# The Big Bang Theory, Season 12, Episode 10 (December 6, 2018) -- "The VCR Illumination" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673 "2018-12-06T14:57:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/1 "2018-12-06T14:57:15Z")
I am starting this thread in anticipation of tonight’s episode. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/2 "2018-12-06T17:28:09Z")
This is the second time they’ve done a crossover with **Young Sheldon**. As one who does not watch that show, I’m a little irked. I have seen bits and pieces of it and it looks like a cute show, but I’ve never got invested in watching it regularly. I feel like everyone will be in on the joke but me. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/3 "2018-12-06T17:39:59Z")
When was the first time? Unless you count appearances by his brother and then Tam, and those frankly did not need _Young Sheldon_ to be a thing. BTW, can we have a _Little Leonard_ spinoff? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/4 "2018-12-06T18:06:04Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > When was the first time? Unless you count appearances by his brother and then Tam, and those frankly did not need _Young Sheldon_ to be a thing. > > BTW, can we have a _Little Leonard_ spinoff? 😃 “Little Leonard” as a TV show? Now that might be interesting. Who could convincingly play a young Beverly Hofstadter, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/5 "2018-12-06T18:38:54Z")
Well, I learn from Wikipedia that Christine Baranski has two thirty-something age daughters, one of whom is an actress. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/6 "2018-12-07T01:06:32Z")
It would have to be “Littler Leonard,” since he’s already little. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/7 "2018-12-07T12:12:59Z")
Super asymetry is not dead! Huzzah! And Christine Baranski was back. She’s always a delight. Howard looked like Liberace during his performance before Raj, and I do not buy that he would have smashed the watch. He’s been established as a pretty good magician, trick-wise, and I don’t think he would have made that kind of mistake. One question…who was filming Sheldon’s dad in the locker room? ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/8 "2018-12-07T13:45:15Z")
I thought that Howard’s subplot fell a bit flat, but otherwise it was a pretty good episode. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/9 "2018-12-07T17:19:18Z")
So Sheldon’s dad is Bill Ponderosa? Did he put bath salts in the milk too? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/10 "2018-12-07T17:36:19Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > I thought that Howard’s subplot fell a bit flat, but otherwise it was a pretty good episode. I’m afraid everything fell a lot flat. I didn’t crack a smile during the entire episode. I do agree that the Howard sub-plot was marginally worse than the main story. They story arc is one thing, maybe they’re building up to something grand for the end of the last season. But that doesn’t work if they have to sacrifice actual humor to get there, because then no-one will be watching the grand finale. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/11 "2018-12-07T18:01:08Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > One question…who was filming Sheldon’s dad in the locker room? Obviously it was the same person who shot the video during the game for the team to review at the next week’s practices. There’s no reason he wouldn’t follow the team into the locker room at half time. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/12 "2018-12-07T19:06:01Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Obviously it was the same person who shot the video during the game for the team to review at the next week’s practices. There’s no reason he wouldn’t follow the team into the locker room at half time. This. A lot of high schools actually have students who do this (film games for later review by the team), especially in places where high school football is GAWD like Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-10-december-6-2018-the-vcr-illumination/825673/13 "2018-12-08T02:48:31Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Super asymetry is not dead! Huzzah! And Christine Baranski was back. She’s always a delight. > > Howard looked like Liberace during his performance before Raj, and I do not buy that he would have smashed the watch. He’s been established as a pretty good magician, trick-wise, and I don’t think he would have made that kind of mistake. > > One question…who was filming Sheldon’s dad in the locker room? It occurred to me that Howard’s watch-smash trick would be a clever real life illusion, if the magician could palm the watch and put gears and shards in the cloth. Then magically “repair” the watch by essentially doing the trick backward. IANA magician, but that doesn’t seem like an especially difficult bit of legerdemain. IIRC, Harry Anderson had a “magic tricks gone wrong” routine.