Major reasons to dislike BBT:
1)It's not funny! They record a live audience that laughs on command to let us know when something is a joke, which is somewhat ridiculous/insulting. References are often wrong, or suffer from Family Guy syndrome.
2)I'm a geek. I'm a physicist. Those characters are neither of these things. I know many geeks, and many physicists. Even saying that the characters of this show are exaggerations of realistic characters is a huge stretch. Yet every non-geek, non-scientist friend or family member will ask me about this show. Even my family has started to assume I must be similar to these ridiculous TV caricatures...
3)Female characters are weak, or simply sex objects. Physics has enough of a problem attracting females to the field without this show's influence. The girls in the show are mostly there for male characters to stare at with their tongues out.There are plenty of quality TV shows, and this one isn't worth my time. Maybe if I were one of the millions of Americans who live sedentary lives and watch TV for 4-5 hours until sleep, day after day... but still, probably not.
Maybe you should actually watch the show before commenting on it.
1- It IS funny to a huge number of people myself included. Just because you don't think it's funny doesn't mean it isn't... It just means the shows humor goes over your head. And that isn't an insult, there is a lot of different kinds of humor not everyone gets all of it. For myself I don't get the humor where people get hurt and others laugh at it.
Also, you don't watch comedies on TV at all do you? I mean how could you if you find the widely used laughing as an insult.
2- You realize you could simply tell them you don't watch the show when they ask about it rather than blame the show... That and you can't be serious that your own family thinks you are like a comedic stereotype. I mean we have to assume they have met you and known you for quite some time.
3- HOW are the women weak? That is absurd. The show largely revolves around Leonard with the two polar opposite characters in Leonard's life being Penny his girlfriend and Sheldon his roommate BOTH strong influences on the show. All three women stars of the show are strong in their own way. Although I am sure Amy Farrah Fowler would be flattered that you only think of her as a sex symbol.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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It just means the shows humor goes over your head.
I don't think that phrase means what you think it means. I find it unlikely that someone who can't understand the jokes in BBT because they are too complex/sophisticated is capable of operating a computer or creating a numbered list. If a joke in BBT goes over your head, you are probably too preoccupied with drool management to complain about it.
Sebastion one of the meanings of the phrase "goes over your head" means "To fail to understand something" I used it correctly. If you don't "get" the humor then you failed to understand it.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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not finding funny != not understanding
If I tell a horrible racist joke, you may not find it funny, but it won't be from lack of understanding.
I submit that the jokes in BBT are pitched at a level where even the most slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging troglodyte can understand them. It's a sitcom that is designed to appeal to even the lowliest of the unwashed masses and that plays a laugh track just in case even they can't keep up - it is not a great and sophisticated piece of art that goes over anyone's head.
Or, to put it more succinctly, it's no Community.
I don't expect this thread to change anyones opinion of BBT. Even at my game table we are divided with half loving it and half hating it.
That being said it does open up the conversation to try new shows.
Give the IT Crowd on Netflix a shot. I think it has a live audience or a laughtrack but I can't hear it because I'm lauging to loud.
Parks & Rec is a lot of fun that only gets better after season 1.
Community is a very creative and funny show worth watching. In paticular the episode title Random Chaos Theory.
And if you do not find Arrested Development funny than you dead to me.
-MD
not finding funny != not understanding
If I tell a horrible racist joke, you may not find it funny, but it won't be from lack of understanding.
I submit that the jokes in BBT are pitched at a level where even the most slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging troglodyte can understand them. It's a sitcom that is designed to appeal to even the lowliest of the unwashed masses and that plays a laugh track just in case even they can't keep up - it is not a great and sophisticated piece of art that goes over anyone's head.
Or, to put it more succinctly, it's no Community.
I find it funny that people are continuously putting forward Community as a "great and sophisticated piece of art".
It's another TV comedy. It's in pretty much the same boat.
It's also probably most well known for this clip.
Is it good? Maybe.
But everyone please stop trying to pretend it's some masterpiece of television or something.
not finding funny != not understanding
If I tell a horrible racist joke, you may not find it funny, but it won't be from lack of understanding.
I submit that the jokes in BBT are pitched at a level where even the most slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging troglodyte can understand them. It's a sitcom that is designed to appeal to even the lowliest of the unwashed masses and that plays a laugh track just in case even they can't keep up - it is not a great and sophisticated piece of art that goes over anyone's head.
Or, to put it more succinctly, it's no Community.
Ok whatever... you know what I meant. Pick a better phrase if it pleases you, my points stand.
PS: I watched a couple episodes of community, and it was lame. Now I know a couple episodes doesn't make me an expert. But at least I laughed the first time I saw BBT. Can't say the same for community.
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not finding funny != not understanding
If I tell a horrible racist joke, you may not find it funny, but it won't be from lack of understanding.
I submit that the jokes in BBT are pitched at a level where even the most slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging troglodyte can understand them. It's a sitcom that is designed to appeal to even the lowliest of the unwashed masses and that plays a laugh track just in case even they can't keep up - it is not a great and sophisticated piece of art that goes over anyone's head.
Or, to put it more succinctly, it's no Community.
I find it funny that people are continuously putting forward Community as a "great and sophisticated piece of art".
It's another TV comedy. It's in pretty much the same boat.
It's also probably most well known for this clip.
Is it good? Maybe.
But everyone please stop trying to pretend it's some masterpiece of television or something.
There are no "just TV comedies"
M.A.S.H. one of the best sitcoms ever made, it managed to be a social satire, social commentary and one of the greatest anti-war statements in American television and it is what I judge American sitcoms by.
Community is not as good as M.A.SH. But it is clever and sophisticated, it manages to say things about the wider world that BBT doesn't.
The British show the Young Ones made in the 1980's is a more sophisticated and socially/politically aware show than BBT.
The IT Crowd, Spaced, Black Books, The Mighty Boosh, 30 Rock, Modern Family all do things with comedy that BBT doesn't. They challenge you and make you laugh on a regular basis.
I don't think you are wrong for liking BBT and it is what it is....a bit of fun. Beyond that it will be as remembered as much as any other middle of the road TV comedy, where as all of the shows I mentioned above are still talked about, quoted and missed.
I, for one, could not wait until the day The Mighty Boosh burned in a fiery pit so people could stop quoting "Hurr durr I'm Old Greg hurrrr" at me.
As with anything, YMMV greatly from anyone else' experience with any given piece of entertainment.
As a fan of Community, I must say - holding it up as some high-minded sophisticated show as a way to bash Big Bang Theory is comedy itself.
Sophisticated?
Yeah, the monkey named "Annie's Boobs" is pretty sophisticated.
As a fan of Community, I must say - holding it up as some high-minded sophisticated show as a way to bash Big Bang Theory is comedy itself.
Sophisticated?
Yeah, the monkey named "Annie's Boobs" is pretty sophisticated.
Contemporary American Poultry was a Parody of Goodfellas and several other American Gangster movies and all you took from it was Annie's Boobs....
The difference between Community and BBT was that AB's was a both a throw away joke and an Easter egg for future episodes, if it was done for BBT they would have ridden that joke for the whole episode and when it died they would have kept flogging it.
Isnt Community in danger of being cancelled after 3 seasons? Me thinks this drooling Trog will forget about community by this time next year and still be laughing at award winning Sheldon.
I wasn't aware that economic success was the the only way we defined quality. In that case McDonald's is the best restaurant in the world, and Michael Bay's Transformer movies are a superior work of film than Schindler's List.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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PS: I watched a couple episodes of community, and it was lame. Now I know a couple episodes doesn't make me an expert. But at least I laughed the first time I saw BBT. Can't say the same for community.
Sounds like it went over your head.
Sounds like it went over your head.
PS: I watched a couple episodes of community, and it was lame. Now I know a couple episodes doesn't make me an expert. But at least I laughed the first time I saw BBT. Can't say the same for community.
Oh? You are now acknowledging that I did use the right phrase after all. My how fickle you are.
If BBT runs for 20 years, and Community is cancelled after the current season, then Community will still have been the far better show.
Depends on how you define "better show" clearly you are only using personal opinion... obviously making this absurd statement only true for you or a few others like you. But if a show was cancelled than it failed to be pleasing to the vast majority of people. THAT is the true legacy the show will leave... a forgotten piece of stale comedy that people grew tired of after a few short years. BBT on the other hand has proven it's comedic staying power by running for many many seasons and still going strong. Most people certainly aren't tired of BBT we think it's funny. :p
If that's how you interpret my statement, I think you will enjoy BBT for many years to come.
Using a bit of Post Hoc fallacy?
Thankfully I am fairly sure I will enjoy BBT for many more years.
Sounds like it went over your head.
PS: I watched a couple episodes of community, and it was lame. Now I know a couple episodes doesn't make me an expert. But at least I laughed the first time I saw BBT. Can't say the same for community.
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I enjoy BttH whenever I can.
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The problem with threads like these is no one ever bothers to link to specific clips and actually identify concrete moments that they find offensive. These arguments are all based on vague, general impressions (from both sides) and there's almost no effort put into making a specific, detail-driven case for either perspective.
So, in the interests of having a *productive* conversation, I'll lead the way with this clip.
So we've got a couple of things going on: early on, there's a joke about Comic-Con goers implying that they lack social skills. A cheap shot, probably, but then again we do have some evidence to suggest that there is at least a noticeable minority of the Comic-Con crowd lacking in certain social niceties. Still, let's call this a point against the program.
Then we move on to Sheldon's "Friendship Algorithm" - an attempt to provide a flowchart guide to how to resolve social problems (e.g. making friends). For the less thoughtful, this might seem like a potshot at nerds: "Ha ha! Those geeks don't know how to make friends." Closer examination shows that it's actually a clever commentary on social conventions. We all follow a large number of rules of social interaction - some of which are pretty weird - and attempts to codify them are hardly new; neither are missives on how to employ social networking to improve your life. This episode cleverly calls attention to these mores (which we are, ironically, less aware of today because we think we've "progressed" past them) by parsing it in terms that modern audiences can easily access.
Here's another clip that hits a little closer to home for these boards, perhaps: the boys arranging a D&D night. Again, at first glance this seems like a joke at the expense of geeks: "Those idiots would rather roll dice than have sex." But this particular trope is actually pretty old, and not restricted to geeks by any stretch of the imagination. The trope of "man ignoring woman for other pursuit" is pretty popular across a number of variations: sports, video games, etc. So what might seem like a shot at nerds is really better characterized as the employment of a popular "battle of the sexes" trope (which the show engages in fairly regularly now that they've added several female characters).
I think that, when we take the time to closely examine the humor of TBBT, it's making fun of the main characters not primarily because they're geeks, but because sitcom convention dictates that the protagonists get mocked - they're a safe source of humor. The cleverness of the humor is debatable, but I certainly don't think it is ridiculing geeks in general.
Contemporary American Poultry was a Parody of Goodfellas and several other American Gangster movies and all you took from it was Annie's Boobs....
No, but to argue that the show is "more sophisticated" than another, with content like that? It's laughable.
The difference between Community and BBT was that AB's was a both a throw away joke and an Easter egg for future episodes, if it was done for BBT they would have ridden that joke for the whole episode and when it died they would have kept flogging it.
4th Edition Sucks! Nuh uh, 3rd Edition sucks!
'Cause y'know what? Community vs. BBT? That's just an edition war in a different package.
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I'm still highly bemused by this thread.
For great television about nerds and social misfits, though, I prefer I, Claudius to both BBT and Community.
(Complete with strangely chosen music)
If BBT runs for 20 years, and Community is cancelled after the current season, then Community will still have been the far better show.Depends on how you define "better show" clearly you are only using personal opinion... obviously making this absurd statement only true for you or a few others like you. But if a show was cancelled than it failed to be pleasing to the vast majority of people. THAT is the true legacy the show will leave... a forgotten piece of stale comedy that people grew tired of after a few short years. BBT on the other hand has proven it's comedic staying power by running for many many seasons and still going strong. Most people certainly aren't tired of BBT we think it's funny. :p
So Fire Fly, was not a good show because it lasted one season?
Contemporary American Poultry was a Parody of Goodfellas and several other American Gangster movies and all you took from it was Annie's Boobs....No, but to argue that the show is "more sophisticated" than another, with content like that? It's laughable.
The difference between Community and BBT was that AB's was a both a throw away joke and an Easter egg for future episodes, if it was done for BBT they would have ridden that joke for the whole episode and when it died they would have kept flogging it.4th Edition Sucks! Nuh uh, 3rd Edition sucks!
'Cause y'know what? Community vs. BBT? That's just an edition war in a different package.
Wrong analogy
Chuck and Dan two different people working for two different production companies making different things.
It's more like GURPS tis teh suxxors - Nuh uh Rune Quest is teh suxxors
If BBT runs for 20 years, and Community is cancelled after the current season, then Community will still have been the far better show.Depends on how you define "better show" clearly you are only using personal opinion... obviously making this absurd statement only true for you or a few others like you. But if a show was cancelled than it failed to be pleasing to the vast majority of people. THAT is the true legacy the show will leave... a forgotten piece of stale comedy that people grew tired of after a few short years. BBT on the other hand has proven it's comedic staying power by running for many many seasons and still going strong. Most people certainly aren't tired of BBT we think it's funny. :p
So Fire Fly, was not a good show because it lasted one season?
Exactly. Just because I love Firefly doesn't mean the show had any sort of mass appeal. Sadly when the show first aired I, like many people, said "a cowboy western in space, yuck". It wasn't till I was bored a year or three later and surfing reruns that I discovered this show was actually awesome. But again that is merely my opinion. To the world at large this was a silly short lived sci-fi show.
I have to disagree - Fire Fly was an excellent show that failed because Fox did not know how to market it and the people in charge did not like it and did not understand it.
It was shown out of order and at the wrong time on its first run.
So people had no idea of what was going on.
It had mass appeal - the Movie made bucket loads and was a success.
The Browncoats are a real thing.
Just because it is successful does not make it good... By your hypothesis Jersey Shore is a good show....
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I just want to say...I am growing to quickly despise the eliteist view that chest puffers on the internet champion regarding laugh tracks.
It doesnt make you smarter than everyone to auto dismiss every show that has a laugh track. It just makes you look like a hipster douche.
A show is good or bad on its own merits...a laugh track has precisely zero to due with the quality of the jokes contained within.
Pet Peeve ~END RANT.
That being said, I think Big Bang is a solid little show for a network TV sitcom. It is not in danger of being brilliant anytime soon, but it is consistantly worth more than a few chuckles per episode and it often contains one or two solid belly laughs. I would alledge those offended by the depiction of nerd culture were determined to feel that way going in.
Quite frankly I get a lot of laughs out of the fact that I have known several people who live up to the stereotypes this show gets a lot of mileage out of, and in fact have had some of those exact conversation/ situations depicted with girlfriends,hobby firends, non-hobby friends and family members over the years.
Humor like so many things is subjective...everyone is more than entitled to love or hate anything they want, but the vitriol directed at those who like this show in this thread and the anger that they seem to be forced to endure just makes me shake my head.
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I have to say last nights The love Potion was epic. Simon doing the tree with Nick Cages voices (Near spot on) Then the old man as Al Pacino (Funny) But the best... Him doing a dragon in Christopher Walkens voice (I had to listen to it 3X just because it was SO good and SO funny hearing a dragon as CW)
It was an awesome episode, and fun to see a DM use voice characters. though DD was never played like they played it, even 4th ed which I never played.
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I have to say last nights The love Potion was epic. Simon doing the tree with Nick Cages voices (Near spot on) Then the old man as Al Pacino (Funny) But the best... Him doing a dragon in Christopher Walkens voice (I had to listen to it 3X just because it was SO good and SO funny hearing a dragon as CW)
It was an awesome episode, and fun to see a DM use voice characters. though DD was never played like they played it, even 4th ed which I never played.
I genuinely smiled through most of the episode. I don't really care what anyone thinks--the show is hilarious.
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I just want to say...I am growing to quickly despise the eliteist view that chest puffers on the internet champion regarding laugh tracks.
It doesnt make you smarter than everyone to auto dismiss every show that has a laugh track. It just makes you look like a hipster douche.
A show is good or bad on its own merits...a laugh track has precisely zero to due with the quality of the jokes contained within.
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I just want to say...I am growing to quickly despise the eliteist view that chest puffers on the internet champion regarding laugh tracks.
It doesnt make you smarter than everyone to auto dismiss every show that has a laugh track. It just makes you look like a hipster douche.
A show is good or bad on its own merits...a laugh track has precisely zero to due with the quality of the jokes contained within.
[Taking cue from the laugh track, like the sheep I am]
Hee hee! Hee hee! Hee hee!
(That's an excellent alias, Sebastian)
You know, Doodlebug? Whenever I see Derek Jacobi I expect him to have a stutter. All because of I, Claudius. Yes, I know he was acting but I was youngish when I saw it!
I had heard about it for years, but I only finished watching it for the first time yesterday. At first I was like, this isn't as sexy as Rome, but somewhere around Caligula it became some of the baddest-ass shiznit I have ever seen.
I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude to my dear friends Lord Dice and Comrade Longears for steering me in its direction. They both watch quality shiznit not piddling lcd sitcoms, with or without laugh tracks.
A show is good or bad on its own merits...a laugh track has precisely zero to due with the quality of the jokes contained within.
I understand your setiment but IMO the laugh track can (if the jokes are not funny) be very distracting. When a joke falls flat and there is no laughter then I move on and wait for the next joke. When a character says "Bazanga" and the audience burts into fits of laughter while I am silent then I'm distracted and perhaps a bit confused as to why that joke was funny to so many people.
If it's not funny to me the canned (or live) laughing stands out like a sore thumb.
Seinfield, Mash, News Radio...I grew up with a lot of awesome comedies with laugh tracks. If you do not notice the laugh track it's because you are laughing with the audience. I don't blame the laugh track, I blame the lack of funny.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Maybe I'm easily amused (I'm not, actually)--I never really noticed the laugh track until everyone started complaining about it.
I forgot Seinfeld had one until Muad'Dib pointed it out. I don't think they are as noticable if you're already laughing, but stick out like a sore thumb if you're not. Try watching an old episode of, say, Full House* and see if you don't cringe when the canned laughter breaks out in response to the corniest of jokes.
*No disparagement of Full House is intended or implied by this post. As a long-running show, it's artistic merit and awesomeness is without question or doubt. The Olsen Twins, as demonstrated by their many spin-offs, movies, clothing lines, etc. were among the greatest thespians of their generation. Why they were never recognized for their contributions to art and culture remains a mystery to this day.
This show seems like it's mocking nerds. Now, normally, I like the whole "people that deserve bad things happening to them" trope for comedy, but the thing that gets me is that the (presumable) audience surrogate and non-nerd is constantly portrayed as the "normal" one, while every single nerd is socially awkward, foolish, and has about as much charm as a wet burlap sack.
And, I feel like this show recycles the sitcom staples far too often. It feels like a rehash of many a sitcom before it, except with a thin coat of "nerdy paint". It's like Friends all over again.
That said, it does have its moments, but that hardly means anything. Just about every show has its moments.
Don't click on this link. Repeat, don't click on this link. You have been warned.
Damnit...I walked into that.
Looking for laugh tracks; Or, An Excuse to Throw Up Random Scenes from Sitcoms
*No disparagement of Full House is intended or implied by this post. As a long-running show, it's artistic merit and awesomeness is without question or doubt. The Olsen Twins, as demonstrated by their many spin-offs, movies, clothing lines, etc. were among the greatest thespians of their generation. Why they were never recognized for their contributions to art and culture remains a mystery to this day.
LOL, Well said Sebastian. I can not wait for your write up on Small Wonder!
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Maybe I'm easily amused (I'm not, actually)--I never really noticed the laugh track until everyone started complaining about it.I forgot Seinfeld had one until Muad'Dib pointed it out. I don't think they are as noticable if you're already laughing, but stick out like a sore thumb if you're not. Try watching an old episode of, say, Full House* and see if you don't cringe when the canned laughter breaks out in response to the corniest of jokes.
*No disparagement of Full House is intended or implied by this post. As a long-running show, it's artistic merit and awesomeness is without question or doubt. The Olsen Twins, as demonstrated by their many spin-offs, movies, clothing lines, etc. were among the greatest thespians of their generation. Why they were never recognized for their contributions to art and culture remains a mystery to this day.
I am compelled to mention my favorite blog whenever Full House is mentioned.
And i'm not saying BBT is bad 'because it has a laugh track'... There are plenty of shows that use one that I don't find annoying at all.
Though in my above example I show I've used the BBT laugh track to call out a non geeknerddork on the fact that he has fallen victim to it (laughing at things without knowing what was funny or why it was funny) but thats not why I hate the show.
I am compelled to mention my favorite blog whenever Full House is mentioned.
The internet is a strange place...