I think it’s Penny, although I like her. While Sheldon doesn’t know he’s a jerk Penny is well aware of her ability to manipulate people.
Fer cryin’ out loud, it’s obviously Wil Wheaton
I’m sure its sweetened, especially if multiple takes are needed, by its filmed in front of a live audience.
This topic actually touches on something I’ve noticed since I started watching BBT about a month ago (re-runs on TBS).
All the main characters are kind of ambiguously good and bad. Nobody’s a total unrepentant a-hole, at least without a plausible explanation. All are prone to spells of extreme selfishness, and all end up being really, really forgiving to their friends at various times.
That being said, I’d put my “biggest jerk” medal on Penny, with Leonard getting an honorable mention.
They try to play it off as Penny being indecisive about her and Leonard’s relationship, and as a fundamentally good person, but the unsaid thing is that in real life, she’d be dealing with Leonard because all the guys she wants to date wouldn’t put up with her BS and would have kicked her to the curb long ago, and nerdy schlubs like Leonard are the only ones willing to put up with her BS, indecision and manipulation.
Combine that with the fact that she knows that Leonard has a thing for her, and probably always will, and it makes her a huge jerk in my eyes. Leonard gets the honorable mention, because when the tables are turned in later seasons, he jerks her around some as well.
Sheldon, Raj and Howard are all kind of assholes in their own ways, but none of them are intentionally assholes- it’s just sort of who they are.
explain to me why Sheldon is not an intentional jerk again? when you intentionally repeat an action that you know others consider jerkish - you’re a jerk.
Silly bunt.
Examples, please.
Season 5, Episode 9 “The Ornithopia Diffusion,” for one. He is also incredibly asshole-ish in Season 4, where he cheats on Priya with Mrs. Latham, and Season 5, where he treats Alice like shit while cheating on Priya yet again. Cheating = asshole in my book.
Sheldon is a pain to deal with, but I think I would give him a pass based on the fact that he clearly has mental issues - probably something on the autism spectrum. Sure, I’d be upset if a special needs kid if he drooled on me, but I wouldn’t be upset at him.
Pre-Bernadette Howard is not so much a jerk as just pathetically desperate. Post-Bernadette he’s pretty likeable.
Leonard generally has a moral code and knows what he wants, but can sometimes be quite rude. If I had to put up with Sheldon all day, I’d be kinda snippy too.
Penny’s joshing of the guys strikes me more as a defense mechanism than true jerkitude. I’d blame the string of failed relationships on her paranoia with Leonard too.
Bernadette and Amy are both non-jerks, although AFF’s need for acceptance comes off a little whiny at times.
That leaves Raj. Who, despite his mutism, is socially aware to know he’s a jerk. He just doesn’t care. He’s a spoiled, entitled rich kid who wants the world to bow to his whim. My favorite example is his first date with the deaf girl. He kept want Howard to tell her all this fancy stuff, and Howard being a good friend, watered down everything to “normal speech”.
Yep, you can try to excuse some of his behavior with the drinking (ignoring in vino, veritas) or the fact he’s a sad sack, but still… he’s a jerk.
She’s stunning? She’s nuts? uterus?
Leonard wasn’t cheating on Priya with Mrs. Latham. “The Benefactor Factor” was the episode before “The Cohabitation Formulation,” in which Leonard and Priya start dating. Before that, he was nothing but her booty call when she was in town.
I sit corrected. Doesn’t excuse his behavior in the other two instances, however.
All of them are broken, as Lucy describes herself. Raj is a spoiled rich-boy with psychological problems and not-so-latent homosexual tendencies, Howard and Leonard have been crippled by their mothers (in different ways of course) and Sheldon is nuts. Only the girls are “normal,” but that’s the premise of the show, so what do you expect? 
I’m primarily going by college experience, but the guys I’ve known who acted like Sheldon were either probably some kind of Asperger’s Syndrome type person, or just not in the same world with the rest of us. They did things and said things that they realized people didn’t like, but they didn’t necessarily know why, and didn’t connect exactly what it was that they did that others didn’t like.
Howard is a major skeevy pervert and even his relationship with Bernardette didn’t really tame him much, in my opinion. He’s still a skeevy pervert with few redeeming qualities. He stalked supermodels on a reality show, tracked down their house using military satellites, and went there disguised as a maintenance man or something. That’s not only totally illegal but also pretty damn creepy. Sure, Raj went with him, but there’s no way Raj would have thought that up or gone to the house on his own. The fact that Howard managed to find one of the few people on the planet that could love him doesn’t change what he is, the guy who (repeatedly) gets caught sniffing girl’s bicycle seats. I could see him stealing Bernardette’s friends underwear if they stayed over, or installing perv cameras in the bathroom.
I don’t see Raj as an asshole, just another socially awkward nerd (although more awkward than most). I am surprised at how many votes Raj is getting here, I can’t see him as an asshole at all.
Sheldon, well, it’s not possible for Sheldon to have anything approaching a “normal” relationship. I don’t think Sheldon is mean-spirited or asshole-y at all, just clueless. He has gotten better interacting with other people since the show started, but he’s still not someone you’d want to bring to a party unless you were trying to get people to leave. Not really an asshole though.
Leonard and Penny are the most normal of the bunch. I don’t think either of them are assholes.
Bernardette has a sweet (if screechy) exterior but some of the epidodes where she talked about her experiments with potentially deadly diseases or whatever, she strikes me as someone who has a secret bitchy and sadistic side. I’d peg her for the #2 asshole right behind (yuk yuk!) Howard.
Howie Mandel, for totally upstaging Howard on his once-in-a-lifetime achievement. Howard had every reason to expect the paparazzi on his return from space.
Sheldon should not get a pass because he appears to be on the autism/Aspergers spectrum. In my opinion he is an insufferable jerk who rarely shows empathy for others.
Even people who are impaired can learn what is and is not acceptable behavior, to a point.
Besides, as far as I was aware, it has never been actually CONFIRMED that Sheldon has autism or Aspergers. The running joke has been that he’s not crazy, his mother had him tested, though in one episode his mother admits she should have followed-up with the doctor they referred her to.
I don’t know if you would count autism/Aspergers as crazy in any event.
He’s not crazy. His mother had him tested.
autism and aspergers are learning disabilities not mental health disorders. Basically, Sheldon can be not crazy and still have aspergers.
As for biggest jerk, that award goes to Raj. He puts on the nice guy routine but when he thinks he has power in a relationship, he treats the other person like crap. The way he treats women is just over the top. He’s just as much a sexist as Howard but we don’t see it as much because of the selective mutism.
I’d like to buy a vowel.