The
Big Bang Theory and the Revenge of the Geeks
On a very basic level, the CBS comedy The Big Bang
Theory could be dismissed as just another cookie-cutter sitcom
adrift in a sea of other cookie-cutter sitcoms, replete with an overdone
premise and the requisite laugh track. But if you dig a little deeper,
what you see on the surface is not what you get inside. While not groundbreaking
in style or original in concept, The Big Bang Theory still
manages to rise above the mediocrity of network television sitcoms to
be both genuine and funny, a true rarity in recent years.
The series
revolves around two brilliant scientists, Sheldon Cooper and Leonard
Hofstadter. While Sheldon is the underlying star of the show—his
mannerisms and delivery style are what Emmy nominations are made of—it
is Leonard who is the rock of the show. Although not as brilliant, nor
as neurotic, as Sheldon, he is still a geek, but one who wishes to rise
above his status in life. Enter Penny, the hot-and-hip female who lives
across the hall. Leonard inevitably develops a fixation with her that
is more than merely sexual: he truly yearns for Penny, despite the fact
they come from different worlds.
Although
their attraction is obviously real, the relationship between Leonard
and Penny is prevented from truly blossoming because of perceived personal
obstacles. Could someone as physically attractive as Penny ever really
care for a geek such as Leonard? And on the flip side, could anyone
as intelligent as Leonard every really love a mere high school graduate
who works as a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory?
As for
the two male leads, Sheldon and Leonard often have difficulty figuring
out every day routines and simple tasks even though their IQs fall into
the realm of genius, and are often oblivious to the ways of the real
world. For instance, Sheldon can’t drive. Not only does he not
want to, but he literally cannot figure out how. His friends develop
a computerized virtual “car” in order for him to learn,
but Sheldon continually gets into accidents. Or worse. “I was
on the Pasadena Freeway and missed my exit, flew off the overpass and
one thing led to another,” he explains when Leonard asks how he
ended up in the Glendale Galleria.
While there
have been other television sitcoms that have relied on the will-they/won’t-they
premise of two opposites attracted to each other—Cheers
immediately comes to mind—as well as the time-honored “fish-out-of-water”
scenario, The Big Bang Theory is able to overcome such simplistic
comparisons by not relying too heavily on the first and by turning the
second on its head. Who exactly is the “fish-out-of-water”
in the show? Initial observation would point to Leonard and Sheldon,
but Penny is just as much of a fish as she is introduced into a foreign
environment just as well.
The world
of Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper is filled with comic books,
video games and Battlestar Galactica. Along with friends Howard
Wolowitz and Rajesh Koothrappali, the quartet have weekly Halo nights,
play Klingon Boggle, build killer robots and regularly debate the merits
of various sci-fi superheroes. The true brilliance of The Big Bang
Theory is that it does not shy away from the geekness, or the scientific
brilliance, of its main characters but embraces them instead. Call it
the “Revenge of the Geeks,” because despite such non-traditional
emphasis the CBS sitcom has still risen to be a ratings hit for the
network.
The major
reason, of course, is that the comedy is actually funny as well as intelligent.
Most television sitcoms follow a “lowest-common denominator”
guideline for its jokes, dumbing them down so as to attract the largest
possible audience without alienating any potential viewers. The
Big Bang Theory doesn’t adhere to that principle, but instead
follows a more simplistic “Is it funny?” approach to comedy.
It takes the “situation” part of sitcom and then adds the
comedy around it. Thus lines like, “I can’t keep your secret,
Penny; I’m going to fold like an energy-based de novo protein
in conformational space,” still come across as funny regardless
of whether one understands how de novo proteins react or not.
“The
challenge is to have these characters speak in their own language,”
co-creator Bill Prady told Television
Without Pity in 2008, “and for sort
of the rest of us—the civilians, of which I am one—for us
to still get the intent and comic intent of what’s going on even
if we don’t get the minutia of the math. You don’t need
to understand the math to get the intent.”
“Their
own language” goes beyond science and traditional geek, however,
as it also incorporates the latest Internet trends and services. From
eHarmony to Facebook, blogs to Twitter, The Big Bang Theory
continually makes passing references to the World Wide Web. In season
two, for instance, Penny becomes addicted to an online game called the
“Age of Conan” and is continually seeking advice from a
frustrated Sheldon. “I told her, I texted her, I sent out a very
emphatic Twitter,” he tells the others. “I even changed
my Facebook status to ‘Sheldon Cooper wishes Penny would leave
him alone.’ I don’t know what else to do.”
Another
reason The Big Bang Theory has found success could very well
be that it is a product of its times. While television ratings have
been unkind to science fiction this century for the most part, DVD sales
and online viewing suggests that what was once the realm of geeks is
actually becoming mainstream. At the same time, what we consider to
be mainstream itself is changing, with both Facebook and Twitter becoming
part of the norm. The Big Bang Theory taps into that cultural
transformation as much as any other show on television.
“Our
society has undergone a paradigm shift,” Leonard Hofstadter tells
Sheldon Cooper in season one. “In the information age, Sheldon,
you and I are the Alpha Males.” Although the full implication
of that statement may not be accurate, there is no doubt that when it
comes to traditional television sitcoms, The Big Bang Theory
is an alpha male in its own right.
Anthony
Letizia (February 8, 2010)
