[Spoilers] Discussion: Season 10

[vonmar]

31 minutes ago, Tenji said:

I think you're probably right. It is a shame though - they all make great guests when they are on a talk show (especially Simon and Jim). I hope we see a little more of them as the season closes out.

Simon, Kunal, Johnny & Jim have all been doing talk shows promoting their other projects.  While making those appearances there has been very little chatter about TBBT.  I think that is by design. There is no point in bringing up the subjects that everyone want's them to talk about but none of them can talk about....contract negotiations & TBBT renewal.

You can also add in Kaley's animal charity work, Mayim's lecture series and award shows appearances.  They are out there, it's just not completely TBBT centered.

But any time the cast appears at a PR event, they are promoting TBBT....their affiliation with the show is always mentioned.

[3ku11]

2 hours ago, Jonny said:

I just saw it as another ridiculous Sheldon is a man-child gag. I know they have been there for years but is it just me or has there been more Sheldon child gags say over this season and perhaps even going further back towards the end of Season 9 compared to previous seasons? The gags used to be more about how weird he is, well it felt like that...

Or maybe there is no difference in frequency and I am just simply getting really fed up of them.

To be fair when was this Sleeping with Lenny gag? Depends on the time frame. Yes another Sheldon is a man child gag. But it's not a gag, really now is it? It's Cannon Sheldon has really evolved into a manchild. Same man who's adamant about germ phobias. But started putting trains in his mouth. 

Hes Almost an over Grown Toddler. I just saw it as another Lenny are his surrogate parents reference.  Throw away gag. No different to Season 3. When Penny took Sheldon to Disneyland. And they treated Sheldon like their divorced kid. Since then the dynamic has been their. So I don't think it's anymore frequent then it has been in the past. 

Edited February 26, 2017 by 3ku11

[serena_1995]

3 hours ago, veejay said:

Oh, I can feel you. But seriously I miss some iconic punchlines painful.

 

I miss some of Sheldon's mad-genius like , precise manner of cerebral talking and Lenny's iconic punchlines in response to him. l like his character development but I want them to retain more of the old flavor complex dialogues that Sheldon used to utter. I feel like he had a better vocabulary then . When he launched into an explanation of pressures of reciprocity of gift giving , when he explained why Penny's belief in astrology was "mass cultural delusion" , his conclusion of the effect of lady bugs on Raj or his dumpling paradox in the restaurant, it was all brilliant IMO .

The scene where he explains "rock-paper-lizard-scissors-spock"  to Raj is iconic and quite funny. i also referred to it for a graph theory course I took in college. Also, I was recently watching a scene where Sheldon is talking about Schrodinger's cat to Penny while simultaneously & continuously moving to look for a suitable spot in 4B, and  IMO that was quite a marvelous bit of nuanced physical comedy from JP. Even his facial expressions in the episode where Lenny spill green paint on his spot or when he receives the spock napkin were pretty hysterical.

I think that was a big reason why he deservedly got awards and fan attention as early as season 2.I find the current portrayal of Sheldon to be less nuanced and more of a dumbed down caricature.  ; I don't recall many memorable or interesting things he has said or done  lately...but that is just my lone and very subjective opinion.

Edited February 26, 2017 by serena_1995

[JohnPhD]

3 hours ago, Mario D. said:

Yes  What you say is true, but we all saw how hurt Leonard was and now that they are married I think she can tell him how that all came about.  Penny even admitted that she hurt Leonard  when she told Amy

Key point. So far as we've been shown, L doesn't know about R's premjac or, more importantly, that Penny was too drunk to consent to sex when Raj took her to bed. If he finds out, what is he going to do? Call Raj out as a rapist? At least bar him from 4a and get the others to agree to cut Raj out of their group?

[3ku11]

1 minute ago, JohnPhD said:

Key point. So far as we've been shown, L doesn't know about R's premjac or, more importantly, that Penny was too drunk to consent to sex when Raj took her to bed. If he finds out, what is he going to do? Call Raj out as a rapist? At least bar him from 4a and get the others to agree to cut Raj out of their group?

I wouldent go as far and single out Raj as a rapist. But very least consent needs to be apparent. Considering Penny was too drunk to remember. And Raj remembered everything. Very least Penny owes Leonard the full story. And hey if that means Raj is banished from 4A and their life's. Well that's just a bonus from my end .

[serena_1995]

On 2/23/2017 at 11:06 PM, serenaded214 said:

. Nowadays, the writers have turned him into a child. Pretty much every episode has him doing some childish thing and getting scolded for his behavior. I'm over it. He is nothing like he used to be.

And because I know people will defend him, I have no problem with him learning proper manners and empathy. My issue is with the way he acts now. There's nothing dignified about him anymore. He's just one huge manchild, its such a turn off. I can't believe Amy still wants to do him.

I say this as a Shamy shipper, please give Sheldon his spark back!!!!!

 

there were always some child/pet jokes here and there about Sheldon and so were the jokes about drugging . Jokes about Amy  drugging him or adjusting his "dosage"  are  new. But things like "play with your phone" or " finish your coloring book" or " sexy toddler" or how he "smells of baby powder" or gets trapped in revolving door or how he eats cheerio in a cup similar to Bernie's baby were introduced later and IMO are slightly more icky because now he is in a romantic relationship and has had sex. 

Edited February 26, 2017 by serena_1995

[3ku11]

49 minutes ago, serena_1995 said:

 

I miss some of Sheldon's mad-genius like , precise manner of cerebral talking and Lenny's iconic punchlines in response to him. l like his character development but I want them to retain more of the old flavor complex dialogues that Sheldon used to utter. I feel like he had a better vocabulary then . When he launched into an explanation of pressures of reciprocity of gift giving , when he explained why Penny's belief in astrology was "mass cultural delusion" , his conclusion of the effect of lady bugs on Raj or his dumpling paradox in the restaurant, it was all brilliant IMO .

The scene where he explains "rock-paper-lizard-scissors-spock"  to Raj is iconic and quite funny. i also referred to it for a graph theory course I took in college. Also, I was recently watching a scene where Sheldon is talking about Schrodinger's cat to Penny while simultaneously & continuously moving to look for a suitable spot in 4B, and  IMO that was quite a marvelous bit of nuanced physical comedy from JP. Even his facial expressions in the episode where Lenny spill green paint on his spot or when he receives the spock napkin were pretty hysterical.

I think that was a big reason why he deservedly got awards and fan attention as early as season 2.I find the current portrayal of Sheldon to be less nuanced and more of a dumbed down caricature.  ; I don't recall many memorable or interesting things he has said or done  lately...but that is just my lone and very subjective opinion.

Oh JPS movements in 1.17, were some of the best physical comedy I have ever seen on tv. Yeah Sheldon has changed lol. Yeah Caricature best way to describe his character of late.

[serenaded214]

Thank you for saying this.
The bold part reminded me something I forgot to mention:
Overall, I love 1017, I think it was a funny episode, I laughed a lot. But, there was one plot that I just felt so cringe-worthy. 
Penny said: "Well, it's no different than when Sheldon used to climb in bed with us during a thunderstorm."
I mean, SERIOUSLY??? I get that the writers wanted to tell us that Sheldon is just like Lenny's child or dog or whatnot. But they didn't have to put them in the same bed......This plot was just so cringe-worthy that I just couldn't believe that the writers went there. OMFG.

Yup everything about his character nowadays is childish.

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[3ku11]

We diddnt actually see Sheldon in bed with Lenny. So it diddnt happen lol. I mean I had an issue with on their wedding day, they made Sheldon hug Lenny. But this was just another Lenny was his adoptive parents gag. Wasent a plot line though. It was a gag.

[serenaded214]

I agree. IMO, they are exaggerating for comedic effect. This show would be boring without Sheldon. Someone's got to be the funny oddball genious to someone's elses common sense genious character. 

He was the funny oddball genius in earlier seasons, but they didn't treat him like a child then.

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[serenaded214]

 
I miss some of Sheldon's mad-genius like , precise manner of cerebral talking and Lenny's iconic punchlines in response to him. l like his character development but I want them to retain more of the old flavor complex dialogues that Sheldon used to utter. I feel like he had a better vocabulary then . When he launched into an explanation of pressures of reciprocity of gift giving , when he explained why Penny's belief in astrology was "mass cultural delusion" , his conclusion of the effect of lady bugs on Raj or his dumpling paradox in the restaurant, it was all brilliant IMO .
The scene where he explains "rock-paper-lizard-scissors-spock"  to Raj is iconic and quite funny. i also referred to it for a graph theory course I took in college. Also, I was recently watching a scene where Sheldon is talking about Schrodinger's cat to Penny while simultaneously & continuously moving to look for a suitable spot in 4B, and  IMO that was quite a marvelous bit of nuanced physical comedy from JP. Even his facial expressions in the episode where Lenny spill green paint on his spot or when he receives the spock napkin were pretty hysterical.
I think that was a big reason why he deservedly got awards and fan attention as early as season 2.I find the current portrayal of Sheldon to be less nuanced and more of a dumbed down caricature.  ; I don't recall many memorable or interesting things he has said or done  lately...but that is just my lone and very subjective opinion.

Yes! One of my favorite Sheldon dialogues was when he explained that there was a scientific basis for being rendered speechless. I thought it was such brilliant writing. I actually clapped my hands while watching that.
It's just like I said. His character is no longer brilliant and dignified.

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[3ku11]

27 minutes ago, serenaded214 said:

He was the funny oddball genius in earlier seasons, but they didn't treat him like a child then.

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Yeah they did. Season 3. The Spaghetti Catalyst. Penny takes Sheldon to Disneyland. Lenny treat him like their divorced kid. While I agree it's more frequent these days. It's not new.

[Sah]

32 minutes ago, serenaded214 said:

He was the funny oddball genius in earlier seasons, but they didn't treat him like a child then.

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What about when Penny took him to Disney. Totally treated like a child then. What about ball pitt Sheldon. Leonard had to come get him out of the ball pit...What about in the beginning when Leonard called his mom after he was fired? I feel he has always been treated like a child. But at times, I do notice they has made him even more childlike. During what season to you notice the biggest difference? I think some is exaggeration for comedic purposes...

[Carlos]

4 hours ago, JohnPhD said:

Key point. So far as we've been shown, L doesn't know about R's premjac or, more importantly, that Penny was too drunk to consent to sex when Raj took her to bed. If he finds out, what is he going to do? Call Raj out as a rapist? At least bar him from 4a and get the others to agree to cut Raj out of their group?

If I were Leonard and found that out I would disfigure Raj.

[djsurrey]

3 hours ago, serenaded214 said:

Yes! One of my favorite Sheldon dialogues was when he explained that there was a scientific basis for being rendered speechless. I thought it was such brilliant writing. I actually clapped my hands while watching that.
It's just like I said. His character is no longer brilliant and dignified.

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I figure he was worried he would lose his edge if he had a girlfriend. 

7.16

Quote

Sheldon: Excuse me. I have to break up with my girlfriend.

Penny: Oh, Sheldon, wait.

Sheldon: No. You’ve opened my eyes to the truth. Amy has made me a more affectionate, open-minded person. And that stops now.

 

[3ku11]

13 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

I figure he was worried he would lose his edge if he had a girlfriend. 

7.16

 

He also hates User Friendly computers. Aka Windows or Vista. Sheldon was right to be fearful. He has lost his edge. It's that fore eyed woman I tell ya! Phd Sheldon. To Amy's snuggle bunny.

[serena_1995]

4 hours ago, serenaded214 said:

Yes! One of my favorite Sheldon dialogues was when he explained that there was a scientific basis for being rendered speechless. I thought it was such brilliant writing. I actually clapped my hands while watching that.
It's just like I said. His character is no longer brilliant and dignified.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 

 

Haha yes that one was great . One of my favorites was when Sheldon explained the scientific inaccuracy of Lois Lane being caught by Christopher Reeves in Superman Movie :

Lois Lane is falling, accelerating at an initial rate of 32 feet per second per second. Superman swoops down to save her by reaching out two arms of steel. Miss Lane, who is now traveling at approximately 120 miles an hour, hits them and is immediately sliced into three equal pieces.

And Sheldon's  disagreement of how "when one door closes , another opens" :

“No it doesn’t. Not unless the two doors are connected by relays or there are motion sensors involved. Or that the first door closing creates a change of air pressure that acts upon the second door.”

Another funny one was Leonard asked Sheldon about why a letter was in the trash can , he said :

“Well, there’s always the possibility the trash can spontaneously formed around the letter, but Achman’s Razor would suggest that someone threw it out.”

*OK I should stop. I just binge watched season 1. IMO if they are gonna focus on Sheldon at least give us more of this ! I seriously think the writers have stopped trying sometimes. I mean the writing is still entertaining, but I would like some consistency with Lenny and some of the old sharpness for Sheldon wouldn't hurt IMO.

Edited February 26, 2017 by serena_1995
*just to clarify

[3ku11]

Sheldons not deadpan anymore. By loosing his edge. His arrogant, self righteous, nuanced Intelligent ramblings have been replaced by an inconsistently written man child. He's lost his wit. I'm not sure the writers can salvage this. The Shamy relationship is a big part of this. That's not to have a go at Shamy. But the relationship has had a major effect on his character. My fav line from him ever was comparing Leonard's chances with Penny as likely as a man in a black hole looking for a circuit with a flash light. Now we'll. 

Edited February 26, 2017 by 3ku11

[veejay]

8 hours ago, serena_1995 said:

 

I miss some of Sheldon's mad-genius like , ......../..........I find the current portrayal of Sheldon to be less nuanced and more of a dumbed down caricature.  ; I don't recall many memorable or interesting things he has said or done  lately...but that is just my lone and very subjective opinion.

Well said! This also affects the other character as well and, as I've often observed, the complete inconsistency and lack of credibility of some stories.

5 hours ago, 3ku11 said:

We diddnt actually see Sheldon in bed with Lenny. So it diddnt happen lol. ....

Um....

[Swedish Chef]

2 minutes ago, veejay said:

Well said! This also affects the other character as well and, as I've often observed, the complete inconsistency and lack of credibility of some stories.

Um....

And another eye-roll from Penny. 

[3ku11]

14 minutes ago, veejay said:

Well said! This also affects the other character as well and, as I've often observed, the complete inconsistency and lack of credibility of some stories.

Um....

Well yeah but Penny suggested it was recent. So was more referring to recent times. 

Seeing s10 well prob not be the last. I wonder what the season finalie we'll be. Shamy get engaged? Lol. Lenny get a honeymoon end of season and leave over the summer. Who knows. 

[Anita]

43 minutes ago, 3ku11 said:

Sheldons not deadpan anymore. By loosing his edge. His arrogant, self righteous, nuanced Intelligent ramblings have been replaced by an inconsistently written man child. He's lost his wit. I'm not sure the writers can salvage this. The Shamy relationship is a big part of this. That's not to have a go at Shamy. But the relationship has had a major effect on his character. My fav line from him ever was comparing Leonard's chances with Penny as likely as a man in a black hole looking for a circuit with a flash light. Now we'll. 

Sheldon had to change in order to fit in a relationship, that is obvious, but in my opinion they have left behind some aspects of his personality that are compatibles with that  change and have kept some that aren't. I mean, the sheldon will be sheldon jokes have been limited to the childish aspect of his character to the point of ridicule. We could have a more mature sheldon, growing in his relationship, and trying to have a better understanding of human emotions and still with his arrogant intelligent ramblings. 

[April]

6 hours ago, Sah said:

What about when Penny took him to Disney. Totally treated like a child then. What about ball pitt Sheldon. Leonard had to come get him out of the ball pit...What about in the beginning when Leonard called his mom after he was fired? I feel he has always been treated like a child. But at times, I do notice they has made him even more childlike. During what season to you notice the biggest difference? I think some is exaggeration for comedic purposes...

Seriously, as I said earlier, this stuff has always been part of his character. The idea of Lenny as his ersatz-parents has been established early on, not to mention us getting episodes where he wants his mother to still treat him like an 8 year old. Ah yes, so much dignity! lol The thing is Lenny never stopped being his ersatz-parents so now that he moved out we get a few "their kid moved out and the parents occasionally remember how it was when kiddo still lived with them" lines. I don't see how that has much to do with Sheldon's maturity now. 

In fact a lot of what's heralded as Sheldon being oh-so mature in early seasons doesn't really have much to do with mature behaviour at all. Sure, he'd recite more cracking science jargon or complex geeky references but you don't need to be all grown up to do that. The way he behaved though was incredibly immature with his overbearing selfishness, his unwillingness to deal with other people in a respectful manner, his tendency to throw a temper tantrum when the simplest thing didn't go his way, his inability to see himself at fault and disregard for other people's needs, etc etc. are all big signs of immaturity and childish behaviour. But somehow people look past that because... Sheldon used more big and nerdy vocabulary??

What we see these days from him though is that he is displaying more mature behaviour as he has realised that he's not as perfect as he used to think he is and he's actively working on improving his own shortcomings and caring a whole deal more about his interpersonal relationships. Sure, he sometimes fumbles and stumbles through these attempts at becoming a better person as he doesn't get everything right and it's still a process that is ongoing and not finished as such. Heck, growing up never really ends, does it? It's an ongoing process for everyone! So with that in mind I do see a whole lot more mature behaviour from him these days than in earlier seasons.

And as said all of that is, imho, independent to the show's overall level of nerd cred slacking a little these days. The science and geeky references are still there but not necessarily in form of those iconic scenes in the past. But this is not tied to Sheldon's maturity in any way - it's an overall issue with the show and conflating these two in a weird hyperbole doesn't really address what's actually going on.

Edited February 26, 2017 by April

[3ku11]

56 minutes ago, Anita said:

Sheldon had to change in order to fit in a relationship, that is obvious, but in my opinion they have left behind some aspects of his personality that are compatibles with that  change and have kept some that aren't. I mean, the sheldon will be sheldon jokes have been limited to the childish aspect of his character to the point of ridicule. We could have a more mature sheldon, growing in his relationship, and trying to have a better understanding of human emotions and still with his arrogant intelligent ramblings. 

I know why Sheldon had to change. Doesent mean one has to like it.

[Jonny]

40 minutes ago, 3ku11 said:

I know why Sheldon had to change. Doesent mean one has to like it.

True, I have no doubt some miss the old Sheldon I don't so it's up to each individual's personal preference here.

I think @April hit the nail on the head and the crux of the matter here is the erosion of some of the geek/nerd culture or scenes that we used to have in the past. At times I think they are writing them like they are middle aged or heading into their twilight years. Throw in some D&D, gaming nights, or perhaps some other group activities like paintball every so often (I have this vision of Bernie going all John Rambo LOL!) and the show would be even better for it.

It's that tricky balance between showing them getting older, becoming more mature responding to life's challenges and opportunities but also still trying to keep to what makes them unique and quirky. I think they can still do/show both as they are still at the age where it is still realistic and it's a sitcom anyway they have shown it doesn't have to be exactly like real life (like with Bernie's non human gestation period lol).

I still enjoy the show as much as I have ever done, there are some tweaks I would make but it's still a must watch for me and a enjoyable viewing experience.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Jonny