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> We aren’t laughing with Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard. We’re laughing at them. And what would be a sitcom where this is not the case? Let's take one of t
by _pmf_ 14y ago
> We aren’t laughing with Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard. We’re laughing at them.
And what would be a sitcom where this is not the case? Let's take one of the tamest and more humane sitcoms, the Cosby Show. Even in this case, you are more often than not laughing at the characters (to be specific, at certain quirks in their personality), not with them.
- SatvikBeri 14y agoCommunity is aimed at nerds to let them laugh at highly dysfunctional but lovable characters. The characters themselves aren't nerds. In contrast, TBBT lets normal people laugh at nerds.
- pyre 14y agoSo, people laughing at nerds is bad, but people laughing at "highly dysfunctional, but lovable characters" is good. Got it.
- SatvikBeri 14y agoI never said that one is bad and the other is good. I'm just trying to explain why nerds frequently prefer Community over The Big Bang Theory, when superficially The Big Bang Theory appears to be a show for nerds.
- ajuc 14y agoYou assume people can't laugh at caricatures of themselves.
- SatvikBeri 14y agoNo, I do not. I specifically used the word frequently to point out that not all nerds prefer Community over TBBT.
- ajuc 14y agoOk, sorry, seems I assumed wrongly here.
- papsosouid 14y agoI can, which is why the IT Crowd was funny. TBBT doesn't contain caricatures of me, it contains caricatures of what someone who knows nothing about me thinks I am. Such a caricature does not resonate with me, so there is no appeal.