03-10-2015, 01:42 AM
Gadgets, games and geeks...
...and Penny and FRIEND ships are why I "tuned in", literally and emotionally, to The Big Bang Theory and what kept me enthralled. And quite frankly if I'd known the show would devolve so spectacularly into Girlfriends, Greysuits and Growth Growth Growth I would have changed the channel early on.
Obviously I was watching the show all wrong. Apparently I was supposed to see four nerds leading miserable and empty lives. I was supposed to hope (via Leonard's POV) that they could improve their lot in life, that they could find THE ONE, and that they could lead happy, NORMAL lives.
Stupid me, I never did though. I suppose I was misled by their genius-level IQs, their impressive jobs, their neato apartments, their snazzy clothes (well, Howard and Sheldon mostly), their encyclopedic knowledge of science fiction and superheroes, their fastidious collecting of the things they love, and the unabashed joy that came from doing stuff together, whether it be watching cornstarch dance or building a killer robot or inventing a game.
I thought, man, these are super-cool guys! I certainly didn't see them as losers, needing to be fixed, needing to be completed. Even their awkwardness and their quirks and phobias were endearing to me. What *I* saw were individuals who soldiered on despite the disappointments and setbacks lobbed their way, because Comic-Con, or besting Kripke for once, or winning the Nobel prize was ALWAYS on the horizon. That was the journey *I* was interested in.
The group dynamic sold me also, because you got the full measure of their personalities as they bounced off each other. The Drake Equation scene, anyone? You had Leonard the Rationalist, Howard the Idealist, Raj the Comedian, and Sheldon the Observer. The archetypes might have shifted from time to time, but the humor was in watching how they collided with and, ultimately, complemented the other(s). The aggravation and the snark were neatly balanced by the camaraderie and the commiserating.
It's not that I would have been averse to the guys going on dates from time to time, I just never saw the need for any of them, within the near timeless confines of a sitcom, to be pair-bonded FOR LIFE. Five exceptional individuals have essentially been subsumed now into four very UNexceptional couples. The journey is no longer about individual enlightenment and scientific advancement so much as the slow prod toward the altar. I'm sorry, but I find that incredibly sad.
And boring.
...and Penny and FRIEND ships are why I "tuned in", literally and emotionally, to The Big Bang Theory and what kept me enthralled. And quite frankly if I'd known the show would devolve so spectacularly into Girlfriends, Greysuits and Growth Growth Growth I would have changed the channel early on.
Obviously I was watching the show all wrong. Apparently I was supposed to see four nerds leading miserable and empty lives. I was supposed to hope (via Leonard's POV) that they could improve their lot in life, that they could find THE ONE, and that they could lead happy, NORMAL lives.
Stupid me, I never did though. I suppose I was misled by their genius-level IQs, their impressive jobs, their neato apartments, their snazzy clothes (well, Howard and Sheldon mostly), their encyclopedic knowledge of science fiction and superheroes, their fastidious collecting of the things they love, and the unabashed joy that came from doing stuff together, whether it be watching cornstarch dance or building a killer robot or inventing a game.
I thought, man, these are super-cool guys! I certainly didn't see them as losers, needing to be fixed, needing to be completed. Even their awkwardness and their quirks and phobias were endearing to me. What *I* saw were individuals who soldiered on despite the disappointments and setbacks lobbed their way, because Comic-Con, or besting Kripke for once, or winning the Nobel prize was ALWAYS on the horizon. That was the journey *I* was interested in.
The group dynamic sold me also, because you got the full measure of their personalities as they bounced off each other. The Drake Equation scene, anyone? You had Leonard the Rationalist, Howard the Idealist, Raj the Comedian, and Sheldon the Observer. The archetypes might have shifted from time to time, but the humor was in watching how they collided with and, ultimately, complemented the other(s). The aggravation and the snark were neatly balanced by the camaraderie and the commiserating.
It's not that I would have been averse to the guys going on dates from time to time, I just never saw the need for any of them, within the near timeless confines of a sitcom, to be pair-bonded FOR LIFE. Five exceptional individuals have essentially been subsumed now into four very UNexceptional couples. The journey is no longer about individual enlightenment and scientific advancement so much as the slow prod toward the altar. I'm sorry, but I find that incredibly sad.
And boring.
OH PLEASE...