BBT's Portrayal of Nerds: Offensive or Accurate?

[narrator]

Just googled Nimoy and TBBT. Some reports say he was asked in season 2 but said no. Then Nimoy himself says he wasn't asked, except to sign that famous napkin, which was later auctioned for charity. But producers are working on having him on for a cameo. The pundits are wondering how they'll get around the restraining order Nimoy has on Sheldon.

Some of my favorite scenes are between Penny and Sheldon.. they seem the perfect foil for each other's lines.

Sheldon: Woman, you're playing with forces beyond your ken
Penny: Yeah, well your Ken can kiss my Barbie.
...
Penny: What up, Shel-bot?

 

[DaveC426913]

Some of my favorite scenes are between Penny and Sheldon.. they seem the perfect foil for each other's lines.

Also, Penny is waaay cute.

It's that eyebrow. Makes her look like a cuddly, loveable Golden Retriever - don't it just?

 

[jtbell]

One of my favorites is "The Friendship Algorithm."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xgjUhEG3U

 

[narrator]

One of my favorites is "The Friendship Algorithm."

That, and the way Howard solves his never ending loop.

And yes, Dave, that cute eyebrow, and that grin. Penny is one of those celestial bodies that sparkles brightly.

 

[nerrry]

I just recently started watching it and I'm hooked.

Best comedy show there currently is!

 

[nerrry]

The Big Bang Theory - Sheldon Funniest Jokes - Part 1

http://youtu.be/fX0FXhWicEI

 

[NateSprague62]

Haven't watched it, and wasn't planning on it either. But from the sounds of it, it sounds pretty funny.
__________________________________________________________________________

"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

 

[DaveC426913]

And Kaley Cuoco is a cutie.

 

[DaveC426913]

Finally - confirmed!

I can now sit back and watch the show without distraction.

 

[narrator]

Finally - confirmed!

I can now sit back and watch the show without distraction.

lol.. I've been on a couple of sets and taken the steps. One was a cop show, many years ago. At the dead end at the top, the wooden frame was littered with many pieces of chewing gum.

For some reason, this reminded me of once scene in an early season when Sheldon enters Penny's apartment and, seeing her mess, asks if she has been robbed. When she answers "no" he asks, "How can you tell?"

 

[PookDo]

Possibly my favorite tv show. Sheldon is the best. I find myself slowly becoming more and more like him daily. Not afraid of everything but very critical . Anytime he pulls a good Bazinga it's awesome

 

[glb_lub]

The April 5 episode featured Stephen Hawking.
Did anyone watch it ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQASFYUJnDk

 

[DaveC426913]

The April 5 episode featured Stephen Hawking.
Did anyone watch it ?

I did, but my !&$#!#* Rogers PVR stopped recording 10 seconds before curtain.

 

[genericusrnme]

The April 5 episode featured Stephen Hawking.
Did anyone watch it ?

I'm speechless
(not in a good way)

 

[netgypsy]

Thoroughly enjoy this show but it is pretty much the opposite of my long ago fellow physics majors, professors and researchers. For one thing every one of my fellow physics majors, all but one, male, was super smart but very very popular with the ladies (and the single female had an attractive and intelligent boyfriend). All had one or more quite attractive girlfriends and the professors were all married to attractive and intelligent women. So while the concept that the super intelligent academically gifted are socially inept provides great comedy, it's just not generally accurate. The physics majors and researchers back then had a very low opinion of the engineering majors however, and felt that they were socially inept and that the only reason they majored in engineering was because they couldn't make it as a physics major. Humility was obviously not a common trait in that group of physics majors and physicists.

I really loved the laundry feud between Penny and Sheldon. "WELL PLAYED" (And her reminder that she was in junior rodeo and had skills he couldn't possibly defend against. hahaha)

 

[DaveC426913]

So while the concept that the super intelligent academically gifted are socially inept provides great comedy, it's just not [strike]generally accurate[/strike] what I have personally experienced.

Corrected.

 

[glb_lub]

So while the concept that the super intelligent academically gifted are socially inept provides great comedy, it's just not generally accurate.

I do sometimes enjoy the parts where the social ineptness is showcased. But what I really like about the show is how it captures the 'geekyness' of engineers and scientists with all those references to geek culture - the star trek jokes , Sheldon reserving a night exclusively to play Zork , 3-D chess , firefly vs babylon ,etc.

 

[Office_Shredder]

The episode from yesterday totally blew the physics... Helium makes your voice sound high pitched because the gas is lighter than air, so to make their voices deeper it must be that the gas is heavier than air. So why does the balloon float?

 

[jtbell]

Good catch! I missed that discrepancy. When I saw what Leonard was about to do, I expected the "squeaky voices" outcome, then when the voices came out deeper I figured the gas was really supposed to be something heavy like xenon or krypton. I was so focused on that, that I didn't notice the balloon floating away. A "lead balloon" would have been a nice touch.

Of course, they surely dubbed the altered voices.

 

[redrum419_7]

Good catch! I missed that discrepancy. When I saw what Leonard was about to do, I expected the "squeaky voices" outcome, then when the voices came out deeper I figured the gas was really supposed to be something heavy like xenon or krypton. I was so focused on that, that I didn't notice the balloon floating away. A "lead balloon" would have been a nice touch.

Of course, they surely dubbed the altered voices.

The balloon didn't float away, the release of gas shot it upwards. The gas in keyboard dusters lowers your voice.

 

[Matterwave]

Yea, I think the balloon blew away from the release of the gas rather than floated. Although, with a heavy gas, you have to be careful because it won't leave your lungs naturally since it sinks to the bottom. My professor made a demonstration with a heavy gas once, but he had to basically half-invert himself to get the gas out of his lungs.

 

[arabianights]

The physics majors and researchers back then had a very low opinion of the engineering majors however, and felt that they were socially inept and that the only reason they majored in engineering was because they couldn't make it as a physics major. Humility was obviously not a common trait in that group of physics majors and physicists.

Very pompous self centered as*es, from an enginner's POV

 

[arabianights]

i generally like the show

but I find the chance of four educated guys's common obsession with comics rather unbelievable

 

[Galteeth]

I did, but my !&$#!#* Rogers PVR stopped recording 10 seconds before curtain.

Um, you guys know the CBS website hosts the recent episodes for free right?

http://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/video/

 

[Alfi]

i generally like the show

but I find the chance of four educated guys's common obsession with comics rather unbelievable

Yer not hanging around the right comic book stores ... bazzinga ...hehehe

Three of the four of us house-rommies were into comics.
Does this make your disbelieving a little less? :)

I find the premiss quite believable. ... except for Penny ... lol j/k


( we didn't have a penny...
... we were poor College students. )

 

[DaveC426913]

I find the premiss quite believable. ... except for Penny ... lol j/k


( we didn't have a penny...
... we were poor College students. )

Which is why they made a TV show about them and not you. They don't tell stories about regular situations such as four guys in a dorm with no girl.

It's why the story of Star Trek is about the larger-than-life events of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the best ship in the fleet and its heroic crew, and not about her under-performing sister ship the U.S.S. Incontinent that, due to a mishap with a hooker and a galley replicator, lost thruster control and dove into a star.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

What Sheldon would say...

Did I hear about the Higgs boson? Yes, fifteen years before I was born. This is all very cute but isn't it rather meaningless given the grander proposition of M-Theory, which is obviously correct?

 

[nei14]

I've seen a couple of episodes and they surely are funny! I love the concept (science + jokes) and how the characters crack jokes with their faces dead serious, although, for the not-so-geeky peeps out there, they wouldn't get the jokes straight if it's about quantum and stuff.

And I like this line of Sheldon: "One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid, and that makes me sad."

 

[glb_lub]

I don't know if this has been brought up already in this thread.
But how many of you feel the latest season is not as great as the first 3 were.

This usually happens with most sitcoms, the punches are exhausted in the first 2-3 years. Later seasons run mostly on earlier popularity.

Its not as if the season 5 is not funny but it doesn't match to classic episodes such as 'Friendship Algorithm' 'Electric Can Fluctuation' etc.

I recently saw a clip on youtube in which Sheldon doesn't worry about his 'spot'.
Perhaps they want to evolve the characters. I personally wish that a show never reach a 'conclusion' in the form of a happy ending and that the gags never stop coming.

 

[johnqwertyful]

I never really got this show. The whole appeal seems to be "LOOK HOW NERDY THESE GUYS ARE! LOLOLOLOL". It's just not funny to me. Especially with the overused laugh track. It makes it even less funny.

There's no jokes, no plot, nothing interesting in it whatsoever. If I wanted to learn physics, I'd read a physics book. Even then, it seems like they just like to use big words (even if the physics IS correct).