Big Bang Theory: Worst Thing on TV or Just the Unfunniest Thing on TV? Discuss.

[BloodyMage]

Originally Posted by Lumenskir

I don't think you get what the 'coded as normal' means. That post isn't saying that the show never laughs at Penny, it's saying that the reasons we're supposed to laugh at Penny are different, on a fundamental level, from the reason we're supposed to laugh at the nerds.

But I relate to Penny as the 'normal' person in the group, I'm hardly going to laugh at her because I'll find the things she does comparable to what I do. So I wouldn't laugh.

Even if that were true, it don't detract from what I said about why we're supposed to laugh at the nerds. We aren't made to feel superior to them. As Bells said about Howard, he's got a lot more sympathetic including getting married and being an astronaut. Getting to see space is pretty cool, so how I'm meant to feel superior to that, I have no idea.

My point was that nothing the post said was actually true of the show. Why is not funny then? I don't know because I do find it funny.

Originally Posted by Lumenskir

As someone with a liberal arts degree working on a J.D., I have no fucking idea what sciencey things they get wrong, nor do I have a desire to see the hard sciences represented accurately. I just want something funny, or at the very least something not disgustingly bad.

Like, I have no idea how local government works, but Parks & Rec somehow makes me laugh anyway. I have no idea what working in tech support is like, but I can still watch The I.T. Crowd, etc.

Me neither. I have a English Literature degree and a Masters in Creative Writing. Hell if I know about any of the science they talk about. But if they get it wrong and I laugh and you don't, does it really matter that they didn't follow the facts? Someone laughed so it's a job well done for them.

I don't really watch Parks & Rec or The Office or really any of those new format shows that Bells mentioned, so I guess I like old format sitcoms. The I.T. Crowd is funny though. I tried watching both the British and American versions of The Office but I just didn't find that funny. I'm not sure why but I don't think it's because they got their facts right or wrong or because I related to the characters too much or too little. It just didn't appeal to my tastes.