An Un-unravelable Web?

[Idle Miscreant]

"He's not going to be happy about it....it's easier for him to give in a little bit than to keep fighting."

WELL HOW ROMANTIC...

Poor bastard's just given up completely now. Twu Wuv is evidently being broken down into a husk of your former character, then strung up into a shambling puppet, lurching around tragically at the whims of your master...

[wellplayedpenny]

TVLine Kaley Cuoco November 29 2012

http://tvline.com/2012/11/29/big-bang-th...interview/

Memorable Lines:
TVLINE | Did the “I love you,” as written and directed, reflect at all how you imagined these three words would one day come out?
[KC]:It made perfect sense that she would blurt them out and not even realize it. And you saw the vulnerability at the same time. I feel like Penny’s got just as many issues as Leonard, in different ways, and this has obviously been very difficult for her, so I loved that it came out without her knowing. It shows that she meant it. It was really the first time I felt like I was actually in that moment, that I was talking to Leonard — as cheesy as that sounds. It’s been an amazing and crazy road, almost six years up to that point, so it’s just such a cool moment.

Mood of the Masses:
"Ugh. Amy. Bernie, sure. Rauch is a hoot. But Amy and her desperately creepy antics? And her obnoxiously delusional quips? And Bialik’s ridiculously annoying intonation and over-all TV presence? PLEASE GO AWAY." [Kara Blankenship]

versus

" The addition of those two [Amy and Bernie] has just made the show stronger to me. When those three ladies are together, they’re so hilarious!!! If BBT is smart, they’ll keep them as regulars till the end" [Justin]
...
And regarding the relationships:
"Here’s the problem with the newer seasons of The Big Bang Theory: The two new characters, Amy and Bernadette are great, hilarious additions to the show. HOWEVER, the writers just don’t seem to know what to do with the larger cast now. The show was funniest when the guys were all hanging out together and doing typically nerdy stuff. With the addition of the gals, the show is becoming more and more about the “relationship drama”, which gets tedious after awhile. Amy and Bernadette are not the problem… it’s just that the writers haven’t figured out how to get out of the rut of “relationships stories”, and back to what made TBBT so funny in it’s earlier seasons" [John DeMayo]
.
"I must say, this show is my favoriate show out right now. The back and forth between Penny and Leonard is fun and keep things pretty fresh. But I don’t want the show to get too focused on their relationship….like how the Office got with Jim and Pam. I watch this show for it’s comedic purposes….not for the love story." [Adam]

[ricardo shillyshally]

I've been going down this thought path, that all experimental relationships, as depicted in sit coms like BB, have to resolved into traditional relationships before the end of the show. As if there's some moral imperative at play. Here's another viewpoint about characters in show> 'The Big Bang Theory appears quite unique in its depictions of masculinity and femininity of young men and women because these alternative masculinities and femininities are the stars of the show. Although the show still presents heterosexuality as the norm it is very positive in its depictions of acceptable behavior for men and women and presents alternatives to the usual stereotypical presentations of men and women.' and ' The Big Bang Theory is refreshingly non stereotypical in regards to the expectations on masculinity and femininity. Perhaps this is why the show has become so incredibly popular.' http://www.xyonline.net/content/big-bang...femininity

[Nutz]

I don't know if I agree with the article. The lead men on this show are stereotypical nerds. short, tall, stick-thin, asthmatic, and sports phobic and the women are shown in numerous stereotypes including the main one that the higher your IQ is the uglier you have to look. If they really wanted to break the male/female stereotypes, they would have one of the girls enjoying the supposedly male dominated geekery of comic books/Roleplaying, or have Penny get a job training horses or being a car mechanic (she rebuilt engines at 12) instead of giving her a job as a RX sales rep, a job that is stereotypically filled by hot looking girls who flirt with Doctors to sell drugs.

This show doesn't really break stereotypes (they just pretend they do). The men do exactly what men who are nerds are supposed to and the hot girl across the hall is shown to be a party girl boarding on alcoholism just because she is pretty (therefore stupid). I think the closest this show gets to breaking stereotypes is when Raj is being "metrosexual" (which unfortunately for this show just means adding another gay joke)

[ricardo shillyshally]

I don't agree with every thing they say, but some is valid. I just like reading all the different viewpoints. I think the male characters are quite unique, if you look at the whole of TV output, and these characters could be only the first step away from stereotypes. I'm also interested to hear why different people think the ratings stay high. I start by being annoyed by a boring narrative trajectory, and start to understand the conservative nature of TV programming.

[Nutz]

I don't agree with every thing they say, but some is valid. I just like reading all the different viewpoints. I think the male characters are quite unique, if you look at the whole of TV output, and these characters could be only the first step away from stereotypes. I'm also interested to hear why different people think the ratings stay high. I start by being annoyed by a boring narrative trajectory, and start to understand the conservative nature of TV programming.

I think the characters were unique in the earlier seasons, and maybe I could understand the article a little more, but it's hard for me to "see" what the article was talking about in the last couple of seasons. Unless they consider infantilizing men until they "become normal" by giving into a women and their desires unique. (and maybe that's just my own disgust at what they've done to Sheldon)

I think the ratings are staying high thanks to kids and tweens. They definitely have lost almost half of the "golden demographic" of 18 - 45 year olds, and I really can't see a whole lot of the 55 and older crowd having this show as a must watch every week.

[devilbk]

So what remains is an audience that doesn't buy anything and that spells doom.

[ricardo shillyshally]

Yes we need an algorithm for Sheldon. He didn't have those really childish traits in early seasons. It's not like they came to prominence suddenly. I seem to remember it starting , when L and Penny started dating. The shock must have been too much! I now see how programme makers are caught in paradigm. But it is true that adolescent men form tribal units, and go on adventures(virtually), and that women do often play a socializing role for men, and it's a cliche that women find a guy who is ready for shaping; Priya did it with L's wardrobe, all of the three main female characters show disdain for the guys interests,etc and these guys(except for Sheldon) were so desperate they would be easy to manipulate; Dr. Steph and L. Hence the guys will only be left with what their women consider socially acceptable. I predict they all split up and join a commune.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

I really liked the beginning of the Spaghetti Catalyst but this scene towards the end, was really degrading for Sheldon. Shenny shipping has always been around, since day one and this S3 episode featured Sheldon and Penny on a dinner date together, it was a wonderful scene and the lengths Sheldon went to keep the date were almost chivalrous.

I believe TPTB added the disney scene at the end to emasculate him, so he wasn't seen as a threat to Leonard. I mean, look at Leonard! he's a little toad next to Sheldon. The writers have always been aware that Sheldon was a far more exciting leading man, and it's moments like these, even as early as S3 where they tried to tip the balance. Not very successfully in my view. It was quite silly. I remember thinking how ridiculous it was for Sheldon to be into Disneyland at all. I mean, it's kind of shit! and he had better things to do with his time.

[wellplayedpenny]

Screencrush Simon Helberg May 15 2013

http://screencrush.com/the-big-bang-theo...n-helberg/

Memorable Lines:
**So right off the bat, Howard has probably been through more development and experiences than anyone on the show. Why do you suppose that Howard has struck such a chord with the writers to have been given this much evolution?

[SH]:I don’t know why exactly in terms of the motivation of the writers. I will say that the writers are incredibly perceptive to what works on the show, to what the actors bring, the dynamics and how to play with them. When Melissa [Rauch] came onto the show, I don’t think any of the writers had a goal for Howard to get married to this person. I think it was she came on, and she killed it, and our dynamic really worked well, and it actually made sense somehow that there was someone in the universe who would be able to tolerate Howard, and maybe his mother someday.

I think Melissa had all of that, being incredibly talented and hilarious and charming, so all of a sudden it started to unlock a lot of these different layers to Howard, to see him be a bit more sensitive, and to cut through that sleaze and get to the heart of him. From there, when something works organically, it becomes an endless possibility of riches. It opened the doors to their marriage, to NASA, to space, to taking him away from her, to dealing with his mother, dealing with his father, so you end up with a very very fleshed-out character. Some of it probably had the biggest paradigm shift of other characters of the series, while still maintaining the real integrity of the show.

Mood of the Masses: No Comments.

---

Hollywood Reporter Fav Moments Season 6 May 23 2013

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-fe...nts-525669

Memorable Lines:
While the writer/executive producer has been with the series since season one, Molaro says this year the characters -- because the audience knew them so well -- were in a place where the series was ready to go deeper and "tell stories where things really happen to them and things matter more."

"I'm really proud of season six; it's been really satisfying and fun to see how we've been able to go deeper and push these characters," Molaro says.

STEVE MOLARO
"I can't pick one. Leonard and Penny saying, 'I love you'; Raj's speech in the comic book store about how they're all a community, if they have each other; Sheldon making Amy his emergency contact; Howard coming back from space. Every character has had these incredible moments this season. Raj standing in the hall convincing Lucy to go out with him because he swears he's messed up in the head. The end of the closet episode when they all tell Howard what might be in the letter and one of them is true."

JIM PARSONS (Sheldon)
"I did really enjoy the episode where Amy was sick. Her lassoing Sheldon into taking care of her goes to my point of Sheldon doing almost anything that is justified in the name of science or reason. In that case, she was sick enough that she needed to be bathed; she needed to have something rubbed on her bare chest; and by the end, she'd done so wrong that when Sheldon found out that she'd lied that she needed to be spanked. The young lady gets exactly what she wants by a young man who's doing it for different reasons. It's really brilliant."

JOHNNY GALECKI (Leonard)
"Penny telling Leonard she loves him is pretty big. We didn't play it as a watershed moment. It was played as if she's always known this. It was touching. I also love the moment when Leonard says, 'I know I propose a lot,' and then promises that he won't. It's one of my favorite Leonard lines to say. To put his own desire aside and say, 'You tell me when you're ready, despite what I want in my life right now and with you right now.' That's unconditional, selfless love."

KALEY CUOCO (Penny)
"When Penny said, 'I love you' to Leonard. It took her more than five years to say it. That's why now you know with Penny that whatever she does is real. You know when she said it she truly meant it. That's why now Leonard is OK with going away and knowing that they're going to be OK. We did that in one take. Steve came out and said, 'We're really happy with that. Do you want to do it again?' We didn't want to; it felt perfectly right. I told Johnny: 'It was so weird -- I became Penny in that moment.' There was no audience, just Leonard and Penny. It was a moment I'll definitely never forget."

KUNAL NAYYAR (Raj)
"I'll always remember this season. This is the season where these guys are getting to the point in their lives now where their priorities are not, 'Let's have video game night.' It's, 'I want love. I want a family. I want a relationship. I need a partner in my life.' That is the season for me; watching them shift from, 'Let's buy a time machine,' to, 'Am I going to get married to this girl? Am I going to ever find love? Am I ever going to find a partner?'"

SIMON HELBERG (Howard)
"Sheldon and Amy deciding to get physical -- but in the context of Dungeons and Dragons. It's a really brilliantly constructed scene where they're rolling the dice to figure out which article of armor, or clothing, comes off. It's really an amazing moment and a microcosm of the show. It is the reality of these characters, yet it's very universal. It's real to them and what maybe is a small step to other people, is as big of a step to these characters as you can find."

MELISSA RAUCH (Bernadette)
"The letter episode was so special. I really loved how they showed that aspect of Howard and Bernadette's marriage. It showed the emotional component of marriage and how Howard was going through this really traumatic event, and they did it together. They've always done a good job of showing the love between Howard and Bernadette -- even though they bicker and they don't always see eye to eye at exactly the same time. I just loved how that was a dual effort of helping them come to Howard's resolution and him talking it out with her."

Mood of the Masses:
A bunch of positive messages such as—
" I share the same favorites with the cast. I would add Raj and Lucy kissing, Sheldon's "I'm not that smart" moment and Raj finally speaking without alcohol. I would say though Howard's letter was one of the best episodes I have ever seen on TV. Perfect in all angles. Can't wait for season 7!" [Guest]