# Any love for Big Bang Theory here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832 "2008-09-23T14:06:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/81 "2008-10-02T12:34:36Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > I’ve had to suppress the urge to go looking for Big Bang Theory watchers today because I want to explain to them why superstrings vs. loop quantum gravity is such a relationship dealbreaker. Now I understand why Sheldon and Leslie don’t get along. I’m surprised they can share a physics department. > > Last night during a commercial, my housemate asked what any of these people have to do with big bang theory. I told them that Sheldon does superstring theory and Leonard does experiments on cosmic rays, and how those relate to big bang cosmology. Luckily, I’m almost through the Brian Greene book I’ve been reading (The Fabric of the Cosmos). > > In other words, I love how much of the humor comes from actual scientific stuff. That’s brilliant. I really enjoy this show, although here in the UK we’ve only had the first season, which IIRC ended with Leonard kissing Penny. No spoilers please for what happens next. I did a physics degree and really enjoy the in jokes, plus I actually know people who are similar to Sheldon and Leonard. All in all one of the best shows to be imported here for a long time (comedy that is). As a slight aside, how do the religious majority in the US respond to this show? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/82 "2008-10-02T13:22:56Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Which shirt do you mean, or are you just talking about his style in general? I recall that he’s worn a Greatest American Hero and/or Green Lantern shirt. In the newest episode he had on a shirt that looked like a TV test pattern or color calibration chart of some type. IIRC, he had on a light green T with a darger green symbol on the front - looked like some combination ofthe male/female signs. Is that Green Lantern? The other one was - I think - black, with a design that was partially checkerboard wth portions of different colors. Like you say - kind of a TV test pattern. Just figured, they do such a good job of piling on the geek references, I know those shirts aren’t chosen randomly. Kinda bugs my wife and I that we don’t understand the references. But comic books are a huge gap in our mutual geekitude. I remember last season my son was outraged when they were supposedly playing Halo, but the sound effects were not those from Halo. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/83 "2008-10-02T13:33:54Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > Okay okay, I’ll quit telling people that the theme song is by TMBG. Damn, it was a way to spread the TMBG goodness! > > . Are they actually making music for anything other than TV theme songs & commercials these days? Anyone with young children has to be intimately familiar with their recent work. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/84 "2008-10-02T14:24:07Z")
> [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](#): > > As a slight aside, how do the religious majority in the US respond to this show? No idea how the rest do, but I love it! Btw, did you see the episode with Sheldon’s Mom (played by the actress who played Roseanne’s sister)? Turns out Sheldon’s Mom in an evangelical Christian who believes in ID and the Rapture- and who was portrayed in a nice & respectful albeit humorous way. DeweyF: I was going to mention Penny’s explaining Schroedinger’s cat also! (“No, it wasn’t my cat!”) An earlier episode dealt with the elevator- “We’re scientists. We should be able to fix this!.. (looks at elevator for 10 seconds) … Nope, this baby is broken!” ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/85 "2008-10-02T15:39:06Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > IIRC, he had on a light green T with a darger green symbol on the front - looked like some combination ofthe male/female signs. Is that Green Lantern? > > The other one was - I think - black, with a design that was partially checkerboard wth portions of different colors. Like you say - kind of a TV test pattern. > > Just figured, they do such a good job of piling on the geek references, I know those shirts aren’t chosen randomly. Kinda bugs my wife and I that we don’t understand the references. But comic books are a huge gap in our mutual geekitude. > > I remember last season my son was outraged when they were supposedly playing Halo, but the sound effects were not those from Halo. Yep what you describe sounds like Green Lantern: [http://z.about.com/d/comicbooks/1/7/\_/B/greenlanternross.jpg](http://z.about.com/d/comicbooks/1/7/_/B/greenlanternross.jpg) I don’t recognize specifically what sort of color calibration was on his shirt, it may have had to do with TV or maybe something with scientific optical equipment. I seem to remember them playing 4-player Halo or some military shooter in an earlier episode and actually seeing the screen for a bit as they played. In the newest episode I also found it amusing that Sheldon brought in an old Nintendo64 to play Mario (Super Mario 64 I assume, because later he talked about saving Princess Peach?) He offered to let Leonard and Leslie play because he had 3 controllers, but that doesn’t really add up, Super Mario 64 is a single player game. Should have been Mario Cart 64. When he got kicked out of the apartment he settled for playing Mario on an emulator on his computer. The Mario sound effects sounded about right though. I know the generic stock video game sounds on sitcoms were often from Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600, so in comparison Big Bang is doing a great job. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/86 "2008-10-02T15:48:59Z")
Yep, that was Green Lantern. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/87 "2008-10-02T16:16:51Z")
[Sheldon’s Shirts.](http://www.sheldonshirts.com/sheldon.html) You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/88 "2008-10-02T16:25:52Z")
That’s cool! Also linked from there is this interview of the cast at ComicCon: [http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2JMLELQ7NHQVN](http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2JMLELQ7NHQVN) ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/89 "2008-10-02T16:36:36Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You know, one thing I’ve hated about TV shows and movies forever is whenever some smart computer programmer/hacker/math guy/scientist/whatever says something full of nonsensical technobabble that makes no sense, and I am forced to scream at the television very loudly, “Jeezus! All you had to do is pay one geek fiddy bucks and he could have written a plausible-sounding line that wouldn’t have affected the story!” > > So I’ve always appreciated that BBT manages to get a lot of the stuff correct, or at least close enough to correct that you can tell they put some effort into it. (Though I couldn’t tell you anything about string theory jokes.) It actually makes sense. Nerds are notorious for nitpicking away at the errors in films/TV. If you’re going to have a show about nerds, then it would be in your best interest, since you want to attract a smart audience, to get the jokes and references right. We can laugh at ourselves, but dammit, get the basics right!! ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/90 "2008-10-03T03:25:17Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > It actually makes sense. Nerds are notorious for nitpicking away at the errors in films/TV. If you’re going to have a show about nerds, then it would be in your best interest, since you want to attract a smart audience, to get the jokes and references right. We can laugh at ourselves, but dammit, get the basics right!! But when you realize that you actually get the joke because you understood all the technical stuff, don’t you you feel just a tad self-conscious? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/91 "2008-10-03T03:45:51Z")
Just a thought gang: I find it great that the gang of nerds here on the show is so ecumenical about their geekdoms - Ren Faires, LOTR, Star Wars, Star Trek, Green Arrow, Batman. Necessary for the show, I guess. You couldn’t have them going all LOTR vs. SW a la “Clerks”. and it would limit the jokes. But string theory is a dealbreaker! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/92 "2008-10-03T12:44:09Z")
> [@ASAKMOTSD](#): > > But when you realize that you actually get the joke because you understood all the technical stuff, don’t you you feel just a tad self-conscious? I am not a physicist, so the joke told right before the convention sailed right over my head. But I adore the geekiness…playing Klingon Boggle, setting up playdates to play Halo, and figuring out how to turn on a light via the internet. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/93 "2008-10-03T13:00:46Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Are they actually making music for anything other than TV theme songs & commercials these days? Anyone with young children has to be intimately familiar with their recent work. I don’t know - I don’t think so but I’m not always so up on the music world. It is funny that I can listen to the sillier songs with my kids (who doesn’t love Particle Man?) and in the back of my mind be thinking - gee, never would have forseen this the first time with this album, me 16 with my tape deck and a bottle of peach Reunite! FriarTed - I did appreciate that she was an Evangelical that was not so 2D. She had some nutty theories but she was nice and took care of Sheldon. I also appreciated that Sheldon came from a poorer background (can’t remember how poor, but maybe Roseanne poor?) so it was clear his genius wasn’t a result of mom paying for the best schools and pushing. And he loves her and doesn’t treat her like she’s stupid. I think that’s the thing I like best about this show. The characters just… are. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/94 "2008-10-03T14:18:44Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > FriarTed - I did appreciate that she was an Evangelical that was not so 2D. She had some nutty theories but she was nice and took care of Sheldon. I also appreciated that Sheldon came from a poorer background (can’t remember how poor, but maybe Roseanne poor?) so it was clear his genius wasn’t a result of mom paying for the best schools and pushing. And he loves her and doesn’t treat her like she’s stupid. > > I think that’s the thing I like best about this show. The characters just… are. And also, we found out in the first episode last week, that “Mom smokes in the car. Jesus is OK with it, but we can’t tell Dad.” ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/95 "2008-10-03T14:34:34Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > Just a thought gang: I find it great that the gang of nerds here on the show is so ecumenical about their geekdoms - Ren Faires, LOTR, Star Wars, Star Trek, Green Arrow, Batman. Necessary for the show, I guess. You couldn’t have them going all LOTR vs. SW a la “Clerks”. and it would limit the jokes. > > But string theory is a dealbreaker! I’m not into Ren Faires or comic books. I used to read comics when I was like 13. LOTR, Star Wars, Star Trek, I can get into that. And the computer stuff. This show works on many geek levels. The science they throw around I only understand bits and pieces of. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/96 "2008-10-07T03:15:30Z")
Tonight’s episode may have been the funniest one yet. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/97 "2008-10-07T03:32:25Z")
Can you really do that thing they did with corn starch and the speaker? I hate to say this, but it looked kinda’ fun! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/98 "2008-10-07T03:40:14Z")
> [@MaddyStrut](#): > > Can you really do that thing they did with corn starch and the speaker? I hate to say this, but it looked kinda’ fun! Oh yes. This was my favorite activity in 7th grade science class. (Though we never tried putting it on a subwoofer. Too bad.) I forgot the exact recipe, but it’s just a certain ratio of cornstarch to water. If you throw something at it, it will bounce off, but push gently, and it goes right through. So weird. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/99 "2008-10-07T03:53:36Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Tonight’s episode may have been the funniest one yet. Crap. I completely forgot it was Monday.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832/100 "2008-10-07T06:48:15Z")
Tonight’s episode was ok, not the best. The best one was the one with the Time Machine. The scene where Leonard sat in the machine, turned it on, and the other three guys ran around like time was flying by had me in hysterics! And the one in which all four guys independently chose to dress as The Flash for a costume party was hilarious too, especially when Raj suggested that they all go to the party and walk close behind each other to simulate super speed! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-love-for-big-bang-theory-here/464832.md?page=6)