4 ms·

You are mistaken to think this show is supposed to depict the inner mental life of nerds. It's absurdly common amongst people of our kind to assume TBBT is wri

You are mistaken to think this show is supposed to depict the inner mental life of nerds. It's absurdly common amongst people of our kind to assume TBBT is written for us, when in reality it's written as a caricature of us, for the general public. Much like Fraiser is not written for radio hosts, and Friends is not written for New York living twenty-somethings, TBBT is not supposed to be for nerds. It's just not a big enough audience, yet, to cater to.

gaius 14y ago
Quite. "Geeks" are trendy at the moment, but to the general TV amd movie-watching public, a "geek" is a fashion model who wore glasses in high school.
incision 14y ago
>It's absurdly common amongst people of our kind to assume TBBT is written for us, when in reality it's written as a caricature of us, for the general public. Anecdotally, every recommendation I've encountered for the show has come from self-described nerds who feel the show does speak to / for them. I think you might be underestimating the number of people who will relate to and even try to emulate a popular caricature of themselves.
- zalzane 14y ago
  Describing one's self as a nerd has been a growing trend lately ever since geek became chic. I personally know multiple people who after watching BBT now identify as a nerd despite not having any sort of hobbies or technical experience.
  - danielweber 14y ago
    How dare they. How dare they.
    - zalzane 14y ago
      How dare they associate with a cultural identity that they don't understand! Besides, it's only the nerds of yesterday who had to deal with the endless bullying and loneliness! Future generations should get a free pass to associate themselves with the identity just because they watched some stupid sitcom.
- papsosouid 14y ago
  >Anecdotally, every recommendation I've encountered for the show has come from self-described nerds Anecdotally, every self-described nerd I've encountered has described themselves as a nerd because it it currently cool, and they own a phone which makes them "such a nerd".
drzaiusapelord 14y ago
I wish more people understood this. All mainstream sitcoms are just window dressing for the same tired joke machine of setup + punchline. Even Community follows this formula more often than not and let's face it, Community for all its excellence is very hit or miss. Shows like Friends or TBBT more or less follow this formula at the cost of character development and plot, but the people watching them don't care about those things. If you want realistic drama then try watching a realistic drama. I like TBBT. Its easy chuckles and its fun to see the exaggerated high school version of me getting roasted. There's a lot of comedy to mine in the overly serious and socially clueless nerd stereotypes. The show really is about the hilarity of manboys trying to make their way in the modern world and less about geekdom or 'smart people.' It would be trivial to retool the script to be about obsessed sports fans instead of obsessed nerds.

gaius 14y ago

Quite. "Geeks" are trendy at the moment, but to the general TV amd movie-watching public, a "geek" is a fashion model who wore glasses in high school.

incision 14y ago

>It's absurdly common amongst people of our kind to assume TBBT is written for us, when in reality it's written as a caricature of us, for the general public. Anecdotally, every recommendation I've encountered for the show has come from self-described nerds who feel the show does speak to / for them. I think you might be underestimating the number of people who will relate to and even try to emulate a popular caricature of themselves.

zalzane 14y ago
Describing one's self as a nerd has been a growing trend lately ever since geek became chic. I personally know multiple people who after watching BBT now identify as a nerd despite not having any sort of hobbies or technical experience.
- danielweber 14y ago
  How dare they. How dare they.
  - zalzane 14y ago
    How dare they associate with a cultural identity that they don't understand! Besides, it's only the nerds of yesterday who had to deal with the endless bullying and loneliness! Future generations should get a free pass to associate themselves with the identity just because they watched some stupid sitcom.
papsosouid 14y ago
>Anecdotally, every recommendation I've encountered for the show has come from self-described nerds Anecdotally, every self-described nerd I've encountered has described themselves as a nerd because it it currently cool, and they own a phone which makes them "such a nerd".

drzaiusapelord 14y ago

I wish more people understood this. All mainstream sitcoms are just window dressing for the same tired joke machine of setup + punchline. Even Community follows this formula more often than not and let's face it, Community for all its excellence is very hit or miss. Shows like Friends or TBBT more or less follow this formula at the cost of character development and plot, but the people watching them don't care about those things. If you want realistic drama then try watching a realistic drama. I like TBBT. Its easy chuckles and its fun to see the exaggerated high school version of me getting roasted. There's a lot of comedy to mine in the overly serious and socially clueless nerd stereotypes. The show really is about the hilarity of manboys trying to make their way in the modern world and less about geekdom or 'smart people.' It would be trivial to retool the script to be about obsessed sports fans instead of obsessed nerds.