The Big Bang Theory?

[Thaliur]

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. What about you guys?

I share your opinion on the show. As far as "geek comedy" is concerned, it appears impossible for other shows to at least get close to The IT crowd (UK), or, to a lesser extent, Coupling (also UK, the US version sucks).

The writers of the IT crowd don't anything about IT. Big Bang theory usually gets the physics and philosophy correct.

How is coupling a geek comedy?

Well, at least they had actual geeky characters, not just exaggerated stereotypes.

And the IT crowd mostly does not deal with the actual IT stuff, but with the people working there. It is not necessary to know about IT if it is not a part of the show. At least their characters are credible.

 

[Thaliur]

Not my cup of tea, either. Everything seems so over exaggerated, but maybe that's the kicker.

I like Kaley Cuoco, though.

That's exactly it, it's not supposed to be run of the mill everyday... it's supposed to magnify geek culture, super smart people.

There is an important difference between "magnify" and "boringly ridicule" though.

 

[Frybird]

The IT Crowd does the whole nerd thing much better than the Big Bang Theory does.

At least in the IT Crowd they are not trying to actively rip the piss out of Nerds, but rather glorifying Nerd culture in more ways than one.

Also, I love the character development in that series. For example, at the beginning, Jen is just a normal young woman who got a job working with a bunch of Nerds, but then she becomes just as Nerdy as the other two main characters as the series goes on.

The thing with The IT Crowd is that they aren't stuck with the constant need to make everything obviously nerdy. The Nerds don't constantly blabber about pop culture or sciency stuff, but rather react to situations in geeky ways. It usually goes deeper than pop culture references, and even those feel more appealing to "nerdy" viewers since they are a lot less shallow than most of those in BBT (For example, thier workspace features stuff like old Spectrum Computers, XKCD Merchandise and Roys Apartment has an Axe Cop Poster).

With BBT i don't feel like it's geeky comedy, but rather making fun of them and throwing nerds a bone with pop culture references.
And even though i love IT Crowd, i think true "Sitcoms for Nerds" are closer to stuff like Spaced, Arrested Development and especially Community, wich usually manage to be much, much more subtle when it comes to being "nerdy", but at the same time not hiding or seeming ashamed of it.

The writers of the IT crowd don't anything about IT. Big Bang theory usually gets the physics and philosophy correct.

I don't think so. The difference is just that you almost never see anyone in IT Crowd really working, or having the need to constantly spill out facts and trivia about computers, servers or networking.

(But that said, i love how in one episode, they point out how a few episodes prior they got the effects of rohypnol completely wrong)

 

[Alternative]

do you know the sadest thing bout Big Bang theory, that isnt a laugh track. thats an actual fucking studio audience laughing at every little "joke".

 

[Frybird]

do you know the sadest thing bout Big Bang theory, that isnt a laugh track. thats an actual fucking studio audience laughing at every little "joke".

It is a litte sad, but to be fair, both laughing and mediocre/bad humor are much, MUCH more infectious when you see something live within that audience.

That said, the only ones who bother being part of the studio audience of a tv show for more than once (you may be excused for trying it out for the first time when you don't realize that the recording of TV shows is much more tedious and boring than the half hour episode and the blooper reel you end up seeing as a finished product) are probably people who laugh about all kinds of stupid crap anyways

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Maybe if everybody didn't take it so seriously, they would realise it's not meant to be clever, it's just silly fun. It's like, CoD, you can just switch your brain off and relax. I really don't get why people are taking offence at it...

 

[EternalFacepalm]

I honestly don't get all the hate. The characters certainly are quite shallow and exaggerated, but they certainly aren't as bad as some make them out to be.

The way I see it is, it's The IT Crowd, only they didn't get it right.

Yea, there is pretty much no reason to watch a show like Big Bang Theory when a show like Community exists.

That makes no sense whatsoever. In case you didn't know, people have differing humour. Some find Community funny, some don't. :/

 

[JediMB]

I have mixed feelings about The Big Bang Theory. On the one hand I like the characters, and occasionally the physics jokes and such.

But on the other hand I think that the geek jokes have mostly degenerated into mockery of geek culture and ridiculously inaccurate references. Not that I don't think geek culture can be mocked, but it's just not done properly and they no longer seem to show much of the other side of that as they did earlier on.

Also, the goddamn laugh track is annoying. Half a minute of laughing at something that was only vaguely (snort-worthy) funny? No thanks.

EDIT: And, yes, my interest in TBBT has declined since I started watching Community. There's a show with a good mix of normalcy, absurdity and geek culture references/jokes.

 

[gazumped]

Usually when I see threads like these I feel the need to jump to BBT's rescue, but it seems like there's less hate (or at least, more love to balance it out) in this thread as usual.

I don't think Penny's as stupid as everyone says. She didn't go to college and she's irresponsible with money, sure, but she can handle herself and (usually) see through people's bullsh*t, I think she's kind of an awesome character.

And the IT crowd mostly does not deal with the actual IT stuff, but with the people working there. It is not necessary to know about IT if it is not a part of the show. At least their characters are credible.

I adore the IT Crowd. I particularly adore Moss (who doesn't?!). But... 'credible'? Really? Do you actually know people who'd do this?

 

[piinyouri]

BBT is really....just not good.

A lot of the time it is derogatory towards the demographic it is trying to endear itself to.

I muchly prefer The IT Crowd.

 

[Simonoly]

Ah I find it quite fun. It's not really trying to provide some sort of meaningful dialogue on geek/nerd culture, so it's best not to get too enraged by it's predictable use of nerdy stereotypes. It's sweeter and a hell of a lot less cynical (and vile) than most of the comedy I enjoy, so I find it strangely refreshing.

 

[Simonoly]

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?

if you can, go watch the pilot/first entry and watch the newer ones.

the show exists because of this guy

and he did a 180 turn with his character. its odd to see the first episode in retrospective.

It's true. Sheldon pretty much carries this show. Any scenes involving just him and Penny are a joy to watch.

 

[TheScientificIssole]

Why this happened? Because Chuck Lorre. The master of making stupid comedy for stupid people. The scary thing is half the time the shows are actually pretty decent...

Anyway, it didn't really drop off the face of the Earth for me. Its one of those shows that have been running on German TV in the early mornings for ages now. Just something you watch and smile when you are still to sleepy to really think and grasp how stupid the whole show is.

Somewhat agreed. The show is terrible, watch something else. Watch community or Parks and Rec. Heck, Breaking Bad is a better comedy. Smart people like laugh tracks and sitcomy characters(Sarcasm). Some shows I like have this stuff, like Father Ted and IT Crowd, but there more to those shows than "aren't nerd stereotypes funny?".

 

[Bomberman4000]

What happened is, it got syndicated. More people got a chance to see it on more networks, and then it began to blow up. I personally like the show, but I can tell when the writing is pandering to people who know less about nerd-culture than me. I find myself wondering sometimes "do 'normal' people really not know about this stuff?"

I find the show funny because I know someone like Sheldon. I see my friend in that character and it makes the show instantly more relatable. I can however, see why a lot of people don't like the show. To each their own I guess.