And heeeeere’s Uranus!
Ditto. Between this and Outsourced I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of South Asian skin on display.
I think you’re onto something. I think successful comic acting is the hardest form there is, and not everyone can do it. I think Aarti Mann is the weakest comic actor on the show (but in all fairness, there are some giants on this show - even the recurring characters are strong comic actors).
Admittedly stupid question, but: who’s AFF?
Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldon’s friend who is a girl (not his girlfriend), and Penny’s “bestie”.
Oh, you mean “Blossom”. 
I can’t remember one time where she was made to look ridiculous, and that’s the only reason people watch sitcoms.
Agreed that not only the addition of AFF makes the show even better, but how they’re writing the similarities and the differences between her and Sheldon are making for some really good comedy, because AFF is the only person Sheldon will concede respect… So eventually, she’s going to get Sheldon to open up to the world she’s just now discovering. And now that Penny’s friends are mutual friends of the guys, it’s a great balance.
As far as the AFF=Data / Sheldon=Spock… She did deliver, with a very robotic like matter-of-factness that her imminent puking had nothing to do with her spontaneous kiss. And how did Sheldon respond? “Fascinating.”
I don’t think so. She was fine in the first one or two episodes. She’s only gotten bad since it was obvious that the writers have been trying to derail her character to get Leonard and Penny back together.
I agree with this totally, and there is no reason to get Penny and Leonard together again. Comedy works best with tragedy not winners. You can be a winner in one aspect and losers in another. Look at the Mary Tyler Moor Show, fat Rhoda was hysterical. After Valerie Harper lost all that weight, she was as pretty as Mary but Rhoda wasn’t so funny anymore.
Jokes need to have reason behind it. And they also have to stand the test of aging. This was a huge problem with Friends. The “Friends Gang” doing things in their late 20s is funny. Ten years later they are doing the same stupid things and it now looks pathetic.
As Sheldon and Leonard age it’s becoming more and more apparent, they are much older than then Raj and Howard and it looks uncomfortable to force them all into the same age range.
Leonard and Penny is rapidly become the off again/on again, “Sam & Diane” from Cheers.
Penny doesn’t really seem to have any reason to like Leonard, after all she dumped him, so it seems way forced that she wants him back. It would be much better to make Penny upset 'cause Pria makes her excluded from the gang, rather than have her focus on Leonard.
Bernadette also really adds nothing. Howard is a pervert, of sorts and she makes him normal. Again, nice in reality but screws up the comedy.
And you have such good characters there isn’t enough time. It’s annoying to have some episodes where good characters just sit and don’t say nothing. They shouldn’t be in the episodes. All it does is remind the viewer of what could’ve been said, but isn’t being said, 'cause the writers don’t have more than 22 minutes.
In Sam and Diane ever go a full season without making up? Penny and Leonard are about go a full season apart.
See also; That 70’s Show
But while Jim Parsons is the oldest actor on the show, Sheldon is the youngest character. So I don’t think this is something that needs to be addressed. Although Leonard’s clearly starting to look his real age (late 30s).
Huh? The kids in That 70s Show went from 16 to 21 and did start growing up towards the end.
I’d disagree about Friends. I thought it was a pretty solid sitcom for its time. It’s most annoying feature was Ross and Rachel’s relationship (We were on a break!!). It became tiresome because you knew eventually they’d hook up. In contrast, Chandler and Monica never suffered from that, they were highly enjoyable to watch develop and the writers did address that everyone was growing up and in the end, it’s exactly what they did as they all parted ways.
You’re right, they did eventually grow up. But that didn’t happen until the final season when all of the characters were in their early/mid 30s and all of the actors were pushing 40. I thought it looked extremely ridiculous.
Well, they sort of explained why Penny wants Leonard back when she dated Zack. She can’t handle dating pretty idiots anymore. Really, what that means is she should open up her range of dating material instead of fixating on Leonard, but at least there’s some sort of rationale.
She tried that with Comic book guy, but ended up calling him Leonard in the fit of passion.