Why do so many nerds hate The Big Bang Theory?

[Romo Lampkin]

I find the characters kind of very unlikeable at times. I remember an episode where Raj wasn't invited to a dinner by Leonard because it was a couples only dinner, seems douchey. I haven't been following but checked in on an episode where Leonard didn't invite Sheldon to his own wedding because of social awkwardness over some previous event, even douchier! Some of the jokes are so asinine to be irritating, a lot of the Howard on the ISS jokes fell very flat with me.

 

[Push The Button]

I like the show and like to laugh along but I admit part of me gets a bit miffed at the way it perpetuated the stereotype that geek girls don't exist. I did like that they eventually introduced two women who happened to be scientists and Raj's horror movie fan girlfriend but somehow its still not enough.

There were two BBT pilots produced. Leonard and Sheldon had a female geek friend named Gilda in the first one.

As a fan, I'll admit that the show is running out of gas at this point, as most long-running sitcoms do. One of my biggest peeves has always been the disrespect shown to Howard because he is "only" an engineer. In real-life, an aerospace engineer would be the most successful and in-demand one of the entire group.

I've known a few real-life Sheldons in my career. They were mostly arrogant and annoying, like Sheldon, so that part rings true. I couldn't imagine ever being friends with any of them, I'm not sure how I could be friends with someone that I want to beat with a bag of rocks.

 

[Trekkin]

I don't hate it, but I don't really like it. It's on four nights a week on two different stations, so I think I'm just over exposed (somehow one of them managed to pick up the first few seasons, whilst the original channel that aired it kept going forwards).

From what I've seen if it, I do find it interesting that they have shaken up the status quo a few times. For eg. The main cast has certainly grown, people getting married, Penny and Howard becoming the more successful ones in the group that used to look down on them etc. That's unusual for sitcoms.

 

[gblews]

Far as I'm concerned, TT, "How do you feel about it?" and "Why do you feel that way?" are two different questions, so I see no reason why you shouldn't have started a new thread with the second question. Course, I ain't a mod, so feel free to take that opinion with as many grains of salt as you please.

As to why I hate BBT, I understand that those who love it tend to think that the show is laughing with the nerd audience, or was at some point in its run. I happen to be of the opinion that that sentiment is utter bullshit. There is nothing - nothing - about the show's humor that indicates the creators wanted to share some jocular self deprecating humor with a usually dismissed segment of the television viewership and everything to indicate the pitch went something like this: "Hey! You know those idiots that worship Spock and wear superhero costumes at conventions? I bet we can get five or six seasons outta putting the dorkiest versions we can come up with all in one sitcom!"

And yes, I do know how sitcoms work, and how they work renders the "girlfriends and great jobs" arguments irrelevant. It's a situation comedy, which means you need a situation to spring from, and you can't do relationship situations without relationships, and you can't do workplace situations without jobs. The fact that they all have girlfriends and jobs is just the cost of doing business, less a matter of "See? Nerds can have these things too!" and more a matter of "Let's give one of them a hot girlfriend and see how the others fuck it up!" (The basis of the whole goddamned show!)

It's not a minstrel show? People putting on gross stereotypes for other people who believe those stereotypes is the definition of "minstrel show!"

Perhaps a bit more aggressively worded than I might put it, but basically the same thing I've been writing in these BBT threads for a while now.

The "nerds" on the show fit the mainstream's view of what nerds are. They ALL like Trek, they ALL like Star Wars, they ALL have trouble with girls, they are ALL non-athletic, etc. This is all BS. The downside is that the show encourages people to think a certain way about people who are in to what is considered nerd type stuff. I don't hate the show, but it gets on my nerves. BTW, Raj is also a bit of a racial stereotype.

And as I have also written, if you want a truer version of what nerds are like, try Community, or if you just want a better written sit-com, Modern Family, Parks and Rec, How I Met Your Mother. There are tons better.

 

[Trekkin]

Raj being effeminate and possibly a bisexual in denial is also played for laughs. Or at least it used to be. For eg. 'Raj liked apple martinis! And we all know girls like apple martinis! That's the entire joke.'

To give it some credit, it did use to compare the guys to other more realistic 'nerds' and geeks. There was the used-to-be-Darlene-from-Roseanne, Wil Wheaton, the guy with the speech impediment, the guy who ran the comic shop, and Penny (who liked console games.) Though I guess it says something that I can't even remember the names of most of those characters.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I admit that was the thing that first turned me off to the show. It looked like a negative presentation of everybody I know. Something that got the superficial details right but missed the substance.

But the main reason I dislike it now is that I just think three camera style sitcoms are incredibly stupid and lame.

Speaking of Parks & Rec, I think Ben Wyatt is one of the most realistic nerds on TV.

Like one half of the nerds I know are married and a third have athletic hobbies, especially running and rock climbing.

 

[JWPlatt]

But the main reason I dislike it now is that I just think three camera style sitcoms are incredibly stupid and lame.

That's an interesting comment. How does the number of cameras influence the quality of a production?

 

[Greg Cox]

I thought last night's ep (with Wil Wheaton and Adam Nimoy) was actually kinda sweet, especially the part where Penny explained to Sheldon that he had actually missed the point of Spock.

Clearly, she has absorbed a certain degree of Trekkie-ness by osmosis.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I thought last night's ep (with Wil Wheaton and Adam Nimoy) was actually kinda sweet, especially the part where Penny explained to Sheldon that he had actually missed the point of Spock.

Clearly, she has absorbed a certain degree of Trekkie-ness by osmosis.

Me too. It turns out that she has been paying attention to the things Leonard enjoys. It actually caught me off guard, in a good way.

I'm surprised the scrotum bit was allowed.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

But the main reason I dislike it now is that I just think three camera style sitcoms are incredibly stupid and lame.

That's an interesting comment. How does the number of cameras influence the quality of a production?

Correlation, not causation. Seinfeld was three camera and it was great. But most 'Three camera' style sitcoms involve quirk-driven characterization, formulaic stories, pat lesson learning and a superfluous dose of overt sentimentality.

Anecdotally, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David had to fight the network not to make the show that way.

 

[Trekkin]

Frasier hit nearly all those buttons, and is still one of my favourite shows. So did Married with Children, Vicar of Dibley, Blackadder (except S1), As Time Goes By ...even 'The Simpsons' fits that description.

Yet stuff like BBT, My Vamily and especially Two and a Half Men never quiet manage to hit the sweet spot for me.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It's been a while since I've seen Blackadder, but wasn't it kind of anti-sentimental? It had its share of cheesy humor but IIRC the endings could involve everyone dying.

I'm not sure I'd include The Simpsons on that list either. It's pretty sentimental and quirk driven but the humor focuses more on parody and satire most of the time, at least in the good episodes. Like, many Simpsons episodes would meet that description, but the ones that are worth watching are either critical of the formula or the formula wasn't the point of the episode. When Simpsons started it was controversial to even show a family that wasn't perfectly lovable.

In my opinion almost any show that uses this formula is complete trash:
-Define characters mostly by a few one dimensional quirks
-Have those quirks come into conflict
-One character acts like a jerk
-Character has some pat revelation and feels very bad about it
-Characters make up, learn a lesson and have a greater understanding of each other -- which is completely forgotten by next week
-Sprinkle in various gags and pop culture references that are unrelated to the story and lukewarm amusing
-Add laugh track and/or studio audience with applause sign

Shows like this are cheap, manipulative, preachy and utterly lacking in creativity or anything resembling genuine human behavior.

 

[Trekkin]

I was thinking more that it's a three-camera sitcom. The ending of S4 was pretty sentimental and had everyone learning a lesson...it's just that episode was pulled off really, really well.

And everyone died.

 

[Mojochi]

But the main reason I dislike it now is that I just think three camera style sitcoms are incredibly stupid and lame.

That's an interesting comment. How does the number of cameras influence the quality of a production?

Correlation, not causation. Seinfeld was three camera and it was great. But most 'Three camera' style sitcoms involve quirk-driven characterization, formulaic stories, pat lesson learning and a superfluous dose of overt sentimentality.

Anecdotally, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David had to fight the network not to make the show that way.

& in their time, it was essentially the only sit-com format. It was the gold standard, & there are countless examples where it was done exceedingly well, but since then, the TV comedy genre has become so much more fluid, that by comparison, this antiquated format seems stale, even if it's done well. There's just so many other methods to it now, that all seem fresher, even the mockumentary style, (The Office, Parks & Rec) which I'm not a fan of, still comes off fresher, & at this point, even it is at max saturation.

BBT is the last great dinosaur. It probably shouldn't have been as successful as it's been. The format's time is done. If you need proof of that, watch the Odd Couple remake, but something about BBT struck a chord. One last gasp from the machine, that had been reduced to the other Odd Couple remake, that threw a kid in the mix (2 & a Half Men) Why even do a show that way, when you can do what "It's Always Sunny" does? Anyone not stepping out of that old style is dating themselves now

Some of BBT has made me laugh, but I can't get into it completely, because it's stale to me

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think it hits a little too close to home is why "nerds" dislike the show. Though for me, it's why I like the show.

 

[Orac Zen]

I don't hate it - hate is far too strong a word to use about something as trivial as a TV show - but I don't really get the fuss over it, either (which is neither here nor there, of course). I especially don't understand the appeal of Sheldon, who IMO is basically a complete and utter arsehole with few (if any) redeeming features whatsoever.

As in all things, though, to each their own.

 

[FPAlpha]

I think it hits a little too close to home is why "nerds" dislike the show. Though for me, it's why I like the show.

Summed it up perfectly in one sentence

 

[Greg Cox]

I don't hate it - hate is far too strong a word to use about something as trivial as a TV show - but I don't really get the fuss over it, either (which is neither here nor there, of course). I especially don't understand the appeal of Sheldon, who IMO is basically a complete and utter arsehole with few (if any) redeeming features whatsoever.

Maybe because we all have a little Sheldon in us, or know somebody who does?

Comedy is all about making fun of human folly and foibles after all, not about providing positive role models.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I don't hate it - hate is far too strong a word to use about something as trivial as a TV show - but I don't really get the fuss over it, either (which is neither here nor there, of course). I especially don't understand the appeal of Sheldon, who IMO is basically a complete and utter arsehole with few (if any) redeeming features whatsoever.

Maybe because we all have a little Sheldon in us, or know somebody who does?

Comedy is all about making fun of human folly and foibles after all, not about providing positive role models.

Yep.

 

[FPAlpha]

I don't hate it - hate is far too strong a word to use about something as trivial as a TV show - but I don't really get the fuss over it, either (which is neither here nor there, of course). I especially don't understand the appeal of Sheldon, who IMO is basically a complete and utter arsehole with few (if any) redeeming features whatsoever.

Maybe because we all have a little Sheldon in us, or know somebody who does?

Comedy is all about making fun of human folly and foibles after all, not about providing positive role models.

Concerning Sheldon.. if i had a friend like this he'd be long gone but the show would not work as well without this character.

However as much of an ass Sheldon can be the writers have (sparingly) included some scenes from time to time to show that he's still human and means well.. even if his definition differs from anybody else's (and his current storyline after the breakup with Amy is nothing but human).

Scenes like Leonard Nimoy's napkin that Penny gives him for Christmas and in return he actually (awkwardly) hugs her, like the one situation where Penny thinks about breaking up with Leonard and Sheldon says to her "Please don't hurt my friend" and so on.. it's these few moments that really stand out.

I know that the characters have been painted with broad brushes and that all "nerds" are not like this.. i have nerd friends who have zero problems asking girls out, who actually dress stylishly and who understand the finer points of socializing and actually go out for drinks or clubbing but then they whip out their miniatures, cards and dice on game night and go at it.

For me the show never used nerds for cheap laughs or made a mockery out of them because the traits they have are present in nerd culture (the producers of the show based some characters on people they knew and worked with). Yes we like trading cards, cosplay, buying overpriced things related to our interests and that may come off strange to outsiders but then again there's people who paint their faces in their team colors and are in the stadium every weekend.