TBBT vs Young Sheldon: Nitpicks, Anomalies, and Historical Facts In An Evolving Universe, presented by Sheldon L. Cooper

[Guest]

1 hour ago, WinnieWinkle said:

Oh sorry, no I meant in terms of keeping things from Sheldon!  Georgie was angry with Sheldon because he was unaware of the problems the family had after George died.  But for pete's sake, Sheldon was living away from home, he was 14 and Mary was the one who shielded him - and this was according to Georgie himself.  It just seemed like lazy writing to me.  THey had to come up with a reason for Georgie to be angry with Sheldon and they decided on that.  It just didn't make any sense when you really think about it.  

He wasn’t mad that Sheldon didn’t know. He admits he kept the truth from Sheldon to protect him. He was mad that Sheldon still viewed as his screw up brother and refused to acknowledge his growth and accomplishments. He only brought Sheldon not knowing after Sheldon tried to guilt trip over what he was “putting Mom through” by refusing to go to the wedding. 

 

22 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Anyhoo, this sounds correct to me, but can we get a reference for it to a particular TBBT episode? 
TIA!

The Hot Tub Contamination. Sheldon specifically says that he was 13 and home for spring break so it should be too soon for that to happen on the show. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Guest

[greekmom]

On 5/11/2021 at 7:53 PM, treeofdreams said:

Sheldon has an eidetic memory.  They can't say he remembered things wrong from the past.

But in every situation there's his version, her version and the truth somewhere in between.

They could salvage George Sr.'s character by saying Sheldon remembered this wrong.

Sheldon was 13. He said he saw his father having relations with another woman.  Now that could mean anything to someone as naive as Sheldon even at 13 (last night's comments of the shack "You've seen Scooby-Doo").  Say woman was coming onto George Sr. (i.e. kissing him and trying to take off his shirt) and Sheldon walked in before George turned her down? So he saw enough to presume they were having relations but because the incident was never spoken of, George never had the chance to explain to Sheldon that nothing happened.

[WinnieWinkle]

2 minutes ago, greekmom said:

  Say woman was coming onto George Sr. (i.e. kissing him and trying to take off his shirt) and Sheldon walked in before George turned her down?

The only problem with this is why was George Sr in his bedroom with another woman in the first place?  I  hope if they do go down this road (and if they do it's still a few years away) that George realising Sheldon has seen them has second thoughts and ends things.  Which would satisfy the story as told on BBT but still somewhat salvage George Sr for me.  Somewhat.

[WinnieWinkle]

46 minutes ago, Dani said:

He wasn’t mad that Sheldon didn’t know. He admits he kept the truth from Sheldon to protect him. He was mad that Sheldon still viewed as his screw up brother and refused to acknowledge his growth and accomplishments. He only brought Sheldon not knowing after Sheldon tried to guilt trip over what he was “putting Mom through” by refusing to go to the wedding. 

I don't remember it that way at all!  One of the few BBT I haven't seen to death I guess.  

[greekmom]

4 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

The only problem with this is why was George Sr in his bedroom with another woman in the first place?  I  hope if they do go down this road (and if they do it's still a few years away) that George realising Sheldon has seen them has second thoughts and ends things.  Which would satisfy the story as told on BBT but still somewhat salvage George Sr for me.  Somewhat.

Sorry maybe I should have clarified. I was thinking that yes George Sr. was tempted but then had second thoughts about it.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

He wasn’t mad that Sheldon didn’t know. He admits he kept the truth from Sheldon to protect him. He was mad that Sheldon still viewed as his screw up brother and refused to acknowledge his growth and accomplishments. He only brought Sheldon not knowing after Sheldon tried to guilt trip over what he was “putting Mom through” by refusing to go to the wedding. 

Actually, I think it’s more like Georgie was mad that Sheldon pulled the dick move of purposely not inviting his big brother to his wedding and then only invited him because Mary forced him to. 

[shapeshifter]

40 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

The only problem with this is why was George Sr in his bedroom with another woman in the first place?  I  hope if they do go down this road (and if they do it's still a few years away) that George realising Sheldon has seen them has second thoughts and ends things.  Which would satisfy the story as told on BBT but still somewhat salvage George Sr for me.  Somewhat.

That sounds reasonable, but, on the now seemingly outside chance that the show wants to return to comedy:

1. Brenda gets locked out of her car or house and asks George to help because *reasons*
2. George says "Sure!" and offers the use of his landline phone but discovers he's locked out *maybe it's a windy day and first Brenda's car blew shut with her keys in it, and now the Cooper house front door blows shut with George and Brenda on the front porch* 
3. George and Brenda --through a physical comedy of situation perhaps relying on both being somewhat oversized-- eventually both wind up going through the bedroom window, falling on top of each other
4. Sheldon, who had headphones on and was unaware of any of this, walks into The Bedroom.
   {and scene}

[Sarah 103]

7 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I think it's a gamble.  I'm curious as to how many YS fans (never having seen TBBT) are going to stick around if this show follows TBBT storyline.  I wouldn't, and as a BBT fan, I'm on the fence about this show now.  I'll watch it when it starts up again, but if it was like the past few episodes, I'll be out.  It's much too negative for a comedy.

I always thought things really fell apart when Sheldon left home for graduate school, and that hasn't happened yet. 

6 hours ago, Katy M said:

I just want to see the scene where Billy Sparks breaks Sheldon's arm.  Because he totally deserves it.  It will have to be a flashback because it happened when he was 8, but I still want to see it.

Based on what we've seen of Billy, I'm guessing it was an accident. It was probably a combination of Billy being larger and not knowing his own strength, Sheldon being smaller, and Billy being more used to rough play than Sheldon. 

 

 

[tessaray]

They could be trolling us with the Brenda scene. After just getting dumped by her own husband, would she really do that to anyone? And Sheldon doesn't walk in on his dad for another year or two, so the other woman could be anyone. (My first suspect was the school  librarian, tbh.)

[Chit Chat]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Anyhoo, this sounds correct to me, but can we get a reference for it to a particular TBBT episode? 

Here is it:  Knock 3 times

Edited May 14, 2021 by ChitChat

[greekmom]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

That sounds reasonable, but, on the now seemingly outside chance that the show wants to return to comedy:

1. Brenda gets locked out of her car or house and asks George to help because *reasons*
2. George says "Sure!" and offers the use of his landline phone but discovers he's locked out *maybe it's a windy day and first Brenda's car blew shut with her keys in it, and now the Cooper house front door blows shut with George and Brenda on the front porch* 
3. George and Brenda --through a physical comedy of situation perhaps relying on both being somewhat oversized-- eventually both wind up going through the bedroom window, falling on top of each other
4. Sheldon, who had headphones on and was unaware of any of this, walks into The Bedroom.
   {and scene}

That's a good one.

I was thinking George is sick. Mary is off to bible study group. Georgie and Missy were going out and let Brenda in as she brought soup over for George. Brenda goes the the bedroom and is all nice and neighbourly and concerned for George but we know what's up. She closes the door, starting making the moves on George. Sheldon comes in from reading week. Hears some noise (something gets knocked over). Knocks - walks in - sees Brenda kissing George with her blouse off (she took it off earlier to entice George). Sheldon leaves. George throws out Brenda. And it's never discussed.

(and scene)

[shapeshifter]

51 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

Here is it:  Knock 3 times

Thanks for the link to that bit, @ChitChat. 
Regarding:   
“…we locked eyes, I ran to my room, and we never, ever spoke of it.” 
I now recall that even when I first heard it that I thought Sheldon’s story left room for him to have misinterpreted what he saw, perhaps even something like the scenario I suggested above:

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

That sounds reasonable, but, on the now seemingly outside chance that the show wants to return to comedy:

1. Brenda gets locked out of her car or house and asks George to help because *reasons*
2. George says "Sure!" and offers the use of his landline phone but discovers he's locked out *maybe it's a windy day and first Brenda's car blew shut with her keys in it, and now the Cooper house front door blows shut with George and Brenda on the front porch* 
3. George and Brenda --through a physical comedy of situation perhaps relying on both being somewhat oversized-- eventually both wind up going through the bedroom window, falling on top of each other
4. Sheldon, who had headphones on and was unaware of any of this, walks into The Bedroom.
   {and scene}

or maybe even better, a variation on @greekmom’s scenario above, in which Brenda is bringing  chicken noodle soup to sick George in bed, and she trips over a football or something, and falls on top of George, with the hot soup causing both of them to make noises similar to what young Sheldon has heard on campus when students are engaging in coitus.

Sheldon and his dad “lock eyes” and the rest is TV history. 

[Chit Chat]

I guess I'm disappointed if they stay with TBBT storyline of George cheating because he's been portrayed on this show as a kind, loving, hard-working father.  I had the impression from older Sheldon that he was a slouch and a no-good father.  This is not what we've been shown.   He is sad and not happy with his career, but he's not a terrible father or husband.  Yes, he could be more attentive to Mary's needs, but she could do the same for him.   She brings some problems to the marriage too.  What a mess!

[Zoe]

One way for Sheldon to "misinterpret" the situation is for George and Mary to have already separated but they were trying not to tell the children. 

11 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Anyhoo, this sounds correct to me, but can we get a reference for it to a particular TBBT episode? 
TIA!

I don't know the exact episode, but he tells Penny the story to explain why he always knocks three times. Might have been the episode where they do they love experiment. 

Edit: whoops, thought I was at the end of the thread. Already answered!

Edited May 15, 2021 by Zoe

[Yeah No]

16 hours ago, tessaray said:

They could be trolling us with the Brenda scene. After just getting dumped by her own husband, would she really do that to anyone? And Sheldon doesn't walk in on his dad for another year or two, so the other woman could be anyone. (My first suspect was the school  librarian, tbh.)

I agree.  It's way too soon.  They may just be prepping the audience for the inevitable future.  They should have been doing it gradually all along, though, because to people who've never seen TBBT this is coming as an unwelcome shock and one they may not be on board with at all.  

Plus, by the time George really DOES stray, the show may have set things up for it to look a lot more understandable.  George and Mary may be separated by that point and Sheldon in his infinite rigidity may still condemn his father for having a girlfriend.  There are many ways the show could handle this without it being as bad as Sheldon remembered it on TBBT.

[shapeshifter]

In Annie Potts’ show from circa 20 years ago, “Any Day Now,” her husband had a similar scene in a bar with Annie Potts’ character’s sister that also looked like it was going to end in adultery, but they sidestepped it.  
Seeing Missy’s hideout for the first time in this same episode ––a hideout that also resembles the one from “Any Day Now”–– is driving me a little nutso, like:   
Am I the only viewer seeing these similarities?  
Are there Easter eggs or random coincidences?

[Yeah No]

20 hours ago, greekmom said:

But in every situation there's his version, her version and the truth somewhere in between.

They could salvage George Sr.'s character by saying Sheldon remembered this wrong.

Sheldon was 13. He said he saw his father having relations with another woman.  Now that could mean anything to someone as naive as Sheldon even at 13 (last night's comments of the shack "You've seen Scooby-Doo").  Say woman was coming onto George Sr. (i.e. kissing him and trying to take off his shirt) and Sheldon walked in before George turned her down? So he saw enough to presume they were having relations but because the incident was never spoken of, George never had the chance to explain to Sheldon that nothing happened.

Yes, that's pretty much what I was saying earlier in the thread.  Plus Sheldon wouldn't know what sex was if it hit him in the face.  His interpretation of what he saw is likely going to be a little immature because of that.  Even older Sheldon could be ignorant about such things.  I imagine younger Sheldon could be even more ignorant.

But to your point, he's not yet 13 is he?  So this may just be a show tease.  He may turn Brenda down if she comes on to him or they may just become friends for now and maybe more in the future but by then it may not be as bad as it looks right now.  Like others have said, maybe the show will make George and Mary separate by then or something else to preserve George's image as a decent guy.

[WinnieWinkle]

15 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Plus Sheldon wouldn't know what sex was if it hit him in the face.  His interpretation of what he saw is likely going to be a little immature because of that.  Even older Sheldon could be ignorant about such things.  I imagine younger Sheldon could be even more ignorant.

Whatever else Sheldon saw or didn't see the BBT fact remains he saw his father in the marital bed with another woman.  I don't care if George and Mary were separated at this point or not that was a crappy thing for George to do.  Which if he snuck the woman out of the house and never talked about this with Sheldon sounds like George agreed that he was doing something crappy and underhanded.

[greekmom]

2 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

Whatever else Sheldon saw or didn't see the BBT fact remains he saw his father in the marital bed with another woman.  I don't care if George and Mary were separated at this point or not that was a crappy thing for George to do.  Which if he snuck the woman out of the house and never talked about this with Sheldon sounds like George agreed that he was doing something crappy and underhanded.

Respectfully Sheldon didn't see his father in the martial bed with another woman.  Sheldon claimed he walked into the bedroom and "saw my father having relations with another woman".  So we don't know exactly what Sheldon saw or not saw and what he interpreted as "relations".

 

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

Whatever else Sheldon saw or didn't see the BBT fact remains he saw his father in the marital bed with another woman.  I don't care if George and Mary were separated at this point or not that was a crappy thing for George to do.  Which if he snuck the woman out of the house and never talked about this with Sheldon sounds like George agreed that he was doing something crappy and underhanded.

The fact that George to this point has been portrayed as such a good father and decent person on YS is probably a clue that older Sheldon's recollections of things are not as accurate as he likes to think they are, because the person he recalled on TBBT was none of those things.  I still think the resolution to this will involve Sheldon's inaccurate recollection being brought out by the show, and the reality being a little different from what older Sheldon recalled about his father on TBBT.  

1 minute ago, greekmom said:

Respectfully Sheldon didn't see his father in the martial bed with another woman.  Sheldon claimed he walked into the bedroom and "saw my father having relations with another woman".  So we don't know exactly what Sheldon saw or not saw and what he interpreted as "relations".

Thank you, this is exactly what I'm talking about!

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, greekmom said:

Sheldon claimed he walked into the bedroom and "saw my father having relations with another woman".  So we don't know exactly what Sheldon saw or not saw and what he interpreted as "relations".

It's still very troubling that there is another woman in George & Mary's bedroom.  He's got a lot of 'splainin' to do!!

[WinnieWinkle]

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

It's still very troubling that there is another woman in George & Mary's bedroom.  He's got a lot of 'splainin' to do!!

Exactly.  I'm sorry but Sheldon may be naive about a lot of things but he's not stupid.  My hope is that YS never addresses this but if they do there is no logical explanation for why another woman was in their bedroom "having relations" with George Sr that wouldn't have been explained to Sheldon at the time.  

[Yeah No]

18 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

Exactly.  I'm sorry but Sheldon may be naive about a lot of things but he's not stupid.  My hope is that YS never addresses this but if they do there is no logical explanation for why another woman was in their bedroom "having relations" with George Sr that wouldn't have been explained to Sheldon at the time.  

It may have been explained at the time but that doesn't mean that Sheldon would necessarily accept the explanation.

George: "Sheldon, it's not what it looks like...."

Sheldon:  "I know what I saw!"

 

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

It may have been explained at the time but that doesn't mean that Sheldon would necessarily accept the explanation.

George: "Sheldon, it's not what it looks like...."

Sheldon:  "I know what I saw!"

 

They didn’t talk about it. Sheldon walked back out without a word and he and George never spoke of it.

[Yeah No]

2 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

They didn’t talk about it. Sheldon walked back out without a word and he and George never spoke of it.

Thanks, I had forgotten about that.  Even more reason to believe that Sheldon's version of what happened may not be what actually happened....

Edited May 15, 2021 by Yeah No

[Bort]

2 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Thanks, I had forgotten about.  Even more reason to believe that Sheldon's version of what happened may not be what actually happened....

Given what Sheldon thinks he saw, I imagine his reaction was like any of the various times I’ve walked in on people in a bedroom: close the door as quickly as possible and don’t look. 

[displayname]

On 5/15/2021 at 3:45 AM, shapeshifter said:

Thanks for the link to that bit, @ChitChat. 
Regarding:   
“…we locked eyes, I ran to my room, and we never, ever spoke of it.” 
I now recall that even when I first heard it that I thought Sheldon’s story left room for him to have misinterpreted what he saw, perhaps even something like the scenario I suggested above:

or maybe even better, a variation on @greekmom’s scenario above, in which Brenda is bringing  chicken noodle soup to sick George in bed, and she trips over a football or something, and falls on top of George, with the hot soup causing both of them to make noises similar to what young Sheldon has heard on campus when students are engaging in coitus.

Sheldon and his dad “lock eyes” and the rest is TV history. 

1. Sheldon also says in the video he knocks two more times after the first "traditional" one to give people time to put their pants on. I don't see any particular physical comedy situation that would require George and some other woman to be unclothed.

2. I don't think it's somehow less depressing if it turns out that Sheldon misinterpreted what happened, and it led to a messy situation between his parents. Much worse, in fact, if it turns out that he caused it. I REALLY hope this isn't the case.

Edited May 16, 2021 by displayname

[WinnieWinkle]

1 hour ago, displayname said:

I don't think it's somehow less depressing if it turns out that Sheldon misinterpreted what happened, and it led to a messy situation between his parents. Much worse, in fact, if it turns out that he caused it. I REALLY hope this isn't the case.

I agree with you that if they walk back this situation and make it something innocent that means Sheldon and George spent what was left of George's life with Sheldon thinking badly of his father - for good reason or so he would have thought at the time - and this stayed with Sheldon afterwards.  I really really hope YS doesn't go there because I agree that's even worse than the original scenario!

If they stick with BBT canon it's never suggested as far as I recall that the problem between George and Mary was caused by Sheldon walking in on George with another woman and saying anything to Mary though. If they do decide to stick with the marriage "imploding" there was a lot of anger and tension between the parents even leaving aside the whole issue of whether George had other women in his life.  

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by WinnieWinkle

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, displayname said:

1. Sheldon also says in the video he knocks two more times after the first "traditional" one to give people time to put their pants on. I don't see any particular physical comedy situation that would require George and some other woman to be unclothed.

Chicken noodle soup spilled on their pants?

[displayname]

4 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Chicken noodle soup spilled on their pants?

Why would they both undress in the same room haha

 

[displayname]

FYI:

Spoiler

https://screenrant.com/young-sheldon-george-cheats-story-details-update/

 

Steve Molaro confirms the cheating storyline is coming up.

 

[displayname]

2 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I agree with you that if they walk back this situation and make it something innocent that means Sheldon and George spent what was left of George's life with Sheldon thinking badly of his father - for good reason or so he would have thought at the time - and this stayed with Sheldon afterwards.  I really really hope YS doesn't go there because I agree that's even worse than the original scenario!

If they stick with BBT canon it's never suggested as far as I recall that the problem between George and Mary was caused by Sheldon walking in on George with another woman and saying anything to Mary though. If they do decide to stick with the marriage "imploding" there was a lot of anger and tension between the parents even leaving aside the whole issue of whether George had other women in his life.  

 

Hoo boy, I hate multi-posting, but I had to check. Sheldon's story about the three knocks isn't the only instance of him knowing about George's adultery. https://bigbangtheory.fandom.com/wiki/George_Cooper_Sr.

 

Quote

When their marriage was imploding, she dived into religion and he literately dived into "a bottle blonde bartender" who would try to buy Sheldon's love with action figures.

So we do know George cheated, unless it was all kept under wraps between George, Sheldon, and "bottle blonde bartender". I also don't see Sheldon being able to keep quiet to his mother or meemaw once he saw his father and his girlfriend, even if he could never speak to his father about it.

Edited May 16, 2021 by displayname

[WinnieWinkle]

12 minutes ago, displayname said:

FYI:

  Reveal spoiler

https://screenrant.com/young-sheldon-george-cheats-story-details-update/

 

Steve Molaro confirms the cheating storyline is coming up.

 

Sigh.  I'm disappointed.  I was really hoping they'd decide to just ignore the adultery storyline from BBT and move forward without it.  I hope though since it sounds like they are going to do it that they at least stick with what BBT has said.  I mean why bother "honoring Sheldon's stories about his dad" if they are going to change it all anyway?  Well we shall see what they do but I have no confidence that it will be handled well.  This is a Chuck Lorre show when all is said and done - few marriages are happy ones and in almost every situation I can recall from shows of his I watch the fault is usually the woman's.  If this happens I am so out,

[wknt3]

On 5/11/2021 at 7:53 PM, treeofdreams said:

Sheldon has an eidetic memory.  They can't say he remembered things wrong from the past.

 

On 5/14/2021 at 2:07 AM, Yeah No said:

Sheldon remembers the past the way he interpreted what he saw, and I think Sheldon misinterprets things he sees on a regular basis such that he may get the wrong impression from it.  He may remember everything he saw but his misinterpretation of what he saw will make it "wrong".

And that's pretty much how I see this going.  How many times on TV shows do people see something and get the wrong impression of it?  He sees two people doing something and assumes it's sex when it may be something less than that.  I still think the writers will find a way to sanitize this enough so that it will explain what Sheldon believed about his Dad for all those years as a misinterpretation of the truth.  And in that way it will preserve our memory of the "good dad" we learned to love on YS while explaining older Sheldon's erroneous recollection.  And while it won't be possible for the Sheldon we knew on the BBT to ever know that, the "omniscient" older and wiser Sheldon that narrates YS will.

Exactlly. How many times on TBBT did we see some version of this joke?

Sheldon: "Horrible event took place. How terrible."
Other Character: "It was completely innocuous event that you are completely overreacting to and exaggerating!"
 

On 5/14/2021 at 3:17 AM, Dani said:

 

This is a great quote. Thanks for sharing especially as it means the producers see things exactly the way I have always interpreted them! They are going to stick with the broad strokes but aren't going to treat everything Sheldon said about his family as gospel, especially his interpretation. Which makes sense. This show is in many ways a windfall. It was created as a way to give Jim Parsons more money without paying him more per episode and breaking the agreement with his cast mates and give him a chance to learn the BTS side of the business. I don't think anyone expected that it would be so good. Still they aren't going to undermine their hugely successful cash cow by undermining everything that came before with an ending that trashes everything that came before it (remember this is the same network that aired How I Met Your Mother so they have some painful experience in this area). I firmly believe they are going to end the series before they get to the darkest material, but they are still going to give us some dark humor and pathos. And given how well they have done before I trust that they have a pretty good shot of pulling it off surprisingly well.

[WinnieWinkle]

On 5/14/2021 at 11:36 AM, Dani said:

He wasn’t mad that Sheldon didn’t know. He admits he kept the truth from Sheldon to protect him. He was mad that Sheldon still viewed as his screw up brother and refused to acknowledge his growth and accomplishments. He only brought Sheldon not knowing after Sheldon tried to guilt trip over what he was “putting Mom through” by refusing to go to the wedding. 

I just rewatched this episode and Sheldon's attitude towards Georgie is only part of the problem Georgie has - the main cause of his resentment is that he knows that no matter how successful he becomes his mother will always be prouder of Sheldon than she ever would be of him.  Which really IMO is very understandable but also still not really Sheldon's fault. 

[proserpina65]

On 5/20/2021 at 10:33 AM, WinnieWinkle said:

I just rewatched this episode and Sheldon's attitude towards Georgie is only part of the problem Georgie has - the main cause of his resentment is that he knows that no matter how successful he becomes his mother will always be prouder of Sheldon than she ever would be of him.  Which really IMO is very understandable but also still not really Sheldon's fault. 

And yet it is in tune with a lot of siblings' dynamics.  The perceived "favored" one gets resented whether or not it's their fault.

[Tom Holmberg]

The one thing that really bothers me is that Sheldon puts the rest of the gang for the schools they went to, but Raj went to Cambridge, Howard MIT and Leonard Princeton, and Sheldon went to East Texas Tech.  I know why the producers had to do this, but it really bugs me.

[shapeshifter]

52 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

The one thing that really bothers me is that Sheldon puts the rest of the gang for the schools they went to, but Raj went to Cambridge, Howard MIT and Leonard Princeton, and Sheldon went to East Texas Tech.  I know why the producers had to do this, but it really bugs me.

Most of the time people who put down others feel insecure about their own status in the pecking order.

Edited July 15, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Bort]

Sheldon could just be smack talking about post grad degrees, as his is from Caltech.

[Tom Holmberg]

2 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Sheldon could just be smack talking about post grad degrees, as his is from Caltech.

Yes, but if it was me being talked smack to, I think I'd say "East Texas Tech" every time he brought the topic up. I think Sheldon would be highly sensitive to that. Besides, in college rankings, I think MIT usually beats out Caltech. (but they're both top-drawer schools).

13 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Most of the time people who put down others feel insecure about their own status in the pecking order.

I think he would be insecure about it.

[vibeology]

15 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Besides, in college rankings, I think MIT usually beats out Caltech. (but they're both top-drawer schools).

Yes, but Howard only got a Masters. So even if it ranks higher, Sheldon soothes his sensitive ego by pointing that out. 

[Bort]

20 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Yes, but if it was me being talked smack to, I think I'd say "East Texas Tech" every time he brought the topic up. I think Sheldon would be highly sensitive to that. Besides, in college rankings, I think MIT usually beats out Caltech. (but they're both top-drawer schools).

I actually don’t think Sheldon disses MIT so much as he disses Howard about only having a master’s. As for his undergrad, we don’t actually know if he finished at East Texas Tech. For all we know, he transferred and got his undergrad at Caltech as well.

[Tom Holmberg]

14 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

I actually don’t think Sheldon disses MIT so much as he disses Howard about only having a master’s. As for his undergrad, we don’t actually know if he finished at East Texas Tech. For all we know, he transferred and got his undergrad at Caltech as well.

I believe he's referred to MIT as a "trade school".

[Kiddvideo]

For me it kinda boils down to this: "Yes, I got my Bachelor's at East Texas. It was the only school my mother would allow me to attend when I was 11. Remind me, how old were you when you got your doctorate? I got my first PhD at 16."

[displayname]

I think Sheldon has great reasons to have that giant ego of his, haha. Even if he "only" went to East Texas Tech, that's hardly a dark spot on his extremely impressive resume, compared to "the gang". It would've been a much bigger chip on his shoulder if they'd ever had an episode on TBBT with Paige, who got offers from the Ivies and presumably went (of course, her familial situation is much different).

Edited July 30, 2021 by displayname

[shapeshifter]

Season 1 episode 2 of Barney Miller (1975) is airing on Antenna TV right now, in which "... Barney and the team attempt to uncover the identity of a serial bomber...." 
The list of suspects includes "Sheldon Hofstadter."

[Tom Holmberg]

On 8/3/2021 at 7:53 PM, shapeshifter said:

Season 1 episode 2 of Barney Miller (1975) is airing on Antenna TV right now, in which "... Barney and the team attempt to uncover the identity of a serial bomber...." 
The list of suspects includes "Sheldon Hofstadter."

And proof he finally built his time machine.

[shapeshifter]

5 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

And proof he finally built his time machine.

(in an alternate universe)

[Zanzibar]

I'm married to a Caltech grad, and I can tell you there is a healthy rivalry between Caltech and MIT.  The premise of Sheldon tweaking Howard about his degree being from MIT isn't really that out of line.  While I don't think most grads of MIT or Caltech take it to the extremes Sheldon does, Caltech is known for pranks on MIT, as you can read below.

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/pranks

Caltech is also smaller than MIT.  My husband's incoming freshman class was 210 students.

[displayname]

7 hours ago, Zanzibar said:

https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/pranks

BAZINGA