Big Bang Theory: Mostly bad but with a few high points

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Wow what a weak season.  A few high points and I enjoyed the finale.  That said they've pulled so many punches.  I really wanted something else to happen when Sheldon got where he was going.  

I really wanted Amy to be with someone else when he started knocking.  That would have been much less saccharine.  Now when Amy finds out why he rushed out to New Jersey (actually flew) to propose... there are some interesting dramatic possibilities.  The Sheldon/Amy dynamic is really the only reason I still watch the show.  Everything else is so bland and boring that it is almost worthless.

[Ded As Ned]

I stopped watching years ago, after around season 3 or 4 I think it was.  Does it still pull ratings?  I've been surprised for awhile now that it's still on the air.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I believe it is still the highest rated comedy on TV.

[Mladen]

3 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I believe it is still the highest rated comedy on TV.

How is that I have no idea... As I understand, they got some 13 million viewers last night. 

In short, yes, what a weak season. Occasionally it would remind us why they are still on, but it seems like nothing is moving. Raj has turned into pathetic whiner, Leonard and Penny are as dull as it can get. I thought baby would bring some new material for Howard and Bernadette, but actually, it got worse. Even Sheldon humor was off this season, with maybe one or two episodes actually being funny.

Yeah, the ending scene... Initially, I thought it was awesome. On a second thought, not so much.

[The Wedge]

Why any of them put up with Sheldon's condescension, verbal abuse, and infantilism remains a mystery.

It would be a much more interesting show if they all moved out and didn't tell Sheldon where they were going.  Especially if it was Amy.  She should realize that her life is so much more valuable than the pittance of zero that he provides her.

Otherwise, they are all just enablers of his abuse.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

14 minutes ago, The Wedge said:

Why any of them put up with Sheldon's condescension, verbal abuse, and infantilism remains a mystery.

It would be a much more interesting show if they all moved out and didn't tell Sheldon where they were going.  Especially if it was Amy.  She should realize that her life is so much more valuable than the pittance of zero that he provides her.

Otherwise, they are all just enablers of his abuse.

Pretty much.  I wanted Amy to stay single.  I was hoping for the reverse story with Amy meeting someone amazing.

[Iskaral Pust]

I've only watched a couple of episodes this season.  It was very low quality because it felt very tired and just going through the motions, plus I could only focus on how terrible they all looked compared to their younger selves (Howard and Bernadette look about the same).  They looked like they've been trapped in this golden cage and just need it to all end at last.

My meta criticism is that the show didn't handle their aging/arrested development very well over the past few years.  On the surface, the main arcs of the past few seasons has been Sheldon gradually embracing intimacy/romance, Raj dealing with his chronic shyness and then his financial dependence, while Howard and Leonard were on the more traditional life milestones of marriage, careers, babies and parents dying or divorcing.  But these arcs looked very unconvincing because Sheldon's arc required Amy to wait in autistic limbo for years and never get what she wants from the relationship, Raj never actually learned to function, Leonard and Penny have a toxic marriage (Penny was turned into an increasingly sour person belittling her husband all the time) and Howard is still just a man-child who found a surrogate mother.   These characters are supposed to be in their mid to late thirties (after ten seasons) and none of them are remotely close to functioning adults and all require the resentful forbearance of their improbable significant others to enable them.

Stewart is held up for easy laughs but are the others really that much better?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I've only watched a couple of episodes this season.  It was very low quality because it felt very tired and just going through the motions, plus I could only focus on how terrible they all looked compared to their younger selves (Howard and Bernadette look about the same).  They looked like they've been trapped in this golden cage and just need it to all end at last.

My meta criticism is that the show didn't handle their aging/arrested development very well over the past few years.  On the surface, the main arcs of the past few seasons has been Sheldon gradually embracing intimacy/romance, Raj dealing with his chronic shyness and then his financial dependence, while Howard and Leonard were on the more traditional life milestones of marriage, careers, babies and parents dying or divorcing.  But these arcs looked very unconvincing because Sheldon's arc required Amy to wait in autistic limbo for years and never get what she wants from the relationship, Raj never actually learned to function, Leonard and Penny have a toxic marriage (Penny was turned into an increasingly sour person belittling her husband all the time) and Howard is still just a man-child who found a surrogate mother.   These characters are supposed to be in their mid to late thirties (after ten seasons) and none of them are remotely close to functioning adults and all require the resentful forbearance of their improbable significant others to enable them.

Stewart is held up for easy laughs but are the others really that much better?

IP,

I suppose that's my frustration.  This show has real potential for exploring disfunction.  Yet it has been going for easy slapsticky laughs.

[Buckwheat]

I did not even realise this was renewed again, I thought it was the last season. I wondered how they were going to finish because there were no arcs that needed an important, memorable conclusion, so the show would just ... stop.

I liked the last episode though, because Dr. Nowitzky.

[Jaxom 1974]

Since I've never looked for anything other than a sitcom, I'm still along for the ride.  I laugh a little more than i should, though it isn't quite as stellar as it was.

Since I've always maintained the show was metaphorically a big bang with the expansion of the characters and the addition of characters, I like to think they've reached a bit of an entropy stage of the universe's development.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Since I've never looked for anything other than a sitcom, I'm still along for the ride.  I laugh a little more than i should, though it isn't quite as stellar as it was.

Since I've always maintained the show was metaphorically a big bang with the expansion of the characters and the addition of characters, I like to think they've reached a bit of an entropy stage of the universe's development.

My problem is that this show has the potential to transcend mere comedy the way HIMYM did.  But it chooses not to.  The potential is there for things that are more than merely slapstick humor but the showrunners don't want to go there anymore. They want to point and laugh at funny nerds.

[Jaxom 1974]

42 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

My problem is that this show has the potential to transcend mere comedy the way HIMYM did.  But it chooses not to.  The potential is there for things that are more than merely slapstick humor but the showrunners don't want to go there anymore. They want to point and laugh at funny nerds.

Except they're not really laughing at funny nerds any longer.  They're simply laughing at what are essentially normal, mundane people. Quirky? Sure. Hobbies outside sports? Yup.  Smarter than average people? By a landslide.  But they've essentially taken the "nerd" aspect out of the equation.  

Honestly, downplaying that aspect of the characters is fine, if they'd take things up a notch with the characters. 

Essentially, I agree, that they've gone into a rut.  

Though I'd hope they'll eventually stick the landing, unlike HIMYM.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Jaxom,

I liked what they tried to do with the HIMYM finale but I agree they fumbled it.  They made us love Tracy and who Ted and Tracy were together then seconds after we saw that moment... they killed her.  It could have been amazing but they thought the end they had created when they originally conceived the show would work when they allowed the show to evolve.  It had echoes of what would have been a wonderful finale but it fell flat.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

I'm not sure my opinion of the show has ever really improved. I guess it sort of works as brain dead fluff you can put on in the background. There is a place for shows like that.

My problem is it's borderline offensive depiction of geek culture. It basically just sits there and laughs at geeks, not in a pleasant way, at the same time never once really understanding geek culture.

The big joke of the show is that the characters like nerdy stuff, basically ALL nerdy stuff. The jokes come not from having fun interesting characters but by having cardboard cut out people who can simply point out references to Star Trek once in a while.

That Sheldon is clearly somewhere on the spectrum one minute and the next displaying another set of personality traits the next is glossed over and he's a figure of fun for it. 

This is my rant at the show, i just had to get that off my chest...

[PetyrPunkinhead]

I was never a hater on this show and always found it entertaining enough. I think I discovered it somewhere around S3. Huh, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I ever watched S1 or S2. It all blends. There was a sweet spot there for a while where I was really into the show, but now it's more background while I multi-task. Rarely do I ever sit down anymore just to watch an episode. I'm only on E9 of the current season. Meh. It is what it is. 

[dbunting]

To me it's exactly what it's supposed to be, a light hearted comedy. People getting disappointed in a show because it isn't what you want it to be is on you. You shouldn't judge something based on what YOU want it to be because it isn't your show, you aren't the one writing it or paying for it.

I will say I wish it hadn't been renewed. I do feel like they have pretty much explored all there is to do with this group.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

3 hours ago, dbunting said:

To me it's exactly what it's supposed to be, a light hearted comedy. People getting disappointed in a show because it isn't what you want it to be is on you. You shouldn't judge something based on what YOU want it to be because it isn't your show, you aren't the one writing it or paying for it.

I will say I wish it hadn't been renewed. I do feel like they have pretty much explored all there is to do with this group.

I think you can be light hearted but still be funny, as well as at the same time not being mostly offensively stupid and condescending to the audience . There are plenty of good examples of that 

[baxus]

This show was always supposed to have an expiration date. Sure, that change from characters as they were in season 1 to characters as they were this season could've been handled better, but I don't see how Leonard, Howard and now Sheldon getting married and Howard having a kid could not cause the huge change in their characters and group dynamics.

Pretty much the only other option would be to have these four guys remain the same as they were in season 1 and Leonard never getting Penny which would've grown old rather quickly.

22 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I guess it sort of works as brain dead fluff you can put on in the background. There is a place for shows like that.

I dare say all of the shows I'm watching at the moment are in this category. To be honest, I would classify Game of Thrones as such, too.

[The Wedge]

Jim Parson's Sheldon has become to the show what Jimmy Walker's J.J. became to Good Times or any other character whose over-the-top portrayal cast a shadow over the other lead characters.

Could the show survive and be enjoyable without Sheldon's schtick?  I think it could.  Amy could use real attention and affection like the  Brian Pohsen's (sp) geologist character was delivering her way earlier this season.

Nope, it all comes back to Sheldon's selfish man-child.  No wonder Penny and Leonard just stand in the kitchen and make lame comments.  They seem to want out, too, but they get Friends-like weekly paychecks to stick around.

 

[Mladen]

3 hours ago, baxus said:

This show was always supposed to have an expiration date.

I feel as if American comedy have a very determined expiration date. Simply, comedies don't grow very good. Some of my once-upon-a-time favorites like "Everybody loves Raymond" became horrifyingly ordinary upon rewatch. 

3 hours ago, baxus said:

I dare say all of the shows I'm watching at the moment are in this category. To be honest, I would classify Game of Thrones as such, too.

IDK, I like to think that "The Americans", "Sense8", "Orange is the New Black" and some other things can hit the right note for me and show me all the beauty and ugliness of human existence...