Why do some nerds hate Big Bang Theory?

[Mausthemighty]

I love the show. There's a lot of in-jokes for nerds. I love how they one time played chess on a star trek chess board. And I like the geeky discussions about star wars or other nerdy stuff. Even some scientific references like calling a cat shrödinger, waht's not funny about that?

 

[xXCrocmonXx]

Honestly, because Franklin & Bash does comedy better. It's a serious show, with funny and sarcastic characters who show that healthy strain of contempt for their jobs that make their antics/cases much more interesting.

BBT appeals to me as a show I see and watch for some cheap laughs. It has good jokes, but it doesn't quite have anything exceptionally funny that makes me want to come back. Except for the girlfriend antics that normally involve Sheldon harassing a couple that's getting it on.

 

[elvor0]

I just don't find it funny, it's badly written and at has that american problem of seeming too set up and TA DAH! EVERYONE LOOK AT THIS problem that a lot of american sitcoms have. Personally I'm British, where we have The IT Crowd, which is what the Big Bang Theory wishes it could be. I mean the IT crowd does have the poke fun at nerds/geeks element in it too, but it's done far better, and personally I'm quite happy to laugh at myself so even the jabs at geeks in it are are funny because its well written and its a case of "ah I've been there".

 

[Synyster]

All that said I still really enjoy Big Bang Theory, also it's not a laugh track, it's filmed in front of an audience

 

[Antari]

It seems like something written about nerds, rather than by nerds. And it's a little bit patronising.
And I just don't think the show's that funny.

I think you hit it right on the head there.
Honestly, the show is written for and by people who have zero knowledge of whatever geek/science topics they happen to touch on. The writers don't know what they're talking about, and are basically just banking on the fact that the average layman will be wowed by whatever geek jargon they can pack into the dialogue. It's really the exact opposite of a show for nerds.

It's poor script-writing; they don't bother to research any of the nerd-content that they drop in for cheap laughs.

Ya I'm with both of you on this. Its patronizing and insulting not funny. Standard useless Hollywood offering.

 

[BlastedTheWorm]

It's not fucking funny, that's why.

 

[Synyster]

It's not fucking funny, that's why.

that's cause you don't get the jokes......

 

[Synyster]

The show is frequently like that. They use pre-built laptops for Christ's sake! On the episode where they got robbed, they listed their games that had been stolen (about 7) and then made a joke about that being a lot. THEY PLAY MOSTLY THE WII. They were impressed by an online DOS emulator when DOSBOX had been out for 7 years. They call themselves nerds? BAH! BAH I SAY!

They also don't have any 'secondary' nerdy hobbies. They play games and read sci fi, but you'd expect at least one of them to play Warhammer or M:TG or something like that. I think there's an episode where they run a D&D campaign but nerds tend to live the whole lifestyle, you'd expect them to be nerdy in multiple ways.

I guess that's the heart of it, I just don't buy these characters as nerds. They have no real nerd cred.

This is true, however from what I've seen they play very similar games, but I'm not sure they can play specific games like MTG or warhammer cause of copyrights and stuff, almost all the stuff in the show isn't actually what they appear, for example the have diet coke in cans that look just like it except it's called "Diet Cola"

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

I think it's quite well written for a fairly typical American sitcom. They do make fun of the main characters for being nerds but it's done in the way that the non-nerdy characters are made to look inferior. I also like that some of the jokes are genuinely intelligent and make sense scientifically, even if they're a little cheesy. I don't watch it that often but I've seen a good few episodes and the references to sci-fi and games are made funnier by the fact that they're not done effectively in many other shows. The writers do actually research this stuff too. I guess I'm saying that the show is unique enough to be worth watching and, yeah, the characters are a lot of fun.

 

[Something Amyss]

Because this.

You could potentially do this with any sit com, but it's rather more noticeable with this show.

Wow. I laughed like once. That was a pretty sad scene.

 

[Griffolion]

The vast majority of my friends love the big bang theory, including me. I don't know why people hate it so much.

 

[Distorted Stu]

Its a sitcom, they play on sterotypes. Thats what the whole damn show is about. Learn to laugh at yourselves.

Also i would liek to point out they DONT use a laugh track. Its a real audience. They've proved this time and time again.

 

[CAMDAWG]

Even some scientific references like calling a cat shrödinger, waht's not funny about that?

I know the joke you're talking about, and it can hardly be considered an "in joke" for nerds when they spend a chunk of time explaining what it is.

It's a little bit like "the cake is a lie". Simply mentioning it, and somehow tying it to part of a story does not make it a joke. You have to do more with it to get any kind of credit.

Also, from the perspective of a late-teen/adult nerd perspective, I imagine most people would be sick to death of people mentioning it and thinking it's funny. I know I am

 

[Stewart Marshall]

In a nutshell:

1) Stereotypes

From what I've seen (which is admittedly not that much) the main characters are a collection of nerd stereotypes, that most self-identify nerds either try to differentiate themselves from, or don't want to be associated with.

2) The Humour

The humour is very broad. Standard jokes (sometimes with a twist, but never in any complex way). Even rather simple shows like How I Met Your Mother take more risks.

3) The Characters

The characters, for me anyway, aren't particularly likeable in any way. The choices they make are often irritating or stupid, and this isn't levied (the way it is in most sitcoms) by them being charismatic or uncomfortably sympathetic.

 

[i7omahawki]

A couple of things about it annoy me, Sheldon often trivializes the liberal arts (while maintaining a fervent and almost religious awe for Star Trek, video games and comic books) and the show never seems to make a counter-point to any of it, despite the writers themselves practicing a liberal art.

That and the noticeable slips in research, which mostly concerns Sheldon again because it just doesn't fit his character that he makes mistakes so often. I'm thinking primarily of his reference to positive and negative reinforcement, the latter he mistook for positive punishment. It just seems like, hey, here's a great chance to possibly educate people on something AND it totally fits his character that he does get it right. I wouldn't want Earl from My Name is... to always be up to date on psychology, but the fact that it fits Sheldon's character makes it unreasonable for them to not even wiki the terms they are using.

As far as I know they get the physics and such right, but I may be wrong.

Sometimes I like the show, they can be clever (I liked the rocky montage with them just staring at the white board, but even then they overused it.)

They don't seem to have any idea of how to advance the character either, they seem pretty much identical to when they started, except for Leonard who seems to have little personality anyway, which is a problem when he's supposed to be the sort of everyman.

/rant

 

[RYjet911]

I personally love the show Big Bang Theory, but some nerds I have spoken to, when I mention the show, show utter contempt for it. Why is it? I think it's a very funny show that depicts nerds in a fairly positive light, despite all the jokes. Is it because it's a popular show that give sit a sour taste?

One liner one liner one liner science/math/computing reference one liner one liner drama bit that comes across as obnoxious because it follows and is followed by supposedly comical bits instead of doing the proper thing of combining the two.

I dunno, just not at all funny to me.

 

[Thespian]

This is true, however from what I've seen they play very similar games, but I'm not sure they can play specific games like MTG or warhammer cause of copyrights and stuff, almost all the stuff in the show isn't actually what they appear, for example the have diet coke in cans that look just like it except it's called "Diet Cola"

It's not fucking funny, that's why.

that's cause you don't get the jokes......

Bull and shit. Sorry, but there are plenty of products specifically stated (Halo night, etc.,) an even then it's really more about the fact that they rarely mention any nerdy pass times that aren't blatantly obvious. They aren't even movie nerds or anime nerds, and the only anime I remember them watching was a fucking tie-in with Two and a Half Men. It's like "We're nerds, our entire lives center around science and pre-built computers." Fucking pre-built computers. There's nothing nerdy about them in a clever way, or in an un-obvious way.

And also, claiming that if you don't find it funny, you don't understand it? Real mature. Let alone the fact that not a single line goes by in this show without getting explained in thorough detail, but there's nothing remotely complex or layered about the humour.

 

[Slash Dementia]

I watched an episode and I was okay with it. The Big Bang Theory didn't warrant another watch just yet. Maybe when I run out of shows to watch, I'll keep watching, but right now...no.

The show was kind of funny in some parts, but a lot of it rather seemed dull. It's not something that I'm used to, and it's not something that I'm interested in trying to get in to--it's just one of those things that, when nothing's on, you watch it. At least it is for me.

 

[Weslebear]

It doesn't matter whether you're a "nerd" or whatever label you decide to give yourself, it's just personal preference.

I personally couldn't care less about the show but know people who have love it.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I think it's one of the best sitcoms. Much better than Friends and Seinfield. On par with HIMYM.

Are you being serious? The problem with The Big Bang Theory is that it's not a show that uses nerd humour, it's a show purely based on one emotion. Pity. Pity for everyone, because no one is intentionally likeable. This could work but the humour is centric around nerd culture, not necessarily nerd jokes. It's the difference between me referencing the overhype Portal gets in the context of deliberate meme bait in a witty form, and just saying, "THE CAKE IS A LIE! Get it? Because that's a thing, right?"

The concept is nice. It's there. It doesn't necessarily have to have nerd humour, but it should stop trying to shoehorn it in. It's like those terrible incidents on tv where someone is rick rolled years after it died out. It's not funny. Context is everything.

Friends is just plain terrible as well. It's nostalgic, it's not always bad, but it's such a default sitcom all the time that it's kind of depressing. Excessive pauses for laughter, predictable jokes, running gags which don't make sense, exaggerating character traits for comic effects...

Seinfeld on the other hand is genius. Pure genius. It's simple day-to-day humour is what really made modern comedy shows the way they are now. Go back 20 years and propose the idea of four nerds doing nothing but science and D&D to a television station and they'd kick you right out. Seinfeld was smart in its dialogue. It didn't need anything else. It dragged on, some episodes weren't that great, but the majority of it is gold. Gold Jerry, Gold.

HIMYM is nice. It's pretty funny, but you can see a joke coming from a mile away. Still, it's pretty smart, and really enjoyable, but its tone is far too often inconsistent.

Nice to see another Seinfeld and HIMTM fan. Seinfeld is still the best comedy ever in my opinion. With King of the Hill coming in second. Maybe I just like the everyday occurrence type of humor.
OP: It isn't a show for nerds. It is a show for people who don't "get" nerds.