we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

[devonin]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

The problem with Big Bang Theory is that if you watch it without the laugh track, the conversations they have are perfectly reasonable conversations for nerds to have. I've had many of those conversations myself.

The important issue is that when my friends and I had that conversation, nobody was being urged to laugh at us.

[choof]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

if i had a laugh track for every time i've rolled a critical failure, i'd have more than 10 laugh tracks

[choof]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

and that shit is not funny

[Cavernio]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

It's offensive towards nerds. It's basically Nerdface.

Says the man who thinks Penny isn't deliberately portrayed for the audience as 'the dumb blonde' but rather an unattainable 'better than you' character. When Penny comes in, interrupting a conversation re: who makes the better starship captain, and she says 'oh nerd stuff' upon hearing the slightest bit of depth to what is ultimately a non-important conversation (it's about fictional characters afterall), the laugh track is not there because you're supposed to have to point of view of Penny and find it a stupid conversation that's worthy of laughing at, (because even she isn't even mocking it,) but rather that its completely above her head, is boring, etc. Rather, I get the impression that it's supposed to be funny because it's representative of something that could happen in real-life, a non-nerd walking into a conversation and then dismissing it, but then have it painted in a funny light. Whether or not that itself is funny is not the same thing as thinking the 'joke' there is done deliberately in mockery.

But maybe it is, maybe that joke is supposed to be 100% mockery. But if you think big bang theory is specifically offensive towards nerds, I think one would also have to also say that something like King of Queens is deliberately offensive towards white, 30 year old, blue collar jobbed men because you're laughing at him, even though the target audience for King of Queens is exactly middle-aged, blue collar men. Hell, the more I think about it, that could be EXACTLY what it is. But the thing is, this is no different from every other sitcom whose audience is supposed to identify with the stereotypical main characters in a fashion, who are then people you also laugh at.
To say that big bang theory is specifically offensive towards nerds and to then say that it just highlights the problem with nerdiness as it is perceived in society, and to use that as fuel for 'oh look nerds are still not accepted by society and this is just downright insulting' is very much taking a narrow perspective of the show. It completely ignores outside surrounding cultural context of what sitcoms are, what they represent, and the idea of self-deprecating humor when you are different or act outside social norms (pretty much all sitcoms' bread and butter).

Overall it's a stereotypical sitcom and follows the same formula as most sitcoms. Charicature, stereotypical cast with no depth where everyday occurences in their lives are made just unrealistic enough to try and make it funny. Sometimes I find it funny sometimes I don't. If I find any sitcom funny I almost feel like it's a guilty pleasure largely due to the fact that I know too many people who hate sitcom x y and z.

Of course, I'd say that around....oh 80-90% of all humor, in general, if not found to be funny, is going to be insulting.

[devonin]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

Says the man who thinks Penny isn't deliberately portrayed for the audience as 'the dumb blonde' but rather an unattainable 'better than you' character. .

The characters think of her that way. So either that is how she is meant to be viewed, or the characters are portrayed as idiots for thinking somebody so dumb is out of their league. Pretty insulting either way.

But no, I honestly think that -most- people who watch Big Bang Theory identify more with Penny than Leonard.

[choof]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

i identify with the laugh track

[Cavernio]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

But no, I honestly think that -most- people who watch Big Bang Theory identify more with Penny than Leonard.

If that's the case then that speaks to me more of the calibre of humor OF the show, and not the characters IN the show.

[shenjoku]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

I liked the first three seasons. Season four sucked so I stopped there

^ Pretty much this.

[j-rodd123]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

wait people are actually offended by big bang theory? that's hilarious

[Dynam0]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

But no, I honestly think that -most- people who watch Big Bang Theory identify more with Penny than Leonard.

And if this is the case...so what?

It's a sitcom like anything else, either you're going to find it obnoxious or hilarious. I find Seinfeld the best sitcom of all time but I know a lot of people who either love it or hate it. Those who love it think it's brilliant and those who hate it feel it's just 'stupidity and Kramer acting like a spaz.'

I think any sitcom can be broken down to one element of humour that is consistent and it's easy to call it passe; if you let yourself like it, you'll find reasons to like it and vice-versa, meh.

[Cavernio]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

The argument here, Dynamo, is that the show, instead of being about nerds and supporting nerd culture as it was/is supposedly doing, is instead insulting of nerds.
The quality of the show's humor, if someone finds it offensive, is somewhat different from humor that's passé. (although a lot of passé humor is insulting)

[devonin]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

The issue, Dynamo, is that the show inserts itself into nerd culture and nerd spaces and advertises itself as a show for nerds, about nerds, that nerds should like.

And then when you watch it, it is a VERY accurate representation of the kinds of things those kinds of nerds would say and do, except you're supposed to -laugh at it- not identify with it.

They basically said "Hey nerds, you get your own version of Friends, only it's nerds!" And while plenty of the things characters on Friends said were played for laughs, they weren't, intrinsically themselves, the funny thing you were supposed to laugh at.

[Dynam0]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

No I realize that but there were some comments saying the show is stale now from season 4 onwards.

Wouldn't a ton of other shows qualify as being stereotypically insulting to a demographic though? I think I'm a lot more 'nerdy' than most people are but BBT doesn't insult me in the slightest. I found it funny because I could understand Sheldon when he went on about physics. The D&D/Star Trek references I have no familiarity with but poking fun at that kind of 'nerdiness' is funny to me. What's wrong with seeing the humour in grown-ups pretending to be dungeon-masters?

When/where does Chuck Lorre or whoever say that nerds should like the show?

[devonin]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

No I realize that but there were some comments saying the show is stale now from season 4 onwards.

Wouldn't a ton of other shows qualify as being stereotypically insulting to a demographic though? I think I'm a lot more 'nerdy' than most people are but BBT doesn't insult me in the slightest. I found it funny because I could understand Sheldon when he went on about physics. The D&D/Star Trek references I have no familiarity with but poking fun at that kind of 'nerdiness' is funny to me. What's wrong with seeing the humour in grown-ups pretending to be dungeon-masters?

Because hundreds of thousands of people do that because they love it, and it's not a source of humour in their lives, and having it treated as something to laugh at is insulting? All the more so when the people doing the laughing are also saying "But this is for YOU, you should love this!"

[TC_Halogen]

Re: we have to deal with baspingo until 2017

And if this is the case...so what?

It's a sitcom like anything else, either you're going to find it obnoxious or hilarious. I find Seinfeld the best sitcom of all time but I know a lot of people who either love it or hate it. Those who love it think it's brilliant and those who hate it feel it's just 'stupidity and Kramer acting like a spaz.'

I think any sitcom can be broken down to one element of humour that is consistent and it's easy to call it passe; if you let yourself like it, you'll find reasons to like it and vice-versa, meh.

Thank you for posting this; it actually makes me feel a little bit better being someone who actually enjoys Big Bang Theory. I do find some enjoyment in the humor, but I wouldn't ever enjoy insulting someone or some group -- like Seinfeld (which I am a big fan of, for the record), I find a lot of the humor in TBBT situational. Continuing on:

But no, I honestly think that -most- people who watch Big Bang Theory identify more with Penny than Leonard.

At least in my case: I don't feel like I identify with any character on this show, and some of the show's demographic should fall in that same area. Penny's pretty far from intelligent in the show, and well -- the others certainly fall beyond intelligent. There are points in the show where I feel like it's possible to identify with both characters (Penny's overall confusion compared to her overly intelligent friends compared to Leonard/Howard/Sheldon's occasional issues with social situations).

*shrug*

EDIT:

Because hundreds of thousands of people do that because they love it, and it's not a source of humour in their lives, and having it treated as something to laugh at is insulting? All the more so when the people doing the laughing are also saying "But this is for YOU, you should love this!"

and suddenly, the typical crowd occasionally insulted/laughed at by nerds becomes the ones who get to take a shot here or there, yet the response is considerably different; gotta love the double-standard!

I resonate with this:

What's wrong with seeing the humour in grown-ups pretending to be dungeon-masters?

When/where does the show say that nerds should like the show?

and this:

wait people are actually offended by big bang theory? that's hilarious