SPOILERS: What fresh hell is this? - S9

[Trust No One]

News is Howards father will make an appearance in S9.

So expect more overly forced sentimentality for this character. I would love to DREAM that they'll use this plot to create some great comedy moments, but they are just not putting an emphasis on this anymore.

Louise your post sums up my thoughts as well. I wish the show didn't have such an agenda! which seems to be more driven by lame fan ideas, then the imagination of the writers.

Get ready for Howard's father hitting on everyone or better yet Penny will pull the same thing she did with Raj's father.

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EXACTLY, PJ. It's this "what will happen to the characters when they're old???" syndrome, which we've all mentioned before. I don't need or want to see a character's entire life-trajectory from young and single to married with kids. I don't need to see the characters aging in real-time and going through all the milestones of an average life. I would prefer it if each season represented just a few weeks or months in the lives of the characters.

A comedy doesn't need this type of linear storytelling, with characters "progressing" from point A to point B. My preference would've been for this show to end with all characters single and no major changes in their lives. It's fine if they're casually dating various people, but I don't need to watch them passing through all the stages/phases of a conventional life. This isn't a televised diary.

I'm not sitting at home panicking because a 30-year-old character isn't married with a dog and a van and a white picket fence. This show could've ended after four or five seasons, with the understanding that this represented just a year or two in the show's universe.

I do not watch a comedy for suspense or cliff-hangers or plot twists. I don't watch a comedy for some lengthy saga about a person's entire lifespan. They need to narrow their focus. I don't need "closure" from a comedy.

The problem, of course, is a disconnect between what Nostalgics think this show is about---the five things you listed, PJ--versus what TPTB thinks the show is about. TPTB thinks the show is about the characters growing into adulthood, and their definition of adulthood is a strange and restrictive one. They think we *should* find it worrisome and abnormal and pathetic that a 27-year-old isn't having sex or getting married or doing XYZ.

I've sometimes suggested that these timeline issues could've been ameliorated by making the characters a bit younger at the start. The cast was young-looking enough to pull it off. But, you see, that doesn't jive with TPTB's thesis; that the guys are immature man-children whose psychological age doesn't match their physical age. It's harder to deride someone for living at home or reading comics or being single if they're 19 instead of 30. The show would have us believe this is a story of delayed maturation where the characters existed in a state of childish limbo until marriage/couplehood, the Only Important Thing™, triggered their overdue awakening.

Like I've said before, this show is now answering questions that nobody asked. Too much backstory, etc. IMO they also have a pattern of taking things from the early seasons that were understood to be surreal or exaggerated or tongue-in-cheek, and making them literal. There are so many examples of this.

Very well put Louise. I'm fine with the type of plot twist like the Rachel/Joey Ship from Friends. I like when a comedy has this type of surprise. It keeps things fresh and the audience off-balance. I do not need to know everything about these characters though and especially when it comes to the secondary characters. I think there should be some mystery. At the end of the day a comedy needs to be funny and entertaining. It's just not funny or entertaining to me watching these lousy Ships. Bernie yelling and treating Howard like a baby is not funny to me. Same for Amy trying to push Sheldon all the time or the Leonard being so out of Penny's league. This show has 4 Ships win you include Raj/Emily. That is way too much. You leave yourself no room to explore anything else.