10-28-2014, 03:14 PM
This show has gotten very materialistic with all the emphasis on whose job is better, who has more money, what do they spend it on, who has a new car, who has this or that, etc. Not just H/B, but Lenny, too.
Who the hell thinks that's entertaining subject-matter for a comedy?
TPTB seem to view all relationships as a competition, with a winner and a loser. Everyone's constantly trying to one-up each other. I would hope that most friend-groups do not spend so much mental energy obsessing about who is "better", who has more, whose status is higher, whose job is more prestidgious, whose resume is longer, who can grab the most cash, etc.
Sure, there was *some* of that jockeying for position amongst the four guys in the earlier seasons. Yes, concerns about status *are* a real part of people's lives, and I'm not saying that fiction shouldn't address issues of class, etc. But this stuff is so ugly, petty, mean-spirited. It's just not FUNNY. I don't need to see people screaming and bickering, putting each other down, acting like a pack of dogs trying to establish who is dominant or inferior.
TPTB no longer have the finesse to pull off some *actual* satire about the inner workings of academia, or competition amongst scientists, or how the world of science is affected by funding and other practical concerns, etc. Those are legit topics of discussion.
But it's really gross when the characters' primary focus is scoring points off each other and being "better" than their friends and loved ones. Yes, of course people should be mindful of their financial situation and deal with it accordingly and discuss it with their partner/family. But that's BORING, and I don't need to hear about it on a sitcom, and I certainly don't need to see this constant, desperate pissing-contest over "my job/money/degree/title is better than yours."
I never really liked the "Dr...Dr...Mr." jokes because, again, it's comparing apples to oranges and it's an unrealistic view of how the working world actually functions in real life. There are lots of people in technical fields without a traditional degree. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both college dropouts. Nowadays, graduating from a traditional four-year college is NOT a guarantee of success, as many people of *my* generation have learned the hard way. Howard doesn't *NEED* a Phd in order to do what he does, just like college classes wouldn't necessarily make Penny a better actress. (or more worthy of respect as a human being.)
It's not fun to watch the characters use money/status to control a relationship and basically blackmail their friends or lovers.
I dunno. The classism and the emphasis on "mine, mine, mine" is getting ugly.
I know these are real concerns in people's lives, but of ALL the things the show could choose to focus on, why this? Why can't the characters have FUN?
Don't the viewers want a bit of escapism, or do they truly want to see the misery and tedium of their own everyday lives, reflected back at them?
Who the hell thinks that's entertaining subject-matter for a comedy?
TPTB seem to view all relationships as a competition, with a winner and a loser. Everyone's constantly trying to one-up each other. I would hope that most friend-groups do not spend so much mental energy obsessing about who is "better", who has more, whose status is higher, whose job is more prestidgious, whose resume is longer, who can grab the most cash, etc.
Sure, there was *some* of that jockeying for position amongst the four guys in the earlier seasons. Yes, concerns about status *are* a real part of people's lives, and I'm not saying that fiction shouldn't address issues of class, etc. But this stuff is so ugly, petty, mean-spirited. It's just not FUNNY. I don't need to see people screaming and bickering, putting each other down, acting like a pack of dogs trying to establish who is dominant or inferior.
TPTB no longer have the finesse to pull off some *actual* satire about the inner workings of academia, or competition amongst scientists, or how the world of science is affected by funding and other practical concerns, etc. Those are legit topics of discussion.
But it's really gross when the characters' primary focus is scoring points off each other and being "better" than their friends and loved ones. Yes, of course people should be mindful of their financial situation and deal with it accordingly and discuss it with their partner/family. But that's BORING, and I don't need to hear about it on a sitcom, and I certainly don't need to see this constant, desperate pissing-contest over "my job/money/degree/title is better than yours."
I never really liked the "Dr...Dr...Mr." jokes because, again, it's comparing apples to oranges and it's an unrealistic view of how the working world actually functions in real life. There are lots of people in technical fields without a traditional degree. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both college dropouts. Nowadays, graduating from a traditional four-year college is NOT a guarantee of success, as many people of *my* generation have learned the hard way. Howard doesn't *NEED* a Phd in order to do what he does, just like college classes wouldn't necessarily make Penny a better actress. (or more worthy of respect as a human being.)
It's not fun to watch the characters use money/status to control a relationship and basically blackmail their friends or lovers.
I dunno. The classism and the emphasis on "mine, mine, mine" is getting ugly.
I know these are real concerns in people's lives, but of ALL the things the show could choose to focus on, why this? Why can't the characters have FUN?
Don't the viewers want a bit of escapism, or do they truly want to see the misery and tedium of their own everyday lives, reflected back at them?