Since I'm giving every other rookie show at least two episodes (and blog entries), might as well find something to say about "The Big Bang Theory," just as soon as I get a restraining order...I'll give you that Chuck Lorre knows what he's doing as a comedy writer, even if 99% of the time what he's doing is a lowest common denominator sex joke. And there were some funny jokes here and there, like the geeks getting into a physics debate about the "You've got me. Who's got you?" scene from "Superman" and the furniture building tag at the end.
But at the show's core is this dumb, dumb bunny of a character, who somehow wasn't scared off last week when one of the first things the geeks said to her was that they had just masturbated for money, and who manages to get over that ridiculous invasion of privacy/stalking thing after just a brief chat with Silent Asian Geek and a stupid apology note from Leonard. I've been writing a lot this week about how I want my comedy to have some kind of basis in recognizable human behavior -- or, failing that, to be so unbelievably funny that I don't care how the characters behave -- and any real human being, even one this stupid, would have packed up and moved far, far away from these creepy losers after they snuck into her apartment and cleaned it while she was sleeping. And it wasn't like the storyline was remotely funny enough to justify that stupidity.
I'm done. Either "Aliens in America" gets good enough in the next few weeks that it takes its place in the rotation, or I just have one less half hour of TV to worry about on Monday nights.
What did everybody else think?
I watched Aliens in America. Is it me or was this version of the pilot less funny than the one that came out earlier in the summer (the one without Scott Patterson)? And speaking of Patterson, how odd was it seeing him playing a kinda soft, wishy-washy guy after seeing him play the gruff Luke Danes for all those years?
ReplyDeleteI gave up on Big Bang after the pilot. Glad I wasn't wrong on that one.
I like Johnny Galecki a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing his former "Roseanne" costar Sara Gilbert appear in a recurring role as his love interest, so I'm sticking with the show. Hopefully the writers will get more comfortable with the characters soon and the scripts will improve.
ReplyDeleteAgree completely, Alan. I ripped the TBBT pilot on my own (significantly inferior) blog and was repeatedly flamed by an anonymous poster who allegedly attended an actual taping and swore it was fall-down funny. (My theory is that it was Chuck Lorre, but I never got confirmation.) This. Show. Is. So. Tired.
ReplyDeleteI read in the EW Fall TV Preview that Chuck Lorre was careful to make sure that all the science talk would actually make sense to a physicist. Fine. But here's a better use of his time: find someone who can actually write something funny.
In a perfect world, the brilliant HIMYM (which, admittedly, was not stellar this week) would get 20 million viewers and the so-stupid-it-practically-drools TBBT would retain, I don't know, 1% of that audience.
I like The Big Bang Theory. It could use a little work, but it's mindless fun in my book.
ReplyDeletemy brother makes me watch it. and for some reason, I laugh. (of course it makes me be in awe of *Chuck's* social skills)
ReplyDeleteSo I'm guessing that Mondays will be:
Chuck
HIMYM
TBBT
Journeyman
till one of them gets cancelled
I didn't have the energy for Heroes last year. I'm not starting now.
But, oddly, I actually like Journeyman. The cell phone, currency things are amusing, his wife is decent and he *gets to go home* a whole lot.
-Pam (badly burned by Quantum Leap)
(so that was an actual audience and not a laugh track? darn. well, I know when I was in an audience, I felt compelled to laugh - especially the 15th time through...)
Good Ratings For The Big Bang Theory In week 2 Again !!
ReplyDeleteThe show finished # 2 in its time slot behind the mighty Dancing With the Stars, and it built on its How I Met Your Mother lead in by 13%. It also beat NBC's critically acclaimed Chuck by a whopping 14 %.
The Big Bang Theory is thriving !!
I think the show itself is hilarious, although its humor can be rather specific. For instance, I am like Sheldon and have had to restrain myself from cleaning other people's messy homes, so that story cracked me up. And the guy with the bowl haircut is a hoot.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I agree the main problem with the show is the girl. She's completely personality-free, plus unfunny and foolish. I am bored whenever she appears onscreen.
The fact that this draws 1 million more viewers than HIMYM makes me unspeakably sad.
ReplyDeleteHi Alan,
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with anything, but do you find it weird that the Grey's Writers blog hasn't been updated yet?
JZ
I watched the pilot early on my TiVo and my husband and I turned it off halfway through because we thought the show was so UNfunny...
ReplyDeleteThis show makes the fake sitcom Lisa Kudrow was making in "The Comeback" look sophisticated in comparison.
ReplyDeleteI made it through two minutes of the pilot and deleted it from the DVR. Seemed like just another stupid sitcom.
ReplyDeleteThe pilot was weak, but had a few jokes that made me genuinely laugh. They were much fewer in the second one.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, TL. I'd also rather watch a half-hour of "Room and Bored," especially after the "biddy-biddy" guys arrived.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to quote Aunt Sassy: "I don't need to see that!"
ReplyDeleteSome troll goes around to every web site that writes about Lorre projects and angrily points out how well his shows do in the ratings, etc.
Because sheer numbers always = quality, as we all know.
All I know is that it did the one thing that I ask from a comedy: made me laugh out loud. Several times.
ReplyDeleteGeez, you'd think the writers, PAs and other staff associated with this show could at least make up fake names rather than posting repeatedly as "Anonymous".
ReplyDeleteP.S. This show sucks...hard.
I think I'm going to find a class to sign up for on Monday nights.
ReplyDeleteI happen to like The Big Bang Theory. It is fun, silly...it makes me laugh. There are characters that I think anyone could identify with on some level. However, don't
ReplyDeleteoverthink/overanalyze this, just sit back, laugh and enjoy! And don't rip Chuck Lorre. The man is a genius, a man that I admire very much and hope to meet someday.
-Cheryl