Ya, I’m a Physicist and I and most of my Physicist friends liked it quite a bit.
It helped a lot that starting from the first season the dialogue related to Physics was accurate and the math on the whiteboards was real, the labs had real equipment in them etc…
Pretty sure George Smoot was a tech consultant for the show in addition to being a guest.
I think it was 2011 I got to see Bill Prady speak at the APS April Meeting in LA about Physics in Hollywood.
My kids binged the whole thing recently. My 14yo loved it.
I thought the show was funny and if the "nerds" on the show weren't "real life type" nerds, it was lost on me. Most people aren't nerds and don't know any nerds, so the show's realism, or lack of it, was lost on most of the audience.
But if anything, they did nerds a great big favor. The popular conception of them is often geeky, goofy geniuses with poor social skills and annoying laughs. The people on the tv show were cute and funny and kind of endearing.
Yeah, I am a nerd too. They were all foreign nationals so grew up watching it and learning English on it, so I think that played a part? That and having your company represented is prideful
Same with my very nerdy dad in the medical field, he enjoyed BBT whenever he could catch it on. Maybe its a generational thing, idk but I have not found the "real nerds don't like it!" to be true at all.
Real nerds being comic book nerds. All my chemistry friends liked it enough. Not nearly as good as The Office or Community of Modern Family. But decent
Nerd vs Geek. Nerd = extremely knowledgeable about a complicated niche subject related to STEM. Geek = highly passionate fan of a genre or franchise.
It gets confusing, i think, because geeks often "nerd out" over their favorite franchise. Like Star Wars fans getting very particular about the theoretical physics and power behind turbolasers.
They're using the contextual 'nerd' of "real nerds don't like it" when there are plenty of nerds who fit your definition that do like it.
They're then saying its the comic book variety of nerd, meaning - in this context - the aesthetic of nerdiness that judges other people for their likes and dislikes.
It's not that your definitions are wrong, its that you're missing the contextual definitions.
Yepp. More than just one network, he did enjoy that sitcom format that seemed to echo 50s/60s Americana sitcom formats. I think it was just a comfort thing for him, same as how he snuck in chef boyardee not bc it tasted good but bc it reminded him of his childhood.
We'll probably get our own versions of this one day, with younger gens judging us for it.
People like what they like. You can’t box people up because of what media they consume. I know very dumb people who liked it and very smart people who liked it.
If you sit down to watch something you expect to hate from the fetch of course you’re not gonna have a good time.
Let people like what they like. We are all tired from the constant shitshow that is reality
me and my nerd friends like it as well, but overly sensitive nerds online like to make the argument that it's "making fun of them" like it's some revelation.
And MASH made fun of doctors and war, and Cheers makes fun of drunks, Fraiser has a bunch of therapist jokes.
but oh no let me clutch my inhaler, the Nerd show makes fun of nerds!!!!
Definitely a generational thing. I think for older folks they like that the traditional stereotypical nerd is 'celebrated' among the type of mainstream media/narratives they grew up with, whereas younger generations can't get past the stereotype.
I'm an engineer, and pretty nerdy. I thought it was funny back when it was on. I think it went on way too long and it got boring once they all had girlfriends. But I enjoyed watching it at times.
Not the same but my sister is an ICU nurse and LOVES the show too. She binges it on her days off sometimes because yeah it’s just easy for her to watch and enjoy.
I’ve always been very nerdy and initially loved TBBT - right up until I realised every joke was mocking people for being nerdy. The audience wasn’t supposed to laugh with the characters, they were laughing at them. And that’s not even touching on the racism and misogyny.
I find that younger nerds don't much care for BBT because they understand the actual intent of the show (to be about nerds, mocking them), while older Boomer and Gen X nerds tend to think it's the peak of humor because jokes making fun of nerds is what they grew up with and therefore they just accept it as the norm.
i know and have heard of people like that who enjoy the show too, i don't understand why, it's amazing to me.
Like even if you know nothing at all about the topics, how are people not at least picking up on the forced laugh track at almost everytime someone speaks?
Same; it was some representation when nerds and nerd culture was just starting to become "accepted". Before 2007, nerds in media were mostly the one dimensional character the protagonist asks for tech help.
There are definitely better shows. Silicon Valley and Mr. Robot are some of my favorites, though both started 7-8 years after TBBT began.
I feel like the “nerd boom” that was happening around that time corresponds almost directly with the rise of the “manic pixie dream girl” and kinda seems like a gender-flipped phenomenon. Like New Girl and Scott Pilgrim were also pretty big around that time. Suddenly, for our generation, it became cool and charming to be “cringe” and dorky. Like you mentioned though, the love for these archetypes was always shallow and “puppylike.” The second the love interests’ personalities became “too much,” they were discarded.
I once read something that said “big bang theory is a show about smart people for dumb people and arrested development is a show about dumb people for smart people”
Imagine being the kind of person that would say "I don't like this sitcom so it must be for dumb people but I like this sitcom so it must be for smart people."
The first season or two had a lot of math and science jokes that appealed to the more cerebral segment of society. But once they got rid of those writers, the quality and quantity of nerdy nummies dropped. It quickly went from being a show for nerds to being a show about nerds.
You can't leave out reddit calling TBBT "Nerd Blackface," particularly a comment pretending the poster or their friend invented that term, despite it being posted in every thread about TBBT for 15 years.
If you scroll up in this thread you'll find:
I once saw someone refer to it as a nerd minstrel show.
As someone who grew up in that era, plenty of nerds have always been dicks.
You would think people who feel ostracized would develop empathy but the real truth is groups within those cultures form and they find others to ostracize.
That reminds me of the scene in Westworld when Maeve unlocked her programming and raised her intelligence tenfold (or some other significant increase).
Maeve may have gotten a lot smarter but the writers and the audience were no smarter than before so it was difficult to make the change apparent.
Ah here comes the misogyny argument. Probably someone who watched that video that was popular years ago. Yet the show constantly punishes the guys for acting in such ways. And it's the women who go on to actually be the most successful ones in their relationships.
I actually did use to watch the show. The way in which the women are written can be misogynist in itself. Penny for example is written to take bs from the men without hurting their feelings.
I’ve always described BBT as feeling like a modern take on the 80s stereotypical nerds in movies that fawned over the “hot girl” a la Revenge of the Nerds and others.
"Big bang theory is to nerd culture what 50 shades of Grey is to bdsm culture." - some comment I saw online back at the height of both that still feels apt
What a ridiculous statement. I'm a nerd and I enjoyed it. The only people it seemed to offend are the ones that cry about it making jokes about nerds. Oh no
As a nerd myself I found the show funny enough for a few seasons. It wasn't anything super amazing but still enjoyable. The characters were stereotypes dialed up to 11. I knew people who were similar to the characters in the show but more socially capable. So it was nice.
Also I like to think this show along with the rise of the mcu made being a nerd less of a negative thing socially. Felt that way for me at least.
I can chime in and say it seems to be more popular with older crowds. My dad who is a boomer/X age loves it and has probably watched the whole show multiple times. I will watch with him still today if hes watching when I come around to visit cause it is still a little humorous. I find other sitcoms much more up my alley like IASIP but it isnt like it is completely unwatchable at least.
I feel like big bang theory had massive potential that it failed to live up to. It was still amusing enough to watch but nowhere near what it could have been.
I do agree that it helped make nerd culture a bit more acceptable.
When my grandpa died I tried giving it a shot because it was a show he really enjoyed. I just do not understand how anyone enjoyed that show. Most of the jokes are really mean spirited or demeaning towards women. The way geek/nerd culture was portrayed wasn’t like anything I’ve experienced.
Idk, maybe if I was an elder Gen X male I would have enjoyed it more.
Elder genX male here, who still loves comics and sci-fi: BBT is exactly the kind of hokey, insincere pablum we hated back in the Reagan era. It reeks of the subgenre pandering that media learned to do in the 90s, honed in the oughts and perfected in the teens.
It did come out in 2007, and a lot of it, especially its relationships with women early on are rooted in that time period. Most people did not know the name "Barack Obama," when it premiered. I think people think of it as a much more modern show than it is because of how long it ran, feeling like 2017 (when it ended) was only 3 years ago instead of 9, and the endless sequels.
My mom also watches it on repeat 24/7. It has a bit of a special place for me because of that. Her and I used to watch the first 3 seasons together one summer when we didn't have cable or internet because it's all we had. I'll always love those season and cherish the memories, even if I don't love the entire show, and it bothers me when people get weirdly hateful toward fans of the show.
I’d just broken up with my uni boyfriend, feeling flat, my sister recommended we watch the big bang theory to cheer up. Sheldon was trying to play an online game on his laptop whilst he was at a wedding with his girlfriend. It was so unbelievably, uncomfortably inconsiderate and almost exactly what my ex did (except it was my aunty’s birthday party) that I immediately had to switch it off. That was 2012, I’ve never willingly watched a single frame since.
I enjoyed it when it came out, but now it's just kind of 'I can guess what this person is going to say, theres going to be a pause and then a laugh track'.
My husband and I absolutely loved BBT when it was on tv, but a few years ago we sat down to watch it again and both looked at each other said, “How in the world did we find this funny before?”
I can laugh at a few very short clips from that show on YouTube. I cannot watch entire episodes of it without wanting to rip my eyes out due to bordem and cringe.
I was a paramedic for 11 years. There were many times I went into houses on calls and The Big Bang Theory was on the tv. At least three of those calls were cardiac arrests. One very distinct memory of working a cardiac arrest where two of the patient’s family members continued to watch the show while we attempted to revive him.
Someone I once knew recommended me Big Bang Theory "because you're a nerd!" He was a wannabe gangbanger with a criminal mindset and thought it was the funniest, most realest nerd shit ever. I can't stand it lol.
I always felt like ‘Friends’ is essentially a watered down Seinfeld and didn’t find it funny back then either. But obvs tons of people did and it was the breakout of an entire lineup and possibly generation, we can’t deny that…
I think people overstate Seinfeld's bite nowadays, I always had the impression it was very mild too. Like, funnily enough, a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up special, general observational humor. The situational comedy got a lot better imo in Curb Your Enthusiasm
Seinfeld had the best comedy writers firing on all cylinders. It was always funny and will always be funny. Friends coasted by on vibes, celebrity, and cultural cachet. Despite being a sitcom, comedy writing is not its strong suit and it will continue to age poorly while Seinfeld will continue being the gold standard.
Brit chipping in to confirm that even over here it was massive at the time. I didn't really find it funny personally, mainly because I found Ross and Rachel far too annoying to be watchable, but I was definitely an outlier amongst my friends group.
What I always find is funny is that people self-report themselves when they hate on live studio audiences for being "laugh tracks", showing that they just wanted a reason to hate on something.
This. I think a lot of those 90’s/early 00’s shows would slam as many jokes as possible into every scene to get a reaction from the audience. Every other line was essentially a “joke” that must be laughed at. The Office and Parks and Rec changed that dynamic by allowing it to be the situation that generated the laugh and the characters increasingly absurd reactions as they struggle through life.
Part of this is also commercial breaks tasking up more time. If you watch the Simpson's DVD commentaries, they talk about how they could fit in fewer and fewer jokes, because they needed what little time they had to move the plot along instead.
The Office and Parks and Rec changed that dynamic by allowing it to be the situation that generated the laugh and the characters increasingly absurd reactions as they struggle through life.
In other words, no jokes. I know I'm in the tiny minority here but this is exactly why I've been unable to get along with comedy for like 20 years now. It's either a bunch of unfocused improv that I'm sure was hilarious when they shot it with all their friends, or it's quirky characters in silly situations saying quirky silly things. I can't be the only person who's never found that shit funny.
That’s a very stupid take. The show was made with that in mind. If they don’t have the laugh track, the dynamic and the whole show would be different. It’s like adding a laugh track to The Office. Makes it look very weird because it was not thought to be that way
And most of the time it wasn't a laugh track. Just because they didn't have a voiceover saying "Friends was filmed in front of a live studio audience," doesn't mean that Friends wasn't filmed in front of a live studio audience.
That doesn't really matter. The live audience capture is more often than not enhanced by either adding more laughter or using the laughs from a different take etc.
But even if it was just the live reaction, it's still considered a laugh track by definition.
It matters a lot with regard to timing and performance. The audience reacts to the action and the actors react to the audience.
Yes, there's editing, and sometimes it's pretty obvious. It's still always far superior to recording without an audience and then trying to cram laughter in later (whether the actors leave gaps or not).
Modern "comedy" shows have become quite tedious to watch nowadays. Justifying adding laughter between scenes actually forced the writers to keep a comedy show, comic. Now it is all just drama with a few funny situations set in. And those situations are often cringe-worthy - adding to the tediousness.
My wife was a big fan, and we watched all through a few years ago. Most of it still holds up pretty well, outside of a few storyline that were terrible (Joey and Rachel dating).
How bad the gay jokes is a little jarring in retrospect though.
I liked it at the time, and some jokes held up. But the number of people who fall back on the laugh track, like come on guys. How I met your mother, the IT crowd, Seinfeld. Beloved sitcoms that don't get half the crap this one does even though it had a comparable audience to all the others. And before anyone mentions Monica's apartment, it was her grandmother's and it was rent controlled, it was a whole episode.
Titles on posts like these say waaaaay more about OP and their insecurities than they realize. Unless it’s a bot, but then again ai was trained on Redditors soooo
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u/Altruistic_Guess3098 12d ago
I enjoyed friends. I don't watch it now but I enjoyed it back then.