The Big Bang Theory

[KazeAizen]

I need something explained to me again. Luckily this is the one place online I've managed to find where most of its user base are fairly sane, rational people if a bit cynical at times. So why don't people like The Big Bang Theory? I'm not talking about regular people of course but rather the nerd community. What about it don't people like? I find it quite funny and hell it even takes pot shots at things the nerd community generally agrees on. Like Sheldon calling the Green Lantern movie crap essentially in one episode. Hell one of the funniest episodes I've seen is when Sheldon's World of Warcraft account gets hacked and he freaking calls the police. Is it rational? No. Do we feel like we want to call the police or flip shit when that happens to us? Yes we do. He even corrects the officer as the officer is leaving saying we don't offer services on Pandora to which Sheldon responds. "World of Warcraft is in Azeroth. Pandora is from Avatar." or a line similar to that. So yeah why don't nerds like this show? Enlighten me.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Because, at the end of it all, nerds are still the joke. They're still portrayed as misfits and losers, and Penny (the 'normal' character) plays the role of explorer in a foreign land.

After however many seasons.

The humour is not found in portraying nerds as different, it is found in portraying nerds as not like us. Therein lies the problem.

 

[Bobic]

Here's the thing, you find it funny, sure, other people don't. I find it incredibly unfunny, the jokes groan-worthy and very predictable.

Throwing in a couple of references that 5 minutes on a forum or google could tell you is not enough to make up for lack of humour in a comedy show.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I, and a lot of other people, don't like the show because the show really only has a single joke that's repeated ad nauseam "hey look at these nerds, isn't it funny how they're intensely interested in things normal people aren't interested in?" There aren't really any jokes in the show, it's just observations about nerds being pushed to an extreme.

Some people find it insulting, personally I just find it boring and predictable.

 

[Andy Shandy]

The first couple of seasons were a decent enough mix of both nerd humour and gentle poking fun at nerds.

I'm led to believe (I stopped watching regularly midway through the third season) that all it's become now pretty much is "LOL THESE NERDS LOOK AT HOW NERDY THEY ARE WITH THEIR [insert "nerd" reference here]"

I do still like the theme tune though.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.304640-Why-do-some-nerds-hate-Big-Bang-Theory#12220940

This was covered earlier this year, look in that thread if you want to know more.

I'll just say that it's a show that relies more on making fun of nerd culture than actually making jokes relating to nerd culture.

 

[Kathinka]

maybe hits too close to home for some of the nerdy demographic. *shrugs* i rather like it, to each his own.

 

[God'sFist]

For me I just don't care much for it. The jokes arn't terribly funny and the characters are boring. I have watched a few episodes and they just don't get a laugh. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion, sure it's entertaining but it's also boring after a while.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I think that if I just watched a single episode or two of the show, I'd find the fact that all the jokes seem to be "Hey, look at this nerd and his awkward fondness for something unusual" to be tiresome, as many have, but I've actually watched a good number of episodes in the proper order and the friendships and relationships between the characters have taken on more meaning than the "jokes" for me. It's not the greatest show ever, not by a long shot, but I do enjoy aspects of it. Sheldon and Penny's friendship in particular is interesting.

 

[omega 616]

What it all boils down to it is "they're making fun of me and I can't take a joke".

The laugh track is a little annoying and Sheldon's eidetic memory isn't so eidetic but it's all just comedy based on stereotypes.

I mean Chuck Lorre also did Dharma and Greg, which a very hippy hippy marries a very up tight lawyer and oh how funny the hippy family mixes with the up tight middle class family. The hippy dad is all anti establishment and his mind ruined by all the drugs and the up tight mother can never let her hair down.

People need to stop with "wah, they are making fun of me" and start being more "ha, I do that as well". Come on, playing games over socialising, D&D instead of partying, cosplay for Halloween and generally being more academically minded (come on, I can ask any questions about history, science or maths on this forum and without using the net tell me the answer)
None of you will ever be on Jersey shore, it's more likely to be beauty and the geek. (yeah, I just a generalization, don't get all literal about it)

 

[Dark Knifer]

For me its just the jokes aren't really jokes, just references. Which I find to be boring and the characters are stereotypes I don't care about and the writing is inconsistent and god damn that live audience has got to stop laughing every second word. Also never really been a fan of any show with the friends kind of format, never appealed to me that much and the camera work is really boring to watch.

It just feels generic in all aspects to me.

 

[tippy2k2]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.304640-Why-do-some-nerds-hate-Big-Bang-Theory#12220940

This was covered earlier this year, look in that thread if you want to know more.

I'll just say that it's a show that relies more on making fun of nerd culture than actually making jokes relating to nerd culture.

Hell, we JUST had this discussion last month. However, it seems Ze Escapist nuked it from orbit for it is not even in my post history. Which is kind of unfortunate because I had the perfect post to show why I hated the show

To sum it up without having to go into the same amount of detail as the last one: This is why

Scene: Smart Guy is in the room talking to the hot chick

Smart guy: We're going to [insert nerdy thing here] (audience laughs)
Hot chick: Wow, that sounds lame (audience laughs)
Smart guy: It's not lame, doing [insert nerdy thing here] is cool! We get to [insert overly complicated science here] (audience laughs)
Hot chick: Yeah, that makes it sound soooooo much better (audience laughs)
Smart guy: Well it is fun. Why would you not want to do [insert nerdy thing here] (audience laughs)
Hot chick: Because I'm too busy having friends (audience loses their shit in laughter)

Repeat until the show ends

 

[Aesir23]

The previous posts have pretty much covered what I dislike about it. However, my main issue with the show is just that the characters are very generic. Aside from a few details you can pretty much tell what a character will be like based on whether they're in the "nerd" or "normal person" category. To sum it all up, I just find it to be dull.

 

[VanQ]

Oh look, it's this thread again. There's a neat little thing on this site called the search bar, OP. A quick search of the very title of your thread came up with these results on the first page alone.

Here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.304640-Why-do-some-nerds-hate-Big-Bang-Theory]
Here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.375712-The-Big-Bang-Theory?page=1]
And here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.266231-Poll-Do-you-think-shows-like-Big-Bang-Theory-are-geekspliotation?page=1]

That's just one page worth of results. Seriously, we have had this thread nearly every month since the show started airing.

 

[Little Woodsman]

A couple of friends of mine are fans of the show and convinced me to watch it. It helped that the very first episode I saw was actually rather insightful about bullying. I've seen a couple of other insightful episodes as well.
But aspects of the show still just make me cringe. I'm constantly asking "How can these other people have been associating with Sheldon for so long and still have no clue about handling him?"
Not to mention that many of Sheldon's lines are just plain painful to listen to...

Another thought occurred to me just now...is it possible that with ethnic humor now no longer being acceptable, what the writers of BBT did was find a different sort of minority group to make fun of?

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

For one thing, it's the laughter problem. I know Big Bang Theory doesn't cop-out and use laugh track, they use an actual live studio audience, but it's so much worse to watch and absolutely kills the flow.

Here's the 4chins screencap I want to convey a point with.

Spoiler

Actually, I don't have any other point besides that image. It sums up the show as pretty unspectacular and it's an entertaining read anyway.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Did anybody else come into this thread hoping it would be a discussion on an important scientific theory, only to be disappointed by yet another thread about a mediocre sitcom? I can't be the only one.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I can't stomach sitcomos with laugh tracks. Seinfeld being the exception.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well, IMHO, it's just another painfully unfunny sitcom with a laugh track. This time the losers it stars are supposed to be nerds. Meh.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Because it's not called The Horrendous Space Kablooie.

Other than that, I think it's decent.