The Big Bang Theory - General Discussion

[Chaos Theory]

I was thinking about it recently and I know I will probably be in the minority but of all the “buddy” comedies like Friends, Seinfeld (both I HATED) HIMYM (which fizzled our at the end) Only BBT remained more or less true to form  throughout.   Yes it stumbled at times.   With that needless plot of Penny suddenly deciding she didn’t want kids that came out of literal nowhere.  And that the marriage plot for Raj that went nowhere but still managed to gobble up time.   And honestly I probably would have liked to see Leonard and Penny’s kid even just for a second but that is just a minor nitpick.   Anyway this is probably one of the few comedies I watch whenever I have time on my hands.

[jewel21]

I've been watching re-runs almost daily. It's getting to the point where I've seen each episode too many times, but I still like having it on in the background. Even if i'm not watching the screen, it's just nice to hear their voices. 

[marypat57]

Chaos Theory:

I agree with you—I never liked Friends or Seinfeld and was not sorry to see them be cancelled.  I did watch HIMYM occasionally, but after the last awful episode, I vowed never to watch it again.

I watch TBBT most nights, and it is always fun to see what I might have missed the first time I saw them.  I would have liked to see Penny and Leonard’s baby, too.  Maybe there could be a TBBT sequel—with all of the kids—including Sheldon & Amy’s.  I could picture all of them living in the same cul-de-sac, near Howard and Bernadette.

[Mellowyellow]

I'm on my second round of this show! Up to season 9 now.

Gosh I adore it!

I didn't last through Friends and HIMYM ended in a dumpster fire for me so it's just really lovely BBT ended on a high note. 

Just finished an ep where Leonard and Sheldon went to buy illegal helium and ended up watching a movie with their dealer.

One of the standouts of this show for me was the Sheldon/Penny, Leonard/Sheldon relationship. He really was their baby. I think any kids they have in the future would be a walk in the park after Sheldon.

I'm noticing more stuff the second time round. Stuff like when Howard's mum died and Leonard was worried Sheldon was about to say something offensive. Leonard was like "Buddy" in the softest voice. I really love that friendship.

 

 

[Chaos Theory]

On 5/22/2020 at 8:11 PM, marypat57 said:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been wondering how Sheldon would have reacted to the coronavirus and all the restrictions going on these days..

Would have made for a few interesting episodes

 

Sheldon would go crazy and drive everyone else crazy as well.   This is the guy who couldn’t handle not going into work for a week when he was forced to take a vacation.   He would definitely go crazy having his routine disrupted.   

[Katy M]

2 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Sheldon would go crazy and drive everyone else crazy as well.   This is the guy who couldn’t handle not going into work for a week when he was forced to take a vacation.   He would definitely go crazy having his routine disrupted.   

But, on the other hand, he does have disaster preparations.  They were included in the original roommate agreement.

[Driad]

Sheldon would probably insist that his roommate (Leonard or Amy) go out for supplies.  Maybe at some point L or A would not come back, but would be kind enough to text Sheldon a list of delivery services.

[Guest]

19 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Sheldon would go crazy and drive everyone else crazy as well.   This is the guy who couldn’t handle not going into work for a week when he was forced to take a vacation.   He would definitely go crazy having his routine disrupted.   

I don’t know. He did spend three months on a train without ever going outside. He’s a creature of routine but he’s also happiest when he’s alone. I’m sure he would make everyone else miserable but would probably be just fine isolating and working from home. At least until Comic Con was cancelled. 

Edited June 30, 2020 by Guest

[Bort]

Yeah, for somebody who’s germaphobic and doesn’t generally like touching or being around random people, Sheldon would be fine with that more than he would be annoyed with his change in routine. Plus, he can clearly adapt to new routines, otherwise he’d have never moved to California in the first place.

i wonder more about some of the others. Penny can’t exactly do pharmaceutical sales right now. Amy and Bernadette would still have been going to work, since theirs is medical.

[Katy M]

4 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Penny can’t exactly do pharmaceutical sales right now

Sure she can. Skyping, or whatever, with doctors.

[MaryMitch]

Sales people for essential industries are considered essential. Believe it or not, my niece represents a liquor company and her job required that she still make the rounds of liquor stores (there's no liquor sales in grocery stores where she lives). And yes, liquor stores are considered "essential"; I talked to one owner and she said her sales were up 50%.

[Bort]

In which case, all the women would still be going to work. Howard too, as NASA is essential as well. Possibly even Leonard, since his work in applied physics means he probably can’t work from home, he needs the lab. 

[Katy M]

11 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

In which case, all the women would still be going to work. Howard too, as NASA is essential as well. Possibly even Leonard, since his work in applied physics means he probably can’t work from home, he needs the lab. 

If we're talking about when only essential services were open, I think the University would have been closed and only essential essential employees would have been working.  After that, they may have had a period where it was up to the individuals whether or not they wanted to come in.  I really have no idea what any of them were working on when last we saw them, and how critical any of it was time-wise.

As for Penny, I realized that depending on where that company does its manufacturing, she might not have anything to sell.

[wknt3]

17 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

In which case, all the women would still be going to work. Howard too, as NASA is essential as well. Possibly even Leonard, since his work in applied physics means he probably can’t work from home, he needs the lab. 

 

3 minutes ago, Katy M said:

If we're talking about when only essential services were open, I think the University would have been closed and only essential essential employees would have been working.  After that, they may have had a period where it was up to the individuals whether or not they wanted to come in.  I really have no idea what any of them were working on when last we saw them, and how critical any of it was time-wise.

As for Penny, I realized that depending on where that company does its manufacturing, she might not have anything to sell.

Most universities that I know of went to essential employees only before any governmental actions since they are run by people who actually understand how to interpret data and who know (or are) actual scientists. Plus they are more exposed to the world outside the US and saw what was coming and what needed to be done earlier than most. Since none of the guys had any teaching responsibilities they would have been shifted to work from home fairly early on in all likelihood. With the possible/probable exception of Howard, depending on what he was working on that time and if he could be shifted to other projects (in real life JPL worked to develop a new ventilator and NASA did implement telework for many employees). I would think Amy would also have been shifted to work from home status as I went to school with a number of biomedical researchers and if their work wasn't COVID related a lot of them were telecommuting unless they were in the middle of something that could not be stopped. Of course given that the show is set in a fantasy land where higher ed institutions hire young scientists for full time positions where they have no teaching responsibilities and get to pursue their own research who really knows?

[Bort]

Did Amy still work with monkeys? Because my place of work is right next door to a university that has hundreds of monkey cages and something like 7000 primates and that place did not close. 

[Katy M]

3 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Did Amy still work with monkeys? Because my place of work is right next door to a university that has hundreds of monkey cages and something like 7000 primates and that place did not close. 

Well, sure, any place that housed animals still had to at the very least still take care of the animals.

[HyeChaps]

I would like to think that Amy is working on a cure.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, HyeChaps said:

I would like to think that Amy is working on a cure.

That would be more Bernadette’s area. After all, "Mo' infection, mo' money."

[Driad]

So Bernadette might prefer to work on a treatment that people would need to take every day forever.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Driad said:

So Bernadette might prefer to work on a treatment that people would need to take every day forever

I doubt it. Every country on the planet is going to clamoring to buy any cure or treatment that is found. There’s been a massive increase in funding for pharmaceutical companies as a result of Corona. 

[chocolatine]

I've been on a kick to improve my math and physics skills lately, most recently studying differential equations. I discovered a YouTube playlist by a channel called Houston Math Prep, and the instructor sounds so much like Jim Parsons, it's like being taught math by Sheldon himself! I could fan-wank that Sheldon became so famous after his Nobel prize that he needed an outlet where he could teach useful skills to the masses while remaining anonymous, so he made these videos. And "Houston" is a nod to his home state/undergraduate alma mater.

[freddi]

The series reruns every night on the local Fox channel -- tonight is the episode in season one with Sheldon's twin sister, titled in the cable guide as "The Shiksa Indeterminancy".   I have always seen this under its original title "The Pork Chop Indeterminancy".  If they are trying to be less offensive, this new version of the title is a fail.    

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, freddi said:

The series reruns every night on the local Fox channel -- tonight is the episode in season one with Sheldon's twin sister, titled in the cable guide as "The Shiksa Indeterminancy".   I have always seen this under its original title "The Pork Chop Indeterminancy".  If they are trying to be less offensive, this new version of the title is a fail.    

According to google The Shiksa Indeterminacy was the original title and it was changed to Pork Chop at some point. 

[Driad]

While we're here, someone wrote this, which reminded me of Sheldon:

"Linda, my profile clearly said I like to experiment in the bedroom. If you're not comfortable handling plutonium why did you even message me?"

[freddi]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

According to google The Shiksa Indeterminacy was the original title and it was changed to Pork Chop at some point. 

Thanks!  I know I would have remembered that if I had ever seen in on a listing!  

[jewel21]

The CTV Comedy Chanel has been playing this show morning and night for the past three days. I've never been happier, lol. Even though I've seen some episodes so many times, I practically have the dialogue memorized, it still brings me such joy and comfort knowing it's on. It's like putting on a comfortable, broken in shirt. Just lovely. 

The marathon is continuing all day tomorrow too and I can't wait to get home from work, put on my pjs, grab a blanket, and just snuggle in with these guys.  

[jewel21]

On 6/16/2020 at 2:42 AM, Swenson said:

I realize that it was done for comic affect.....but why wouldn't Leonard put a damn t-shirt on underneath that itchy sweater Sheldon makes him wear until he returns that Mario Bros. or whatever it was to the rental place?  You have to be a moron to agree to that.   It's cheating but so what?

The bet was for Leonard to wear the itchy sweater with nothing underneath it. Leonard thought he would return the DVD that same day and said sure and off he went. Until Sheldon stopped him at the door and told him the company went out of business, heh. As it became more complicated to return the DVD to the shop-owner, and later next of kin, he could have cheated and put an undershirt under the sweater but I think it had become an issue of integrity and pride preventing him from doing so by that point. 

[WinnieWinkle]

I've really been enjoying the marathon too.  We're moving into the last few years now and I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying these episodes.  Could be because I haven't seen them to death!

[jewel21]

I pretty much have been watching nothing but TBBT for the past three days. It's the only thing that's been making me laugh. Although, watching the finale again made me teary. I really do love this group of friends so much. 

[NoReally]

Recently, I was watching an episode from Season 1 ("The Peanut Reaction") where Penny decides to throw a birthday party for Leonard. At one point, Sheldon resists the idea of buying a present with one of his typical rants, and Howard says to Penny, "Tell him it's a non-optional social convention." She does so, and Sheldon says, "Okay."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the gang just continued to use this phrase throughout the series, wouldn't that have eliminated at least half their problems with Sheldon's nonsense? 

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, NoReally said:

Recently, I was watching an episode from Season 1 ("The Peanut Reaction") where Penny decides to throw a birthday party for Leonard. At one point, Sheldon resists the idea of buying a present with one of his typical rants, and Howard says to Penny, "Tell him it's a non-optional social convention." She does so, and Sheldon says, "Okay."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the gang just continued to use this phrase throughout the series, wouldn't that have eliminated at least half their problems with Sheldon's nonsense? 

Only if Sheldon agreed and went along with it. That seems unlikely. It would really only work with universally accepted rules. Most of the time Sheldon would argue his way out of whatever behavior was involved. 

[HawkeyeLo]

Been rewatching this on HBO Max, and in the episode where Sheldon is trying to decide between the two gaming systems, when he polls his friends for their opinions, just the way Bernadette says, "I like the Wii!" made me laugh out loud.

[WinnieWinkle]

Caught an episode tonight and was reminded of why I used to PVR this show in first run.  Endless commercials breaks.  It was so bad I actually forgot which episode I was watching by the time the show came back on!

[WinnieWinkle]

Following up on my last post here I ordered and just received the full series on DVD.  My cunning plan is to put all the episodes on a USB stick so I can watch them on my TV whenever I want without commercials.  I figure they won't take up much space!!

[ljenkins782]

On 1/20/2021 at 10:11 AM, HawkeyeLo said:

Been rewatching this on HBO Max, and in the episode where Sheldon is trying to decide between the two gaming systems, when he polls his friends for their opinions, just the way Bernadette says, "I like the Wii!" made me laugh out loud.

I've been watching on HBO Max too, but like Friends, I tend to stop at a certain point because the storylines and characters start to lose their appeal for me. 

I do wish the show had done less with the Penny/Leonard arc, especially in the beginning. My favorite episodes are the ones where they're all just doing something goofy together, regardless of whether there are girls or guys there. Or anything involving the mothers, Christine Baranski and Laurie Metcalf were just so good.

And I just never could buy the relationship. Leonard pining after the "hot girl" for no other reason than because she was hot, yes, and Penny trying to be attracted to the short, smart, nice guy, yes. But ultimately, I don't think that she'd find him attractive and interesting in real life and he'd either spend his life trying to keep her or get tired of the whole thing. 

The humor was always at its cheapest and least funny when it came to male/female relationships, but rest of the writing was so good. It's like they took half their writers from 2 and a Half Men and the other half from Frasier.

[Driad]

Article: Five Geek Social Fallacies.  Some of the situations look quite familiar.

[WinnieWinkle]

12 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

My favorite episodes are the ones where they're all just doing something goofy together, regardless of whether there are girls or guys there. Or anything involving the mothers, Christine Baranski and Laurie Metcalf were just so good.

Agreed,  I also found the best episodes for me tended to focus on Penny and Sheldon.  They played off each other so well and the writers were at their sharpest in those episodes  - and I think you are right, it's because they didn't have to throw in any kind of romantic angle and could just write funny.  "Mrs Cooper I think I broke your son."  Good stuff.

[WinnieWinkle]

I was just watching the episode where Penny takes Sheldon to see a psychic who tells him that he will achieve his greatest success once he commit to Amy.  Did this ever get referenced when they were up for and ultimately won their Nobel Prize?  Seems like a missed opportunity if they didn't!

[ljenkins782]

On 3/13/2021 at 4:58 PM, icemiser69 said:

I think if Penny had been involved with Sheldon they would have been a much better couple, than Penny and Leonard. 

I don't see that at all. I don't buy Penny with any of those guys in real life, but since shows apparently can't exist without a couple for some reason, Leonard probably was the best choice as he was closest to an average guy while still being quite a nerd. At any rate, he seemed to have the most self-awareness about it.

IMO, Sheldon and Penny played so well off each other because they were such opposites that they could be adversarial without any malice. They could say terrible things about each other, but it never really seemed to hurt either one of them because they each considered the other to be so different as to be from a different species. 

[Perfect Xero]

It made some sense that Sheldon would get along with Penny because she's pretty similar to his sister.

Speaking of Penny and siblings, watching back through the series on Max and the casting of Jack McBrayer as her ex-convict brother Randall has to be the oddest match of backstory to actor in the entire series.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Perfect Xero

[WinnieWinkle]

3 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

It made some sense that Sheldon would get along with Penny because she's pretty similar to his sister.

 

I always felt that Penny was like an older sister to Sheldon.  Some episodes made her seem to take on a maternal role (which could be funny) but mostly I got a sibling vibe from them.

[WinnieWinkle]

I saw an episode today I'd never seen before - finale for season 7 where Sheldon is so overwhelmed by the way things are changing he decides to 'ride the rails'.  It was a wistful episode with a few funny moments but the best line had to be Sheldon's when he was puzzled by something Leonard had said: "Did you take a marijuana?"

[Chit Chat]

On 3/15/2021 at 5:39 PM, Perfect Xero said:

Speaking of Penny and siblings, watching back through the series on Max and the casting of Jack McBrayer as her ex-convict brother Randall has to be the oddest match of backstory to actor in the entire series.

Yeah, that was a WTH moment for me.  I like the actor, but he wasn't who I envisioned for Penny's meth-making brother.  (It was meth, right?)   I would've loved to have had Leonard's siblings make an appearance, but we'll just have to leave that to our imaginations! I just wanted to know if they were as effed up as Leonard was due to their mother's parenting style.  Apparently both of his siblings were highly accomplished in their careers, but they still could've been emotionally damaged like he was.  Just curious!

[Bort]

19 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

I would've loved to have had Leonard's siblings make an appearance, but we'll just have to leave that to our imaginations! I just wanted to know if they were as effed up as Leonard was due to their mother's parenting style.  Apparently both of his siblings were highly accomplished in their careers, but they still could've been emotionally damaged like he was.  Just curious!

One could argue that Leonard was also pretty highly accomplished in his career as well. But yes, I’ve always been pretty sure that Leonard’s siblings had the same issues with Beverly that he did, we just never got to see.

[Chit Chat]

52 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

But yes, I’ve always been pretty sure that Leonard’s siblings had the same issues with Beverly that he did, we just never got to see.

I was always curious if they might have tuned her out and not taken what she said and did to heart like Leonard did.  She referenced his growing up years in one of her books (not in a good way), but I don't remember Leonard or her saying that his siblings were also referenced in her writings.  I got the impression that Leonard was her test subject, and I think they pretty much stated that he was.  She sucked as a Mom! 

[WinnieWinkle]

52 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

I got the impression that Leonard was her test subject, and I think they pretty much stated that he was.  She sucked as a Mom! 

I was so confused too about whether Leonard was the middle child or the youngest.  Most of the time when they talk about his childhood it seems like he was the youngest of the 3 kids but in at least one episode they specifically say his brother is younger than he is.  Which didn't make much sense to me.  There was the episode for instance where he says:

"When I was eight, I won a ribbon at the science fair for my project, “Do Lima Beans Grow Better to Classical Music.” But my mother pointed out that it was just a rehash of my brother’s earlier “Do Lima Beans Grow Worse to Rock ‘n’ Roll.” I felt so guilty, I gave the ribbon back."

So his brother did a science fair project in what?  Kindergarten?  Grade 1?  If I think about this too much I get a headache 🙂 .

[Bort]

Even if Leonard was her test subject and the other kids weren’t, there was still the complete lack of affection from Beverly, no birthday celebrations, essay assignment for Xmas... I can’t imagine the siblings looking back fondly on that childhood.

[WinnieWinkle]

10 hours ago, kariyaki said:

I can’t imagine the siblings looking back fondly on that childhood.

And we know that both siblings go on to have children of their own - can't help wondering how those kids were raised!  If they weren't scarred for life by Beverly did they end up following her parenting books?  One of life's mysteries I guess!

[Chit Chat]

Leonard's brother is a tenured law professor, so I'd imagine that he'd be quite serious and not quite as fun as Leonard!  Not that law professors can't be funny or fun.  His Dad didn't seem as uptight as Beverly, but he probably went along with the way she parented the kids.   He and his Dad didn't seem especially close either. 

Didn't Beverly say something complimentary to Leonard one time about how well he did by ending up with a girl like Penny?  I remember that scene, but I can't recall the exact conversation.  Something along the lines of him being the happiest with his marriage?  Please correct me if I'm remembering this incorrectly!  

[Nordly Beaumont]

On 3/15/2021 at 5:39 PM, Perfect Xero said:

Speaking of Penny and siblings, watching back through the series on Max and the casting of Jack McBrayer as her ex-convict brother Randall has to be the oddest match of backstory to actor in the entire series.

If he hadn't already been on as Toby Loobenfeld, I always thought DJ Qualls would be perfect as Penny's brother.