Bernadette is BACK! I’m doing a Snoopy dinnertime happy dance. 
Damn, I forgot it was on Thrusdays again. Double damn, 'cause I like Bernadette.
(I went to cbs.com. I don’t know why they don’t put the full episodes online, especially since there were clips that probably added up to about a third of the show.)
And the show is running on all cylinders again. Too many funny bits to list: The office war, Wolowitz’s fantasy life run amok, “I found out that my manager won’t let me give free nachos. Here, I’ll take this when you’re ready.”
Sheldon is *much *more effective as a subplot rather than “The Sheldon Show.”
I agree. Much better when Sheldon isn’t the center of the Universe.
I also was reminded that 1) Penny has a nice ass, and 2) Bernadette has marvelous knockers. The difference between the way she fills out the uniform and the way Penny does is striking.
For the first time this season, it seemed like they got their groove back. Let us see more of Bernadette. Please. Maybe Wallowitz could enter her in a wet t shirt contest or something.
This episode was funny from beginning to end. For all the praise heaped on Jim Parsons, the whole team is imensely talented. And George Takei deserves an Emmy!
Next week’s TV Guide magazine has an interview with Mayim Balik, and rates the opening to the show as the 6th best in TV history.
That was the one thing that bugged the snot out of me this episode: why do shows have to introduce characters by their full names? Howard obviously fantisizes about Katie Sackoff all the time. Do you think he addresses her as “Katie Sackoff” every time in his mind? We all know who she is. Just say “Katie.” If a viewer doesn’t know who she is, screw them. They can pick it up from context or just miss the joke. You don’t have to cater to the no-neck mouth-breathers out there. They probably aren’t watching this show anyway. Give the viewers a little credit, guys. We know who George is, too.
I don’t know who Katie Sackoff is.
So it didn’t make any difference how they said her name. You wouldn’t know who she is, so saying the last name as well was just jarring.
Sorry you missed the joke, though. Do you know George? 
It’s funnier when you say the full name. It reminds the audience that you’re dealing with a celebrity, some abstract concept called Katiesackoff who you’d never meet in real life and therefore have no need to call by her first name only.
The hot chick from Battlestar Galactica.
What’s Battlestar Galactica?
I keed.
I absolutely LOVED this episode! So much to laugh at.
I loved it when Wolowitz’s ma hollered up the stairs about being unable to find her girdle. And again when she found it, and it had shrunk - just like his fantasy life…
The crossed Star Wars light sabres above the bed was a nice touch.
I didn’t know who Katee or George Takei were. In fact when I first saw Katee Sackhoff I thought it was a guy in a wig.
I think the fact that you noticed the first+last name thing means the writing was weak. And that’s valid. It’s not hard to sneak the first and last name of someone in a script and do it well. It also is necessary to use both names because people like me can then look up the actor/actress
I found the dialog when Penny says something and Bernadette says “Yeah I know I work here too,” to be another example of very weak writing. Seems like they stuck that in as an afterthought
The feud between Raj and Sheldon was a lot funnier than the main plot, showing how powerful Sheldon has become in the show, though it’s nice to see another character get some airtime.
However a sex crazed Howard is funnier than Howard with a girlfriend. I guess because the Penny + Leonard thing didn’t work out, the writers are loathe to try to give Leonard another girlfriend, though Leonard worked out great with his doctor friend and Leslie Winkle.
And to give Raj a girlfriend would destroy the select mutism which is kind of wearing thin by now. The only reason to keep it seems to be an excuse to get Raj drunk (so he can talk to a woman) and act like a jackass when he drinks.
I would be hilarious to give Raj a girlfriend so obnoxiously talkative that she doesn’t even notice. Then let her out passive-aggress his Mom in a conversation, such that the parallel of the two relationships becomes clear.
Although then you pretty much have no choice but to plan a wedding . . .
Like Bill Murray in Coffee and Cigarettes.
Except when I’m shortening for brevity’s sake, I always tend to refer to celebrities by their full name. I think part of the fantasy is the celebrity status, which you lose if you don’t use the full name. You may not imagine yourself saying their name, but you are definitely thinking it.
Plus, she’s not easy to see in the dark there.
See, from my point of view, only virginal basement-dwellers know who she is. Between the two of us, the only kinds of people in the world are virginal basement-dwellers and no-neck mouth-breathers.
Every new season you have to have a refresher for running jokes, and Katee Sackhoff as Wolowitz’s fantasy is now a running joke (it’s her second appearance as such). So they had to a) say her full name, and b) refer to BSG, and then (sadly, because he’s a pop culture icon and everybody should instantly recognise him) do the same for George Takei and Star Trek. There really are audience members who need that information to get the subsequent jokes.
Maybe it could’ve been done in a more subtle fashion, but they had to reveal it early, before the reference jokes began, and rapidly, because sitcoms are fast-paced quick-edit 22 minute plays, not leisurely 90 minute movies.
A couple of weeks ago they had Steve Wozniak, and if they hadn’t explained who he was I would’ve been clueless, even though his name did ring a bell.
Eh. Different strokes, and all that. I HATE having jokes explained in my entertainment. If I don’t get something, then it is up to me to either look it up or go unenlightened. That makes getting the joke much later a little treasure to be savored.
And if enough people don’t get them, they turn off the show and it’s cancelled.
A TV show isn’t about entertainment, it’s about its ability to sell ad time. You want to appeal to the broadest segment possible.
As I said, if it’s obvious you’re explaining a joke, it most likely isn’t funny. If you have to explain who someone is and it’s obvious it’s weak writing. The solution is get a better writer or at least get an editor to fix it.
Here’s an example from the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (radio)
OK you see how that’s done. Now most of you have probably not heard of Marie MacDonald, but from that conversation you clearly understand she’s a beautiful woman who is built very well.
And the dialog flows naturally and at the end a joke is made out of it. Everyone knows Gracie is stupid and yet she still thinks she’s “a brain.”
It works on many levels.
This is the type of writing that is needed in cases where celebrities only known to small niche audience need to be identified.