'Big Bang Theory' Becoming Favorite of Audience It Lampoons
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Although it took a while, TV audiences have taken a liking to the new geek-inspired comedy "The Big Bang Theory." CREDIT: CBS |
Flip
through the array of scripted television today and just about every societal
clique has its own show: high schoolers, twentysomethings, thirtysomethings,
lawyers, doctors, cops. Heck, even vampires get plenty of airtime.
But what about the geeks?
Sure, a few shows have geek characters like Comic Book Guy on ?The Simpsons? or
Dwight Schrute of ?The Office,? but no television show actually focused on the
very real lives of the nerdy until CBS?s sitcom ?The Big Bang Theory,? (which
premieres its third season on Monday, September 21 at 9:30 p.m. EST).
Set in the shadow of CalTech in Pasadena, CA, ?The Big Bang Theory? revolves
around the daily lives of physicist roommates Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny
Galecki), Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) and their friends/colleagues Howard
Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar). What many in
the mainstream would label as the nerdiest of the nerdy, these four are as
brilliant in their professions as they are their knowledge of sci-fi and pop
culture, but when it comes to women and social interaction...well, let?s just
say they?re stunted, a lot. It?s only when Cheesecake Factory waitress Penny
(Kaley Cuoco) moves in across the hall that the guys get some lessons on how to
befriend and interact with an average woman. And over two seasons, Penny
continues to be indoctrinated into the perplexing, yet often charming ways of
this nerd pack.
A modest hit when it debuted in 2007, it took awhile for geek audiences to
embrace the show. Many initially assumed the series was just making fun of its
characters, with their myriad of uptight tics, slightly nasally voices, and
comic book character-emblazoned wardrobe.
?When I first saw the show, I admit I found it to be a little bit overdone,?
says Craig Byrne, a 31-year-old writer of TV companion books and fan sites
(KryptonSite). ?But then I realized that the fact that it's grossly overdone is
what makes it funny.?
Byrne says he stuck with the show and it quickly became one of his favorites.
?I love ?The Big Bang Theory? because not only do [the writers] incorporate
geek elements into their dialogue, but the characters have a lot of heart. It's
almost as though they had advance mental development but somewhere along the
line forgot to advance socially. The addition of Penny to their circle has
given the characters a chance to grow, and has given Penny a chance to learn of
a side
of herself that she never knew existed.?
And Byrne isn?t alone in his conversion. According to Nielsen figures, the
second season of ?The Big Bang Theory? averaged 10 million viewers, up 20% from
its freshman season. A big chunk of that increase came from the coveted, and
very geek-centric, 18-49 male demo. Their approval started a swell of positive
buzz among nerd-centric viewers that understood that co-creators Chuck Lorre
and Bill Prady weren?t mocking their kind but actually celebrating a huge
portion of the population that look, act, and talk a lot like their characters.
?We?re writing about ourselves,? Prady laughs in an exclusive interview with Newsarama. ?My highly nerdish
background is that I was a computer programmer. I?m also a science fiction fan
and an obsessed ?Star
Trek? fan. Whatever you want to call that group of people, nerds, or geeks,
there?s a great history of portraying them homogenously; that they are all the
same with tape across the bridges of their eyeglasses and have pocket
protectors. The thing that I know from living in that world is that it?s
remarkably heterogeneous. There are great differences and individual passions.
What also exists is a greater respect for differences and a greater
understanding of difference. The real-life person that I knew that couldn?t
speak to women [a trait exhibited by Koothrappali], it was just an acknowledged
part of his behavior and it was just dealt with. You say that?s not the guy to
ask to talk to those women over there. All of these things are just matter of
fact for us.?
Geeks are real people
Prady says that he and his writers made it an early goal to write these four
guys as real people, which meant including idiosyncrasies that sometimes come
with being a geek.
?One of the tasks of creating a series is to create interesting characters that
are distinct from each other,? Prady explains. ?We think very carefully about
why one character might have a particular reaction that another character
doesn?t share. The four of them have very different backgrounds. They have had
very different paths through life that affect who they are. There are things
they love in common and there are things they don?t share. That also extends to
their fandom. I think they are generally game to indulge each other?s passions
but I don?t think it?s uniform. By making them distinct, you make them people
you are interested in knowing.?
Or that you might already know. Fans often cite the fact that they see plenty
of parallels in the show?s characters to their own friends and even themselves.
Will Welsh, a 36-year-old development editor says that Leonard serves as the
most relatable member of the group. ?He is painfully aware that he?s a geek. He
doesn?t always seem comfortable in his own skin, which is a feeling that I?ve
had come and go throughout most of my life. The other guys on the show, they
don?t even recognize that they?re geeks?they just are and rarely view
themselves from outside that window. Leonard teeters on not being a geek and
occasionally wishes he wasn?t so geeky, so I see myself a lot in him.?
Leonard actually represents the more socially adept end of the scale thanks to
his common problem with attracting women so he is the character most fans say
they identify with the most. But the show?s undeniable break-out character is
Sheldon Cooper. He represents the extreme end of the nerd scale with his
obsessive routines, clueless understanding of most humor, and utter lack of
humility about his mental superiority. What could have become a woefully bad
clich? in most actors? hands has instead become a delightfully exasperating
misfit in large part to Parson?s beguilingly earnest approach to playing
Sheldon.
?The Sheldon character is a riot,? says Tom Wakeley, a retired electrical
engineer who's been a fan of the series from the beginning. ?He is so
inflexible, smug, and oblivious. He reminds me of some people that I met in
college and during my career.?
Byrne added, ?Sheldon represents many of the quirks and annoyances that we end
up having but not always verbalizing. So what if he has a 'favorite spot' on
the couch - we all do. But I don't think I'm quite as socially judgmental as
Sheldon is. However, Sheldon totally seems to have stolen my wardrobe, with his
frequent wearing of comic book-related t-shirts.?
Writing what you know
Prady says that the reason Leonard, Sheldon, Wolowitz, and Koothrappali may
resonate so well is because they all reflect many of the loves that live within
the actual ?Big Bang? writers? room.
?In terms of their non-work passions, they come from the passions in the room,?
Prady admits. ?For example, the deep and abiding love this writing staff has
for Ron Moore?s ?Battlestar
Galactica.? It is deep and rich and profound, and that?s why the characters
love it. And there is their love of ?Star Trek,? which by the way is not
uniform in the room. There are people like me who know every episode of every
single series and then there are people where ?Trek? is not their thing. The
only thing we are united on is that none of us ever understood ?Babylon 5.? We?re all kind of mystified by ?Babylon 5,? he laughs.
The writers have even gone so far as to write nerdy pop culture icons into
episodes, like last season with actress Summer Glau (?Firefly,? ?Sarah Connor Chronicles?).
Prady says it satisfies their own geeky hearts and the audience too, so look
for more of it this season.
?In episode six, Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher on ?Star Trek: The Next
Generation?) is going to be here and will play himself,? Prady reveals.
?Because Wil lives very close to where our characters live in real life, it?s
not inconceivable that they share a comic book store and they would encounter
each other. Given that Wil is going to play himself, we are going to discover
that Wil Wheaton is the one member of the ?Star Trek? family that Sheldon
hates,? he laughs. ?We will learn that he loved Wesley Crusher but there was a
moment between them in the past and ever since then Wheaton is his third most
hated person.?
And so it is that what comes natural to the writers to banter about in the
room, is now fodder for the scripts and in turn a revelation to an audience
that finally feels like a show is finally speaking their language.
?For years, I felt rather out of place with my peers,? said Rob Young, the
41-year-old Director of Grants & Foundations at Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA. ?Sports, something in which I was never interested, dominated
conversations. ?The Big Bang Theory? gives me a common ground to discuss such
things. The fact that they take topics long considered ?uncool? by the
mainstream and can incorporate them into a successful show just amazes me. And
even though they?re poking fun, they treat the culture with reverence.?
Remy Minnick, a thirtysomething IT professional in Los Angeles, says the show
is always coming up with pop culture moments that feel plucked out of his or
his friends? lives. ?There?s an episode where Penny sleeps over on the couch.
Sheldon comes in to do his Saturday morning ritual of watching ?Doctor Who?
only to find Penny sleeping on the couch and it completely throws off his day.
That was definitely a ?me? moment,? he laughs. ?I also know a female version of
Sheldon who I introduced to the show and she out-Sheldoned Sheldon as she
pointed out how he would never wear a Starfleet uniform to beam down to another
planet (a.k.a. the Ren Faire in ?The Codpiece Topology?) as he would be
breaking the prime directive and he should be wearing a disguise.?
He continues, ?The show is smart enough where they don't always go for the
?obvious? joke. The guys are successful, they are sweet, they are the stars of
the show and while the show is a comedy they aren't just used for comic relief.
If it ever becomes all wedgies and pocket-protector jokes, then it's over for
me.?
It's funny because it's real
Prady promises that?s not something fans will ever have to worry about. In
fact, the show also takes great pride in the accuracy in which they write the
characters? scientific professions. UCLA physics and astronomy professor David
Saltzberg is a technical consultant for ?The Big Bang Theory? and has a hand in
every script.
?One of the things we decided from the beginning was that the science would be
accurate and when the characters talked about their work it would be
legitimate,? Prady explains. ?When Chuck (Lorre) and I wrote the pilot, we had
time to research ourselves and then we had someone check our work. In the
crunch of doing a series every week, you don?t have that luxury. Although it?s
interesting because in our writers? room, a couple of them have a very strong
science background so we are often able to get it close enough in the script
that David Saltzberg can look at it and say that ?it?s almost right but let me
tweak these words.? Sometimes what he?ll says is, ?What you put in there is
technically correct but it doesn?t sound like the way we say it, so let me
adjust that for you.? And then sometimes we just don?t have time, and in the
script we?ll put ?science to come? and ask him to fill it in.?
On some shows that would be extra effort not worth the time, but Prady says
it?s another way to show respect and prove they care to be precise when it
comes to their very smart fanbase. So far so good, as Prady says they don?t get
much critical feedback.
?I?m not really aware of much,? he chuckles. ?Every now and then I know there
have been some science questions that David has answered. He?s pretty confidant
that he hasn?t made any mistakes. The only outstanding mistake that I am aware
of in the show comes from the world of personal grooming and tonsorial arts,
which is that in the third-season finale, Sheldon mischaracterizes what a ?van
dyke? is and we mean to address that at some point.?
And Prady wants it to be known he?s not being Sheldon-like dismissive when he
says that. It comes from being secure in the knowledge that he and his team are
working hard to make sure ?The Big Bang Theory? is being true to itself and its
audience.
?Personally, if I weren?t involved in the show, I would like watching a show
where I identified with the characters and could say, ?Hey, that?s me!? So if
other people are having that reaction to us, then ?Yay!??









