9.18 The Application Deterioration

[CassandraElise]

I just want to point out that any exchanged look, regardless of whether it was initially ad-libbed by Jim and Kaley, has to go through several different people before we see it on our TV sets. First the director has to approve it. Hell, maybe the director told Kaley to be amused by all of Sheldon's jokes. We don't know. Then the cameraman had to set up several shots of this exchange: some from Sheldon's angle, some from Penny's. The cameraman only films what he wants us to see, so he wanted us to see Sheldon hamming it up, and nobody being amused except Penny. Finally, the editors decided which takes were the best and edited them together. We don't know what those alternate takes looked like, but the editors thought Penny being genuinely delighted by Sheldon while Leonard and Amy give their typical reproving glares was the best shot.

So what am I getting at? ALL of these subtle looks from season 1-9 are painstakingly designed. Nothing is an accident. This proves to me that the crew KNOW which relationship (Shenny) is genuine and healthy and they KNOW which relationships suck. They've shown us this time and time again through carefully crafted camera angles focusing on the facial expressions and the body language of the characters. They've shown us this through all the little nuances that completely go over the casual viewer's head. We can talk about the producers and vast majority of fans being blind and deaf, but I think everybody else has jumped onto the Shenny ship.