# The big Bang Theory, Season 8, Episode 3 (September 29, 2014) -- "The First Pitch Insufficiency" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859 "2014-09-29T14:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wisp00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@Wisp00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisp00)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/41 "2014-10-01T22:34:18Z")
Count me in as also wishing they had let Howard’s plan actually work. I thought it was awesome when he made his speech and unveiled the Rover. To have it not work was a disappointment, and not a funny one. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/42 "2014-10-02T03:57:48Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > there was an earlier episode where when dating that she got mad at kids and mentioned her duties of taking care of her siblings. so i think she has shown that before. She’s unsheathed her claws several times. There was the time she was Howard’s assistant when he put on a magic show for his cousin’s birthday party. And during the scavenger hunt where she was teamed up with Leonard. She gets away with it because she’s so damn cute. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/43 "2014-10-02T03:59:26Z")
One chuckle at least. Howard to Bernadette with the tape measure: “This is one time I don’t want you to lie to me about how long something is.” ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/44 "2014-10-02T20:32:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That’s what I thought he was going to do, which bugged me because it’s not like pitching machines are anything new. Also, I don’t know why they had to run the rover so slow and have everyone boo him, he could have tweaked it to it ran faster and would have been a better storyline for him and sort of demonstrated the point he was trying to make to the kids (if you’re not good at something (or can’t do it at all), science can help you). But something has to go wrong or it turns into an ABC After School Special. I would have had him build some kind of pitching machine (air cannon?) into the rover, have it go horribly wrong and launch the ball at 200 mph or something. > [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Is it just me or have they stopped making geek-references in the episodes this season? I don’t recall any SF/Superhero/D&D jokes so far. Not that they necessarily need them, but it is one of the things that set the series apart from other sitcoms. This show has almost completed its transformation into _Friends_. > [@kunilou](#): > > I guess I’m the only person in the world who thought Howard forgetting to program the Rover to run faster than a crawl was an appropriate punchline. > > This is the same Howard, after all, who drove a Rover into a Martian ditch. Or go the other direction and have the Rover so souped up (Howard overcompensating for something) that it goes flying around the ballpark in random directions, causing general mahem. But as a metaphor for Howard’s general physical inadequacies (can’t throw, can’t run, worried about the size of his member) a pathetic plodding towards homeplate worked OK I guess. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/45 "2014-10-02T22:08:23Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > This show has almost completed its transformation into _Friends_. When has the show ever not been Friends? One other obvious joke they missed was showing some other first pitch mishaps. 50 Cent makes Howard look even punier and his first pitch earlier this year was just [atrocious](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FHj53QBHY). ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/46 "2014-10-03T01:43:53Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > When has the show ever not been Friends? > > One other obvious joke they missed was showing some other first pitch mishaps. 50 Cent makes Howard look even punier and his first pitch earlier this year was just [atrocious](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FHj53QBHY). Early seasons it was more like Seinfeld, I think, replacing the surrealism of the latter withe science and geekdom of the former. You had a group of dudes and one Queen Bee. Now that they’ve balanced the cast and seem to be dropping–or at least moving to the back-burner the science/geek stuff and replacing it with traditional relationship plots I agree with the earlier poster that it’s becomeFriends. I’m still watching but find myself enjoyingthe older syndicated shows I can see every night. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/47 "2014-10-05T21:22:23Z")
It’s sad when the only thing I’d care to mention about an episode is an actress’s hairstyle. When I was young, I would occasionally be in the presence of girls who were “off”. They clearly had issues. They all wore their hair like Penny did in this episode. Short, slicked down, a small pin. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/48 "2014-10-06T18:55:33Z")
Well, if nothing else, the Vanity Cards have given us [Penny’s real last name](http://chucklorre.com/index.php?p=457). ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/49 "2014-10-06T19:04:47Z")
If true, quite a letdown. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/50 "2014-10-06T19:10:28Z")
Its a continuity break from Sheldon and (especially) Amy to claim their relationship is better than Leonard and Penny’s relationship. Just two episodes ago, Amy’s was (IMO rightly) hurt that Sheldon called Leonard (and not Amy) to rescue him in a Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/51 "2014-10-06T20:46:07Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Could have been better if he’d unveiled some slickly engineered gadget to simulate a pitch, and it actually worked… I agree. Let the poor bastard win sometimes. > [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I think that Amy should elaborately plan to get Sheldon drunk and then \*\*\*\*\* ensues and there is a serious discussion of date rape, while Amy gets sent to women’s prison and **lives very happily ever after**. I actually LOL’d. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859/52 "2014-10-06T21:40:45Z")
Penelope? Of course Penelope. What else could it be? But now I’ll be picturing her climbing into her roadster and out driving Dick Dastardly. P.S., I also go through that pee, don’t _really_ gotta pee late at night in bed. The answer is always “stop wasting time. Get up and go to the bathroom, lazy!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-3-september-29-2014-the-first-pitch-insufficiency/699859.md?page=2)