03-06-2015, 10:15 AM
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.
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.
Let's go exploring!