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

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Though seem like reasons to be proud of someone. I wish I had never seen Lord of the Rings and being able to hogtie a pig in seconds sounds like a useful skill. And drinking excessively is ace.

Also to use the rule of funny you have to be funny.

[BloodyMage]

Originally Posted by Kim

These all seem like really shitty reasons to laugh at someone.

They may very well be. I was simply countering this point:

The humour in The Big Bang theory relies on the audience siding with and relating to Penny, the character coded as “normal” in comparison to the main four guys. It also relies on the audience having a sense of superiority over Leonard, Raj, Sheldon and Howard.

The show doesn't side with Penny. She's shown as flawed as the others and as I said there's no sense of superiority. All of the main cast have pretty stable relationships and when those relationships fail it's rarely because of their geekish ways.

Also to use the rule of funny you have to be funny.

I don't think it has to be funny. I think the intention of doing it has to be for comedic purposes. You can ignore science to make a bad joke. The fact that the joke is bad doesn't supersede the intention to ignore information so that you can make the joke. I mean, consider if a joke is made and someone laughs but another person doesn't. Is the joke rule of funny or not? You can't base it on whether someone laughs because maybe someone really likes bad jokes. So you kinda have to go with the intent, regardless of the outcome.

[Kim]

I'm generally of the opinion that jokes that rely on a misunderstanding of facts are pretty crappy jokes. The single exception to this being if the joke is that the facts are misunderstood, which would be a meta element Sithdarth pointed to BBT lacking.

[Lumenskir]

Which goes back to my standing that no tv at all is the best tv.

This is, quite frankly, the stupidest thing anyone has said in this thread.

Except, no, the show regularly sets up reasons to laugh at Penny

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.

Also, kinda have to agree with Bells in the fact that it feels like a lot of you would rather be watching a documentary about science than a sitcom with science. Which is great, there's nothing wrong with documentaries about science. But sitcoms have always used rule of funny regarding this kind of thing. Big Bang Theory isn't the first and it certainly won't be the last.

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.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

The IT crowd is the most accurate representation of working in tech support I've ever seen.

[Bells]

Parks and Rec makes the group of a new type of Sitcom comedy that is a bit more recent, it's a different style. I've seen it, i liked it, not a fan but i also didn't see enough episodes to be a fan or not...

TBBT belongs in the group that is getting smaller and smaller each year, it's format is old. I still enjoy the show when i catch up on it. The only other sitcom i recall that uses a similar format and that people seem to enjoy that is around also is How i Met your Mother.

[Lumenskir]

TBBT belongs in the group that is getting smaller and smaller each year, it's format is old. I still enjoy the show when i catch up on it. The only other sitcom i recall that uses a similar format and that people seem to enjoy that is around also is How i Met your Mother.

You keep bringing up the format as an excuse for its quality. Why? Three-camera sitcoms aren't arbitrarily handicapped from achieving greatness. There's decades of great shows that used the same format, BBT is just shitty.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

HIMYM is also shitty.

[EVILNess]

Originally Posted by Kim

These all seem like really shitty reasons to laugh at someone.

I was always under the impression that was the point of a of a major network prime-time sitcom.

Originally Posted by Professor Smarmiarty

Also to use the rule of funny you have to be funny.

I think they tend to shoot more for refuge in audacity territory to keep us from questioning instead of operating on rule of funny, because these are all horrible people (Who incidentally have been getting more horrible as the show goes on on) who could not function the way they do with any modicum of success in the real world.

Big Bang Theory is such a terrible show, but I still watch it occasionally and find a chuckle here and there. Like the Giant Jenga thing. I... would love to do that.

[Bells]

Originally Posted by Lumenskir

You keep bringing up the format as an excuse for its quality. Why? Three-camera sitcoms aren't arbitrarily handicapped from achieving greatness. There's decades of great shows that used the same format, BBT is just shitty.

Not an excuse, just a fact. Different styles of shows will attract different people.

Seriously, the tone here is like a freaking debate, as if there was something to defend... there is nothing to defend cause there is nothing to attack. Some people will like it, some people don't... but acting like format doesn't matter is a stupid thing to do. Why is that so hard to comprehend?!

Seriously some of the arguments here are borderline ignorant some times "you are bad cause this show is bad and you don't get it how stupid it is cause you are too stupid to get it cause you like it"... i mean, come the fuck on! Geez...

There is some -SERIOUS- over generalization coming from this thread... first was the "i watch it just to point and laugh at how bad it is" which is pretty fucking stupid to do with ANY sort of show... then we go to the classic internet Blitzkrieg of "worst thing ever made from human kind and those who like it as at the bottom of society" and now we are cycling back to the Reddit style rhetoric of people who can't separate "i don't like it" from "this is bad". It's not the same thing you know? It doesn't make value of other people either...

It's completely harmless entertainment... not a cultural defining turn point. it's -NO- surprise at all that most people here who don't seem to like it openly admit to have barely watched the show at all... fuck, leave it to the internet to judge a 4-5-6 year shows based on 40 minutes of spliced footage "'cause that's enough for me to know it's absolutely bullshit"... dear lord, relax a bit...

And, really, Lumenskir, not trying to single you out for this at all, and i apologize if it comes out like that... but really man, who is trying to "excuse" anything? Seriously, you think you are better or superior to anybody just cause you call this show bad or Honey boo Boo bad or any other show bad? Cause i don't think so, and i don't think you think like that, i don't see it as your rational... but some of the comments of this thread might very well be seen like that...

Really, fuck, leave it to NPF to overreact about a fucking sitcom geez...

The only thing i was getting at is that the old style of sitcom is a fading breed with very few horses still in play today. A new format, more snarky, acidic, sarcastic, ironic, with a different tone of writing and shooting is becoming more common and more popular lately... The Office, Parks and Rec, Community, 30 Rock, Louie and quite a few others i don't recall the name right now... those are forming a new lead pack. If your style of comedy leans towards that, you are more likely to not enjoy the older "will and grace" format. Which is a perfectly fine statement to make... it was just that and nothing more to it.

Really, there are blocks of text on why it's bad but very few of you even took time to mention better shows or shows you prefer or better alternatives in any length beyond a name... that's just a "Shitting on" bandwagon for the sake of shitting on. It really adds no value to the discussion at all...

Hell, if you talk about more serious shows, i enjoy Burn Notice a LOT, would recommend it freely... but fuck me if i'm going to pick conversation about it in a crowd that will dedicate hours to probably hating on it and over me as added bonus for the simple convenience of "being there to hate"...

Let's try to add something to the conversation, build something positive about... if you didn't watch TBBT or anything aside from a couple of episodes and have any curiosity at all, just rent a fucking DVD and catch a season... i promise, it will not tarnish your immortal pure glowing soul. You will not be putted on the Terrorist no Flight list for it... you'll simply either like it or not.

I think they tend to shoot more for refuge in audacity territory to keep us from questioning instead of operating on rule of funny, because these are all horrible people (Who incidentally have been getting more horrible as the show goes on on) who could not function the way they do with any modicum of success in the real world.

Really? How does Howard and Leonard got "more terrible"? Fuck, they basically salvaged Howard (which was really unlikable) over the last 2 seasons... i'm ok with you not being sympathetic with the characters... Raj and Sheldon and Amy can be annoying as all hell... but "Horrible people being more horrible"? C'mon now...