S06.E01: Four Hundred Cartons of Undeclared Cigarettes and a Niblingo

[madpsych78]

I agree about Sheldon's speech at church. That was a GREAT way to use Sheldon and incorporate his character quirks. 

I also loved that they played "Losing My Religion" during the church service (just the instrumental, no Michael Stipe lyrics). That came out in the early 90s as well. 

I'm not bothered by Iain's voice changing, but if he REALLY wants to emulate Jim Parsons, he should occasionally raise the inflection like Parsons does. Then again I can buy that teen Sheldon is going to be more monotone and less social than adult Sheldon.

[Chit Chat]

7 hours ago, GiveMeSpace said:

ETA: The actor who plays young Sheldon-his voice was deepening last year and the last episode of last season was about puberty coming on.

For me it was quite jarring to suddenly go from that episode to the current one (as if no time had passed) and hear such a deep voice!  It's as if he went from tenor to bass in a heartbeat!  With our own kids, we gradually get acclimated to these changes, but for kids on TV, it's a rude awakening to see how much they grow and change in just a few short months.  

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

I'm not bothered by Iain's voice changing, but if he REALLY wants to emulate Jim Parsons, he should occasionally raise the inflection like Parsons does. Then again I can buy that teen Sheldon is going to be more monotone and less social than adult Sheldon.

Good advice.  It might be time for him to revisit how he impersonates Sheldon's voice, in light of the changes.

4 hours ago, januaryman said:

The story picked up in the same place but no one notices Sheldon's voice suddenly dropped?

I wasn't sure if that was Iain Armitage giving that speech in the church, or James Earl Jones.

[Tyro49]

I noticed in the last scene that Sheldon was suddenly wearing a t-shirt combination, like he does in BBT, but not here before now.

The melancholy has been coming on for some time, as we know his Dad will die soon.

And Sheldon is turning into an annoying teenager from an annoying child.

[ams1001]

7 minutes ago, Tyro49 said:

I noticed in the last scene that Sheldon was suddenly wearing a t-shirt combination, like he does in BBT, but not here before now.

He got his first superhero t-shirt (The Flash, of course) at the end of the finale last season:

[MollyMelrose]

Sheepishly have to admit ... enjoyed the exchanges between Connie and Dale. Connie can be pretty snarky and it was kinda fun to see the snark turned in her direction.

And really felt for Georgie, a kid trying to do the right thing, in totally ham handed ways.

[Chit Chat]

4 hours ago, MollyMelrose said:

Sheepishly have to admit ... enjoyed the exchanges between Connie and Dale. Connie can be pretty snarky and it was kinda fun to see the snark turned in her direction.

FWIW, I like Connie & Dale together.  She's not going to take any crap from him, and vice versa!  I like Connie, but I've never liked how she's always throwing verbal jabs at George.  He gets in a few back at her though.  

[momlyd]

On 9/30/2022 at 8:36 AM, possibilities said:

They drove down to bail Meemaw and Georgie out of jail in George's truck, but it looked like they drove home separately, with Dale driving a truck and George and Georgie in a car, which made no sense.

THANK YOU! I was not watching carefully and thought I missed something. That's pretty sloppy of the show.

AH, saw the reasons why after I posted this. I truly wasn't paying attention then. 

Edited October 1, 2022 by momlyd

[LekoBoy]

George and Dale drove TO the jail in George's truck.  On the way home, Dale drove George's truck (peculiar) with Connie as passenger.  Georgie drove his own car home with George as passenger.  How MeeMaw and Georgie thought they were going to fit 400 cartons of cigarettes in Georgie's car I don't know, but it was a better choice than Connie's yellow Miata and we don't know if she kept or traded in her Cadillac.

Edited October 2, 2022 by LekoBoy

[Tom Holmberg]

I thought Sheldon's speech was okay, but not great.  I understand its Sheldon but maybe he could have been stronger on unChristian behavior and less on pronunciation.  At least Missy got a little screen time.

[Chit Chat]

Although the congregation & pastor needs to have their hypocrisy pointed out to them, the idea that someone would stand up in the middle of the sermon and chastise them made me cringe.  You just don't do that.  You would meet with the pastor privately and discuss it (Mary should meet with him.  Not Sheldon.)  However, if this was the straw (or toe as socialite Kathy Hilton said) that broke the camel's back. Mary would be wise to find another church, if she doesn't want to give up the church altogether.  

[Mellowyellow]

19 hours ago, LekoBoy said:

George and Dale drove TO the jail in George's truck.  On the way home, Dale drove George's truck (peculiar) with Connie as passenger.  Georgie drove his own car home with George as passenger.  How MeeMaw and Georgie thought they were going to fit 400 cartons of cigarettes in Georgie's call I don't know, but it was a better choice than Connie's yellow Miata and we don't know if she kept or traded in her Cadillac.

Ahh that makes perfect sense! I could not for the life of me work out where the extra car came from and it seemed like a bizzare mistake to make from a writing perspective.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 9/30/2022 at 10:51 AM, freeser said:

Sheldon also really does not seem to understand the proper amount of information and social interaction when he was talking to Mandy.  He is so self centered all he can think about is what he feels like saying with no thought to how his words will affect the people he is talking to.  

That is the central conceit of The Big Bang Theory.

[GiveMeSpace]

14 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Although the congregation & pastor needs to have their hypocrisy pointed out to them, the idea that someone would stand up in the middle of the sermon and chastise them made me cringe.  You just don't do that.

If it "just isn't done" then it should be. A lot. And often. Maybe if that happened Jesus wouldn't have to go around shaking his damn head all the time. This was not the first time that Sheldon interupted the church sermon to call out the pastor's bullshit so this outburst was perfectly in line with the character and his motivations. Interesting that it was Sheldon's calling out of the hypocrisy and not the hipocrisy itself  that was found to be cringeworthy. I cringed like hell when that so called Christian lady passed judgement in the house of the man she supposedly worshipped. I was, like Jesus, shaking my damn head as I watched that mess.

[Welshman in Ca]

8 minutes ago, GiveMeSpace said:

If it "just isn't done" then it should be. A lot. And often. Maybe if that happened Jesus wouldn't have to go around shaking his damn head all the time. This was not the first time that Sheldon interupted the church sermon to call out the pastor's bullshit so this outburst was perfectly in line with the character and his motivations. Interesting that it was Sheldon's calling out of the hypocrisy and not the hipocrisy itself  that was found to be cringeworthy. I cringed like hell when that so called Christian lady passed judgement in the house of the man she supposedly worshipped. I was, like Jesus, shaking my damn head as I watched that mess.

Just like the video doing the rounds of the young woman who outed her "pastor" in a service as a sexual predator & abuser who then had the whole "congregation" turn on her and blame her for his abuses.

[GiveMeSpace]

1 minute ago, Welshman in Ca said:

Just like the video doing the rounds of the young woman who outed her "pastor" in a service as a sexual predator & abuser who then had the whole "congregation" turn on her and blame her for his abuses.

Yes! I forgot about that one. That was a real tell on what goes on in many of these churches and how parishoners worship the preacher instead of Jesus.

[GiveMeSpace]

29 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

On 9/30/2022 at 8:51 AM, freeser said:

Sheldon also really does not seem to understand the proper amount of information and social interaction when he was talking to Mandy.  He is so self centered all he can think about is what he feels like saying with no thought to how his words will affect the people he is talking to.  

That is the central conceit of The Big Bang Theory.

Yes! This reads as if it were the instructions to the actor written in the script on how he should play Sheldon. Sheldon does not pick up on social clues. I don't think he was diagnosed with Asperger's but he has many of those traits. I have seen Big Bang Theory but not a lot of it. Still, on thing is very clear, Sheldon is a trying and annoying individual who posseses many other compensating traits that make people love him despite that.

[ams1001]

12 minutes ago, GiveMeSpace said:

Yes! This reads as if it were the instructions to the actor written in the script on how he should play Sheldon. Sheldon does not pick up on social clues. I don't think he was diagnosed with Asperger's but he has many of those traits. I have seen Big Bang Theory but not a lot of it. Still, on thing is very clear, Sheldon is a trying and annoying individual who posseses many other compensating traits that make people love him despite that.

There's always been fan speculation that Sheldon is on the spectrum but the show creators have never said that (though I don't know if they've definitively said he's not, either). I think the closest they get to any kind of attempt at a diagnosis of some sort in BBT is "I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested." 

[ctlady]

As a born-again Christian, this episode infuriated me.  Did the writers just want to go out of their way to paint all bible-believing Christians as hypocrites and not practicing what they preach?  I got news for them - this can go on in ANY church or denomination, but it's convenient to demonize Christianity rather than Catholicism, protestants, etc.  We had a young lady in our church who already had a small child out of wedlock when she got pregnant again with the young man she was seeing (and eventually married).  While I agree that, in our faith, sex/childbirth out of wedlock is not celebrated, but neither do we turn our backs on our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

We are human, after all.  Backsliding will happen,  but the OTT snubbing - especially that woman not even wanting to hold Mary's hand - was highly off did nothing except confirm to those who believe Christians are nothing more than Bible beating, backflip-down-the-aisle, screeching- from- the- pulpit freaks.

[GiveMeSpace]

11 minutes ago, ctlady said:

As a born-again Christian, this episode infuriated me.  Did the writers just want to go out of their way to paint all bible-believing Christians as hypocrites and not practicing what they preach? 

To be fair, I only saw one Christian church being represented here-not all Christian churches, so implying the writers meant to disparage the whole religion is a bit of a stretch. I think the writers were just telling the story of what happened in Mary's church and how those congregants and clergy behaved. I do not think this represents every Baptist congregation in the country no more than the depiction of Sheldon's Memaw represents every grandma in this country. Although my Mawmaw was very much like Memaw so the writers hit the nail on the head for me in representing the single drinking and smoking southern grandmother. Also that whole church bit was relatable to me as well, but clearly many others have not been members of churches whose congregants behave like those at Mary's.

[Yeah No]

28 minutes ago, ctlady said:

As a born-again Christian, this episode infuriated me.  Did the writers just want to go out of their way to paint all bible-believing Christians as hypocrites and not practicing what they preach?  I got news for them - this can go on in ANY church or denomination, but it's convenient to demonize Christianity rather than Catholicism, protestants, etc.  

Not sure I get what you mean here.  Catholics and Protestants are all Christians.  But I sympathize because even as an Episcopalian this kind of plotline only makes non-believers think ALL Christians are hypocrites, prejudiced or predators, or (insert whatever perceived negative attribute here).  It's so bad these days that many people think all Christians, especially Protestants are the same.  They think we all have hypocrite preachers just like pastor Jeff who don't practice what they preach, and who would shun the mother of a son having a child out of wedlock.  They think we all have Mary's ancient beliefs and our congregations are just the same as on the show.  They can't even wrap their minds around how Episcopalians have had female bishops for 30 years now, openly gay bishops and don't shun people based on sexual preference or gender identity.  No, they tend to believe the negative stereotypes pushed on shows like this are true of ALL Christians and ALL churches, and it infuriates me too.

[Magnumfangirl]

17 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Although the congregation & pastor needs to have their hypocrisy pointed out to them, the idea that someone would stand up in the middle of the sermon and chastise them made me cringe.  You just don't do that.

I agree.  This entire storyline with the church is stupid.  I've said many times here that Pastor Jeff's divorce would be far more scandalous than a teenage boy knocking up his girlfriend.  Because this is a prequel, the writers are backed into a corner.  We all know what is supposed to happen, but they don't really want to do that yet so they came up with this nutty story to delay the inevitable.

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, GiveMeSpace said:

This was not the first time that Sheldon interupted the church sermon to call out the pastor's bullshit so this outburst was perfectly in line with the character and his motivations. Interesting that it was Sheldon's calling out of the hypocrisy and not the hipocrisy itself  that was found to be cringeworthy.

Of course, the hypocrisy of the church members and pastor is bad.  That goes without saying!  Sheldon is a spoiled little brat most of the time and needs to learn that even though his heart was in the right place with concerns to him mom, he was rude in his actions in the way he defended her.   If I were in similar circumstances, I wouldn't want anybody to stand up and make a scene for me.  I'd simply walk out like Mary did and then speak to my pastor on my own terms or turn my back on the whole group and be done with them.   YMMV. 

17 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

No, they tend to believe the negative stereotypes pushed on shows like this are true of ALL Christians and ALL churches, and it infuriates me too.

The same way they portray certain regions of the country with one wide negative brush.   

[Bethany]

21 minutes ago, Magnumfangirl said:

I agree.  This entire storyline with the church is stupid.  I've said many times here that Pastor Jeff's divorce would be far more scandalous than a teenage boy knocking up his girlfriend.  Because this is a prequel, the writers are backed into a corner.  We all know what is supposed to happen, but they don't really want to do that yet so they came up with this nutty story to delay the inevitable.

This is what bothers me about this whole storyline.  To this point we are never given any reason to believe that Mary's church consists of such closeminded people!  The pastor not only being divorced but remarried so quickly would have had people talking but the big thing for me is that the only other employee of the church is the awesome Peg who has had a very colourful life based on what she herself has revealed.  Add in to that the way the pastor has been very patient with Sheldon and his constant questioning.  Anyway iIf Lorre et al had wanted to paint this church as extreme over the top judgemental fundie he didn't do a very good job of it until this particular storyline came up,

[Browncoat]

And yet, here we are -- there was an article in my local newspaper today about a church that was, until recently, part of the Southern Baptist Convention.  They are no longer part of that because of their "open affirmation, approval and endorsement of homosexual behavior."  The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee voted to remove this church from its rolls.  As one of the parishioners said, "The irony is, they're excluding us for not excluding people."  No, not all churches are as small-minded as the one in Young Sheldon, but they're out there.

Sheldon's outburst was perfectly in line with his character.  This is not the first time he's questioned or called out Pastor Jeff during a sermon.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 10/2/2022 at 3:00 PM, Yeah No said:

... hypocrite preachers just like pastor Jeff who don't practice what they preach, and who would shun the mother of a son having a child out of wedlock.

On 10/2/2022 at 3:40 PM, Elizabeth Anne said:

.... Add in to that the way the pastor has been very patient with Sheldon and his constant questioning. 

He's a very weak person. He likes Mary and is remarkably tolerant of Sheldon  He fired her because he is bowing to the will of (the loudest/most influential of) his congregation, as he doesn't want to lose his job by taking a controversial stand, even though that is his job.

Edited October 3, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[shapeshifter]

19 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

...Sheldon's outburst was perfectly in line with his character.  This is not the first time he's questioned or called out Pastor Jeff during a sermon.

Yes, but also:

On 9/29/2022 at 9:25 PM, aqusdealer said:

I loved how Sheldon stood up for his Mom in church, but then they diminish its impact with that silly pronunciation bit at the end. That didn't work for me.

I was confused by Sheldon going from [1] defending his mom against the hypocrites to [2] the detour on the pronunciation of Nebuchadnezzar: 

[SHELDON]

1. Excuse me. Am I the only one struck by the incredible hypocrisy of this sermon? You go on and on about loving one another and how God is love. But not when it comes to my mother and our family? And why? Because my brother impregnated a woman 11 years older than him? Which one could argue was an act of love. At least on his part. She doesn't seem to care for him.

2. Also, earlier, you said “Nebuh-kuh-nezzar.” In Hebrew, it would be pronounced “Neboo-kha-nezzar.” More in the back of the throat. Kha. Kha. Or in Hebrew, shalom. Which also means “hello.” And “peace.” Kha! Kha!

But I think I now know what the writers were going for: 

1. Sheldon's first bit was just what it seemed to be: Calling the congregation out on their hypocrisy
   • which presumes the congregants are aware of what Jesus taught, but those who were "raised in the church" may just be going through the rites of Sunday mornings in church, without being aware of the message
   • kind of like knowing a patriotic song's words without having ever thought about its meaning. 
      
2. Sheldon then would think the second bit (about the pronunciation of Nebuchadnezzar) to be necessary to prove he had the biblical knowledge and scholarship to give his opinions validity.

But I'm not sure many viewers grasped this nuance (assuming I am correct in assessing the writers' intent here).

[anna0852]

3 hours ago, ctlady said:

 I got news for them - this can go on in ANY church or denomination, but it's convenient to demonize Christianity rather than Catholicism, protestants, etc. 

You are aware that Catholics are Christian, correct?

[Liddy52]

2 hours ago, Magnumfangirl said:

I agree.  This entire storyline with the church is stupid.  I've said many times here that Pastor Jeff's divorce would be far more scandalous than a teenage boy knocking up his girlfriend.  Because this is a prequel, the writers are backed into a corner.  We all know what is supposed to happen, but they don't really want to do that yet so they came up with this nutty story to delay the inevitable.

As someone who grew up in a Baptist church in a small Southern town, Pastor Jeff would have been fired because of the divorce.  Even though it was not his fault. The Baptist church would have never have condoned divorce, especially at that time. I now am Presbyterian so I am not sure how much has changed,  but I don't think most Baptist churches would be sympathetic.  

[bluegirl147]

Mary was worried what people would think.  She knew people would judge her family.  

I've said before BBT Mary didn't bother me but this Mary does.  Maybe this whole thing taught her a lesson and she became less shrill in her beliefs and that is why her beliefs were less strident by the time we met her on BBT.

[rmontro]

24 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

I've said before BBT Mary didn't bother me but this Mary does.  Maybe this whole thing taught her a lesson and she became less shrill in her beliefs and that is why her beliefs were less strident by the time we met her on BBT.

I just don't think Hollywood knows how to depict religious people.  

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Sheldon then would think the second bit (about the pronunciation of Nebuchadnezzar) to be necessary to prove he had the biblical knowledge and scholarship to give his opinions validity.

His problem is that he always has to be the smartest person/most well-read person in the room.  

[freeser]

1 hour ago, ChitChat said:

His problem is that he always has to be the smartest person/most well-read person in the room.  

It is not just that he has to be the smartest person, he has to make sure that everyone in the room totally KNOWS that he is the smartest person.  He does that by quoting facts that he feels shows his intelligence or at time just states how brilliant he is.

In the speech he made at his graduation from high school - for the first part of the speech it was kind and considerate especially about how much he learned from Missy.  But then he said he wished Missy well as she entered Junior High, but he really did not know how it would be as he  was so smart he skipped Junior High.  Nothing like putting a bad spin on what up until then was a nice appropriate speech.  

[possibilities]

Nobody likes to see their people portrayed in a negative light. But I've seen plenty of positive portrayals of religious people on TV and in movies. Compare this to the way that criminals, terrorists, and other "bad guys" are overwhelmingly and disproportionately scripted to be played by people of color, and you start to realize that Christians and other religious people who are occasionally given a negative story are really just not used to being treated as badly as everybody else by tv and movie writers.

Not all Christians are bigots and intolerant hypocrites. Some actually ask themselves what Jesus would do. But there are definitely some situations in which people are shunned and mistreated by people claiming to do it in the name of religion, and people who are targeted by those unpleasant folks also deserve some sympathy and representation now and then.

[Sarah 103]

7 hours ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

This is what bothers me about this whole storyline.  To this point we are never given any reason to believe that Mary's church consists of such closeminded people!

We know they are against dancing and rock and roll. 

4 hours ago, rmontro said:

I just don't think Hollywood knows how to depict religious people.  

A modern show that I think does a good job is Blue Bloods. The characters are religious, but they rarely make professional decisions based on it. We do not see them using church doctrine to determine how do to thier jobs. I can't come up with a modern sitcom that does the same thing.  

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

I've said before BBT Mary didn't bother me but this Mary does.  Maybe this whole thing taught her a lesson and she became less shrill in her beliefs and that is why her beliefs were less strident by the time we met her on BBT.

I've had that exact thought.  Maybe this experience taught her to be less judgmental and more accepting and tolerant of people.  We can only hope.  Her character is insufferable and was getting more so as the seasons went on.  This might be the thing that changes her.

6 hours ago, rmontro said:

I just don't think Hollywood knows how to depict religious people.  

I personally think it comes from being down on the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of some religious people, and wanting to poke at that, however it's becoming more common and paints religious people with such a broad brush that it gives the audience the impression that they're all that way.  And they're not.

[vibeology]

16 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Yes, but also:

I was confused by Sheldon going from [1] defending his mom against the hypocrites to [2] the detour on the pronunciation of Nebuchadnezzar: 

[SHELDON]

1. Excuse me. Am I the only one struck by the incredible hypocrisy of this sermon? You go on and on about loving one another and how God is love. But not when it comes to my mother and our family? And why? Because my brother impregnated a woman 11 years older than him? Which one could argue was an act of love. At least on his part. She doesn't seem to care for him.

2. Also, earlier, you said “Nebuh-kuh-nezzar.” In Hebrew, it would be pronounced “Neboo-kha-nezzar.” More in the back of the throat. Kha. Kha. Or in Hebrew, shalom. Which also means “hello.” And “peace.” Kha! Kha!

But I think I now know what the writers were going for: 

1. Sheldon's first bit was just what it seemed to be: Calling the congregation out on their hypocrisy
   • which presumes the congregants are aware of what Jesus taught, but those who were "raised in the church" may just be going through the rites of Sunday mornings in church, without being aware of the message
   • kind of like knowing a patriotic song's words without having ever thought about its meaning. 
      
2. Sheldon then would think the second bit (about the pronunciation of Nebuchadnezzar) to be necessary to prove he had the biblical knowledge and scholarship to give his opinions validity.

But I'm not sure many viewers grasped this nuance (assuming I am correct in assessing the writers' intent here).

I really don't think it's that complicated. Sheldon has a low understanding of social norms so he'll speak out in church. He has a very strong code of right and wrong and what was happening to Mary was very clearly wrong so Sheldon pointed it out.

Sheldon is also a know it all who loves to point out when someone makes a mistake so he added that on too. I'm guessing the only reason he didn't do so sooner was whatever Missy said to him offscreen to get him to go along to church and support Mary in the first place. Sheldon isn't going to try to prove that his opinion is valid. He's Sheldon; of course his opinion is valid!

[Tom Holmberg]

11 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

A modern show that I think does a good job is Blue Bloods. The characters are religious, but they rarely make professional decisions based on it. We do not see them using church doctrine to determine how do to thier jobs. I can't come up with a modern sitcom that does the same thing.  

Murdoch Mysteries does a good job, as well.  Murdoch is Catholic, which means a certain amount of prejudice against him in the police hierarchy.  He does a sign of the cross when he first approaches a dead body.  But the audience isn't beaten over the head with his religion, it's treated more realistically, as part of his life, but not the only part.  (MASH also did a good job with Father Mulcahy.)

[shapeshifter]

33 minutes ago, vibeology said:

I really don't think it's that complicated. Sheldon has a low understanding of social norms so he'll speak out in church. He has a very strong code of right and wrong and what was happening to Mary was very clearly wrong so Sheldon pointed it out.

Sheldon is also a know it all who loves to point out when someone makes a mistake so he added that on too. I'm guessing the only reason he didn't do so sooner was whatever Missy said to him offscreen to get him to go along to church and support Mary in the first place. Sheldon isn't going to try to prove that his opinion is valid. He's Sheldon; of course his opinion is valid!

You're probably right.
I was a nerdy know-it-all at Sheldon's age, so I'm probably just projecting my own motives onto the character. 

[lh25]

20 hours ago, Magnumfangirl said:

I've said many times here that Pastor Jeff's divorce would be far more scandalous than a teenage boy knocking up his girlfriend.

I agree in large part.  My mom left the church she had been attending after her marriage to my dad broke up.  She was very involved, ushered and worked the coffee service on Sundays.  Hosted a home group.  Then one day, the sermon was about how everyone should be nice to divorced people even though the Bible said it was wrong.  She quit the next day.  She never wanted to get divorce, but dad had an affair and left.  

[proserpina65]

On 10/1/2022 at 9:22 PM, ChitChat said:

Although the congregation & pastor needs to have their hypocrisy pointed out to them, the idea that someone would stand up in the middle of the sermon and chastise them made me cringe.  You just don't do that.  You would meet with the pastor privately and discuss it (Mary should meet with him.  Not Sheldon.)  However, if this was the straw (or toe as socialite Kathy Hilton said) that broke the camel's back. Mary would be wise to find another church, if she doesn't want to give up the church altogether.  

This is Sheldon, though.  He's not going to do that.  He's going to say what he thinks when he thinks it.

23 hours ago, ctlady said:

As a born-again Christian, this episode infuriated me.  Did the writers just want to go out of their way to paint all bible-believing Christians as hypocrites and not practicing what they preach?  I got news for them - this can go on in ANY church or denomination, but it's convenient to demonize Christianity rather than Catholicism, protestants, etc.  We had a young lady in our church who already had a small child out of wedlock when she got pregnant again with the young man she was seeing (and eventually married).  While I agree that, in our faith, sex/childbirth out of wedlock is not celebrated, but neither do we turn our backs on our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

We are human, after all.  Backsliding will happen,  but the OTT snubbing - especially that woman not even wanting to hold Mary's hand - was highly off did nothing except confirm to those who believe Christians are nothing more than Bible beating, backflip-down-the-aisle, screeching- from- the- pulpit freaks.

No, presumably all Christians are not like the congregation at Mary's church but there are definitely a lot of them out there.

19 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I was confused by Sheldon going from [1] defending his mom against the hypocrites to [2] the detour on the pronunciation of Nebuchadnezzar: 

That's also how Sheldon is.  He gets distracted by minutiae.

18 hours ago, rmontro said:

I just don't think Hollywood knows how to depict religious people.  

They depict some religious people just fine because there are plenty of this type out there.  They're not so good at depicting the spectrum of how religious people of many faiths act.

14 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

We know they are against dancing and rock and roll. 

And Dungeons & Dragons, books/movies with which they disagree, as well.  Don't forget that horrible "Hell House" thing at Halloween.  And Pastor Jeff's glee at how much they were getting in donations.

[Bethany]

15 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

We know they are against dancing and rock and roll. 

19 hours ago, rmontro said:

Absolutely.  They've shown a lot of typical things that baptist churches are against but until this utterly stupid pregnancy storyline I didn't feel the people going to the church would have been the type to go over the top ballistic over a teen pregnancy (well technically since Georgie is only 17). 

What was already a negative storyline is just getting worse and worse.  I watch comedies to laugh not to grind my teeth and get mad at the writers!

[Bobbin]

On 9/29/2022 at 5:34 PM, BitterApple said:

Iain's voice is so deep, omg. I know it's part of growing up, but damn it was so distracting. I hope I can get used to it.

Once upon a time, Donnie Osmond's voice suddenly changed so that he could no longer hit the high notes in "Puppy Love."

[kwnyc]

On 10/2/2022 at 6:06 PM, bluegirl147 said:

I've said before BBT Mary didn't bother me but this Mary does. 

BBT Mary has mellowed...she's seen a lot since the '90s: she lost her husband, Georgie's been married a couple of times, Missy has a rocky marriage, and I like to think that maybe she found a church that was nicer to her. (And according to at least one episode of BBT, she was having sex.)

[OlderThanDirt]

I have a lot of sympathy for Mary. She was a pregnant teenager who took responsibility and has followed the rules since then. She had twins and nearly lost Missy at birth and then Sheldon turned out to be the genius no one could have predicted. She has dealt with the ups and downs of her husband's career and mediated between her mother and husband. She's rigid because she's working hard to hold her life together in a rigid small town. Of course every family has secrets but no one wants them talked about. 

I agree that the pastor's divorce would have been a problem for a small town Texas church except for the character of his first wife and that the second wife was a cop.  But I think Mandy and her family would have been the ones ostracized rather than Georgie because he's offered to marry her.  In real life she would have moved away before anyone knew she was pregnant. 

[Welshman in Ca]

On 10/3/2022 at 10:46 AM, proserpina65 said:

They depict some religious people just fine because there are plenty of this type out there.  They're not so good at depicting the spectrum of how religious people of many faiths act.

And Dungeons & Dragons, books/movies with which they disagree, as well.  Don't forget that horrible "Hell House" thing at Halloween.  And Pastor Jeff's glee at how much they were getting in donations.

Don't forget snakes & ladders as well because the snakes are apparently evil and a depiction of the devil. There's a reason it's called chutes & ladders in the USofA by most.

Not all religious people are the same, christian or not, but their track records on tolerance are not exactly stellar.

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

Not all religious people are the same, christian or not, but their track records on tolerance are not exactly stellar.

I don't think they're any worse than anyone else's.  In fact, I'd say as a group Christians are the target of more hate than most.  But while it is true that religious people differ individually (just like anyone else), Hollywood tends to prefer to portray them in a certain way that is not flattering.  And let me point out that people can tolerate each other without necessarily agreeing with them.

[Welshman in Ca]

13 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I don't think they're any worse than anyone else's.  In fact, I'd say as a group Christians are the target of more hate than most.  But while it is true that religious people differ individually (just like anyone else), Hollywood tends to prefer to portray them in a certain way that is not flattering.  And let me point out that people can tolerate each other without necessarily agreeing with them.

I didn't say they were, that's why I said "their track records' meaning all religions instead of "their track record" meaning just one sect.

[Bethany]

I finally saw this episode and it wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting it to be.  That's not exactly a glowing testimonial.  Anyway the highlights for me were Missy supporting her mother and also challenging Mandy and Sheldon speaking out in church.  Sheldon is always going to be Sheldon of course but his heart was in the right place.  I also liked when he asked Mary why she preferred to believe in a God who would deliberately make her life miserable as opposed to not believing in God at all.   

[Chit Chat]

15 minutes ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

I also liked when he asked Mary why she preferred to believe in a God who would deliberately make her life miserable as opposed to not believing in God at all.   

I think that Sheldon has a misguided and childish idea of the nature of God.  I don't believe that God "deliberately" makes our lives miserable.  Yes, there are challenges in this life, but unlike Sheldon, I don't think God takes any delight in the struggles we go through.   

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" — Jeremiah 29:11

That doesn't mean that my point of view is the right one, but from my perspective, this is where the writers/producers, etc. in the tv world misrepresent God and religion.  YMMV.