Great show. I got it into it recently. I normally hate sitcoms, but it's obvious that Big Bang is written for geeks by geeks.

Strangely enough the show is on fire in the ratings. On paper, it shouldn't be. It's about four nerds and the humor is usually off elite nerdisms. Yet, people really seem to dig it.



CBS is on their game sitcom-wise apparently, because I also got into "How I Met Your Mother". Also another show that reveals in its nerdiness.

So that's four sitcoms on presently I like: Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. ... All four very nerdy shows... hmmmmm

Rycona wrote:

I don't like this show. It has its moments, but not anymore than any other crappy typical network sitcom. Just because the jokes deal with geekdom and not with subject-x doesn't make it a better show. It's the same formula and it's a bit over the top at times. I like geeky jokes a lot; I make them often and love shows that have them, but I don't like jokes being catered and tailored to me. The delivery of jokes Also, I hate laugh tracks with a passion. I get more out of a joke when I see it and understand, not when some dead people jar their sides on command.

Believe me, I hate the laugh track more than anyone, but any show that uses The Time Machine as well as it did and had an end teaser where a character splits with mitosis is doing something right.

I will agree that references don't make a show, but the references on this show go much farther than how a show like "Family Guy" uses them. I think it goes beyond tailoring -- especially if you're reading Chuck Lorre's notes at the end of every episode where you see they come out of actual debates and real life.

Sit-com formulas I usually hate too. While "Big Bang" is a sitcom, it isn't nearly as bad as say "According to Jim". There's still genuine integrity behind the episode's emotional points. It also takes a much more humorous path than other shows where characters are trying to manipulate and hurt others. For the most part, all the characters on this show are terrible liars and overcompensate for it - hence the laughs.

As for canned laughter, I can say that sitcoms still actually do use real live audiences. Big Bang Theory is still a hit show to get tickets to in LA. I can't say how much of the laughter on the show is real however, but I have heard a few comments from the peanut gallery that I believe were genuinely recorded by the audience. There's been a couple of obnoxious screaming by a single person that comes out. I love those obnoxious people, because it would never be recorded on a padded track. In an episode of "Seinfeld" Larry David is clearly heard laughing off camera. Laughs like that I love, because it is genuine. There is also a difference between live audience laughter and something previously recorded. There's an emotional rise to the real ones.

An example of a reaction I think is real is in that clip I posted. Note when Sheldon comes out with the gifts, there's laughter by like three people at first, but when he passes through the alcove the rest of the room joins in. This is because Sheldon would be blocked by the set coming out. Most of the audience wouldn't see him until he came out as he did. The laugh track matches that reality and I believe most of it (if not all) was an actual reaction during recording.

Now, a show like "How I Met Your Mother" I know is not recorded in front of a live studio audience just because like "Seinfeld" there's about 30 set ups in every episode. They say the laughter is recorded later by screening the episode for an audience. I have never been in an audience for that show and I have no idea how that works. In the case of "How I Met Your Mother" where the audience can't be present, I don't know why they go the extra mile of using a laugh track -- especially when it is so edited; on an episode commentary for "Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M." the show producers admit they had to cut out audience reactions when Ted makes an immoral choice.

For shows like "Big Bang Theory", I can get behind the live audience. The set ups are much more common for a sitcom - granted there's numerous special effects going on in that show sometimes. And actors just like to have an audience. The sitcom in general is very similar to a stage play and our psyche kind of likes the environment it creates.

I don't like canned laughter when it is used to reinforce a joke. However, with both "Big Bang Theory" and "How I Met Your Mother" I actually forget about the laugh track more often than not. You really do stop paying attention to it, because you're either invested in the episode, or you actually find the joke funny.

And so on and so on...