04-18-2015, 12:31 AM
A small comment on what you wrote, Gripe. Reruns of BBT occur before the news here and so my mother has caught the endings of a few of the episodes from time to time. Keep in mind that, apart from my talking about the show or my fanfictions she's never sat down to see an episode, but even she could tell what was an early episode from a later one because of the meanness of the humour as well as the fact that the humour itself in the later shows wasn't particularly funny. If a casual observer can detect the change I refuse to believe that TPTB can't see it and therefore horrible seasons 5-8 are deliberate. Their retelling of how things should be interpreted in interviews reinforces this and, quite happily (at least for me), the consequences of their change are coming home to roost in the crappy reception this season has received from casual, non canon and Lenny canon viewers.
Let's go exploring!