# Guys: Amy Farrah Fowler - sexy or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788 "2015-01-02T18:31:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/81 "2015-01-06T01:58:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Busy Phillips is **hot**. Mayim Bialik is **not.** Really? Busy is fairly unattractive to me. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/82 "2015-01-06T02:28:00Z")
bump writes: \> Someone like Penny or Bernadette would be so far out of the pale that she may as \> well be an alien from Procyon. I mean, they’d probably try to talk to her like in the \> 1st season, but I doubt it would actually go anywhere, and what would happen is \> that Penny would be that unapproachable, intimidatingly hot girl who lives across \> the hall who mooches off them, but doesn’t actually socially interact with them. I disagree. It’s not necessarily true that an intimidatingly hot girl is a bitch. It’s clear to me that the progress of the Penny/Leonard relationship was planned from the start of the show. (In fact, the closest analogy is the Rachel/Ross relationship in _Friends_, which was obviously planned from the beginning.) The idea was that Leonard would gradually become her platonic friend, willing to console her whenever she was dumped by her latest boyfriend (and there were a lot of them). It’s only after a couple of years that she suddenly realizes that she’s been wasting her time with obnoxious men when she knows a guy who has always been decent to her. Bernadette is somewhat of a bitch, but that bitchiness turns off a lot of guys to her. Howard is the most outgoing of the group and the one who has done best with women before meeting Bernadette. Let me be clear. Both Penny and Leonard are wish-fulfillment fantasies for Leonard and Howard, but they’re not utterly improbable wish fulfillments. They’re just unlikely enough to make for a good story. It’s also clear to me that the character of Sheldon wasn’t supposed to be so major. He was supposed to be the weird one who the others could compare themselves favorably to. They could say to themselves, “Well, I’m kind of a dork, but at least I’m not as weird as Sheldon.” Jim Parsons turned out to be so good at the role though that he soon became the best-known character on the show. This meant that they had to find some way to further develop his character, and they decided to give him a girlfriend too. The character of Amy was the solution to this. She’s just weird enough to resemble Sheldon in some ways, but she’s more ordinarily human than him, so she’s the most plausible sort that might be attracted to him for some bizarre reason. Bialik also does the best acting job on the show, and it’s necessary to have a good actress to put across such a strange mixture of a person. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/83 "2015-01-06T04:15:48Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > bump writes: > > \> Someone like Penny or Bernadette would be so far out of the pale that she may as > \> well be an alien from Procyon. I mean, they’d probably try to talk to her like in the > \> 1st season, but I doubt it would actually go anywhere, and what would happen is > \> that Penny would be that unapproachable, intimidatingly hot girl who lives across > \> the hall who mooches off them, but doesn’t actually socially interact with them. > > I disagree. It’s not necessarily true that an intimidatingly hot girl is a bitch. It’s clear to me that the progress of the Penny/Leonard relationship was planned from the start of the show. (In fact, the closest analogy is the Rachel/Ross relationship in _Friends_, which was obviously planned from the beginning.) The idea was that Leonard would gradually become her platonic friend, willing to console her whenever she was dumped by her latest boyfriend (and there were a lot of them). It’s only after a couple of years that she suddenly realizes that she’s been wasting her time with obnoxious men when she knows a guy who has always been decent to her. While we’ve been discussing how Mayim Bialik is made much frumpier for the show than she is in real life, it’s worth pointing out that all the male characters are, too. I’d hardly recognize Simon Helberg. And Kunal Nayyar is married to a former Miss India who finished in the top 20 at the Miss Universe pageant, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that Penny is out of his league. For that matter, Melissa Rauch gets the geeky wardrobe treatment, too; but on her it works. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/84 "2015-01-06T05:03:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Busy Phillips is **hot**. Mayim Bialik is **not.** Busy Phillips is one of the most unattractive women I have ever seen on television. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/85 "2015-01-06T05:05:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > For that matter, Melissa Rauch gets the geeky wardrobe treatment, too; but on her it works. Keep in mind, Rauch is getting the geeky _cute_ wardrobe treatment and Bialik gets the geeky frump wardrobe treatment. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/86 "2015-01-06T05:13:17Z")
Amy is a female Sheldon. Bernadette is both hot enough to be a conceivable pairing with horn dog Howard and similar to his mother. they serve different character functions to the original main cast. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/87 "2015-01-06T05:26:03Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Busy Phillips is one of the most unattractive women I have ever seen on television. probably because she looks unnervingly like a young coultergeist ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/88 "2015-01-06T05:27:32Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > Amy is a female Sheldon. When first introduced on their first date the writers stressed their similarities to show why they would eventually become a couple, but Amy is not the asexuality poster child Sheldon is, that trait defines him. AFF is straight up horny. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/89 "2015-01-06T05:37:13Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > probably because she looks unnervingly like a young coultergeist Ann Coulter is thin with good facial features. Busy Phillips looks like a bulldog about to slobber all over itself. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/90 "2015-01-06T05:39:07Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > While we’ve been discussing how Mayim Bialik is made much frumpier for the show than she is in real life, it’s worth pointing out that all the male characters are, too. I’d hardly recognize Simon Helberg. And Kunal Nayyar is married to a former Miss India who finished in the top 20 at the Miss Universe pageant, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that Penny is out of his league. Helberg’s wife is also a model and actress and the two got together before the show ever premiered, so you can’t say it has anything to do with his fame. For that matter, Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco dated in real life for at least a year. ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/91 "2015-01-06T07:15:15Z")
Is Busy Phillips the one with all the [del]warts[/del] moles? \<_Checks IMDB_\> Yeah, okay. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/92 "2015-01-06T08:40:33Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > When first introduced on their first date the writers stressed their similarities to show why they would eventually become a couple, but Amy is not the asexuality poster child Sheldon is, that trait defines him. AFF is straight up horny. Seems to me that Sheldon’s actual defining trait is his huge jackassery. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/93 "2015-01-06T12:45:54Z")
I had never heard of Busy Philipps before this thread. I just watched an interview with her and a collection of scenes from _Cougar Town_ on YouTube. She strikes me as reasonably pretty. I suppose that her character on _Cougar Town_ is supposed to be a huge bitch. How does this make her ugly? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/94 "2015-01-06T13:01:26Z")
Sheldon is not just an ordinary jackass. There are people who are jackasses who know how annoying their behavior is and don’t care. Sheldon is supposed to be someone whose mental characteristics are such that he can’t understand why he annoys people. Sheldon’s mental problems don’t really correspond exactly to any standard mental category. They were partly made up by the creators of the show before it began and partly created during the production of the show by Parson’s molding of the character with his acting. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/95 "2015-01-06T13:35:46Z")
I think Amy is indeed hot. She’s always well dressed and neatly groomed, has a pretty face and while her figure is not as ridiculously perfect as Penny’s, she is certainly endowed with all the normal curves. In addition, she clearly has a lot of desire, which would count for plenty in my book. I only wish the writers hadn’t abandoned Amy’s latent lesbian pining for Penny, that was hot. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/96 "2015-01-06T13:37:54Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I disagree. It’s not necessarily true that an intimidatingly hot girl is a bitch. It’s clear to me that the progress of the Penny/Leonard relationship was planned from the start of the show. (In fact, the closest analogy is the Rachel/Ross relationship in _Friends_, which was obviously planned from the beginning.) The idea was that Leonard would gradually become her platonic friend, willing to console her whenever she was dumped by her latest boyfriend (and there were a lot of them). It’s only after a couple of years that she suddenly realizes that she’s been wasting her time with obnoxious men when she knows a guy who has always been decent to her. For what it’s worth, the producers of _Friends_ have frequently said that Ross & Rachel wasn’t planned at the beginning–that it grew out of audience response to what been intended as a few throw-away lines between the two characters in the first episode. Whether you believe that or not is up to you. > [@](#): > > Bernadette is somewhat of a bitch, but that bitchiness turns off a lot of guys to her. Like Amy, Bernadette has also changed significantly since her first appearance. When first introduced, she was rather socially awkward as well–she tended to be over-literal, and didn’t get people’s jokes. That lasted only a few episodes, then she became the innocent little sweetheart with the high-pitched voice. It’s only lately that she’s become “a bitch,” if we must use that word. For a long time, she was very sweet and gentle, but this fierce little wildcat would suddenly pop out if you pushed her too far. It was funny when it was only done occasionally, precisely because it was such a contrast to her normal sweetness. Alas, like so many sitcom bits, the writers have overdone it, so now it seems to be Bernadette’s go-to characteristic. As to the actual topic of the thread, I do find Amy rather attractive, and Mayim Bialik herself even more so. But I may be an outlier, since I’ve had a crush on her since the _Blossom_ days. Actually, even before that–since she appeared as the young version of Bette Midler’s character in _Beaches_. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/97 "2015-01-06T13:58:41Z")
Do you have a citation for that, MrAtoz? The websites I’ve checked say that Ross mentions in the first season that he has had a crush on Rachel since ninth grade. It sure looks like the relationship was planned from the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/98 "2015-01-06T15:13:01Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Do you have a citation for that, MrAtoz? The websites I’ve checked say that Ross mentions in the first season that he has had a crush on Rachel since ninth grade. It sure looks like the relationship was planned from the beginning. Unfortunately, none that I can find just now. It falls into the area of “something I always heard.” Looking around now, I see a lot of interviews where they say it wasn’t their original idea, but that it “emerged during the writing of the pilot.” So perhaps I misundersood or was mis-remembering. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/99 "2015-01-06T15:34:00Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And Kunal Nayyar is married to a former Miss India who finished in the top 20 at the Miss Universe pageant, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that Penny is out of his league. We’re talking about the characters, not the actors. Kunal Nayyar isn’t Raj in real life anymore than Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Terminator. But I do understand that Penny and Bernadette are unlikely wish-fulfillments. My point was guys like that in real life would have actually been interested in later-season AFF, because 99% of the time, the Pennys ignore them entirely, or take advantage of them, and the Bernadettes are friends with them, but end up dating guys who aren’t so nerdy. The AFFs of the world are pretty much the target population for the 4 main characters to actually date in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/100 "2015-01-06T16:47:53Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Really, all Amy has to do is [lose the glasses and change her hairstyle.](http://41.media.tumblr.com/20e2d387acf7b29458fe14559d8cbd54/tumblr_n1tq16fFbb1rd2ot9o3_400.jpg) > > [Or not, sometimes.](http://api.ning.com/files/2wVKpDSlminTSCmATvexU4TZeMxGwzHLROYtYOuaOHIKpqqHVE0LyMsQDUBAlJ2wRuRx0kzxVcI2NWA4PWOnX42K-AUXoAUw/TBBTPlayingDoctor02b.bmp?width=737&height=462) She looks very nice in both those pics! I find her attractive, though she is not conventionally “hot” like Penny or Bernadette. She is smart, quirky, and interesting – good qualities! I don’t care for the desperate neediness, though… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788.md?page=6)