The Big Bang Theory

[ScaredScorpion]

As most people have said the jokes are laughing at nerd culture, very stereotyped nerd culture; to the point that the jokes can feel more like an attack on it rather than something that you'd laugh at and go "yeah I do that". I think part of the problem for some people is also the canned laughter, because as stupid as it sounds if you don't find a joke funny then you might feel like you're being laughed at.

The stereotyping also tends to limit the characters, while some character growth has occurred they still have to conform to the stereotype so they're restricted in that sense. If you want to see good character growth and a much more respectful treatment of nerd culture in a comedy I'd suggest looking at Chuck.

I'm not going to say I hate TBBT, I'll watch bits from it occasionally. It's not something I can really watch a full episode of because I just don't find most of the jokes that funny. That's the thing with jokes, not everyone finds the same one funny.

 

[Smeatza]

It's a Chuck Lorre creation.
He lucked out by getting reasonably good actors for this particular show but even they aren't enough to carry the lazy jokes that frequently devolve into nothing but references. The enhancement of the studio audience's laughter is intrusive, the characters inconsistent and comedy often all too predictable.
And like all Chuck Lorre creations it deals only in stereotypes that wear thin after the first couple of seasons and are completely dried up from thereon out.
It does have amusing moments, sometimes it feels like there's a good show in there struggling to get out. Perhaps if they cleared out all the writers but Eric Kaplan (and maybe Eddie Gorodetsky) and brought in some writers who knew what they're doing the show could be deserving of all the praise it receives.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

I dunno, it's been running for long enough that it has to be appealing to some audience. Personally, I rather enjoy it. I couldn't tell you why, it's just one of those things. I have friends that love it, and friends that hate it. The biggest problem I have with it (and it occurs in every show Lorre's ever had a hand in) is that, for the first couple of seasons, it looks like there's going to be some serious character progression, and then it just halts and starts making the same joke ad nauseum. In this case, as has been pointed out, it's "look how weird nerd culture can be!"

Here's the thing: when it opens, Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj are all extremely socially awkward. Kind of a stereotypical trait for your nerds to have, but I'm cool with that. Penny is introduced, and we see Leonard attempt to try and fit in, necessitating that he shed some of his awkwardness for her. As the season progresses (up until their first date in the finale), he is trying "normalize" himself, and she is slowly coming around to the idea that nerd culture is a bit more diverse and engaging than she initially gave it credit for (see the episode where she immensely enjoys herself playing Halo 3).

And then... that just stops. Leonard has come out of his shell a little bit, but the show becomes fixed around the relationship between he and Penny, where he is still the stereotypical nerd, and she is the girl who doesn't understand nerd culture past a certain point, and that's where all the humour comes from. There's a similar occurrence with Howard and Bernadette, though to a lesser extent because she herself is a bit nerdy (really, the only thing she needs to become accustomed to is how terrible a human being Howard is. Seriously.), and then again with Amy and Sheldon (when she has to deal with the fact that he don't like touching). That one bugged me quite a bit, because Amy is supposed to be the female equivalent of Sheldon, but then she starts hanging around Penny and she becomes more of this awkward in-between thing, which sort of defeated the purpose of introducing her in the first place, or so I thought.

But at the heart of it all, every single character who makes an appearance on that show, save for Penny and those connected to her (her father, her friends, her non-Leonard boyfriends) are nerds, and Penny has to deal with that. You know how every good TV show needs conflict? That's the conflict here: Penny is non-nerd, must learn to contend with nerd things. That's what it started as, and it never progressed beyond that.

So, yeah: the show initially threatened character progression, and maybe a fresh outlook on its original idea, but scraps all that in favour of a "nerds are weird, look at Penny try to deal with it" joke that runs on and on through every season. Again, I like it, but I'm not particularly difficult to please when it comes to this sort of thing. But as far as the construct of the show goes, it's sloppy, one-dimensional and tired. I'm sure a lot of "nerds" don't like it because it more or less belittles their culture, and anyone who's really into TV shows wouldn't like it because it's not particularly well-constructed.

WOOOO! Essays!

 

[FoolKiller]

Like everything, the premise wears out after a season or so. And the bigger problem is that they have actively destroyed two of the main characters with terrible writing. Penny has turned into the dumb blond, and Raj is a wimpering self-pitying idiot now. It was better when they weren't.

 

[Arrogancy]

It's a show about mocking nerds and nerd culture. The four leading protagonists, with the possible exception of Leonard, bear almost no resemblance to actual human beings, let alone actual nerds. It's a show that got it's ideas about what nerds are like from movies like "Revenge of the nerds" and its ilk. While admittedly funny at times, I'm keenly aware that I and my social group are the butt of the joke in that show, and that angers me somewhat.

 

[Yopaz]

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.

This is what I came here to say.

This subject has been discussed plenty of times before, use the search bar.

OT: I like the show for what it is. I wouldn't say it's quality writing, it's stupid comedy that gives me the chance to shut off my brain for about 20-30 minutes depending on if I watch it on DVD or TV.

However people dislike it because they feel the series is simply about playing off stereotypes of what nerds are (and it's true). This is coupled with ignorance of the subjects they are joking about which drives fans mad.

-The laugh track is annoying.
-Let me reiterate how goddamn annoying the laugh track is. I've heard it is filmed in front of an audience but they still edit and enhance the laughter to make it seem far more hilarious than it is.

Live audience or hostages? You need to specify this.

 

[Alarien]

Basically, the show isn't just unfunny, it's offensively stupid. Not meaning it's "offensive," but the stupidly dull humor is so bad as to be offensive.

It's what people who aren't geeks and don't know jack about geeks as a culture, or nerds as a group, think geeks and nerds would be. Mostly, it's just exasperatingly wrong.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I don't care for the show because, like most sitcoms, it isn't funny. Using laugh tracks or cued audience laughter doesn't help it either. It's distracting and makes the lack of humor more obvious.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Put simply, it isn't funny in the slightest and the writing is astoundingly lazy.

I'm one of the biggest proponents of the "humor is subjective" point of view, but considering how widely and pasionately despised it is, it must be doing something truly wrong.

This video is a good example. If you still find it funny, good on you. Most of us do not.

Using the no laugh track as proof it's not funny doesn't work if you think about it for any amount of time.

The most important element in humour is timing. Even low-brow humour can be made funny if the timing is done right. With the no-laugh track, you're just adding awkward pauses between the sentences. That doesn't prove that the show isn't funny because it doesn't have a laugh track, it suggests any sitcom without a laugh track won't work as well because of the timing.

Timing is an aspect of comedy, but it isn't everything.

Also, any writer that builds the timing of their jokes around audience laughter is crappy anyway. Laugh tracks/live audiences are the bane of good comedy.

I have seen this done to other shows and the shows are still funny. I wish I could remember where the video was.

Besides, even if you're completely right, the show is still a terribly written piece of garbage.

 

[Genocidicles]

It's just a generic, boring sitcom. I couldn't care less whether it's laughing with nerds or laughing at them... It's just not funny... and that wouldn't really make me hate it if it weren't for that goddamn laughter.

I know it's real and not a laugh track, but that fucking obnoxious laughter that permeates every minute of the show is enough to make me detest that piece of shit. I don't like being told something is funny, when it's blatantly not.

 

[Something Amyss]

Oh look! The very first sentence you said in the thread!

Which still doesn't match the strawman you're still trying to knock down.

That's kind of the issue with some people. The whole "you don't like it CUZ YER A NERD LOL!" line. Just look at this thread, it's cropped up from several people already.

Honestly, I don't care enough to look. Have any of them been the self-contradicting type you were talking about? Because I don't think I've ever really contested that such people exist. Though it is puzzling that anyone on here would try and distance themselves from 'nerds,' given this is a video gaming community.

But hey, I really don't want to be reading throug more of this thread than I have to, so I'll take your word for it.

 

[Resetti's_Replicas]

I did like it at first, might even say I loved it. It was a clever idea at first, a comedy about social awkwardness mixed with geekiness. But I have to be completely honest; they stopped trying somewhere around Season 4. As it progressed they went for lower and lower hanging fruit until it got to the point where Leonard is a suave ladykiller, the other geeks are irredeemably socially inept, everyone else is an asshole, and the plotlines don't have resolutions.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

In addition to the blatantly obvious (and rude, might I add) monetization of nerd culture and further downgrading of nerd-kind, the bloody laugh track.

 

[shootthebandit]

I actually think it shows the "geeks" in positive light. Sure it shows them as socially awkward misfits but it also shows that they are good guys. The guys and girls are genuinely likable but misunderstood (even sheldon is likeable in a weird way). My problem with the show is that its not really that funny, sure it gets a few laughs but ultimately its just another light-hearted laugh-track american homogenous sitcom. Its not unlikeable but its not great

Id recommend the inbetweeners instead (the UK original not the US remake) similarly its a group of socially awkward lads but it just makes for better viewing. Instead of being stereotypical geeks they guys are more akin a "real-life" geeks

 

[Soundwave]

I don't find it funny. I've watched a few episodes, and barely laughed at all. Mostly it was just uncomfortable to watch. If you want a "universal" to apply to it, I'd say that it is bad because it's a sitcom, and sitcoms are universally reviled.

Why are sitcoms universally reviled? Because they are written to appeal to the least intelligent people. This sounds pompous, of course, but that's how they're designed. Easy jokes, low hanging fruit, etc. You don't watch a sitcom for intellectual stimulation, you do it because it's comfortable.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Man, I have a hard time relating on a psychological or sociological level with people who actually find shit like BBT or Two and a Half Morons or 2 Broke Nitwits funny. Media in this century - the TV sitcom specifically - has taken on whole new levels of condescension, and seems to appeal selectively to simple-minded Millennials whose only awareness of what humor is consists of canned laugh tracks and shallow pop culture references. That's one of the primary reasons I haven't had cable for almost ten years.

All I can say is thank fucking God we still have saving graces like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development.

 

[laggyteabag]

I understand pretty much every reference they throw in, so I SHOULD be really into it, sadly however I just find most of the characters to be irritating to the point where I just cannot watch it (especially Sheldon, he just really gets on my nerves for some inexplicable reason.) and I just dont find any of the jokes to be funny, so that is basically my interpretation of the show. I can see the appeal of it, but im just not a fan.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

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)

I mean there was one episode, where they get robbed and the police ask for a list of what was stolen and the autistic guy gives a list of game consoles.

And that's the joke.

What is funny about it? Nothing. It's just a list of video game consoles.


plus it has the fucking actor that played "David" on Roseanne and I fucking hate that guy. Just want to punch in the face and make him emote something other than sensitive loser.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I don't find it funny. I've watched a few episodes, and barely laughed at all. Mostly it was just uncomfortable to watch. If you want a "universal" to apply to it, I'd say that it is bad because it's a sitcom, and sitcoms are universally reviled.

Why are sitcoms universally reviled? Because they are written to appeal to the least intelligent people. This sounds pompous, of course, but that's how they're designed. Easy jokes, low hanging fruit, etc. You don't watch a sitcom for intellectual stimulation, you do it because it's comfortable.

I don't know, Roseanne was really good. I watched all nine seasons during the summer, save the last season they were all really good.

And Tidus! Tidus was a great sit-com as well.