2014 - Award Season

[wellplayedpenny]

... STOP warping Sheldon's character to fit in with Amy's self-pitying requirements. She's a secondary character who's been pushed too far into prominence, and she's thrown the balance of the whole show out of whack. STOP making Sheldon the villain of the piece by turning his asexuality into 'egotism', or suggesting there's something WRONG with him because he's not leaping into bed with Fowler.

Amy's symbolic of the show's 'push' towards romantic involvement. She's a character without the chance to form a true personality as she was plunked in as a joke and then tooled to say and do whatever TPTB wanted her to say. Her contrasting and disturbing behavior really reflects the difficulty TPTB had in transitioning the show. Their solution to put in the shaky romance element was to lower the quality of the show. Where this comes out to me is in the manner of how the characters talk/treat each other. The humour is nasty. I no longer feel like I share the joke. And this has warped the characters themselves.

Sheldon was the last bastion of what was so it makes sense that Amy the Transitioner is on him like a wet blanket, wearing him down until he falls in line. As you said Gripe, things which made Sheldon unique have been attacked and twisted to seem like unreasonable obstacles. To be fair, they ARE obstacles for the New Order of Things. I think the last episode really cemented the idea that it's time for Sheldon to shit or get off the pot. Unfortunately as a character on a sitcom that has been renewed for three more seasons he has no choice but to return to this mess and 'blend in like a good lad should'.

And again it's no surprise that all his soul-searching occurs off-camera. That's been the way of things here: Penny and Leonard are so compatible--off-camera. Amy and Sheldon are two peas in a pod--off-camera. Practically everything that's been really important has happened off-camera. That, to me, is copping out. I want to like the characters. Care about their ups and downs. I want to see for myself why they're 'meant to be' instead of being told they are. And it's total bs that they couldn't bring up the romances (if they had to have them) to the level of the show. I mean I wrote my first BBT novel and struggled bloody hard to keep both romance and the spirit of s1-3 just to see if it could work and I'm far from a professional writer. TPTB should have nailed it. Instead they got lazy and formulaic. They've destroyed the uniqueness. And to me that's what's unforgivable.

Maybe we ought to come up with a list of things we've learned thanks to the show. Number One on my list is that I never knew I would have to give up 'nerd/geek' things in order to find love and become a responsible adult. Apparently being scientists at a university, out on their own (save Howard) paying bills, engaging socially with people of similar interests a la comic book store, robot fighting league, renaissance fairs, paintball fields or ComicCon (I mean who goes to ComicCon anyways, right? ) isn't enough to constitute maturity if one chosses to read comic books, play D&D and go to Planet of the Apes marathons.

I seem to be way off topic considering this is an awards show thread so let me end this by saying that it pains me dearly that the show is being (somewhat) rewarded for the later seasons. It seems as though nearly everyone close to the project and awards judging has been swept away by the 'aww-ness' of the Shamy and Lenny. Perhaps things would have been different if the show had won for best series in the second or third season....