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Big Bang Theory = Big Bust

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msubulldog View Drop Down
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    Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 6:25pm
With the money Sheldon and his friends are making as research scientists, can't they each afford their own place instead of having to live in a dump where they have to climb several flights of steps because the elevator hasn't worked in years?
Also, with the money Sheldon makes as a research scientist, why can't he afford his own car?
Why are Sheldon and Leonard afraid to make long-term commitments to their girlfriends?

Another observation--both Sheldon and Howard have extremely over-protective mothers.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hootman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 9:36pm
Then it wouldn't be funny.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Papa Lazarou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 9:49pm
because 'intelligent' people tend to be more frugal and use too much foresight...why spend more money on your own nice place NOW, when you could sublet with a bunch of creeps in a cheap sh*thole and save more money for later on in life.

Same with the car.

And Most likely because they're idiots, have issues do to their upbringing (or lack, thereof.

Overall, it's just a really dull unfunny show that's trying to make things funny and failing badly.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 9:57pm
My question is, if they're such supposed geeks to begin with, why do they even HAVE girlfriends???

Especially hot ones?

The answer is obvious & that is that anything that comes out of Hollywood has to stick to certain formulas.

Guys on TV have to have girlfriends & all girls on TV have to be hot or at the very minimum, cutesy hot.

It would've been a much better show had they been true to the original premise, which was that a group of brainy, geek losers lived together & acted like nerdy geeks.

But that could never sell in America today because even though on it's face, the idea of lovable but socially awkward geeks with high IQs sounds appealing, people don't want to actually see them portrayed in a manner anywhere close to how such a bunch would actually live their lives.

They want their TV heroes to be having sex with hot chicks & make lots of money.

And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.....


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 9:59pm
Originally posted by Hootman Hootman wrote:

Then it wouldn't be funny.


When did it become funny?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:03pm
Originally posted by Papa Lazarou Papa Lazarou wrote:

because 'intelligent' people tend to be more frugal and use too much foresight...why spend more money on your own nice place NOW, when you could sublet with a bunch of creeps in a cheap sh*thole and save more money for later on in life.

Same with the car.

And Most likely because they're idiots, have issues do to their upbringing (or lack, thereof.

Overall, it's just a really dull unfunny show that's trying to make things funny and failing badly.



Yep.

That's why I stick to Britcoms.

Their characters remain true to the premise of the show.

If a character is a loser, he's a loser without a hot girlfriend & a high paying job, dammit!!!!



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:07pm

Sorry, I think it's pretty hilarious.  Right up there with Seinfeld, Cheers and others.

By the way, the premise of the show hasn't changed.  The "hot chick" has been with the series since the first episode.  Right from the beginning, she was going to be Leonard's love interest (though the real leads in the show are the hot chick and the asexual nerd, Sheldon).




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hootman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:11pm
Oh, I understand it's not funny to sophisticated people, but it makes me laugh. Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:15pm
Originally posted by msubulldog msubulldog wrote:

With the money Sheldon and his friends are making as research scientists, can't they each afford their own place instead of having to live in a dump where they have to climb several flights of steps because the elevator hasn't worked in years?
Also, with the money Sheldon makes as a research scientist, why can't he afford his own car?
Why are Sheldon and Leonard afraid to make long-term commitments to their girlfriends?

Another observation--both Sheldon and Howard have extremely over-protective mothers.


The steps are where many scenes occur.  And they were the ones who blew up the elevator to begin with.

Sheldon doesn't drive.  He has plenty of money to buy a car, but he just doesn't drive.  When he's attempted, he drives at a snail's pace.

Sheldon doesn't even have sex with his girlfriend.  He's asexual.  That's part of the show's premise.  Leonard, on the other hand, probably wants a long-term commitment with Penny.  She's the one who's hesitant.  That's part of the show's premise, too.

 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Papa Lazarou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:16pm
Stephan Fry did a brilliant comparison of the two comedies, American versus British. American comedy doesn't like to make fun of or belittle their characters. They make snappy lines and every episode ends with a happy ending (even then, ultimately the show ends happy.)

He worded it much better than I can, but I can never find the video...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:19pm
Originally posted by Hootman Hootman wrote:

Oh, I understand it's not funny to sophisticated people, but it makes me laugh. Wink

I've watched a few British sitcoms, and actually enjoy Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By.  But I never thought of them as hilarious.  They're enjoyable and I like the characters, but funny??  No.  They don't make me laugh.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hootman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:20pm
American and British humour are quite different, as are teeth.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:20pm
Originally posted by Thor Thor wrote:

Sorry, I think it's pretty hilarious.  Right up there with Seinfeld, Cheers and others.

By the way, the premise of the show hasn't changed.  The "hot chick" has been with the series since the first episode.  Right from the beginning, she was going to be Leonard's love interest (though the real leads in the show are the hot chick and the asexual nerd, Sheldon).


Yes, I know. I tried to watch it a couple of times.

The problem IMO, is that the premise of the show was Hollywood BS to begin with.

Nerds are nerds & hot chicks are hot chicks & ne'er the twain shall meet.

Except for in phony, pandering Hollywood TV land.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:28pm
Originally posted by Thor Thor wrote:

I've watched a few British sitcoms, and actually enjoy Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By.  But I never thought of them as hilarious.  They're enjoyable and I like the characters, but funny??  No.  They don't make me laugh.


Well, if you're basing your opinion on shows like As Time Goes By, no wonder you don't find them hilarious. That show wasn't meant to be hilarious. It's barely humorous.

And honestly, the vast majority of all TV comedies, American or British are not "hilarious". Enjoyable & not overly preachy & sickening or phony & derivative is the best you can hope for.

But if you want to see funny Britcoms, there are much better examples than the two you mentioned.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:33pm
Originally posted by Papa Lazarou Papa Lazarou wrote:

Stephan Fry did a brilliant comparison of the two comedies, American versus British. American comedy doesn't like to make fun of or belittle their characters. They make snappy lines and every episode ends with a happy ending (even then, ultimately the show ends happy.)

He worded it much better than I can, but I can never find the video...


That's true.

American sitcoms are all about snappy one liners, "witty" reparte & one sexual inuendo after another.

Boob characters in British sitcoms are just boobs.

And they don't rely on the showing of the other kind of boobs to get people to watch.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:42pm
Originally posted by Thor Thor wrote:

Sorry, I think it's pretty hilarious.  Right up there with Seinfeld, Cheers and others.


You should consider yourself extremely lucky that blasphemy & heresy are not still considered crimes punishable by death!!!!!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Papa Lazarou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:48pm
A good example would be League of Gentlemen. A brilliant show, and I'd say the quintessential example of what seperates American and British humours.

There's one scetch in a charity shop, run by two old hearing-impaired crones who basically care more about the plastic bags they get than their merchandise or customer happiness. A woman comes in with a bag of infant's toys or clothes, saying that she 'won't need them anymore'.

While the old women get into their usual stuff, the bag tears and the infant toys fall all over, and we listen to the old ladies arguing about bags, and toys and "there's no need to be rude, dear." "I'm not being rude, dear." "You are being rude, dear." while the woman cries holding one of the teddy bears.

No happy ending for anyone, no witty retortes, in fact, not even anything exceptionally funny in the "Here's a funny line, laugh." sense...it's about the scenario, the over-the-top presentation, the combination of events and characters.

American Comedies seem more about being funny, whereas British is about making fun of life, people, and things we all know and experience. That's why As Time Goes By is funny, not because it's a humourous show, but because it presents over-the-top versions of normal life events to the audience, and shows us how the characters react.

Like when they go to Hollywood. Jean is the typical 'fake' persona, clamouring about them being in Hollywood When she tells Lionel to look outside and tell her what he sees, his response, flat, bored, and utterly nonplussed: "Smog."

"No, beyond the smog."

"More smog."

"No, HOLLYWOOD! We're in Hollywood!"

And his reaction amounts to: well, whoopee sh*t.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hootman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:56pm
Life is much to short to over analyze.   If you don't like something, them don't watch it. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 10:58pm
As Time Goes By was amusing, but I wouldn't call it "funny".

Miranda was/is funny. Men Behaving Badly was funny. Last of the Summer Wine was funny. Black Adder was funny. Barbara is funny. Waiting for God was funny. One Foot in the Grave was funny. Or at least as you can expect a TV show to be.

But more importantly to me, is that they didn't follow some phony, ratings concerned formula that pandered to a youthful audience in order to appease commercial sponsors & they weren't trying to be hip.

That's also what I loved about Seinfeld & Cheers.

They cast aside the mold & went for clever & original rather than pedestrian & predictable.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 11:00pm
Originally posted by Hootman Hootman wrote:

Life is much to short to over analyze.   If you don't like something, them don't watch it. 


Some people find analyzing such things to be interesting.

And BTW, I don't watch BBT.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Papa Lazarou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 11:02pm
Funny thing is that even shows made by the commercial channels in England don't go crazy over formula, youth appeal, commercial sponsers, etc.

ITV makes some brilliant shows just as lauded as anything by the BBC, same with Channel 4 and Sky.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hootman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 11:06pm
Both Seinfeld and Cheers had low ratings until the critics finally got through to people.  I believe Big Bang was the same way.  All I know is that I didn't watch it until a couple of  years ago.  Now, if I have time, I watch it.

I'm not a fan of a lot of sitcoms today.  The only one I try not to miss is Modern Family. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 11:08pm
Originally posted by Papa Lazarou Papa Lazarou wrote:

Funny thing is that even shows made by the commercial channels in England don't go crazy over formula, youth appeal, commercial sponsers, etc.

ITV makes some brilliant shows just as lauded as anything by the BBC, same with Channel 4 and Sky.


There just seems to be a higher level of respect for older, more mature people & what they would like to watch.

I think that may be why so many of the characters in their shows are older people.

It's as if in America, TV shows are ashamed of older people because young people are too.

Imagine that... young people laughing at the antics of old people.

Without three sex jokes a minute, no less.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Zach6848 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 11:08pm
Honestly, it's a pretty entertaining show regardless of the themes. But that's just me.

The one thing that I don't get about it is how it portrays nerds. As a self-proclaimed neckbeard, I don't see using Ubuntu as even slightly nerdy. In one scene, Sheldon says that Ubuntu is his favorite Linux-based operating system. In reality, a true nerd would scoff at Ubuntu because it's too user-friendly, and probably use Arch Linux or #! or Gentoo. They don't seem to know much about the nerd subculture at all, just the 'faux nerds' who act like because they play a videogame for a few hours or watch Star Trek, they're OMG SUCH NERDS.

And these guys use Alienware computers. That discredits the whole premise because a real nerd builds their own computer. Pre-built is for suckers.

But, it is nice to see a show that isn't reality or some kind of dancing/singing contest that is mildly amusing, so that alone makes it better than 80% of the sh*t we see on television now.

However, no comedy will ever be able to dethrone Seinfeld, for me. It is the pinnacle of American comedy. I've watched each episode probably a hundred times, I could probably repeat alot of episode's dialogue verbatim, word for word. And I still laugh at it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2014 at 11:10pm
Originally posted by Hootman Hootman wrote:

Both Seinfeld and Cheers had low ratings until the critics finally got through to people.  I believe Big Bang was the same way.  All I know is that I didn't watch it until a couple of  years ago.  Now, if I have time, I watch it.

I'm not a fan of a lot of sitcoms today.  The only one I try not to miss is Modern Family. 



ModFam is probably a pretty good show.

The only reason I don't watch that one is because I don't like shows about families or with kids in them.

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