01-31-2015, 07:16 PM
Molaro must think people are pretty gullible if he expects them to believe that "Howard's transformation was so natural and organic."
![[Image: 2wod99x.gif]](http://i60.tinypic.com/2wod99x.gif)
Having the character literally announce that he's a new person now and "that other guy is gone", like some type of religious born-again conversion? That's as un-subtle as you could possibly get.
(It has sometimes occurred to me that the language in that scene is similar to the language used by a recently-recovered addict: I'm a whole new person now, everything is different, everything is better, yadda, yadda. There's even something called "Pink Cloud Syndrome", where a person is overly-optimistic about the changes in their life. In other words, it doesn't ring true.)
I have had a realization: TPTB are giving Watsonian explanations for Doylist decisions. (I recently learned these terms, and they are SO useful.)
In other words, they are giving lofty-sounding excuses for decisions that were actually about money.
"The characters become better people, and learn, and grow, and change" = Excuse.
"We made the characters less edgy and more PC, so as to attract a larger audience and make more money" = The Truth.
These are not character-based, plot-based decisions. These decisions are not motivated by artistic or literary factors. They are business decisions. These changes are motivated by external factors, and are then retroactively being given "in-universe" justifications.
None of this has *anything* to do with character development or story-arcs. They watered-down the product so that the faint of heart and the unimaginative could drink it and not feel threatened or challenged.
It's possible (likely?) TPTB even believe their own spiel. What they are doing is giving these very high-minded explanations of their thoroughly venal choices. It's such pure nonsense when they talk about how much they love and respect the characters as people, and treat them with dignity, and honor their integrity, etc., etc. It's all about what's expedient.
Contrary to a commonly-repeated myth, the ratings in the early seasons were good, and the show did not need "saving." It was NOT on the brink of cancellation. Perhaps the ratings would've continued to steadily increase, with the original format intact. But perhaps TPTB got impatient and weren't willing to have a "wait and see" approach.
It just makes me so disgusted when I hear these people claiming how "organic" and natural and believable everything is. They are truly the definition of people who love the sound of their own voice and the smell of their own sh*t. It is just the most blatant dishonesty and hypocrisy. Again, they must think their audience is very, very gullible.
Another thing has occurred to me: if Lenny and Leonard are of supreme importance to TPTB, then you might think that has no bearing on what happens with Sheldon and Howard. But if Sheldon and/or Howard were happily single, that might show-up the Lenny and underscore how bad it is. And now, perhaps the Shamy and the H/B are meant to make the Lenny look BETTER by comparison.
Even if TPTB loved MB and MR and wanted to keep them around (as we recently discovered), that absolutely does not necessitate changing Sheldon and Howard. A and B could've been characters without being attached to the guys. (Although, they still wouldn't be *good* characters, IMO.)
There is another thing which makes me view this statement of Molaro's as BS: as I have often mentioned, they had *already* cooled it a bit with the "flirty Howard" stuff by the end of Season 2, and that's long before Bernadette. Lenny is supreme, so they can't have Howard making advances to Penny anymore. This absolutely did not require giving Howard a girlfriend, or some big speech about how he's changed his ways. When the guys return from the Artic, does H. throw himself on Penny and start licking her face or something? No, that would be Leonard.
If certain aspects of the characters were getting to be old hat, they didn't have to eliminate those things entirely; they could just de-emphasize them a bit. They don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater and destroy Howard's personality. They could just give him more scenes that don't involve women: building inventions, hanging out with the guys, etc, and put the flirty stuff on the back-burner. I'd be perfectly happy to watch him building robots, playing games with the guys, etc.
Likewise, if "Raj can't talk" was getting tiresome, just set that aside and give him more scenes with just the guys, where the mutism won't be an issue.
Personally, I don't believe that Flirty Howard or Mute Raj was getting tiresome. But it is simply not true that "Bernadette had to come along and save Howard from himself, or he'd be creepy and disgusting."
The Penny-Howard conflict is too much? Give them fewer scenes together. Episodes with an S-P plot and an L-H-R plot work fine, and would be pleasing to both the S-P people and the H-R people. Also, it speaks well of Howard that he apparently knew better than to try interfering with his friend (Leonard's) relationship. Either way, it's demonstrably untrue that Howard was totally incapable of controlling himself until B. came along.
TL;DR: Molaro is giving a fancy-sounding reason for a profit-based decision. TPTB are not just retconning events within the show itself, they are retconning their own actions.
![[Image: oqlo4m.jpg]](http://i60.tinypic.com/oqlo4m.jpg)
(Because real men like robots.
)
Having the character literally announce that he's a new person now and "that other guy is gone", like some type of religious born-again conversion? That's as un-subtle as you could possibly get.
(It has sometimes occurred to me that the language in that scene is similar to the language used by a recently-recovered addict: I'm a whole new person now, everything is different, everything is better, yadda, yadda. There's even something called "Pink Cloud Syndrome", where a person is overly-optimistic about the changes in their life. In other words, it doesn't ring true.)
I have had a realization: TPTB are giving Watsonian explanations for Doylist decisions. (I recently learned these terms, and they are SO useful.)
In other words, they are giving lofty-sounding excuses for decisions that were actually about money.
"The characters become better people, and learn, and grow, and change" = Excuse.
"We made the characters less edgy and more PC, so as to attract a larger audience and make more money" = The Truth.
These are not character-based, plot-based decisions. These decisions are not motivated by artistic or literary factors. They are business decisions. These changes are motivated by external factors, and are then retroactively being given "in-universe" justifications.
None of this has *anything* to do with character development or story-arcs. They watered-down the product so that the faint of heart and the unimaginative could drink it and not feel threatened or challenged.
It's possible (likely?) TPTB even believe their own spiel. What they are doing is giving these very high-minded explanations of their thoroughly venal choices. It's such pure nonsense when they talk about how much they love and respect the characters as people, and treat them with dignity, and honor their integrity, etc., etc. It's all about what's expedient.
Contrary to a commonly-repeated myth, the ratings in the early seasons were good, and the show did not need "saving." It was NOT on the brink of cancellation. Perhaps the ratings would've continued to steadily increase, with the original format intact. But perhaps TPTB got impatient and weren't willing to have a "wait and see" approach.
It just makes me so disgusted when I hear these people claiming how "organic" and natural and believable everything is. They are truly the definition of people who love the sound of their own voice and the smell of their own sh*t. It is just the most blatant dishonesty and hypocrisy. Again, they must think their audience is very, very gullible.
Another thing has occurred to me: if Lenny and Leonard are of supreme importance to TPTB, then you might think that has no bearing on what happens with Sheldon and Howard. But if Sheldon and/or Howard were happily single, that might show-up the Lenny and underscore how bad it is. And now, perhaps the Shamy and the H/B are meant to make the Lenny look BETTER by comparison.
Even if TPTB loved MB and MR and wanted to keep them around (as we recently discovered), that absolutely does not necessitate changing Sheldon and Howard. A and B could've been characters without being attached to the guys. (Although, they still wouldn't be *good* characters, IMO.)
There is another thing which makes me view this statement of Molaro's as BS: as I have often mentioned, they had *already* cooled it a bit with the "flirty Howard" stuff by the end of Season 2, and that's long before Bernadette. Lenny is supreme, so they can't have Howard making advances to Penny anymore. This absolutely did not require giving Howard a girlfriend, or some big speech about how he's changed his ways. When the guys return from the Artic, does H. throw himself on Penny and start licking her face or something? No, that would be Leonard.
If certain aspects of the characters were getting to be old hat, they didn't have to eliminate those things entirely; they could just de-emphasize them a bit. They don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater and destroy Howard's personality. They could just give him more scenes that don't involve women: building inventions, hanging out with the guys, etc, and put the flirty stuff on the back-burner. I'd be perfectly happy to watch him building robots, playing games with the guys, etc.
Likewise, if "Raj can't talk" was getting tiresome, just set that aside and give him more scenes with just the guys, where the mutism won't be an issue.
Personally, I don't believe that Flirty Howard or Mute Raj was getting tiresome. But it is simply not true that "Bernadette had to come along and save Howard from himself, or he'd be creepy and disgusting."
The Penny-Howard conflict is too much? Give them fewer scenes together. Episodes with an S-P plot and an L-H-R plot work fine, and would be pleasing to both the S-P people and the H-R people. Also, it speaks well of Howard that he apparently knew better than to try interfering with his friend (Leonard's) relationship. Either way, it's demonstrably untrue that Howard was totally incapable of controlling himself until B. came along.
TL;DR: Molaro is giving a fancy-sounding reason for a profit-based decision. TPTB are not just retconning events within the show itself, they are retconning their own actions.
(Because real men like robots.
)