsters are taking it away while at the same time failing to relate to us. Many people blame shows like Big Bang for this.

I rather like the show myself. It's fun to watch and I'm invested in the characters. I just hope it doesn't last more than a couple more years - I think they could satisfyingly end it after season 6 or 7, but it's on the verge of seriously jumping the shark.

 

[Nazulu]

Your right, it only started going around my school in the last year. Must of just slowly got more views every year and shot up from there.

What I think of the show? It's one of the most horrid pieces of crap I've ever seen. I have asked many fans to tell me the best joke from the show, all of them so far have just created awkward silences around the room. My parents tried using jokes from the show at the dinner table and even my brother and two students staying with us (all watch the show) just shake their heads. I've heard many fans also tell me you need to be intelligent to enjoy the show, but I think they are confused (and assholes).

 

[bobmus]

I've heard many fans also tell me you need to be intelligent to enjoy the show, but I think they are confused (and assholes).

That's kinda incorrect. What they mean is it helps to have a knowledge of nerd culture, so you can appreciate things like Firefly references, or that they use Alienware laptops.

OT: I watch it every week, and enjoy it immensely. As I said to @SmashLovesTitanQuest in another thread, there's a reason Jim Parsons (Sheldon) wins Emmys for his acting - it's a well-acted (particularly for comedy) piece of characterisation that went above and beyond what the producers had intended.

 

[Kahunaburger]

This is what I think about basically all sitcoms. I guess Arrested Development is okay, if you count that.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I dont hate the show, but I'm not going to laugh at something simply because it features nerd culture references. Most of which are stereotypical to a fault, which is something I thought we'd already gotten over back in the 90's.

 

[Catfood220]

I quite like the show, but then it is repeated over and over and over again on Channel 4 and E4...its on now in the background as I write this.

Now, I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is about 2 Broke Girls that is supposed to be so funny. That truely is a pathetic comedy and yet its supposed to America's biggest new comedy.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

I really don't go for any show with a laugh track. But my parents are in love with it.

Personally my favorite description of the show is by a friend of mine who called it "Nerd Black Face".

 

[Dryk]

I've heard many fans also tell me you need to be intelligent to enjoy the show, but I think they are confused (and assholes).

That's kinda incorrect. What they mean is it helps to have a knowledge of nerd culture, so you can appreciate things like Firefly references, or that they use Alienware laptops.

And they fact that when Sheldon paused Super Mario 64 on his N64 emulator it made the correct paused sound effect. Shit like that needs to happen on TV more often <.<

It was definitely far more interesting in the early seasons before they realised that most of the jokes were flying over people's heads and slowly dialed it back to references though

 

[Nazulu]

I've heard many fans also tell me you need to be intelligent to enjoy the show, but I think they are confused (and assholes).

That's kinda incorrect. What they mean is it helps to have a knowledge of nerd culture, so you can appreciate things like Firefly references, or that they use Alienware laptops.

OT: I watch it every week, and enjoy it immensely. As I said to @SmashLovesTitanQuest in another thread, there's a reason Jim Parsons (Sheldon) wins Emmys for his acting - it's a brilliant piece of characterisation that went above and beyond what the producers had intended.

Sorry, but you are wrong. One of my friends doesn't even watch shows like Firefly, Star Wars, Star Gate, Star Trek, Star etc. Also, he doesn't own a computer and still told me 'you need to be intelligent' the same way other fans did in my school. Same with my parents, they didn't say that crap to me but they didn't watch any of the popular sci-fi shows either.

I hope you're not telling me it's popular because people appreciate the references from other shows.

 

[Nazulu]

This is what I think about basically all sitcoms. I guess Arrested Development is okay, if you count that.

Heh, that actually improves the show to me. Still wouldn't watch it though.

 

[Gabanuka]

Its nerd humour for people who find nerds funny. Every "nerdy" joke is completely on the nose and always cringe worthy, pretty muich all of them can be summed up with
*Sheldon says something complex and scientific*
*everyone laughs*
*other characters fail to understand*
*everyone laughs*

What I hate is that now people think of themselves as nerdy for watching the show and then take quotes from Star Wars which they got from the show and dont even understand. I cant tell you how many times I've said "Its a trap" and someone gone "ohho, I love the Big Bang theory"

Fucking hate that show.

 

[pirateninj4]

Its nerd humour for people who find nerds funny. Every "nerdy" joke is completely on the nose and always cringe worthy, pretty muich all of them can be summed up with
*Sheldon says something complex and scientific*
*everyone laughs*
*other characters fail to understand*
*everyone laughs*

What I hate is that now people think of themselves as nerdy for watching the show and then take quotes from Star Wars which they got from the show and dont even understand. I cant tell you how many times I've said "Its a trap" and someone gone "ohho, I love the Big Bang theory"

Fucking hate that show.

What he said. This isn't anything new from any other character sitcom. Just the content for the punchlines and they're awful.

 

[Starik20X6]

I've heard many fans also tell me you need to be intelligent to enjoy the show, but I think they are confused (and assholes).

I know right? My friends all love it, and I can't stand it. I had a friend say that you have to be smart to get the jokes. Pretty much saying I wasn't smart enough to understand why it was good. That's the closest I've ever come to punching him in the head.

Every aspect of the show infuriates me. It has, literally, one joke: "nerds are a thing!" The characters are grating and unlikable stereotypes- and not even real stereotypes, the sort of stereotypes dreamt up by someone who has only ever heard about nerds from what they've read in the news paper. The people who come into my work hunting for merchandise from the show seem to have even less brains than the show itself.

 

[Kavok]

I've heard many fans also tell me you need to be intelligent to enjoy the show, but I think they are confused (and assholes).

I know right? My friends all love it, and I can't stand it. I had a friend say that you have to be smart to get the jokes. Pretty much saying I wasn't smart enough to understand why it was good. That's the closest I've ever come to punching him in the head.

Every aspect of the show infuriates me. It has, literally, one joke: "nerds are a thing!" The characters are grating and unlikable stereotypes- and not even real stereotypes, the sort of stereotypes dreamt up by someone who has only ever heard about nerds from what they've read in the news paper. The people who come into my work hunting for merchandise from the show seem to have even less brains than the show itself.

EXACTLY! Great point! That's what I see it as! Its like everyone who works on the show was asked to make a sitcom that centers around nerd/geek things but no one working on the show knew anything about the culture so they just threw all the nerd/geek stereotypes they heard before from older shows/books/movies together and them boom.....TBBT was born...

"well i think nerds like Star Trek right? YEAH! throw that in the pot. And I think they like science too right? Yup sounds good! Toss that in there. And they know absolutely nothing about the opposite sex! YES genius! We really got something going here, people are going to love this!" Ugh...