No attempt to clone The Big Bang Theory yet?

[tighr]

Carcazoid wrote:

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From Wikipedia:

Well, there ya go. Sounds like we'll be seeing more of the Gooch.

[FPAlpha]

Collingwood Nick wrote:

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Sheldon is pretty much the only reason to watch the show. Geez that kid whinges a lot though. You'd think someone as smart as he would have learned to adapt to life a little better.

While Sheldon may be the breakout star (and Jim Parsons deserved his awards for playing him so well) i was really happy they had an episode where Leonard finally stood up to him.

It's not that Sheldon can't adapt.. it's just that he assumes life should adapt to him and when it doesn't he gets confused

Don't know what to make of Gooch (god.. i love Scrubs!).. not getting Raj a girlfriend was always the thing with BBT. It was a good move to introduce Bernadette and Amy and they've become an integral part of the show with storylines of their own but having them all in committed relationships? I don't know.. i liked the Raj/Stuart pairing and would like to see more of Stuart. Wasn't it announced that Stuart would become a regular character this season?

[Greg Cox]

I like the idea of Raj finally getting a girlfriend, if only because the metrosexual/ambiguously gay jokes were getting old . . . .

[chardman]

Nerys Myk wrote:

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Being a nerd and having lived in nerd culture for oh, 40 plus years, I'd say TBBT gets it right 95% of the time. It veers towards the extreme at times for comedic effect, but it is a comedy. Just as Home Improvement played "macho" guys into do-it-your-self projects for laughs. If TBBT is how "mainstream adults" see us, Community is how we'd like to see our selves: Quirky eccentrics.

This. I know quite a few scientists and academic nerds, and BBT is pretty much right on the mark. As Nerys Myk said, when it is over-the-top for laughs, it's certainly no more out of line than when other sitcoms (including "Community") do the very same thing.

[tighr]

FPAlpha wrote:

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Don't know what to make of Gooch (god.. i love Scrubs!).. not getting Raj a girlfriend was always the thing with BBT.

Raj's bit was originally not being able to talk to girls, and had nothing to do with the possibility he might be gay (in fact, the psychological fear of talking to women leads to the conclusion that he is NOT gay, he simply fears them). It was either the season 1 or season 2 halloween episode, but he actually ends up hooking up with a girl at Penny's party, and when he wakes up the next day he is unable to talk to her. She thinks he is a good listener!

[Collingwood Nick]

Yeah, that was season one, the fancy dress party where Penny's caveman ex-boyfriend turns up dressed as a caveman. Have to give them points for subtlety there.

[Brolan]

tighr wrote:

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Raj's bit was originally not being able to talk to girls, and had nothing to do with the possibility he might be gay (in fact, the psychological fear of talking to women leads to the conclusion that he is NOT gay, he simply fears them). It was either the season 1 or season 2 halloween episode, but he actually ends up hooking up with a girl at Penny's party, and when he wakes up the next day he is unable to talk to her. She thinks he is a good listener!

OMG, it just hit me, he actually talked to this girl!

[Greg Cox]

Brolan wrote:

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OMG, it just hit me, he actually talked to this girl!

It was at a party. I'm assuming there was alcohol involved.

[tighr]

Greg Cox wrote:

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It was at a party. I'm assuming there was alcohol involved.

Yeah, he even puts his beer down on the counter before leaving with her to go get coffee. This week, we should find out what happens once the coffee wears off the effects of the buzz. Maybe he'll realize he doesn't need the alcohol.

[Nerys Myk]

They're usually pretty careful to establish that Raj has imbibed some form of alcohol prior to talking to a woman.

[chrisspringob]

I guess I'm in the middle on this "does TBBT get nerd culture right?" question. It depends on what you're talking about. The writers frequently don't seem to get it on aspects of SF fandom. If that's what you mean by nerd culture, then yeah, I agree that it's often written from the point of view of a mainstream person's outside view of nerd culture.

But if you're talking about the portrayal of physics academia, then it's often been scarily spot on, at least in the early seasons. As someone in astronomy/physics academia, I thought some of the discussions in Season 1 about teleportation or jokes about string theory and the like were great. As late as Season 3, there was still some good stuff in that regard, though it was less frequent. Raj and Sheldon working on dark matter research by staring at the white board for hours was hilarious.

But in the more recent seasons, their jobs at the university are just not much of a focus anymore. The show's much more fixated on the relationships between the characters first and foremost, with their geeky SF fandom second, and their jobs as physicists a distant third.

EDIT: Should also add: Everyone I know under 40 years of age within physics or astronomy academia who has sampled the show in its early seasons enjoyed it, at least a little. Never met an actual physicist who found it insulting.

[FPAlpha]

It was often said (and proven) that the math/physics stuff they have on their boards are actual scientifically correct.. i can't understand it as it's way beyond my math and physics knowledge so i'll take it at face value.

However i do miss the more science oriented jokes sometimes.. it's what made the show unique and if you were persistent enough you might even check a topic where you didn't quite understand the joke and learn something (yeah i know.. actual work without being forced to do it just for the fun of it! ).

[Spot's Meow]

chrisspringob wrote:

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I guess I'm in the middle on this "does TBBT get nerd culture right?" question. It depends on what you're talking about. The writers frequently don't seem to get it on aspects of SF fandom. If that's what you mean by nerd culture, then yeah, I agree that it's often written from the point of view of a mainstream person's outside view of nerd culture.

But if you're talking about the portrayal of physics academia, then it's often been scarily spot on, at least in the early seasons. As someone in astronomy/physics academia, I thought some of the discussions in Season 1 about teleportation or jokes about string theory and the like were great. As late as Season 3, there was still some good stuff in that regard, though it was less frequent. Raj and Sheldon working on dark matter research by staring at the white board for hours was hilarious.

But in the more recent seasons, their jobs at the university are just not much of a focus anymore. The show's much more fixated on the relationships between the characters first and foremost, with their geeky SF fandom second, and their jobs as physicists a distant third.

EDIT: Should also add: Everyone I know under 40 years of age within physics or astronomy academia who has sampled the show in its early seasons enjoyed it, at least a little. Never met an actual physicist who found it insulting.

I pretty much agree with all that you've said. As I mentioned earlier, I feel that the "science nerd" aspect is pretty accurate. The "scifi nerd" references used to be more obscure but have always tended to be those more understood by the mainstream. This doesn't bother me so much though, because why should anyone choose to make a show where 85% of the audience has no clue what the characters are referencing or why it's supposed be funny? Sure, it would be hilarious to those of us engaged regularly with that culture, but to direct the show only towards us would be pretty limiting.

Anyway, I also agree that the science jokes, while accurate, have died down in the past few seasons to focus on the relationship dramas, and I do wish they would go back to that sort of humor more often.

[Nerys Myk]

You'd think adding two more scientists to the mix would have increased the science jokes.

[billcosby]

chrisspringob wrote:

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But in the more recent seasons, their jobs at the university are just not much of a focus anymore. The show's much more fixated on the relationships between the characters first and foremost, with their geeky SF fandom second, and their jobs as physicists a distant third.

Amen to that. Season 2 and 3 were brilliant when they were less focused on women.