Based on what I saw, I feel smarter for NOT watching it.
Criminy. Why do people feel compelled to respond to a thread about hating the show if you like it?
Note I didn’t jump into an episode thread to vent my spleen… so why are fans jumping into a “this show is shite” thread with helpful remarks about the availability of remote controls and the like?
I get that people like the show. I don’t. Join me in dissing it, or begone!
This is a funny board, I tell ya. 
And usually to tell you that you shouldn’t seek out things you aren’t going to like.
Note that I said about half the time and that they overdo the characterization a lot. So I’m far from 100% happy with this part myself. (In particular, the episode from 11/17/2011 was not so good in this respect.)
OTOH, like I said, I have been around these types a lot over the years. And indeed there are some really … blunt … computer nerds out there who have no problem telling people to their faces why they are not just wrong, but idiots and other Sheldon-esque behaviors.
Thinking about my previous posts. I didn’t really mean to imply that if you tend towards the geek scale you must like this show. It’s a borderline show in this department and like I said, I only like it a bit.
(I am also ignoring the vast majority of viewers who are non-geeks. I assume they like it for the same reason they watched Everybody Loves Raymond. It’s a safe, predictable program for them.)
One thing for the OP to keep in mind. TBBT is just one show. I have problems with entire categories of programs, e.g., “reality” and Idol-type shows. They’re everywhere, people talk about them all the time. Why on Earth do they watch this garbage?
Point taken… Carry on with the dissing, and have fun!
You’re doing it again. You’re saying that if you’re not perfectly calm, then you must be screaming your hatred like a fanatic. This is exactly one of the reasons why I don’t think you’re being perfectly calm in your assessment.
And FTR, as I already explained, the problem is not that I think you’re incorrect. Rather, the problem is that your evaluation is extreme and cartoonish. You’ve decided that anyone who enjoys the show must surely be motivated by some desire to puff themselves up and pride themselves on their intellectual superiority. In other words, you’re making them out to be cartoonish caricatures.
And that’s the other reason why I don’t think you’re being perfectly calm about this. Are you screaming your head off? No. Are you “spitting Bill Cowher style”? Not at all. But neither is your response one of absolutely calmness and dispassionate objectivity.
Now THAT’S funny.
Enjoy,
Steven
Did you… like… read my last post to you? You just repeated the same thing you said before, almost exactly, things I addressed.
The fact that you’re mischaracterizing what I’ve said - saying that I think that every single person who watches the show does so for the same precise reason and thinks the exact same way - clearly shows that you are in a ball of rage right now, because no calm person could make such an assessment.
This is a microcosm of why I just don’t like the show. For me, the few episodes I’ve watched seem to be more ‘laugh at the nerds’ than ‘laugh with the nerds’. Stereotypes are enlarged for comedic purposes, I’m sure, but they do that in a lot of other shows I don’t like as well. Nerds are just the stereotype du jour.
wow - I’ve never had a show I like get popular enough to be hated by so many before.
Has he?
SenorBeef’s being about as clear as possible that he feels some people watch the show for that reason, not that “anyone who enjoys the show” does.
I think BBT is the funniest 3 camera sitcom on TV today.
You got me there. I skipped over your last two paragraphs because I felt that the content of your first paragraph demonstrated my point. Yes, I should have made sure to evaluate the rest of your posting as well, and I was wrong not to do that.
I was responding to all of your PREVIOUS content, in which no such nuances were expressed.
And no, I am NOT any such ball of rage. The fact that I can express my error and my wrongness at failing to read the entirety of your post demonstrates this.
Again, I’d like to remind you of the content to which I WAS responding. It included statements such as,
“Essentially it’s extra obnoxious because, since people watch it because essentially they think they’re smart for understanding the science or nerd name-dropping, they get off on the idea of feeling smart and probably a sense of elitism that they’re in the know, and they get something that other people who aren’t as awesome as them just wouldn’t get.”
Those are pretty strong words, Senorbeef. Almost caustic, I’d say.
I note that you now declare, “I’m only saying that there are clearly people who watch it for that reason, since that strikes me as the main appeal.” The thing is, nothing about your earlier responses suggested that you were merely saying that there are SOME people who watch for that reason. I can only respond to the words that you actually use, not the words that are floating around in your head.
Besides, even if we grant that you merely consider this to be a major motivation, and not their exclusive reason for watching the show, it’s still a pretty harsh indictment. In fact, it’s pretty much a caricature – not the kind of accusation that I’d care to level against a whole bunch of strangers who doubtlessly have more complex motivations for watching the show. When you consider that, by your own admission, you’ve only watched the show “in 2 minute segments when flipping through the channels or having it on in the background” – well, I hope you can see why some of us think that your responses haven’t exactly been the epitome of calmness.
Like I said, I was wrong to respond without reading the remainder of your previous posting. Up until then though, nothing in your words suggested any sort of charitable view toward people who enjoy the show. And heck, even if we grant that you don’t think intellectual smugness is the ONLY reason for people to watch the show, you still confidently declare that this is a major motivation of theirs – and those don’t strike me as the words of someone who is being utterly calm.
At the very least, SenorBeef certainly appears to have very strong feelings in regards to his beliefs about the show.
You think that’s caustic?
New to the Internet, are you?
Man, you were in such a blinding rage that you literally couldn’t past the first 2 sentence in my 6 sentence post. That’s how far you were from dispassionate and calm - you had to rush to reiterate the exact same points you made in the previous post instead of, you know, reading my other four sentences to see that I addressed that.
Calm down, bro. Take some anger management classes.
Personally, I wouldn’t have any trouble shrugging off criticisms of the show based on its actual attributes, but when you see misguided criticisms of the show’s audience and their supposed motivation for watching it, it’s harder to bite your tongue.
Comedy is subjective. There are lots of sitcoms that have enjoyed enormous popularity but which leave me totally cold and do not (in my opinion) compare favourably with The Big Bang Theory: *Frasier, Seinfeld, Friends, Roseanne, Scrubs, Home Improvement (HOME IMPROVEMENT FFS!)[/I ] - all have been recommended as hilarious, and struck me as utter dreck. I’m sure they have some merit, but they just don’t work for me.
But the idea that people watch BBT to feel “smart” is beyond ludicrous. It’s like saying people watch Seinfeld to feel “Jewish.” It’s just an incidental quality of some of the characters, and there’s no expectation that the audience has to share it in order to get the jokes.
The show doesn’t offer a diagnosis for Sheldon’s quirks. The speculation that he has Aspergers comes from outside the show. All Sheldon has said on the matter is “I’m not crazy. My mother had me tested”. I don’t think it’s fair to criticize the show for inaccurately portraying Aspergers when they’ve never claimed the character has Aspergers.
He’s calm! If he were any calmer he’d be in a Xanax induced coma! Jeeze. Enough with the accusations of rage or near rage or ‘slightly elevated temperture’, all the while smiling tightly and unaturally as you are the only shrill voice in the thread, demanding that Senor, “CALM DOWN, SIR! SIR! SIR! We are going to have to ask you to calm down!”
He doesn’t like the show and no matter how many fans come in to calmly assert their lukewarm appreciation of the show while ever so casually but barely restrained, hinting that those who don’t like it don’t get it, there will still be folks that hate the stupid show for jerks.
ETA: post was for Jthunder. Posting from my phone and in too much of a raging ball to do it right