The rest of Season Grate (Eps 8.07-8.15 and 8.17)

[queenoftheDales]

It's kind of a running joke that Raj likes teenage-girl stuff, but Sheldon? Hmmm...

ETA: a person's leisure-time activities don't necessarily reflect their intelligence; we all have guilty pleasures and we've all enjoyed some pretty silly stuff, but still....Sheldon? This is OOC.

More ploys to make this show relevant to the target audience by having the show favorite do these OOC references, no doubt. Taylor Swift is the go-to favorite for 18-25 year olds, right?

Hypothetically, IF Sheldon were to be spouting off new found knowledge of recent pop culture, one could assume that he got this knowledge from spending a significant amount of time with either Raj or with someone else that is most likely into recent pop culture and that kind of music...PENNY. I wonder if that is on the list of "off-screen moments"

Either way, I cringed when I saw gifs of the scene. It would have been much better suited for Raj or Penny or anyone that WASN'T Sheldon.

I personally really like Nicki Minaj. she doesn't take herself too seriously

I like Nicki Minaj too.

[Nutz]

If there is one thing I've taken away from this season is the feeling that somebody from the show is lurking on this Forum. If you take season 8 as a whole, I've seen a correlation between what is said here and what the show does.

Examples:
1. Leonard/Penny has no chemistry, do nothing together, and have absolutely nothing in common.
TPTB give us "The First Pitch Insufficiency" where they go into detail that even they know these two are completely crap as a couple, but they don't care. They also give us "The Prom Equivalency" where Leonard's motive of only "loving" Penny cause she's hot is brought into focus again as he tells Penny that he sent out pictures to all his high school friends of Penny in a bikini as a way of announcing his engagement. (But hey, at least he isn't showing the video of her naked in the shower again)

2. The loss of Sheldon and his brain since Amy came into the picture
TPTB give us "The Anxiety Optimization" a tale on first look should make us happy cause it has Sheldon, his whiteboards and his brain when he's stuck, but looking closer we see a completely different Sheldon then earlier episodes. This Sheldon wears a "helmet" until it stinks (so much for cleanliness issues), and is not only socially aware when his friends are trying to get a rise out of him, but badgers his friends and girlfriend to keep up being annoying (which according to Sheldon is natural for Amy). In fact, it's not until Sheldon starts hallucinating armadillos that we see the "stuck" Sheldon we loved. Plus just in case we didn't get the point that Amy makes Sheldon a better Scientist from that episode, they also give us "The Troll Manifestation" this gem is where we see Sheldon steal Leonard's idea for a paper and writes it himself, but hey it's O.K. since he gave Leonard joint credit.

3. Soft Kitty is extinct.
TPTB gives us a completely bastardized version in "The Anxiety Optimization" sung by Penny and Leonard as they use it to put Sheldon to sleep like a wayward two year old. (Which makes me wish it really was extinct) Gone is the beautiful running gag between Sheldon and Penny and instead we get the return almost word for word the joke (that wasn't funny in S3 "The Spaghetti Catalyst") of Leonard killing Sheldon in his sleep.

4. This show might as well be Shamy Fanfiction the way it’s written
TPTB literally gives us Shamy Fanfiction in “The Troll Manifestation” here we get to watch Penny and Bernie fan girl out over Amy reading Little House Fanfiction she wrote about herself and Sheldon including how in Amy’s world Sheldon (or Coop) will give up (going back to future) comic books, Doctor Who, Spock, Indiana Jones and apparently indoor plumbing because she is all he ever needs.

I’m sure there are other examples, but just writing about the stuff above has made me nauseated. Plus let’s not forget the very thinly veiled FU in the above episode of how “somebody” feels about people who doesn’t like his work.

It seems like Season 8 has become ”somebody’s” revenge against all that oppose him, the fact that it has harmed the show and chased away the demographic that they so desperately need, doesn’t seem to matter.

[wellplayedpenny]

Tonight's episode had me wondering what happens to writers of a long-running sitcom. How do they keep the ideas flowing? How do they maintain quality? Tonight's episode has given me a clear sign as to how they think.

Quite simply, they just make all this shit up.

Now, granted, that is what they're paid to do. They write fiction. But even within this scope there is a kind of sitcom continuity that had shaped the show in its earlier seasons that are completely devoid in the later seasons and most definitely in tonight's episode. This continuity was first and foremost set in the nuances that brought the characters to life. Whether it was Howard's belt buckles or Sheldon's scowls there were little things that painted a big picture of what I was expecting to see every week. For three seasons I followed this through until we had the ship change course with s4 and fall off the edge of the world with s5 and beyond. The characters I knew and loved were altered. 'Growth', they called it. 'Humanization of a robot', they claimed. And the best way to promote this change was through romantic relationships.

But let's call a spade a spade, here. The writers ran out of ideas and didn't have the guts to either bring in new blood or else end the series at four seasons. That's why Bernadette and Amy became the guest stars that wouldn't go away. They provide new interactions with the original five that allowed the writers to go in new directions without having to stretch themselves creatively. Having seven people makes the half hour sitcom rather crowded so they again decided to make it easier for themselves and paired up everyone into relationships. Now they don't have to worry about seven scientists and Penny. Now it's Lenny, Shamy, Howardette and whatever the hell Emily and Raj are going to be called.

Tonight's opener has my vote as worst opening of all time. Jim reaching for Mayim's hand, smiling in a giggly way at her like a love-sick fool, completely shattered any illusion that I was watching TBBT. There was nothing in Jim's acting that even hinted at him playing Sheldon. He was himself. They pay him a million dollars to play himself. Here I've been living my life playing me for free. Boy, now which of us looks stupid! His acting choices (or direction) are puzzling in a greater whole as the history of the Shamy has been Amy berating Sheldon for not focusing on her needs. Being castrated and humiliated by having her help out his academic rival makes for a 'happy Sheldon'? Nonsense. This is a cast and crew on auto-pilot after securing a lucrative contract.

How else can someone come up with the seemingly stream of consciousness plot of: 'the Shamy want to progress as a couple so they want to get a turtle because the turtle means they're a family and a family of Martians is what Amy offers Sheldon'. Unless the last part of that logic is 'and the Shamy relationship is hostile, barren and lifeless like Mars' then I'm not sure where the writers were going with that line of thought.

Then there is the Lenny plotline about the shagged upon paint canvas. Penny comes up with the brilliant idea of giving it to Sheldon and saying that Shatner painted it. Now, my brother was afraid to leave me alone in the same room with his fiancee because of the stories I could tell her. That's sibling stuff. Him giving me a canvas with their sweaty love juices on it? Uh...not so much. So to keep track, telling each other intimate secrets, sharing a chemistry that pops off the screen and gifting a sex blanket are 'sibling things' and constant badgering, emasculating, demeaning and whining means a 'healthy and happy relationship'. But then again these are the writing geniuses who envision a world-class physicist, 'one of the most brilliant men of his generation' being giggly contented to play the role of a castrated, kowtowing, sexy toddler in a 'boy-girl' relationship.

I really hope Sheldon and Amy get that trip to Mars because they can then write them out of the show. Although I think they wrote out Sheldon a few seasons ago.

[Wisp]

I saw a trailer for a cutesy lil' animated film where Jim voices an alien, and, lo and behold, he's using the most Sheldony voice ever. So what's the excuse? LAZY BASTARD. HE CAN STILL DO IT.

[Moonbase]

I made the decision to stop watching the show at the end of season six but got sucked back in for a few of seven because I was blindly hopeful it could still stay moderately entertaining. But the shows fate was sealed when they brought in Amy and Bernie. Marching Leonard and Penny to the altar wasn't enough for these show controllers. They have had to match up of all characters and it comes across as forced.

Sheldon's original appeal was his autonomy and it's my belief he should never have been with anyone, unless this was done at the closing of the show. I can't stand how they have made a mockery of everything he stood for, or ever said. Re-watching the old episodes is bittersweet now because he is no longer a character I believe in. Without the original personalities the show is just crumbling. I saw an image of Amy and Sheldon holding hands. The actors too old to pull it off this child-play and Amy looks insane.

[Idle Miscreant]

Just to cheer everybody up...Bar a few absent Morlocks and the Tall Man From Cornwall, is this not our fantasy Season 1-3? It needs quite a few more of the signature scenes (particularly the Sheldon and Penny ones) but otherwise I think it captures the tone of the original show splendidly!

[FlyingMonkey]

Just to cheer everybody up...Bar a few absent Morlocks and the Tall Man From Cornwall, is this not our fantasy Season 1-3? It needs quite a few more of the signature scenes (particularly the Sheldon and Penny ones) but otherwise I think it captures the tone of the original show splendidly!

It WAS a great show, wasn't it? More's the pity.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Wow that's such a great video. Popping over to give it a thumbs up (kind of agree with Sheldon about the new ratings system).

[Tuesday Pajamas]

8.18 The Leftover Thermalization

Promo photos are out.

http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/03/the-big...e-818.html