As an aside, I was watching BBT just yesterday (on a long plane ride with limited entertainment options) and I was reminded how uncomfortably awkward it makes me feel. In short, the core problem is that the characters are not sympathetic -- you're meant to laugh <i>at</i> them, not <i>with</i> them, to say nothing of the show's terribly backwards gender roles.<p>This essay was quite popular a while back and summarizes all this and more, quite well I think: <a href="http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-problem-with-the-big-bang-theory" rel="nofollow">http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-p...</a><p>Edit: Interesting to see many of you have a completely opposite take on these characters. That's fine with me, as long as we don't have to watch BBT if I'm over at your place. :)<p>Edit 2: Can we at least agree that laugh tracks are awful, even on otherwise-phenomenal shows (Seinfeld)?
The Big Bang Theory is a horrible piece of television. It's so horribly cliched that I feel somewhat insulted that it perpetuates the overused stereotypes that nerds are socially awkward people who are afraid of girls, love Star Trek, wear thick-rimmed glasses, idolise Stephen Hawking and have bad people skills.<p>Good on them for having science consultants to get the science part of the show right, but the show is uncomfortable to watch. BBT is a dumb show about smart people. A show that repeats beaten to death stereotypes about nerds and jocks, a show that does nothing to break the status quo that smart people are the only hope this world has and that all smart people aren't comic book loving introverts who never go out and are 40 year old virgins.<p>Obviously I am not the target of this show nor are any of my educated friends with degrees. But I can tell you the stereotype of what smart people actually are is completely wrong because smart people can't be pigeon holed into a certain category. Everyone is different; you have your introverts and extroverts, your comic book readers and non-comic-book readers.<p>As usual I am overreacting. I have a passionate disdain for this show and know of many others who feel exactly the same way. I didn't intend for this to sound like a rant, it's somewhat out of place, but felt it had to be said.
"Saltzberg says he became a scientist partly because of popular culture, such as Isaac Asimov's science fiction and the '70s TV show Space: 1999. He believes the rigor and passion for science he brings to The Big Bang Theory might inspire kids in the audience to one day become scientists, too."<p>Could be right there. When I searched Instagram for #bbt once, I found a couple of posts like 'I wish my friends were this smart' or 'I want to be a nerd too' with pics from the series. I think the series may give science a good image.
The show gets some interesting aspects of physics culture right. For example, there's the chauvinism of theorists over experimentalists. I was a bit surprised by this when I first encountered it, but I soon came to realize it's probably motivated by jealously and rejection. Experimentalists operate under the constraint of having to realize a test of one theory and stick with that same theory for months or years at a time, but they get all the cool toys plus the potential for real "Eureaka!" moments (even if those are exceedingly rare). Most theorists would never admit to being jealous of this but, at the same time, they cannot deny being jealous when their colleagues get to work with experimentalists. There are a lot more theorists out there creating material to test than there are labs able to test material! Theorists need to develop tough skin to handle all the times their theories are dismissed as "uninteresting" by experimentalists who define "interesting" as "something we can test". To make matters worse, many experimentalists are also damned good theorists. They're the physics-world equivalent of geniuses who are also first-class jocks!<p>It makes sense for Sheldon to be the ultimate theorist chauvinist since he works with string theory, which is, so far, not of much interest to experimentalists because its so impractical to test! Salzburg is definitely a theorist, and it shows. The whiteboards may be correct most of the time, but the lab scenes are just painfully bad! All they really amount to is, "Hey look! Lasers!". Having a consultant around to check your white-boards is fine, but they should send the writers to intern in an experimental lab for a bit if they ever want to move past seeing the world through Sheldon's eyes.<p>P.S. I specifically watched this show because, when you tell people you work in physics, BBT is the first thing they think of. If there's a TV show specifically about your profession it's surprisingly awkward to be completely ignorant of it!
What baffles me is that David Salzberg is a <i>professor</i> works tirelessly to get the science correct on BBT, and yet this gentleman was unable to correct the incredible, mind-bogglingly bad episode "The Tenure Turbulence", where every possible aspect of <i>tenure</i> appears to come from some alternate universe unrelated to Earth. This episode is so far beyond wrong I don't know where to start. David knows how tenure works: indeed he might be the only person working for the show who does (besides maybe Bialik). Why wouldn't they consult him?
Relax guys and gals. This show, much like most everything you see on TV and in the movies, is a caricature. It is not reality.<p>The formula is simple: Turn your brain down to "slow" and have a good time. Don't take any of it seriously. It's not real. It's television.<p>Some of the writing is hilariously funny. I have worked with people that exhibited some of these characteristics (not all). Some were great engineers but had the social skills of a brick. Most are nothing like these characters. They have varied interests and really full and active personal and family lives outside of work.
My favorite nerdy character is Walter "I'm in the <a href="http://www.classicempire.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.classicempire.com</a> business" White.
I'm always surprised this show is popular among the user base here. From what I've seen it's aimed at 14 year old girls who think they are ``nerdy'' because they wear glasses and have a Nintendo t-shirt. Bazinga!