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I find this show actively uncomfortable to watch. It doesn't normalize anything, it just mocks it using caricatures and awful stereotypes within the framework

I find this show actively uncomfortable to watch. It doesn't normalize anything, it just mocks it using caricatures and awful stereotypes within the framework of an extremely traditional and lazily written sitcom.

Jtsummers 7y ago
It's a series filled with Steve Urkel-level parodies of nerds. I chuckled at Urkel as a teenaged nerd in the 90s. Especially when they (sometimes) humanized him more it was ok, instead of just having him the butt of every joke. But a series where the main characters are all the butts of the joke and supposed to represent me (according to other people) isn't really that funny.
- slantyyz 7y ago
  >> But a series where the main characters are all the butts of the joke While I get that there's a pecking order even among nerds, I'm frequently put off by how badly the main characters treat Stuart, the comic shop owner.
- mcphage 7y ago
  > It's a series filled with Steve Urkel-level parodies of nerds. Not really. Steve Urkel was a nerd, but in the show that just meant “annoying personality”. The characters in Big Bang Theory might have annoying personalities at times, but at least had interests and attitudes that demonstrated they were actually nerds, not just annoying.
  - asark 7y ago
    Urkel was into engineering and science and such, right? I mean IIRC he built that machine that turned him into Stefan. Maybe a robot at one point? Dunno, that's long enough ago to be pretty fuzzy, but I remember "making stuff with math and science shit" being among his nerdy traits.
    - mcphage 7y ago
      He was "into engineering and science", yes. But it didn’t mean anything beyond that; he didn’t do any engineering besides occasionally something would magically appear. And he liked “science” but not any particular part of science. They didn’t talk about anything that he liked more than “science”. It would be like if someone said they liked “movies”, but never mentioned a single movie that they enjoyed, or actor, or director, or anything. Just they’re really into “movies”. Big Bang Theory has many flaws, but it is so far better than Steve Urkel or Screech. If I had been a kid when Big Bang Theory came out, having some positive nerd representation would have been wonderful. And in Big Bang Theory the characters are represented positively—the show clearly likes the characters, to use Roger Ebert’s terminology.
nostalgk 7y ago
There was one episode where Sheldon spends a considerable amount of time ranting about Windows 8 with no relevance to the plot at hand, laugh tracks abound. I haven't watched since. It genuinely made me uncomfortable; not because I like Windows 8, mind you. It was just so uncanny and out of place.
- chris_wot 7y ago
  That was the whole point of that diatribe. It was out of place, which was why it was funny. I do know (and have been) people who have done this on this topic.
  - mcguire 7y ago
    ...and they're fun to make fun of.
    - chris_wot 7y ago
      Sure, some people do. I laughed because it was funny, and I was the the type it was mocking.
  - nostalgk 7y ago
    Personally, for me, it dipped pretty far into uncanny valley from its execution. I'll concede the notion is pretty funny though, having experienced the same from my stint in IT.
fhbdukfrh 7y ago
You just summarized the entire (very successful) career of the shows creator, Chuck Lorre.

Jtsummers 7y ago

It's a series filled with Steve Urkel-level parodies of nerds. I chuckled at Urkel as a teenaged nerd in the 90s. Especially when they (sometimes) humanized him more it was ok, instead of just having him the butt of every joke. But a series where the main characters are all the butts of the joke and supposed to represent me (according to other people) isn't really that funny.

slantyyz 7y ago
>> But a series where the main characters are all the butts of the joke While I get that there's a pecking order even among nerds, I'm frequently put off by how badly the main characters treat Stuart, the comic shop owner.
mcphage 7y ago
> It's a series filled with Steve Urkel-level parodies of nerds. Not really. Steve Urkel was a nerd, but in the show that just meant “annoying personality”. The characters in Big Bang Theory might have annoying personalities at times, but at least had interests and attitudes that demonstrated they were actually nerds, not just annoying.
- asark 7y ago
  Urkel was into engineering and science and such, right? I mean IIRC he built that machine that turned him into Stefan. Maybe a robot at one point? Dunno, that's long enough ago to be pretty fuzzy, but I remember "making stuff with math and science shit" being among his nerdy traits.
  - mcphage 7y ago
    He was "into engineering and science", yes. But it didn’t mean anything beyond that; he didn’t do any engineering besides occasionally something would magically appear. And he liked “science” but not any particular part of science. They didn’t talk about anything that he liked more than “science”. It would be like if someone said they liked “movies”, but never mentioned a single movie that they enjoyed, or actor, or director, or anything. Just they’re really into “movies”. Big Bang Theory has many flaws, but it is so far better than Steve Urkel or Screech. If I had been a kid when Big Bang Theory came out, having some positive nerd representation would have been wonderful. And in Big Bang Theory the characters are represented positively—the show clearly likes the characters, to use Roger Ebert’s terminology.

nostalgk 7y ago

There was one episode where Sheldon spends a considerable amount of time ranting about Windows 8 with no relevance to the plot at hand, laugh tracks abound. I haven't watched since. It genuinely made me uncomfortable; not because I like Windows 8, mind you. It was just so uncanny and out of place.

chris_wot 7y ago
That was the whole point of that diatribe. It was out of place, which was why it was funny. I do know (and have been) people who have done this on this topic.
- mcguire 7y ago
  ...and they're fun to make fun of.
  - chris_wot 7y ago
    Sure, some people do. I laughed because it was funny, and I was the the type it was mocking.
- nostalgk 7y ago
  Personally, for me, it dipped pretty far into uncanny valley from its execution. I'll concede the notion is pretty funny though, having experienced the same from my stint in IT.

fhbdukfrh 7y ago

You just summarized the entire (very successful) career of the shows creator, Chuck Lorre.