Caught the show for the first time last night. Count me in as a convert. It looks like some of the characters could get annoying after a while, we shall see, but the geek jokes are just dead on. Who else does jokes about quantum theory? And not stupid jokes either.
Maybe I should worry. I was nodding my head in agreement with the one character (Sheldon?) about all the anachronisms at the Ren. fair taking away from the enjoyment. Only later did I realize that his obsessiveness was the joke. :smack:
Regarding the naming of characters, I find it amusing that the two main characters are named Sheldon and Leonard. I’m sure Chuck Lorre is paying tribute to Sheldon Leonard, the actor/producer responsible for many 60’s sitcoms, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and Gomer Pyle, USMC. His best-known acting role was probably Nick the bartender in It’s A Wonderful Life.
That’s neat, never thought about that. BBT does do a lot of standard sitcom things, like Penny and Leonard making out with their respective dates to try and make each other jealous. But the characters and nerdliness make up for the standard sitcom devices.
Another funny thing in last night’s ep was Leonard’s comment about Sheldon that was something like “I’ll show you the same consideration if another one of your species is ever discovered.” And Sheldon took no offense at the remark.
Yeah, I love the shout-out to Sheldon Leonard, too.
One thing I really love about the show is Penny and how hard she tries to treat them like normal people. She doesn’t get them, but she’s not mean about it, and she genuinely tries to help them out with social interactions.
And the BF replied, “You mean Shrodinger from Peanuts?”
Anyone got the skinny on Sheldon’s t-shirts? I figure there must be some nerdboy out there somewhere cracking up at his wardrobe, but I don’t get the reference.
Oh yeah - my wife spotted what she considered an error. Said it was highly unlikely Leonard’s pillowcases would have been linen. Since their references generally seem so spot on, she was surprised at that.
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.
Sheldon deserves a special Emmy for being able to say what he does with a straight face. I wonder how many times they have to stop because he cracks up.
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.
I loved Leonard’s suggestion that he & Leslie teach their kids about both, and when they were old enough, let them choose their own theory. Guess that works even less well with physics than it does with religion!
Given the extreme geekiness of the scripts, is there a physicist on the writing staff or are they just doing extensive reading? The jokes about the nerds seem like they’re written by someone who knows what they’re talking about.
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.)
And since Elliot is a former Roseanne cast member (as Canadian Becky), that ties into the whole Roseanne connection. Well, sort of.
It’s the perfect mix of deadpan factuality, smugness, and condescension. Even if the writing were on the par with him just calling everyone else a bunch of stupid dumb-dumb heads, I think his delivery could practically pull it off. But with the writing being as clever as it is, the results are just that much more amazing.
(See also: Rainn Wilson as Dwight on The Office – more hostile than deadpan, but otherwise quite similar both in the delivery and in the quality of the lines he’s being given.)
I pulled out my 2007 “New Shows” TV Guide, and they didn’t have much hoope for the show. “The premise is prediction and teh acting is wooden” was their assessment. Goes to show you never can tell.
