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+---- Thread: The rest of Season Grate (Eps 8.07-8.15 and 8.17) (/showthread.php?tid=251)
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Louise - 12-14-2014
Wow, they must really think they're bulletproof, if they're doing jokes about molestation, now.
Excuse me for saying so, but TPTB love the smell of their own sh*t. WPP is right; it seems like they *totally* believe they're crafting these beautiful, meaningful, iconic moments.
When in fact, these moments are very "stagey", like you said. The visual presentation is stilted and self-conscious.
![[Image: 1zm2qmv.gif]](http://i59.tinypic.com/1zm2qmv.gif)
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Idle Miscreant - 12-15-2014
Here's the ratings (and a mildly cynical but thoroughly plausible and probably accurate reading of them).
Season 8 resembles Season 5 (or Season 3, god forbid!), but declining.
![[Image: big_bang_theory.png]](http://blogs.sas.com/content/sastraining/files/2014/09/big_bang_theory.png)
After the significant leap in ratings from Season 2 to Season 3, as the show hit its stride, notice the swift kick in the testicles it received upon introduction of permanent girlfriends for the two most popular and independent characters, and subsequent floundering as the "girls' nights" and relationship bollocks began to take over in late Season 4.
Syndication and thus re-runs of early episodes saved the show from initial decline, and it began to crawl its way hesitantly upwards again, after this significant set-back, much in the manner it WOULD have continued to do without the two plot-devices being ham-fistedly grafted on to an already thriving organism.
The relationships did not "save" this show. They crippled it.
Here's the real-time ratings of overall viewers and the target demo of 18- 49 (the only one advertisers are interested in) for two comparative seasons;
Mid-Season 3
3.11 "The Maternal Congruence"--------- 5.6---- 15.58m
3.12 "The Psychic Vortex" ---------------5.7 ---- 15.82m
3.13 "The Bozeman Reaction" ------------5.2 -----14.99m
3.14 "The Einstein Approximation" --------5.4 ---- 15.51m
3.15 "The Large Hadron Collision" --------6.0 ---- 16.26m
3.16 "The Excelsior Acquisition"----------5.9 ----- 15.73m
3.17 "The Precious Fragmentation" ------ 5.9 ---- 16.32m
Mid-Season 8
8.05 The Focus Attenuation ------------------ 4.6 ----- 15.63m
8.06 The Expedition Approximation --------- 4.6 ------ 16.02m
8.07 The Misinterpretation Agitation -------- 4.1 ------ 16.25m
8.08 The Prom Equivalency ------------------4.3 ------- 16.5m
8.09 The Septum Deviation ------------------4.5 ------ 16.90m
8.10 The Champagne Reflection -------------4.1 ------ 14.61m
8.11 The Clean Room Infiltration ------------3.9 ------ 15.49m
They've been dropping since mid-Season 7. You know, around the time they turned Sheldon into a schmaltz-ridden imbecile. But that's purely a coincidence, I'm sure...
It took ONE SEASON, from S2 to S3, for the show to gain 5 million viewers, without syndication, without formulaic romcom relationships. It took FOUR SEASONS to gain the next 5 million, and they've lost it already.
The formula of Season 2 & 3 was working brilliantly. If it ain't broke, what, prithee, do you do?
But by all means CBS, continue with your monstrous, conformist nativity-play...
Who is behind this? *shakes fist limply at heavens*
RE: The rest of Season Grate - spuffyfan - 12-16-2014
^^^^this post made me smile. It's times like these that I feel proud to be part of this community. You guys are some of the most intelligent people I've ever met, which is very refreshing considering what the rest of the fandom is like.
Stay awesome guys!
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Louise - 12-16-2014
I saw some Youtube commenter saying "the guys are fulfilled and contented now." Um, no. If that were true, then they'd seem relaxed, confident, at ease with themselves and with those around them. They wouldn't be so spiteful and mean, sniping at each other, getting into petty, pointless conflicts, seeming insecure and hostile and on edge. The friendship amongst the guys seems to have been broken.
People who are happy with the current state of their lives wouldn't feel the need to revisit high school, or to constantly dredge up old incidents, old conflicts, old mistakes. (Raj/Penny scandal, Howard/cousin scandal, etc.) People who were happy and secure would've forgotten about old shit and put it behind them. On the contrary, TPTB are seemingly portraying these characters as keepers of grudges; people who are overly focused on past slights. Characters who had "grown up and moved on" wouldn't be bitching at each other about things that happened years ago. Now these people are so insecure and oversensitive that they feel threatened by the success of their "dearest friends"; they feel threatened by the smallest challenge to their status and their complacency.
For all the talk of how neurotic these guys were at the start, they now seem more mired in petty personal issues than ever. Everything's a power struggle, everything's about competition and jealousy.
It occurred to me that the reason TPTB like to bring up these past mistakes is to send a message of "the characters' lives are so much better now! See what a desperate, miserable, creepy pervert Howard used to be? See how lonely and pathetic (whoever) used to be???" Well, it's not working. If you have to *tell* us the characters are happier now, that's not convincing. *We* remember these characters being full of life and energy, despite their problems. You can't pull this Animal Farm-style propaganda of "everything was so horrible, before."
If "learning and growing" had actually taken place, these characters would seem self-assured and happy. Also, people who are mature and confident wouldn't allow their partner/spouse/friends to badger them, scold them, bully them, and emotionally manipulate them. They wouldn't put up with it.
I'd like to believe a person who loves and respects themselves couldn't be conned into believing a bad relationship is better than *no* relationship, and a self-confident person wouldn't look to their spouse/partner/friends as their sole source of happiness and determiner of their worth.
This applies to all the characters. Penny also. She has more experience with relationships than the guys do, but her relationships have seemingly been negative ones, on balance.
As Space mentioned in the chat box, perhaps Sheldon just too inexperienced to know the difference between a good relationship and a bad one, a trustworthy person and an untrustworthy one. That's why this "marry the first person you've ever met" message is so bizarre and harmful. It applies to Howard, too.
I know I've mentioned it many times before, but I'm just continually amazed that in 2015, anyone is advocating "marry the first person who crosses your path, because you don't deserve any better." What kind of message is that, to be absorbed by millions and millions of viewers??
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Gamma - 12-16-2014
![[Image: tumblr_nghfp9Agh81tozq7zo1_1280.png]](https://38.media.tumblr.com/a31381c8b91521203fef4fe703c8a0d3/tumblr_nghfp9Agh81tozq7zo1_1280.png)
From the same episode that gave us the non-Sheldon smiling Sheldon there is this picture of Penny that makes me wonder whats going on in her thought bubble.
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Louise - 12-16-2014
Wow, Leonard's eyebrows look creepy. He looks demonic. My eyes were immediately drawn to how weird he looks.
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Gamma - 12-16-2014
Yeah, its not a good picture of him.
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Nutz - 12-16-2014
Here's my review on IMDB: (I wonder if they will let it be posted)
Clean Room Infiltration: Child Molestation Jokes and Drinking
So this is where the once great show of the Big Bang Theory has ended up, stupid plots (Amy plans a big Christmas party, so of course the boys go into work on that day, and Bernadette, who's driving Sheldon to the party gets talked into spending hours at the mall, WHILE DRIVING TO THE PARTY to find a gift to make Amy FEEL BAD) and child molestation jokes from the once brilliant and beautiful mind of Sheldon Cooper. Sigh.
It was bad enough watching them turn Sheldon turn into a three year old (complete with sticky fingers) and having Amy get off on it (saying she thought "He's like a sexy Toddler", and using the child molestation grooming guidebook to get him to like her), but the having The Powers That Be have Sheldon (The epitome of innocence) joke about his Uncle being a drunk child molester, but it's o.k. since its legal in Oklahoma is disturbing on so many levels. (although it might explain why he doesn't want anyone in his room and screams Danger, Danger when being woken up).
Knowing Morelo spent time at Nickelodeon making kids shows he should know better.
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Nutz - 12-16-2014
Top 20 Episodes on IMDB
# Episode User Rating
2.11 The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis 9.2 (Penny gives Sheldon THE BEST GIFT EVER)
3.22 The Staircase Implementation 9.0 (Leonard tells Penny the story of what happened to the elevator)
3.8 The Adhesive Duck Deficiency 9.0 (Sheldon takes Penny to the Hospital, while the boys get toasted on "Magic" cookies)
2.15 The Maternal Capacitance 8.9 (Sheldon hits it off with Leonard's psychoanalyst mother, but Leonard isn't happy)
7.9 The Thanksgiving Decoupling 8.9 (The gang spend Thanksgiving at Mrs. Wolowitz's house. )
2.3 The Barbarian Sublimation 8.9 (Sheldon introduces Penny to online gaming)
2.7 The Panty Piñata Polarization 8.8 (Penny plans revenge when Sheldon bans her from the guys' apartment)
7.3 The Scavenger Vortex 8.8 (The gang get competitive when they are forced to take part in Raj's scavenger hunt.)
4.1 The Robotic Manipulation 8.8 (Penny ends up tagging along on Sheldon's first ever date with Amy)
5.21 The Hawking Excitation 8.8 (Sheldon uses any and all means to meet his hero, Dr. Stephen Hawking.)
5.7 The Good Guy Fluctuation 8.7 (Sheldon tries to get into the spirit of Halloween by trying to scare the guys)
4.11 The Justice League Recombination 8.7 (The guys enter a costume contest as members of the Justice League and convince Penny and Zack to join them.)
2.21 The Vegas Renormalization 8.7 ( Penny is forced to take in Sheldon after he locks himself out of his apartment, while the boys are in Vegas)
1.17 The Tangerine Factor 8.7 (Penny finally agrees to go out on a date with Leonard, and turns to Sheldon for advice)
3.23 The Lunar Excitation 8.7 (Penny has a night of angry, drunken sex with Leonard, much to his confusion)
Episode4.24 The Roommate Transmogrification 8.7 (Raj moves in with Sheldon after hearing Leonard and Priya engage in a Star Trek fantasy in his apartment)
5.24 The Countdown Reflection 8.6 (flashbacks show the recent events leading up to his and Bernadette's wedding)
3.10 The Gorilla Experiment 8.6 (Sheldon attempts to help Penny understand physics to impress Leonard)
6.12 The Egg Salad Equivalency 8.6 (Sheldon gets himself and the rest of the guys in trouble with Human Resources)
6 .8 The 43 Peculiarity 8.6 ( Howard and Raj become determined to find out one of Sheldon's secrets)
Bottom 20 Episodes on IMDB
# Episode User Rating
7.13 The Occupation Recalibration 7.8 (Sheldon tries to relax after he is forced to take a vacation. Leonard struggles to be supportive of Penny after she quits her job)
3.6 The Cornhusker Vortex 7.8 (Leonard tries to learn about football to fit in with Penny's friends)
4.12 The Bus Pants Utilization 7.7 (Leonard has an idea for a new smartphone app and asks the guys for help)
7.22 The Proton Transmogrification 7.7 (The gang celebrates Star Wars Day)
5.6 The Rhinitis Revelation 7.7 (Sheldon gets upset when his mother comes to visit but refuses to cook for him)
7.21 The Anything Can Happen Recurrence 7.7 (When Sheldon tries to be spontaneous, it leads to unexpected friction between the girls)
7.17 The Friendship Turbulence 7.6 (After arguing with Sheldon, Howard tries to make amends by taking him to NASA)
7.12 The Hesitation Ramification 7.6 (After Leonard tries to help Penny following a failed role on a TV show)
8.2 The Junior Professor Solution 7.6 (When Sheldon is forced to teach a class, Howard surprises everyone by taking it)
7.18 The Mommy Observation 7.5 (When Sheldon visits his mother in Houston, he is forced to confront a new reality; Raj's Murder Mystery Dinner)
8.9 The Septum Deviation 7.5 (Sheldon panics when Leonard announces he has to go into the hospital for surgery)
5.11 The Speckerman Recurrence 7.5 (Leonard confronts the man who bullied him in high school)
8.11 The Clean Room Infiltration 7.5 (Amy hosts a traditional Victorian Christmas Eve dinner
Child Molestation Joke)8.5 The Focus Attenuation 7.5 (Amy and Bernadette accuse Penny of being a 'buzzkill' during their Vegas weekend; the guys try to invent something cool)
8.4 The Hook-up Reverberation 7.3 (Raj's honesty about his past comes back to haunt him)
1.0 Unaired Pilot 7.2
8.6 The Expedition Approximation 7.1 (Sheldon and Raj test whether they could survive a dark-matter research expedition in a salt mine)
8.1 The Locomotion Interruption 7.1 (Leonard and Amy take an unexpected road trip to Arizona to pick up Sheldon)
8.3 The First Pitch Insufficiency 6.9 (Howard becomes nervous after NASA asks him to throw out the first pitch at a L.A. Angels game)
8.10 The Champagne Reflection 6.7 (While Sheldon retires "Fun With Flags";The boys look for something significant in a dead professor's research; Penny and Bernadette at a work party)
Just a suggestion TPTB: Maybe you should take a closer look at your scripts if 15 of the 20 worst episodes are from season 7 & 8 and 4 of the episodes rate worse then THE UNAIRED PILOT.
RE: The rest of Season Grate - Tuesday Pajamas - 12-16-2014
And 6 of the top 20 episodes are still Shenny MAIN stories, even though Amy has been on the show 4 years. I'll Shenny blossom that!
