10-20-2014, 10:32 AM
Okay, I have not watched a full season beyond S3, so I wouldn't know, but here are a few thoughts:
Stuart was not always portrayed as suicidally depressed with nothing positive going on in his life, no? In the early seasons, he may've been rather glum in a Charlie Brown sort of way, but he also asked out Penny, etc.
I thought the original point of Stuart was that he's a nerd/geek but not a scientist. In contrast to the four guys, he's more of an average working-class guy who has some geeky interests but doesn't have a high-profile job, as they do.
Then, we had clinically depressed Stuart, and I'm not sure how I feel about that, as someone who has experienced clinical depression myself, IRL.
And now, we have a more aggressive/confident Stuart who is territorial about his new position as Mrs.W's caretaker and has a pretty nasty conflict going on with Howard, to the point where they get into an actual, physical fight? (and Howard is mostly the bad guy in this conflict? IDK.)
WTF? That's all I can say, WTF. *All* of this show's characters have multiple personalities. All of the characters have become so nasty and mean-spirited.
I like Kevin S. well enough, but I do not see the point in adding yet ANOTHER "main" character to the group of 7. Seven is already too many. Original Stuart was a good minor character, on the same tier as Leslie or Kripke.
This show seems to be almost entirely about petty interpersonal conflicts, now. People arguing and bitching and being hostile and spiteful. It's so ugly and unpleasant.
There was always tension and snarkiness amongst the characters, but that type of thing is best when it's used sparingly: a quick joke, a quick one-liner, not the focus of an entire episode.
IMO, conflict in a comedy needs to be presented in a very exagerrated, absurdist way, so as to take the sting out of it. If it's too serious, then it becomes unpleasant and unsettling. When S and L clashed in "The Cooper-Hofstader Polarization", that was comical and clearly not meant to be taken seriously. That's why Seinfeld is (mostly) not disturbing, despite the fact that it's often full of arguing and shouting.
I could almost say that the mean-spiritedness is the very worst thing about this show's transformation, moreso than any quibbles about specific ships or specific storylines.
I mean, really. "Let's elevate a secondary character to regular status just to ruin him, because there's not enough yelling and bickering already"???
On a side note, the one thing I'll never forgive TPTB for, is separating Howard and Raj. That's another reason why I dislike the Space storyline, and it's why I'd still dislike B, even if she were a less shrewish character. I think it bothers me even more than the watering-down of Howard's character.
Stuart was not always portrayed as suicidally depressed with nothing positive going on in his life, no? In the early seasons, he may've been rather glum in a Charlie Brown sort of way, but he also asked out Penny, etc.
I thought the original point of Stuart was that he's a nerd/geek but not a scientist. In contrast to the four guys, he's more of an average working-class guy who has some geeky interests but doesn't have a high-profile job, as they do.
Then, we had clinically depressed Stuart, and I'm not sure how I feel about that, as someone who has experienced clinical depression myself, IRL.
And now, we have a more aggressive/confident Stuart who is territorial about his new position as Mrs.W's caretaker and has a pretty nasty conflict going on with Howard, to the point where they get into an actual, physical fight? (and Howard is mostly the bad guy in this conflict? IDK.)
WTF? That's all I can say, WTF. *All* of this show's characters have multiple personalities. All of the characters have become so nasty and mean-spirited.
I like Kevin S. well enough, but I do not see the point in adding yet ANOTHER "main" character to the group of 7. Seven is already too many. Original Stuart was a good minor character, on the same tier as Leslie or Kripke.
This show seems to be almost entirely about petty interpersonal conflicts, now. People arguing and bitching and being hostile and spiteful. It's so ugly and unpleasant.
There was always tension and snarkiness amongst the characters, but that type of thing is best when it's used sparingly: a quick joke, a quick one-liner, not the focus of an entire episode.
IMO, conflict in a comedy needs to be presented in a very exagerrated, absurdist way, so as to take the sting out of it. If it's too serious, then it becomes unpleasant and unsettling. When S and L clashed in "The Cooper-Hofstader Polarization", that was comical and clearly not meant to be taken seriously. That's why Seinfeld is (mostly) not disturbing, despite the fact that it's often full of arguing and shouting.
I could almost say that the mean-spiritedness is the very worst thing about this show's transformation, moreso than any quibbles about specific ships or specific storylines.
I mean, really. "Let's elevate a secondary character to regular status just to ruin him, because there's not enough yelling and bickering already"???
On a side note, the one thing I'll never forgive TPTB for, is separating Howard and Raj. That's another reason why I dislike the Space storyline, and it's why I'd still dislike B, even if she were a less shrewish character. I think it bothers me even more than the watering-down of Howard's character.