I’ll also throw in Penny’s gift to Sheldon, which I remember I also found really funny at the time (and I found quickly because it’s at the top of a youtube search for BBT). There’s a bit of a setup that’s needed. Sheldon, having no social graces, asked Leonard earlier in the episode what would be appropriate to give Penny for Christmas, and Leonard told him you usually try to spend the same amount (or something along those lines). Not knowing what the value of Penny’s gift was, Sheldon wanted to be prepared, so he bought gifts of varying values. He planned to excuse himself as soon as he determined the value of Penny’s gift to get the appropriate gift out of his stash to give in return.
While I’d not to Skedastic’s example of a decent joke, and various people’s enjoyment of the Sheldon character, I basically have to give the snob response - Chuck Lorre’s shows aren’t bog-standard sitcoms, they’re awful sitcoms. Mainly because of the bland writing and the volume of jokeoids (not jokes but if you aren’t paying attention they’re sort of joke-like word sequences) - but the way they’re rammed together with the rapidfire laugh-track-will-make-people-smile machine somehow makes it seem worse than the sum of its parts.
You can tell when it’s playing in the next room because of the relentless laughtrack - 3 seconds - laughtrack - 2.5 seconds - laughtrack rhythm. I don’t mind sitcoms - usually even sitcoms I don’t care for. I never liked Friends, Mad About You or newer stuff like King of Queens, but I could tolerate them without any discomfort. Two and Half Men or Big Bang Theory are just painful for me, no better or worse than reality tv.
Well said. Thank You!
I think I’m mostly immune to laugh tracks anymore. Big Bang Theory is the first sitcom I’ve enjoyed in years and actually try to watch it each week.
This was over 35 years ago, there were fewer stations and even fewer that did news programs. Also I had always wanted to be in front of the camera, not in production. I think in the end had I thought it out I would probably have concentrated more on writing. I knew people in the business and knew the hours they worked, the money they made and the moves they would have to make and just didn’t want to mess with it. Always on to a bigger market.
Part of it also I was married with a full time job paying a decent wage and benefits by the time I got my degree and starting over, even at 25 just seemed like a waste to me.
This. Some shows go for realism, and some go for over the top. Do people hate Monty Python too, because no one actually walks like that? They are different types of shows. Community is going for a different vibe. BBT is intentionally over the top. That’s the point. It’s not MEANT to be realistic.
Out of curiosity, how do the BBT haters feel about IT Crowd? It’s also a caricature of nerds, intentionally over the top.
I’ll concede I find the “ostensibly about nerds, but not really by or for nerds” aspect of the show kind of unappealing, but it definitely isn’t the main problem; if a show like that were just made decently I’d watch it, whereas I can’t even tolerate this. The issue is, again, Chuck Lorre’s combination of 20 lifeless jokeoids per minute to the drumbeat of the laugh track. I can’t sit through Two and a Half Men either, with nary a parodized nerd in sight.
IT Crowd should be insulted by being in the same thought or sentence as BBT, it’s a billion times better.
I am not a Two and a Half Men fan, but I like the Big Bang Theory.
Both shows have had casts that are a lot better than the (average) material they’re given, and I think that, and familiarity with / fondness for the characters carries people along fine so long as they aren’t actively bothered by things like jokeoids or how insistent the laugh track is; there’s a reason they’re incredibly successful and it isn’t (just) that “audiences have terrible taste.”
By the same token though, people hating the show aren’t (just) “hating what’s popular,” being snobby, or exaggerating the laugh track. I want a show that’s witty, that has almost entirely jokes and few jokeoids (and if it does have some jokeoids I want them to be the sort that appeal to my own, more upmarket comedy sensibilities and that are nearer to full-fledged jokes)
For me the aesthetic reaction to BBT/21/2 Men is such that I tend to gloss over the strength of the cast and the reasons many viewers may enjoy them and just say they’re trash aimed at the lowest common denominator. Then when reasonable people object that they like them I feel, perhaps deservedly, like a bit of a prick - you know how this sort of thing can happen with, say, Zynga games or something. I don’t know what the mature position to take about a popular thing like this is: but I do know that if I’m hanging out with someone and they put it on, I will try to politely get the channel changed rather than silently grit my teeth through it.
Well, some say potato, some say potato, some say tomato, some say tomato.
That doesn’t work so well when you write it out. :)
Brian, will you settle a bet for me and my friends? They suspect that you slightly dislike The Big Bang Theory, while I can’t imagine where they got that idea. I certainly haven’t read any of your comments that even hint that you don’t like the show. Can you help me out?
And for those of you who are bothered by shows with a laugh track, do you also get annoyed when watching stand-up comedians? Because I generally see them in the same vein: a stage performance.
And since everyone has weighed in, I enjoy the show, while recognizing it as a standard sitcom, with all the typical sitcom conventions. It certainly isn’t as original or deconstructive as shows like Community or Coupling or even How I Met Your Mother, but I enjoy the characters and find them entertaining without being insulting. Plus I have to admit that I find Mayim Bialik’s character hilarious.
Hahahahahaha
Side note: If we’re going to talk about stereotypical characters, can I make a point about Jewish characters on TV? I understand that the character of Howard is Jewish, and that one or more of the writers are Jewish. And I’ve hung out with friends who are Jewish. But while I’ve been around nerds who frequently make Holy Grail references or D&D jokes or have discussions about Star Trek, I’ve never met anyone who constantly references being Jewish (or Irish, or Scottish, or any other race, for that matter). Yet for some reason, Howard is spouting Yiddish phrases every few seconds, or joking about eating bacon, or mentioning circumcision, or any of a hundred different things. It’s just jarring, and seems completely out of place.
Example: On an episode that aired recently, Howard talks about wanting to be a hobbit in one of the Lord of the Rings movies. And Raj responds, “But there are no Jewish hobbits!” Really? That’s the first thing you think of? “But he can’t be a hobbit…he’s JEWISH!”
“But he can’t be a hobbit…he’s JEWISH!”
well, duh.
as someone said earlier much of comedy is exaggeration
Wow, they do that in BBT? Dang…just…dang…
I didn’t take those references as nerd culture stuff, just regular sitcom stereotypes.
I, uh, watch it for the jokes.
That’s an excellent example of what’s meant by “jokeoid,” Andy, and it’s typical of both Lorre shows. It looks kind of like a joke - it’s got a reference to sex, or race, or irony, or whatever normally offers the frisson of humour - except that there isn’t actually a joke there. It’s like a set of joke construction materials left in a pile and the laugh-track is supposed to make you laugh/smile anyway as you slide on by to the next joke-and-or-jokeoid.