Ship Zone The Shamy Thread! (Season 6 Edition-Spoilers)

[CaitAmber]

Sort of useless comment but,

 

Helloooooo 500th post!   

[bigbangsheldon]

True Fact: If you look up "Shenny" in the dictionary, it means "Delusional".

did slick nick hack into misos account??

[Guest DroneInTheSun]

I don't get the Shamy/Lenny war either. I mean, it's not like Shenny where they ship one half of our pairing with another character and there will be competition from that fact alone (and also the fact that the Shennies are very, very bitter about their ship not being a reality to the point that they harbor a pure, white hatred not only towards the Shamy as a fictional pairing but also towards us Shamy shippers as actual human beings with a life outside of TBBT, but that's another story, and I won't get into it especially given that a few hateful comments towards them are being made on this very thread).

 

But the Lenny couple literally has nothing to fear from the Shamy. If anything, now that Amy's around to keep Sheldon busy, Leonard and Penny have so much more quality time together. Season 3 and LP1.0 was a nightmare because of Sheldon always sticking his nose into L/P's business. Don't people realise that if Sheldon's not bothering them anymore, it's because he's basically joined at the hip with Amy? (I mean when Amy just needs to get a can full of change to the bank Sheldon tags along like jfc they're literally inseparable at that point omg the feels)

 

The cast got bigger, so obviously the screen-time of everyone had to be adapted so all the storylines could be told. I've been waiting six seasons to see more of Raj, and it took Lucy for him to finally have more screen-time; but I'm not begrudging Lenny shippers for being the main focus of the show, because like koops said, it's above all an ensemble show (which is why I loved loved LOVED The Closet Reconfiguration)

 

And re: the spanking, I wish people would drop it already, but everyone knows that.

[stardustmelody]

did slick nick hack into misos account??

 

Your avatar goes perfect with this question.  I had to laugh.   LOL!

[koops]

Tag-along!Sheldon was probably my favorite Sheldon this year. Even if we never got to see him. 

[Maddie]

Even though people are tired of discussing the spanking scene, I really really hope a take of that makes it to the gag reel. :P

 

I'm new here, so I had no idea about the war between Shamy Shippers and Shenny Shippers. I knew people wanted Shenny to happen, but I was unaware of all the malice! That's kind of crazy when you think about it, because it's not our fault that Shamy happened and Shenny didn't.

[vasu]

It might be one of the rare times where I'm disappointed by Jim's take on Sheldon. To say that he took care of her just because of science or reason kind of cheapens the whole point of that episode, especially the scene where he turns around in the corridor and comes back to her. The way he describes that episode makes it really sound like Amy's just taking advantage of him, which I know it's something some people believe about that episode and I think it's totally unfounded given what we found out in 6x14. I also thought that with all the touching moments Shamy had this season they would pick something other than the spanking. I'm kind of fed up with that being brought up to be honest. I'm shocked Simon seemed to have a better response to this question than Majim.

 

I agree with you on that.  That disappointed me as well.  I felt Sheldon did it because he truly cares about her.   Not because he felt it was all for science and that she wanted him to do it sort of thing.  But it was Sheldon showing compassion for the woman he loves.  I suspect the reporter took it a bit out of context.  They often do.  I can't imagine Jim saying only that. I bet he had something in there about Sheldon wanting to do it because he cared about her.   I can't imagine he wouldn't have said that.

Interesting ... I too had similar reactions after reading some comments an Actor/Actress made(I said I never got the feelings that were expressed in those comments)... and I was given this in response

 

The tiara scene...vasu...you should listen to the actors playing it.  Mayim is expressing exactly what was intended for the scene (what the writers and director intended...they do get instructed and learn at the table reading what is wanted for scenes.

 

I am glad vasu that you know more than writers and directors about the characters. I think you are being very presumptuous to assume you know more than they do since they create the show.  I respect you having an opinion, but to say you know more than what the people associated with the show know about it is naive on your part.   Mayim is bound to know a lot more than you know being she sits with the cast, producers, writers and directors each week as they has these out.  They know exactly what the character is thinking and their motivations.   So if you think you know more than them, great.  You are welcome to your opinion.   But again, you come across as naive if you really believe that.  

 

Now whether the acting portrayed it to your satisfaction to what they were trying to achieve is another thing.  You are welcome to opine on that. However, to belittle Mayim's comment and say you know what they are doing without listening to her comment is a cheap-shot.   It is as if you are totally disrespecting her as a gifted and well respected talent, as well as an extremely intelligent woman.   For that, I too take offense.

 

Anyways I thought Sheldon taking care of sick Amy was more sweeter moment than the scene in D&D episode becuase in the D&D Sheldon admitted those things because he was kind of forced to...but in the Amy is sick episode..Sheldon was doing those things voluntarily which makes it sweeter than the other scene IMO.(and this is how I thought after seeing the Amy is sick episode)

Edited May 24, 2013 by vasu

[MJistheBOMB]

 I think both scenes were equally sweet. When Amy was sick, he almost walked away before changing his mind to go back and take care of her. When Amy got upset during D&D, Sheldon didn't feel it was necessary to go comfort her until his friends told him to. Yes, he was told to, but he STILL did it it when he could have said, "No, she's fine, let her cry it out." LOL. He was definitely being a good boyfriend in that moment and in the end, he made her feel better. It doesn't get any sweeter than that.

 

 

[koops]

 

Interesting ... I too had similar reactions after reading some comments an Actor/Actress made(I said I never got the feelings that were expressed in those comments)... and I was given this in response

 

 

 

Anyways I thought Sheldon taking care of sick Amy was more sweeter moment than the scene in D&D episode becuase in the D&D Sheldon admitted those things because he was kind of forced to...but in the Amy is sick episode..Sheldon was doing those things voluntarily which makes it sweeter than the other scene IMO.(and this is how I thought after seeing the Amy is sick episode)

 

Nobody ever told you you shouldn't be disappointed by the fact that what writers intended for the tiara scene was different than how you interpreted it, you were just told that that's what the writers intended for it. If Jim had said "this is what the writers intended with this episode", like Mayim did about the tiara episode, I wouldn't say "No, I know what this episode is meant to be about and it's X and Y", I would simply be disappointed that the meaning behind those scenes wasn't as I intended it. But I wouldn't claim to know better than Jim. I never did. 

 

Secondly, how was Sheldon's admission in 6x23 forced? He was asked a question and he answered it honestly. If he didn't want to admit the truth he would have weaseled his way out of it the way he did in 6x15, where he didn't want to tell Amy why he didn't want her to live with him so he blamed it on Penny. 

Edited May 24, 2013 by koops

[phantagrae]

I don't know, there's just something about the way Jim's quote was worded that kind of makes the episode cheaper, at least the way I read it. It does make it sound like Sheldon was doing it out of purely clinical/scientific intent instead of wanting to care for her, the whole "he would do literally anything if it's for science and reason", rather than doing anything because he cares for her and she's special to him. And it gives a feeling of total disconnect between the two characters that's kind of depressing, rather than funny.

 

Re: Lenny, I don't understand why there's this feeling of rivalry and/or hatred on certain fans' part. Lenny is obviously the alpha couple but the show isn't just about them. Mind you, there are Shamys that also complain about episodes that have no Shamy focus, so I think both sides do it to a certain extent. To be fair I don't understand people who have hatred for any of the characters in general. Maybe I really live in a bubble of rainbows, but I like every character and while I obviously do watch the show for Amy, and Sheldon, I do appreciate it's still an ensemble show after all and that everyone needs to get their turn to be front and center.

 

I think Jim was addressing the differences in Sheldon and Amy's attitudes toward the physical things Sheldon was doing, not the issue of shy Sheldon wanted to take care of Amy.  He was talking about the way Sheldon approached the things he was doing--the reasoning behind his actions being what it was he felt needed to be done for a sick person (not talking about why he felt the need to take care of her, just what it meant to "take care of her"), while Amy saw more or less what the audience saw--that she was understanding the potential sexual aspects of his actions (which he was oblivious to) and was enjoying it as much as she could.

 

I don't think it cheapened the idea of him wanting to take care of her because that's not the aspect of the scene he was talking about.  And he really wasn't addressing the issue of what it might have taken for Sheldon to cross that physical line.  I do think that one reason he was able to cross that line was because Sheldon could reason that the type of things he was doing were clinical (or "scientific" as Jim said).  Again, not the desire to help her, but what it was that helping her required of him--to follow the list of things one does for someone who is sick.

 

Just as Sheldon doesn't understand the boundaries or differences between having his mother put Vapo-Rub on his chest and having Penny or Leonard do it, he doesn't imagine that Amy would find his ministrations at all sexual, because that's not his intent.

I think that's what Jim was talking about.

[koops]

 

I think Jim was addressing the differences in Sheldon and Amy's attitudes toward the physical things Sheldon was doing, not the issue of shy Sheldon wanted to take care of Amy.  He was talking about the way Sheldon approached the things he was doing--the reasoning behind his actions being what it was he felt needed to be done for a sick person (not talking about why he felt the need to take care of her, just what it meant to "take care of her"), while Amy saw more or less what the audience saw--that she was understanding the potential sexual aspects of his actions (which he was oblivious to) and was enjoying it as much as she could.

 

I don't think it cheapened the idea of him wanting to take care of her because that's not the aspect of the scene he was talking about.  And he really wasn't addressing the issue of what it might have taken for Sheldon to cross that physical line.  I do think that one reason he was able to cross that line was because Sheldon could reason that the type of things he was doing were clinical (or "scientific" as Jim said).  Again, not the desire to help her, but what it was that helping her required of him--to follow the list of things one does for someone who is sick.

 

Just as Sheldon doesn't understand the boundaries or differences between having his mother put Vapo-Rub on his chest and having Penny or Leonard do it, he doesn't imagine that Amy would find his ministrations at all sexual, because that's not his intent.

I think that's what Jim was talking about.

 

I get what you're saying. I guess my reaction had to do with the quote probably being reported a bit cut, and out of context. I guess it's also to do with the fact that, and I'm aware I'm in the minority about this, I was never a big fan of the whole sexual Amy/oblivious Sheldon in that episode. I did not mind at all that she was milking his care and affection for all that it was worth it by pretending to be sick when she had actually recovered, but I wasn't too happy with the fact that they really amped up the contrast between how the two saw the things he was doing as sexual or not. Which, while it's funny for comedy purposes, makes me a bit uncomfortable. I was actually very worried at the time that it was a big hint that he had indeed no attraction or even sexual curiosity for her at all, thank goodness 6x14 came along and showed that he was aware of sex being a possibility in the future and they specifically referenced that taking care of her was him "working on it". Although I totally agree that it wasn't to take advantage of the situation in a sexual way, on his part. 

[AdorkablyMe]

spankspankspankspankspankspankspankspank

[phantagrae]

I get what you're saying. I guess my reaction had to do with the quote probably being reported a bit cut, and out of context. I guess it's also to do with the fact that, and I'm aware I'm in the minority about this, I was never a big fan of the whole sexual Amy/oblivious Sheldon in that episode. I did not mind at all that she was milking his care and affection for all that it was worth it by pretending to be sick when she had actually recovered, but I wasn't too happy with the fact that they really amped up the contrast between how the two saw the things he was doing as sexual or not. Which, while it's funny for comedy purposes, makes me a bit uncomfortable. I was actually very worried at the time that it was a big hint that he had indeed no attraction or even sexual curiosity for her at all, thank goodness 6x14 came along and showed that he was aware of sex being a possibility in the future and they specifically referenced that taking care of her was him "working on it". Although I totally agree that it wasn't to take advantage of the situation in a sexual way, on his part. 

 

I think that they've always shown that if he isn't thinking about sex (and he rarely is) then he's not going to sexualize anything, even his own actions.  So even though he's aware of sexuality and privacy boundaries (like when Penny came in to his room and he wasn't wearing pajama bottoms), he also has an ability to ignore such boundaries in certain circumstances.

 

I don't think they were trying to desexualize him as a person in those scenes, but to contract his approach with hers.  And, yes, it's true that his approach to sex and potentially sexual situations is different than the other guys.

None of the other guys could have done any of those things without immediately recognizing the potentially sexual aspect of rubbing something on a girl's chest or bathing her or spanking her.

Each of the other guys, if put in a similar situation with a girl they liked would have immediately recognized it.

 

I don't think they were trying to say that Sheldon wasn't attracted to Amy, but it is true that he does tend to have a complete blind spot when it comes to sex unless he is specifically thinking about it to begin with.

I would have found it much more uncomfortable to imagine that he was doing all of those things as some kind of opportunity to experiment with looking at her naked or touching her breasts.  That would be a very "Howard" thing to do, but not at all a Sheldon-y thing.

I think those scenes were not meant to be at all about desire or lack of desire on Sheldon's part, but about his obliviousness to the sexual potential of such a scenario.  To me it's just like his "Settlers of Catan" scene where he has no idea what his "I need wood" "I'm going to begin the erection of my city" stuff sounds like while Raj and Howard are giggling like idiots.

 

In this case it was Amy who got it while Sheldon remained oblivious.  I don't think it was intended to be any more complicated than that.

And as we learned later, in Cooper/Kripke, for Sheldon it wasn't about sex, but about learning to touch someone at all.  I don't think he considered anything he did for Amy to be at all sexual, but the fact that he was able to bring himself to touch her, to put Vapo-Rub on her, was a big step with his touch phobia.  And if he can work his way through that obstacle, then simple things like holding hands and eventually kissing, can become less problematic for him.

[koops]

I get what the meaning behind the whole of Fish Guts is, I wasn't making a point about that as much as about the writing choices. I think the meaning could have been achieved similarly without amping up the contrast between Sheldon and Amy as much. I'm not a fan of the whole Settlers scene either. When it's just shoved in my face that he doesn't get it while everyone else around him is hyper-sexualized, I don't really find it funny. I know he doesn't automatically think about sex like the other guys, and thank goodness for that, I actually thought the fact that he didn't react to Amy's princess "makeover" the way the other guys did was brilliantly done because Amy wasn't being overtly sexual about it and he was ignoring her but not being totally in-your-face oblivious about it. But when overplay his obliviousness and oversexualize whoever plays off of him, be it the guys or Amy, I don't find it that great. In the same way I hate when the overplay his childish side and make him act like a 5 year old. I guess I'm just not big on extremes! LOL. Just personal preference. I know others find it funny and I guess there wouldn't have been as much comedy in Fish Guts without amping up the contrast. 

Edited May 24, 2013 by koops

[menamena]

I get what the meaning behind the whole of Fish Guts is, I wasn't making a point about that as much as about the writing choices. I think the meaning could have been achieved similarly without amping up the contrast between Sheldon and Amy as much. I'm not a fan of the whole Settlers scene either. When it's just shoved in my face that he doesn't get it while everyone else around him is hyper-sexualized, I don't really find it funny. I know he doesn't automatically think about sex like the other guys, and thank goodness for that, I actually thought the fact that he didn't react to Amy's princess "makeover" the way the other guys did was brilliantly done because Amy wasn't being overtly sexual about it and he was ignoring her but not being totally in-your-face oblivious about it. But when overplay his obliviousness and oversexualize whoever plays off of him, be it the guys or Amy, I don't find it that great. In the same way I hate when the overplay his childish side and make him act like a 5 year old. I guess I'm just not big on extremes! LOL. Just personal preference. I know others find it funny and I guess there wouldn't have been as much comedy in Fish Guts without amping up the contrast. 

 

I do think they flanderize Sheldon's character too much at times for comedic purposes. I was actually reading the description of flanderization from TVTropes, and many of those sentences rang true to what TPTB have been doing to Sheldon at some points this season:

 

"Flanderization: The act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character. The process is a gradual thing, the character starts relatively normal then gains a few quirks, the quirks become more prominent and then gradually become the character."

 

All said and done, I liked Fish Guts but one thing that really annoyed me was that it was so extreme - it's like if Sheldon's not like other guys, he must be completely innocent and unaware of any sort of sexual implications. Why can't there be a middle ground skewed towards innocence? I get that Sheldon doesn't think of sex like other guys in the show but to not have him show any iota of sexual curiosity was puzzling. He applied vaporub to Amy's chest and gave her a bath for noble reasons but I expected him to be less clinical when it came to the act itself.. heck, he peeked at Penny in TADD because of a stupid rule, but still - I didn't expect it to be completely one-sided. I suspect the writers exaggerated his innocence for comedic purposes... and honestly, it's tiring. They are going to have to take the leap with Sheldon at some point - even in TLSP, they sort of held Sheldon back. From what I heard, in the D&D kiss scene Jim initially played it so that you could tell that Sheldon really wanted to kiss Amy but they made him re-shoot it so it was far more understated.

Edited May 24, 2013 by menamena

[rubyanjel]

Oh gosh. You know guys, Misophonia has a point. Last year's hiatus, I was able to survive by making gifs and arguing with Shenny shippers. It did make waiting for comic con bearable. Like, wait for the butthurt ones' reactions to what Jim the Shamy Ship captain says and see their million-gif posts on how Shenny is still the best.

oh, and you also will see a lot of edits where they place Penny next to Sheldon on surfacing photos of the cast this hiatus. Brace yourselves.

But honestly, at this point of the series, do people still believe there's hidden lust between Sheldon and Penny? Come on people, it's like the Catholic church and Galileo talking about the sun being the center of the solar system.

[phantagrae]

I do think they flanderize Sheldon's character too much for comedic purposes. I was actually reading the description of flanderization from TVTropes, and many of those sentences rang true to what TPTB have been doing to Sheldon at some points this season:

 

"Flanderization: The act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character. The process is a gradual thing, the character starts relatively normal then gains a few quirks, the quirks become more prominent and then gradually become the character."

 

All said and done, I liked Fish Guts but one thing that really annoyed me was that it was so extreme - it's like if Sheldon's not like other guys, he must be completely innocent and unaware of any sort of sexual implications. Why can't there be a middle ground skewed towards innocence? I get that Sheldon doesn't think of sex like other guys in the show but to not have him show any iota of sexual curiosity was puzzling. He applied vaporub to Amy's chest or gave her a bath for noble reasons but I expected him to be less clinical when it came to the act itself.. heck, he peeked at Penny in TADD because of a stupid rule, but still - I didn't expect it to be completely one-sided. I suspect the writers exaggerated his innocence for comedic purposes... and honestly, it's tiring. They are going to have to take the leap with Sheldon at some point - even in TLSP, they sort of held Sheldon back. From what I heard, in the D&D kiss scene Jim initially played it so that you could tell that Sheldon really wanted to kiss Amy but they made him re-shoot it so it was far more understated.

 

I think that in many ways what has happened with Sheldon is rather the opposite of "Flanderization".  He was full of more quirks earlier in the series than he is now.  If they were "Flanderizing" him, he'd be saying "Bazinga!" in every episode (does anyone remember JJ in "Good Times" having to say "Dy-no-mite!" in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, or whatshisname in "Different Strokes" having to say "What you talking about, Willis?" in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE?) or getting more and more germaphobic or touch-phobic rather than less.  I mean, we have people on the forums complaining that he's not as phobic about those things as he used to be.

 

And even his childishness--they trot it out once in a while, but it's not as if they've taken that aspect of him and turned him into an infant that everyone needs to babysit.

 

I haven't felt that Sheldon has been exaggerated or used inappropriately.  I think that perhaps it's become more noticable when his typical responses are used for comedic relief because they've done more emotional stories this season than they've done before and with the whole ensemble present rather than moments just between two people, like Howard and Bernie or whatever.

 

But Sheldon has always been all of these things and I don't see that any of it--even his sexual obliviousness--has been heightened or over emphasized this season.  I think that maybe it's more noticeable at times because of what people's expectations have become or something.  I haven't felt it at all this season.

[stardustmelody]

I do think they flanderize Sheldon's character too much for comedic purposes. I was actually reading the description of flanderization from TVTropes, and many of those sentences rang true to what TPTB have been doing to Sheldon at some points this season:

 

"Flanderization: The act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character. The process is a gradual thing, the character starts relatively normal then gains a few quirks, the quirks become more prominent and then gradually become the character."

 

All said and done, I liked Fish Guts but one thing that really annoyed me was that it was so extreme - it's like if Sheldon's not like other guys, he must be completely innocent and unaware of any sort of sexual implications. Why can't there be a middle ground skewed towards innocence? I get that Sheldon doesn't think of sex like other guys in the show but to not have him show any iota of sexual curiosity was puzzling. He applied vaporub to Amy's chest or gave her a bath for noble reasons but I expected him to be less clinical when it came to the act itself.. heck, he peeked at Penny in TADD because of a stupid rule, but still - I didn't expect it to be completely one-sided. I suspect the writers exaggerated his innocence for comedic purposes... and honestly, it's tiring. They are going to have to take the leap with Sheldon at some point - even in TLSP, they sort of held Sheldon back. From what I heard, in the D&D kiss scene Jim initially played it so that you could tell that Sheldon really wanted to kiss Amy but they made him re-shoot it so it was far more understated.

 

They do flanderize him and it is not only tiring but getting annoying.  They have played that card too long now.  But the bigger issue is that he is so inconsistent.   He used to be consistent, but this season, in particular, he is was very inconsistent.  He was all over the map, which I think Phanta makes a good point about.  He is sort of opposite of flanderization in that case.   They try to flanderize him when convenient, I guess.   But the sad thing is it is not only hurting his character, but it is hurting Shamy as a couple and it is hurting the show overall.  It makes it come across desperate and as if they are trying so hard to move forward yet not want to change Sheldon that they have truly changed him into a jumbled mess.   They would have been wiser to have shown a slow progression with Sheldon and the change all along would have been accepted because it would have happened gradually taking the audience with them.  But this season they started off well, and doing just that.  They started to show a gradual progression.  Then after the V-day episode, everything went haywire and Sheldon was even inconsistent with past seasons, much less showed any progression.  It was as if he was a new character that was ill-defined.   It became very frustrating to see him one episode act adult (like The Contractual Obligation episode) and then like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum (The Closet Reconfiguration).   He was all over the map.   I hope they fix this and improve things, as well as get rid of all the mean dialog that cropped up the latter half of this season for Season 7.  Otherwise I fear they will start to see a big drop in ratings. 

Edited May 24, 2013 by stardustmelody

[MJistheBOMB]

What's annoying is they can't seem to make up their minds because sometimes Sheldon seems oblivious and sometimes he cleary isn't. LOL.

Edited May 24, 2013 by MJistheBOMB

[koops]

I agree with both mena and Phanta (how diplomatic is that! LOL!). 

 

I don't think he's being flanderized because, as Phanta says, it hasn't increased exponentially through the seasons, they just really exaggerate certain quirks when they want to use him as the comedy valve of the story. To me, personally, when it's so exaggerated, it isn't funny anymore. I'm more for subtle humor. But I'm aware that it's a personal preference.

 

On the other hand, I agree with mena, that I worried it was a bit too one-sided in Fish Guts. However, we did not get to see the bath or his reaction to the bath at all, so the writers were quite clever there. With Penny we did see the reaction and the actual scene when she was naked. With Amy they avoided any of that, and I think it was done for a reason. Like mena says, as oblivious and skewed towards innocence as Sheldon can be, he's not stupid and as much as he tried to be clinically detached about the whole thing, seeing his girlfriend naked has to have had some kind of impact on him. I found it interesting that he happily went along with her persistent illness and only after the bath he suddenly decided to investigate why she wasn't getting better. If they had wanted to make the point that Sheldon was totally unaffected they would have shown that on camera. By not showing his reaction they could get away with not admitting to a reaction while not denying that he might have been affected in some way. It's Schroedinger's bath. LOL.

 

The thing that annoys me the most about the whole Shamy thing this season was the double standard regarding physical contact. I think they are really really really being a bit obsessive with the no-touching policy right now that it's gotten out of hand similarly to Penny's drinking and Amy's sex jokes. Either Sheldon is touch phobic, and therefore shouldn't touch anyone, or he isn't. Or if he is but he won't touch Amy because of sexual fears/insecurities, it should be made a bit clearer. Like Monique said, they have to make up their minds. 6x23 was as far as they could go without committing Sheldon to being on one side or the other of the fence in terms of sex. And the whole 6x20 trash-talk with Raj was the one moment where I really wanted to throttle the writers, lol: that was the perfect chance to show in a subtle way that Sheldon did like what he saw in the bath by having him outraged about Raj's comment about Amy's lack of sexuality, but they had to go and make it ambiguous once again. In that scene he was in on it, oblivious, and then in on it again in the span of 3 lines. Enough with the pendulum. I think it's pretty important to show the audience he does find Amy "aesthetically pleasing", especially now that Amy has put it clearly out there that she wants more.

[Misophonia]

Well, I have always believed that Sheldon is a lot more aware than he gets credit for. I think there are just certain things that he overtly decides not the deal with because he knows they will lead him down a path he does not wish to tread. But, by choosing not to go down this path, he is still aware of what went on around him.

 

The main issue with TBBT is, no matter how much they grow and develop the characters, the writers will cheapen that growth for a laugh in two seconds flat. Be it with Penny's lack of education, Sheldon's childlike innocence, Leonard's insecurities, Raj's ambiguous gay references, Bernadette's issues with kids, or Howard's ... Howardness.

[phantagrae]

Well, I have always believed that Sheldon is a lot more aware than he gets credit for. I think there are just certain things that he overtly decides not the deal with because he knows they will lead him down a path he does not wish to tread. But, by choosing not to go down this path, he is still aware of what went on around him.

 

The main issue with TBBT is, no matter how much they grow and develop the characters, the writers will cheapen that growth for a laugh in two seconds flat. Be it with Penny's lack of education, Sheldon's childlike innocence, Leonard's insecurities, Raj's ambiguous gay references, Bernadette's issues with kids, or Howard's ... Howardness.

 

I think bostrich (where you at, bostrich?!?!) hit the nail on the head several months ago when he said that it seems that Sheldon doesn't get it when it's out of context, if he doesn't know that sex is what everyone is talking about.  Like at the end of the Dead Hooker episode, where they hear the girl's bed squeaking upstairs and his first thought, primarily because he's thinking in terms of noise, as he was throughout the episode, was that she was jumping on the bed, not that she and her producer hook-up were having sex, which is, of course, what everyone else thought.

 

But when he knows the conversation is about sex, or if he himself were to initiate the conversation, then he's more likely to pick up on innuendo or slang.  But not always--in Herb Garden when he and Amy are talking about their pretend sexual exploits and she says "penetration", he catches the potential pun (perhaps because "penetration" is a pretty clinical term in sexual parlance) but when he says "blow-by-blow" and Amy asks him, "Pun intended?" it goes right over his head.

 

He seems to have a pretty narrow vein of sexual awareness.  Most of the time he's not thinking about sex, and so his mind doesn't go there unless something very explicit or direct is mentioned.  Just as you can say the word "balls" in front of most children and they think about a round bouncy toy, not a slang word for a part of the male anatomy.

I'm sure Sheldon heard such terms at various points when he was growing up, but for a number of reasons, his mind never got fully into that sexualized mode.

 

As for the characters falling back on their quirks, to me it's that part of series TV that will always be both a blessing and a curse--the more things change, the more they stay the same.  You can't change too much too fast without growing out of your original premise.

As it is, they've grown considerably, but they can't outgrow their flaws without leaving their nerdvana behind.  If they were to get past those things we wouldn't have the "nerd struggles", etc., that the show was built upon.

[phantagrae]

I thought I'd share this article here--and I may post it in the Show folder, because it's not just about the Shamy.  But it's such a nice article that I think everyone needs to read it.  Brought it over from the other forum where it was originally posted by "notyoda":

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/i-love-the-big-bang-theory-and-you-should-too.html

[stardustmelody]

I thought I'd share this article here--and I may post it in the Show folder, because it's not just about the Shamy.  But it's such a nice article that I think everyone needs to read it.  Brought it over from the other forum where it was originally posted by "notyoda":

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/i-love-the-big-bang-theory-and-you-should-too.html

 

 

Hahaha...well there were some interesting things in this article.   I loved this quote "his (Sheldon) continued rebuffing of the advances of his girlfriend, Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) — is alone worth any half-hour spent on the show."

 

But this one cracked me up and I hope Lenny fans don't see it because they hate this comparison, but it is true that they are like Ross/Rachel, although I do hope they have a better ending than this critic states:

 

"The on-again-off-again (currently on) romance between Penny and Leonard (Johnny Galecki) may reach some resolution, but it almost certainly won’t have the fairy-tale ending of Ross and Rachel on “Friends” or Carrie and Big on “Sex and the City.” If they ever do marry, Leonard will most likely have one hand on his asthma inhaler at the ceremony and Penny will have one hand on a bottle of chardonnay. (Or a basic physics text; one roadblock to their relationship has been her concern that she’s not smart enough for him.)"

 

As far as this quote...of course we prefer the second option and no breakdown:  "Sheldon appears headed for some kind of revelation — either a Nobel-worthy discovery, his first real sexual experience or a nervous breakdown."

 

Best quote yet:  "Twenty million nerds can’t be wrong."

[Nogravitasatall]

Star, I'm happy with that. Because guess what I think of SITC and FRIENDS.

No worthwhile physicists at all. Lol.