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I loved the ending: "He has never been tempted to buy a television, but was persuaded to watch The Big Bang Theory last year, and said he wasn't impressed." Th
by Systemic33 13y ago
I loved the ending:
"He has never been tempted to buy a television, but was persuaded to watch The Big Bang Theory last year, and said he wasn't impressed."
The show is despite what some think, not a celebration of science, but a ridicule of science, and takes the stereotypes to new levels.
Edit: I also watch the show, but as the article that GuiA links to mentions, the show wnats you to laugh at the nerds, and not the actual jokes they make.
You could argue its a Star Trek vs. Star Wars kinda thing, but i personally liked Community far more, because it really captured the fun in being nerdy, and didn't put nerds in one big collective box.
PS. I don't dress up, play fantazy card games, go to cosplays, read comics, etc. I'm an engineering student, i get drunk in the weekends, I code in .NET and Python, I love coffee, wine, cars, motorcycles, etc. Not anywhere near the steretypical hollywood nerd.
- GuiA 13y agoRe: Big Bang Theory, I enjoyed this post: http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-problem-with-the-big-bang-theory http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-p...
- rschmitty 13y agoThat guy went way overboard. I share some of the "nerds" hobbies and I don't mind the jokes at all
- Jtsummers 13y agoI haven't watched Community, but that is a long form version of my description to others (when asked) of why I don't watch The Big Bang Theory. I gave it a few episodes, I caught more when others watched it. It never clicked for me why I would be considered a part of the target audience when you often don't laugh with the characters, but at them. Thanks for the link.
- avrilkiki 13y agoThe purpose of TBBT is not to entertain nerds, it's to acclimatize everyone else to the new normal where nerds hold a form of status. In 2013 nerds can be very rich, their fields can be very influential, and their intelligence can be useful to normals. Normals, however, don't understand how to relate to nerds in a post-high school environment. Their previous social training has been to simply ostracize and bully. TBBT teaches normals a new way of relating to nerds: tolerate them, make friends with them, turn a blind eye to their social awkwardness and weirdness, and trade your cultural capital for the nerd's intellectual and financial capital. Nerds can be useful to normals. Nerds can be good friends if you understand how to handle and bracket their awkwardness. They can even be good boyfriends if you understand how to handle them--Leonard can benefit Penny with his intelligence, devotion, and wealth even if he isn't cool. TBBT isn't aimed at nerds, it's a primetime mainstream TV show. The author is right that the public is laughing at the nerds not with them. However TBBT still represents a sea change in the public representation of nerds--now nerds are not to be ostracized, rather they are to be tolerated.
- vorg 13y agoThe word nerd doesn't mean nowadays what it meant 20 or 30 yrs ago. It's been appropriated by business sorts as a label so they can pass themselves off as creators of genuine stuff as part of their sales routine. Look at most of the nerds nowadays and ask if these people are really "persons of above average intelligence who don't care about their appearance"? Real nerds tend to use the aspie label nowadays.
- avrilkiki 13y agoThe nerds on TBBT really are real nerds. All of them. They are different flavors of nerd. Sheldon is the aspie pervert creep. Raj and Howard are creepy manchildren. Leonard is the low self-esteem self-conscious self-hating type.
- judk 13y agoPervert? You may be projecting your nerd hate a bit. Howard is the only pervert.
- nhebb 13y agoThe Portlandia Nerd PSA hits on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir3v5yDk9Ws http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir3v5yDk9Ws
- vorg 13y agoDidn't know about this show. Like the line "I'm a real nerd. I actually use these glasses to see!"
- insertnickname 13y ago>Real nerds tend to use the aspie label nowadays. What...? That's idiotic... You don't have autism just because you're a "nerd".
- vorg 13y ago
- mietek 13y agoI completely agree with the expressed sentiments, both regarding TBBT and Community, which is a fantastic show.
- EpicEng 13y agoMeh, still funny, and the jokes are often more clever than your typical network fare. EDIT: I love that I get downvoted for saying that I like a show. You guys must be a blast at parties.
- antiterra 13y agoYeah. Really clever jokes like saying "Nintendo 64" then pausing for laughter.
- EpicEng 13y agoSo... you pick out one joke you don't like and presume that no one else should like the show? Right... so you don't like it. Who cares? I certainly don't. I like it. There, I cancelled out your dislike.
- antiterra 13y agoNo, I just don't think making references for their own sake is particularly clever. But if you like that kind of joke and you like the show, that's great. It's not something I would judge you as a person for. Heck, I'd be happy to suggest Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, if you haven't read it already.
- EpicEng 13y agoI honestly can't recall the joke you referred to. I do remember other jokes which I found funny. I apologize for that.
- doorhammer 13y agoI don't watch the show, personally, but it's irritating that everyone has to come down on things like this. People spend their time doing all kinds of crazy things. If it's fun and you enjoy it, then I think that's great. There are worse ways to spend your time. Apparently, that's not good enough, though. Everyone has to critique how other people enjoy themselves. I've read books on algorithm analysis and I just excitedly purchased a book on discrete mathematics through haskell. Know what else I've read? The entire Sookie Stackhouse series. So friggin what? My life was so much easier to live when I decided that it was okay to peacefully allow other people enjoy things that I don't. (oh yeah, I don't think the parent post was saying bad things; it just seemed like a decent place to say it :) )
- skinnycow 13y agoOh god, I can't take the self absorbed nerd culture that has to whine about TBBT at every opportunity.
- jordanb 13y agoA quote from a friend of mine: "Arrested development is smart jokes at the expense of stupid people; the Big Bang Theory is stupid jokes at the expense of smart people."
- googlemployee1 13y agoso your friend is reddit? pls go
- judk 13y agoAD is a string of junior high puns and callbacks/inside-jokes. Smart jokes on a teenager scale, I suppose.
- blister 13y agoWhat show has smart jokes for adults?
- no_wave 13y agoMad Men; Yes, Minister; Louie (S2)
- eli_gottlieb 13y agoI cast a second vote for Yes, Minister. The sheer stiff-upper-lip poshness just makes it all the funnier.
- dl8 13y agoThe main thing I don't like about BBT is that it's generally not funny. Look how the show holds without its laugh track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs
- judk 13y agoIt's not fair to just remove the laugh track, you need to re edit to change the pacing to avoid the silence.
- dl8 13y agoIf you watch actually funny shows that have a laugh track, such as Seinfeld, and removed them - they're still funny. Idk I just find BBT humor very bland, like the punch line to a joke may be just someone screaming out a nerd reference just for the sake of saying "Hey were nerds!"
- eli_gottlieb 13y agoOne goes to conventions while wearing a cosplay. At the convention, one might also play a fantasy RPG or CCG/TCG, read comics, watch shows, or go to a rave. One will most likely partake of all this while really, really drunk.