I've got this friend who absolutely hates The Big Bang Theory. And that's fine; everyone is entitled to his opinion. The problem with my friend's opinion is that it isn't clear to me that he's ever seen a single episode of the show. "We get it," he'll scoff derisively. "They're nerds - that's so funny!" He seems to hate the idea of The Big Bang Theory rather than the show itself. The issue here is that you can take any comedy on television and point out that its raw central gimmick alone isn't actually a source of comedy. "Oh, hey, The Office. It's funny, because working in an office gets tedious." "Ah, now I see why people love Arrested Development - it's about a family full of idiots that hate each other. So funny!" The thing is, The Big Bang Theory didn't become the number one comedy on television and hasn't gone a hundred episodes deep just by being a show where the jokes are based on the idea that the main characters are nerds. This isn't to say that it's a fantastically clever or well-written show, or even one of my ten favorite comedies on TV, but it's absolutely more than my friend and many others like him seem to believe it is. This particular season actually made great progress in expanding the breadth and depth of the show. A previously minor recurring female character was upgraded to a series regular and a third girl was introduced to help bring balance to the cast's gender ratio. On a related note, several story arcs dealt with romantic tension and relationship issues. In particular, the addition of Mayim Bialik as Amy made for a fantastic and much-needed foil and counterpart to the increasingly over-the-top Sheldon character. I'll never claim that The Big Bang Theory is brilliant or underrated, but it's a guilty pleasure and a source of easy laughter, and Season 4 was its strongest season so far. I'm sure The Big Bang Theory will wear out its welcome eventually, as nearly every show that doesn't get prematurely canceled does, but for now I'm firmly on board.
Altough I have seen a couple episodes (while flying) I am still going to poo-poo this show. Yes, it can qualify as a guilty pleasure, but still... it just sucks.
ReplyDeleteAlright, here's my problem with it - it's another abortion by Chuck Lorre. Now, Lorre has made a fortune with his shows (Two and a Half Men, Darhma & Greg) but I truly think these shows wont stand the test of time like Seinfeld. That might be an unfair standard to measure all sit-coms up to, but you've gotta start form somewhere. From what I have seen from this and all of his shows, it made me want to shove a dull spoon through my eyes. Have fun with this, but I can understand where your friend is coming from. Something about Lorre's work just screams least-common-demnminator moronic. It's not that I'm above stupid shit sit-coms meant for the masses (I like How I Met Your Mother), but Chuck Lorre just rubs me the wrong way.
I can't speak well of Chuck Lorre in general. Dharma and Greg was horrible, and I've never had any interest in Two and a Half Men. (Note that I'll abstain from judging it though!) And yes, this is absolutely LCD-style comedy. But it's half-decent LCD-style comedy, if such a thing exists; pop culture references abound, there are a number of recurring gags, and while most of the plot developments and one-liners are fairly standard sitcom fare, it's rare to see them coming from a mile away. I don't mean to come across as a BBT salesman here, but I do think the show takes a lot of heat simply for being a big hit with a simple premise and an admitted lack of depth or substance. If Arrested is like the Capital Grille, then BBT is like Chili's - yeah, Chili's sucks in comparison, but sometimes when you're hungry you can enjoy some so-so wings or nachos all the same. (To extend the analogy, MTV and VH1 reality shows are McDonald's and Burger King.)
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