A very interesting blog post
By way of Will scifantasy Frank (over on Google+), I found this post on the blog Shouting Into The Void:
The Problem With The Big Bang Theory...
Many of you know that I can't watch The Big Bang Theory; I find it, for the most part, cringe-worthy. Many of my friends who do like the show have said that they don't understand why I feel that way.
I think this paragraph from the essay makes the point best:
If you watch, really watch[,] an episode of The Big Bang Theory and pay attention to when the audience laughs it soon becomes clear . . . what they’re laughing at. What Chuck Lorre wants us to find funny is not the jokes which the characters are making, it’s the characters themselves. At one point Howard mentions playing Dungeons and Dragons. There is no joke attached to this, it’s not the punchline to any set up, however it is treated as one. Howard says the words “Dungeons and Dragons” and the audience laughs. They’re not laughing at a joke, they’re laughing at the fact that Howard plays D&D. And this kind of thing happens all the time throughout the show. How many times has a joke been made out of Leonard owning action figures or Sheldon collecting comics? When, in season one, Penny invites the guys to her Halloween party and they are excited about making costumes, we’re supposed to laugh at them, to think they are silly for dressing as a Hobbit or Thor when everyone else is trying to look sexy. The reason I feel uncomfortable watching The Big Bang Theory is because it’s laughing at me, at people like me.
That's how I feel, and how I've always felt. The show ridicules its main characters for laughs. And that makes me extremely uncomfortable.
The Problem With The Big Bang Theory...
Many of you know that I can't watch The Big Bang Theory; I find it, for the most part, cringe-worthy. Many of my friends who do like the show have said that they don't understand why I feel that way.
I think this paragraph from the essay makes the point best:
If you watch, really watch[,] an episode of The Big Bang Theory and pay attention to when the audience laughs it soon becomes clear . . . what they’re laughing at. What Chuck Lorre wants us to find funny is not the jokes which the characters are making, it’s the characters themselves. At one point Howard mentions playing Dungeons and Dragons. There is no joke attached to this, it’s not the punchline to any set up, however it is treated as one. Howard says the words “Dungeons and Dragons” and the audience laughs. They’re not laughing at a joke, they’re laughing at the fact that Howard plays D&D. And this kind of thing happens all the time throughout the show. How many times has a joke been made out of Leonard owning action figures or Sheldon collecting comics? When, in season one, Penny invites the guys to her Halloween party and they are excited about making costumes, we’re supposed to laugh at them, to think they are silly for dressing as a Hobbit or Thor when everyone else is trying to look sexy. The reason I feel uncomfortable watching The Big Bang Theory is because it’s laughing at me, at people like me.
That's how I feel, and how I've always felt. The show ridicules its main characters for laughs. And that makes me extremely uncomfortable.