When does it get back to its glory?

[djsurrey]

On 30/12/2015 at 11:04 AM, Stephen Hawking said:

Correct. He's a Leibniz man.  

No no. He is a Newton Man.

https://youtu.be/EqiiCOFR0Y8

[Stephen Hawking]

16 hours ago, djsurrey said:

No no. He is a Newton Man.

We're talking about Leonard, not Sheldon.

[phantagrae]

On ‎12‎/‎30‎/‎2015 at 7:21 PM, OiVeyWhattaYaSay said:

I always liked Penny and Sheldon together more than Penny and Leonard.    Little Jewish Leonard and Penny being together just seems like the Producer's shiksa fantasy.

When were Penny and Sheldon ever together?

People are always mistaking comedic chemistry for romantic chemistry.  Penny and Sheldon were never intended to be together as the story was always about Leonard and Penny getting together, over time and through their ups and downs.

Sheldon and Penny was never an option.

[bloodless]

I think the (new) fans out-number the (old) fans.

I agree with the original poster.  I loved the show for the first 3 seasons.
The show changed when the producers decided they wanted to increase their demographic to get more viewers - (namely female viewers).

All of the sudden the show's characters started to change from awkward individuals struggling to fit in and thrive (classic "nerd"-type issues) - into a sitcom that has the same old "formula" of male-female relationships.  (Just like every other sitcom out there - predictable and boring).
Quite frankly, everything that made the show unique and funny was changed to be a standard sitcom formula with only a shadow of its former glory attached - for the sake of continuity (so as not to lose too many original fans/viewers).

If you like the show now - fine.  I do not care to debate.
I only wish to express my opinion, and support of the original post here - as I agree entirely.

[phantagrae]

On ‎3‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 2:21 PM, bloodless said:

I think the (new) fans out-number the (old) fans.

I agree with the original poster.  I loved the show for the first 3 seasons.
The show changed when the producers decided they wanted to increase their demographic to get more viewers - (namely female viewers).

All of the sudden the show's characters started to change from awkward individuals struggling to fit in and thrive (classic "nerd"-type issues) - into a sitcom that has the same old "formula" of male-female relationships.  (Just like every other sitcom out there - predictable and boring).
Quite frankly, everything that made the show unique and funny was changed to be a standard sitcom formula with only a shadow of its former glory attached - for the sake of continuity (so as not to lose too many original fans/viewers).

If you like the show now - fine.  I do not care to debate.
I only wish to express my opinion, and support of the original post here - as I agree entirely.

The characters were never meant to be frozen in amber, going over the same old ground of comic books and nerdy pursuits.  If they had continued on that path, the show would have grown stale and boring and I would bet the "nerdy" original fans would have fallen away before long.

If the show had remained the same as the first 3 seasons, Leonard would never have gotten together with Penny and that back-and-forth would have gotten really stale.

The show has explored the relationships the guys are having from the perspective of their inexperience and their still-nerdy interests.  That's organic growth.

[Cindi May]

On 1/3/2016 at 10:21 PM, bloodless said:

I think the (new) fans out-number the (old) fans.

I agree with the original poster.  I loved the show for the first 3 seasons.
The show changed when the producers decided they wanted to increase their demographic to get more viewers - (namely female viewers).

All of the sudden the show's characters started to change from awkward individuals struggling to fit in and thrive (classic "nerd"-type issues) - into a sitcom that has the same old "formula" of male-female relationships.  (Just like every other sitcom out there - predictable and boring).
Quite frankly, everything that made the show unique and funny was changed to be a standard sitcom formula with only a shadow of its former glory attached - for the sake of continuity (so as not to lose too many original fans/viewers).

If you like the show now - fine.  I do not care to debate.
I only wish to express my opinion, and support of the original post here - as I agree entirely.

Everything about this post is perfect! And I don't think it was necessary. I'm a female and I think the show lost so much when they put basically all the guys in such serious relationships with women that became main cast shortly after. It became a show about "married" couples basically.-.-.BORING.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Cindi May

[Cindi May]

And I think that if they really wanted to introduce 2 "nerdy" female characters  they could have done a MUCH better job than Bernadette and Amy. Don't get me wrong I love Melissa in particular, but females that love comic books and sci fi movies exist. I'm one of them for example. And at least they could have put this element in the show when they expanded the main cast with girls.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Cindi May

[Stephen Hawking]

1 minute ago, Cindi May said:

Don't get me wrong I love Melissa in particular, but females that love comic books and sci fi movies exist. I'm one of them for example.

But then you couldn't have had all the scenes, involving the girls not understanding comic book culture, such as:-

Penny: Oh, what a cute, little store. Everybody’s staring at me.

Leonard: Don’t worry, they’re more scared of you than you are of them.

Penny: Unlikely. Here, what about this one for my nephew?

and:-

Bernadette: Why are they staring?

Amy: Who cares? Just soak it in. Hello, boys.

and:-

Amy: All right, well, who’s the best superhero?

Stuart: Shh! You can’t ask a question like that in here. Are you trying to start a rumble?

[mirs1]

19 hours ago, Cindi May said:

And I think that if they really wanted to introduce 2 "nerdy" female characters  they could have done a MUCH better job than Bernadette and Amy. Don't get me wrong I love Melissa in particular, but females that love comic books and sci fi movies exist. I'm one of them for example. And at least they could have put this element in the show when they expanded the main cast with girls.

You know, it is interesting how people see things differently. I'm not into comic books and sci fi movies, but I work in science. So I was very happy that the show portrayed two woman who are successful scientists. There was Leslie Winkle in early seasons, but her role was not very important compared with that of Amy and Bernie and at some point she completely disappeared due to SG being busy with other projects. It's still very difficult for a woman to work successfully in STAM, so it was refreshing to me to have on the show two female scientists who work in different contexts (Bernie in a private pharmaceutical company and Amy in Academia) both successful in their own field. My complaint this season is just that there was not much focus on their jobs, actually...

[Stephen Hawking]

Isn't it STEM (science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), not STAM?

[Cindi May]

2 hours ago, mirs1 said:

You know, it is interesting how people see things differently. I'm not into comic books and sci fi movies, but I work in science. So I was very happy that the show portrayed two woman who are successful scientists. There was Leslie Winkle in early seasons, but her role was not very important compared with that of Amy and Bernie and at some point she completely disappeared due to SG being busy with other projects. It's still very difficult for a woman to work successfully in STAM, so it was refreshing to me to have on the show two female scientists who work in different contexts (Bernie in a private pharmaceutical company and Amy in Academia) both successful in their own field. My complaint this season is just that there was not much focus on their jobs, actually...

I can understand your point of view, I' m not a scientist but I'm fine about having female scientists on the show for basically the same reasons you stated but at least they could have chose a scientist with no interest in comics and sci fi and another character that wasn't a scientist but with these interests? Or maybe a character that had it all: a scientist with an interest in comics and sci fi, like the guys.  The female characters they chose with Bernie and Amy are really old-fashion compared to the guys.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Cindi May

[Squonk]

11 hours ago, Cindi May said:

 Or maybe a character that had it all: a scientist with an interest in comics and sci fi, like the guys.  The female characters they chose with Bernie and Amy are really old-fashion compared to the guys.

I think the guys are the ones being "old-fashioned" here. I mean "comics", isn't that from the 1950's?

[Cindi May]

1 hour ago, Squonk said:

I think the guys are the ones being "old-fashioned" here. I mean "comics", isn't that from the 1950's?

Hell no. Go tell Hollywood that Comics are old-fashioned :D

Edited March 15, 2016 by Cindi May

[Squonk]

8 minutes ago, Cindi May said:

Hell no.

1940's?

[Judith]

I don't remember Bernadette's interests so I'm not going to comment on that, but I really like Amy's. Chaucer, the harp, Medieval writings and the surprising - which makes it all the more charming and adorable - love for Neil Diamond. I think she's refreshing as a character and these are nerdy interests in their own right. These interests along with science and her open-mindness connect her to every character in the show, even Emily. Her struggles with social situations even connected her with Lucy, since Amy was the one that Raj introduced first to her for that reason. It's great that that was achieved with Amy sharing  at least an interest with every other character while at the same time having her own unique ones. 

I prefer that she doesn't have the scifi and comics love in common with the guys. For one thing, she has so much in common with Sheldon that it's a good thing to have something they "clash" on. Also, what would the alternative be, in order to differentiate her from the others? Not make her a scientist? HELL NO! We need more representation of female scientists on TV and for me that's more important than making them all matchy-matchy in interests. Variety is more interesting.

Now, there's something to be said about the fact that the boys share a love for comics and the girls for wine-drinking. That's stereotyping, but like I've said before, my expectations from these writers are too low as it is for these things.

One last thing - isn't Claire a comic book fan? And there's Emily's love for horror movies and general creepiness, so there's some potential there.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Judith

[phantagrae]

If the girls liked all the same things as the guys, there would be no conflict to work with.  I like the fact that Bernie and Amy have science backgrounds and jobs and talk about how they were kind of bullied when they were young, just like the guys.  But being a "nerd" doesn't mean just one thing.  They're both nerdy to greater or lesser degrees than the guys.  They might not be into sci-fi and comics, but as Judith mentioned, buy Amy's interests and her lack of social skills make her nerdy in her own way.  Like the guys, she grew up with no friends and no social life.

Bernie is probably the least nerdy of them all, in terms of socially-isolating interests, but being tiny and this strange combination of sweet ("I like Bippity-Boppity-Boo!") and mean (her competitive streak) make her different from the others.

And Emily is also in the sciences, being in the medical field, with her wierdo streak.  I think Claire is more mainstream, being an aspiring screenwriter (isn't that what she was doing when she met Raj?), with, as far as I remember, no real "nerdy" aspects that we've discovered yet.

I just think that it's better to have the variety of interests and how they clash or overlap with the guys and with each other.