In one episode it was revealed that the guys were totally ignorant of classic Warner Brothers cartoons. That stretched my suspension of disbelief. Should it have?
How “totally ignorant” are we talking, here? As in, don’t know who Bugs Bunny is, or don’t remember “that one Road Runner cartoon where the Coyote shrunk himself by running through a tapered pipe”?
IIRC, it was either Sheldon or Leonard who didn’t know who Tweety was. Not exactly an obscure character.
Was that the same episode episode where Leonard and Sheldon had never heard of the Brady Bunch? That was among the stupidest moments of TV writing ever.
how would they have been exposed to physics as young children?
Penny was asking Leonard and Sheldon trivia questions. They kept failing to answer. She eventually brought out ‘Tweety Bird tawt he taw a…’
Leonard and Sheldon confer, and agree on an answer. ‘Romulan!’
Comedic license.
That may be the answer, however it could have been fun to hear them argue the merits of different toons, Warner vs MGM, Avery vs Jones, etc, like they do about their idiotic superheroes.
I can see both Leonard’s and Sheldon’s mothers forbidding them to watch cartoons on TV when they were young (or for that matter, forbidding them to watch TV at all) and then neither of them having much interest in them when they got older.
It’s a stretch, but not an unforgivable one.
Nerds who didn’t watch Warner Brothers cartoons? You might as well say they couldn’t quote complete Monty Python sketches. Maybe not knowing about popular prime time shows of their teen years, like Dallas … or for the in-joke of it, Rosanne … but Tweety Bird? Very little is not forgivable by “it’s just a sitcom” if it is funny enough, but yes this should definitely have strained credulity, and it doesn’t sound like it was funny enough.
Sheldon seems well-versed in whatever the topic is, but I can definitely see both Mrs. Cooper and Dr. Hofstadter keeping Looney Toons off the TV in their respective households.
Sheldon was a child prodigy. Think he got his doctorate at 14 or 15. That doesn’t leave much time for things we associate with a normal childhood.
Leonard wasn’t quite as advanced as Sheldon, but comes from a family of rabid overachievers. He may have been busy practicing his cello when the other kids his age were watching cartoons.
Such as playing computer games, obsessing about Star Trek, and reading comic books?