Wishful Thinking...
Leonard probably stayed near home, so Princeton? Howard was M.I.T, and I think Raj went to Cambridge. (Ours, not Mass.) Sheldon stayed in state, and commuted from home as a minor, so Houston or A&M, with A&M most likely.

This is all from early canon mentions, though, so who knows with the active retcon now.
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(12-24-2014, 10:05 AM)Louise Wrote:
This is all pure fantasy, I don't expect any of this to actually happen.
(after all, it's the Wishful Thinking thread.)


Do I think this show can be salvaged? No, I don't. But if I were a dictator, this is what I'd do:

Fire the writers. Fire them all. Get new writers who know relatively little about the show, so that they're fresh and unbiased. Maybe look outside the usual Hollywood circles and get some outsiders, people who are new on the scene.

New writers are necessary because lately, they've been f*cking-up even the scenes with just the guys, or just Shenny.

Make them watch S1 and S2 (and maybe a few selected eps from 3/4) until their eyes bleed. I would also prohibit them from watching or studying any eps from S5 onward, or using those eps as a reference.
(except for maybe a few selected scenes that are good.)

One might argue that it'd be good to have the writers compare and contrast some old, good eps with some newer, crappy ones, but I'm of the opinion that it would be much better for them to enter the situation with no preconceived notions, untainted by the later seasons, with the old eps fresh in their minds. I might do the compare-and-contrast thing with the *actors*, though. IMO the ideal would be writers who had barely even seen the show before, and knew almost nothing about it.

Have actual *meetings* and *discussions* about what works and what doesn't, in S1 and S2. Almost like a film-studies class in college. Make them study the characters the same way one would in a literature class.

Ditto with the actors.

IMO nothing could save this show's trajectory except for a slight reboot, which I will describe as follows:

Gradually phase-out A and B. The fact that H/B are *married* and not just dating complicates things (as does the Lenny engagement.) But, this is why I mentioned a mild reboot:

The phasing-out of A and B could take about half a season. Let them go on a business trip or something and appear via Skype; the details really don't matter. Do it sloooowly, and don't draw attention to it or comment on it.

Then, when a new season begins, just proceed without them. ***They are minor characters who were around for a while and are now gone, just like Priya, Stephanie, Lucy, Ramona, Leslie, Alex, whoever.*** This is not without precedent. In fact, it has tons of precedent. Female characters disappear from this show so often, you'd think there was a serial killer in action...

I don't mean *literally* pretending that this is Season 1 and the main cast are all 25 years old. More like they've been gone for a while, and some time has elapsed, and now they're back. And maybe they're a bit older and wiser. The 5 have continued to live and work and grow older, but this new season (9? 10?) represents the start of a new continuity and a clean break with the old continuity, such as it was.

No long-drawn-out breakup/divorce storylines. I truly predict that the casual viewer is not going to demand an explanation for the absence of A&B, if you do it very gradually and subtly and you keep them distracted with good new eps. A&B were minor characters, they were here and now they're gone, no big deal, moving on. **Once they're gone, don't mention them.**

People who watch syndicated episodes are watching them all out of order, jumbled-up. I'll hazard a guess that they have little or no sense of a time-line, with this show. If you're watching the episodes all out of order, then some eps have A&B, and some don't...and that works very much to our advantage, because it's gonna take the casual viewer a long time to even pick up on their departure. Half a dozen Shamies will scream with rage, everyone else will feel like "this is the same good show it's always been", and the absence of A&B would be only a bit more noticeable than the fact that some eps have Priya and some don't, for example. People will sit down and watch an S2 episode, followed by an S7 episode, followed by a Shiny-New-S9 episode and think: "hey, this show has more good eps than bad."

For people who hate Lenny, I have not forgotten you: L&P mutually agree to end their engagement. That's all. That's it. No wailing and gnashing of teeth. Leonard can date various minor characters or whoever. Doesn't really matter. The rebooted version of this show would not be about putting everyone into couples. When the new season begins, the engagment is never mentioned again. L&P dated on and off for a while, as many people do, and now they're not dating anymore. Happens all the time in real life. Simple and realistic. I'm sure everyone knows someone IRL who has ended an engagement.

Oh, and I don't like the Raj/Emily pairing, so....goodbye, Emily, we hardly knew ye. Return to the ether with Lucy. And no more of this extremely unpleasant Stuart-Mrs.W storyline, either. REBOOT. This show is not about pairings and girlfriends.

Divorce is trickier, but I'm gonna be really daring and say just hand-wave that issue. B. is gone. Where is she? Casual viewers don't give a damn. She's wherever Leslie and Stephanie went. Howard can be roomies/neighbors with Raj. We're not pretending like it's S2 again, we're just proceeding as if A and B are irrelevant. "The 43rd Peculiarity" was S6, and it has no A or B whatsoever, even though they were firmly entrenched by that time. It can be done.

I would say "just reduce them to recurring status", but H/B being *married* complicates that, and it doesn't address the Lenny, either. Hence: slight reboot.

Would I expect the classic characters to come roaring back and kick the door down? No. My expectations would be low. But, I believe we could have some simple, pleasant, low-key episodes with nothing disturbing or upsetting in them, nothing that would make Nostalgics cringe. It might be rather bittersweet, but it would be watchable. I'm not talking about Raj being stricken mute again and Howard humping the furniture. But I think these people have it in them to turn out some mildly enjoyable, gently humorous scenes which won't make Nostalgics want to slit their wrists with a butterknife.

Would it be as hilarious and inspired as before? No. But I'd like to think we could have a final season of modestly-enjoyable eps which are not an embarassment or a travesty.

No more weepy melodramatic shit. I would start with eps and storylines that are very not-ambitious, for lack of a better description. *Keep It Simple, Stupid.* High effort, high standards, but low expectations. And certainly no weddings or babies.

Lastly, once this clean-slate season has begun, I would have a staff member whose whole job is to be Continuity Nazi and keep a file on each character's personality and what that person would/wouldn't do or say. Maybe they'd all be a bit calmer and wiser, after having gone through so much shit. But they'd have a fraction of their spark back.

Of course, the elephant in the room is JP and his performance. But I'll defer to other HQers, on that question.

Getting rid of A would be easy. Just have her Middle East Prince tell her its marriage to him or her funding. Its in canon (season 4) and then you have her Skype a few episodes where she's less and less interested in what Sheldon does (while Sheldon finds how much he enjoys only having Amy as a Skype friend since he can mute her), Then you have her do a Skype with the girls on how Faisule? treats her like the Princess she always wanted to be, that she has hand maidens (minions) that completely adore and dote on everything she says (or be put to death), and when she starts going into graphic details some of the sex she's had, the girls discover "a glitch" in the computer as they shiver. (Good bye A)

B is also very easy. She goes away to a series of lectures and hooks back up with her Professor (Love Car). Make her the bad guy and all the relationship demise and Divorce details can be handled by Howard or Raj "telling" us what's happening (Since Howard, Raj live in his Moms house). (Good bye B).

Of course Lenny is the easiest of all, just have Leonard get jealous again, or say something about sending pictures to his friends, enemies, and strangers on Facebook again, or be unsupportive with her job again and have Penny finally act like a real girl and show him to the door "Junior Rodeo Style" (Welcome back Queen P, Good bye Lenny, they were always funnier as friends anyway).

On Sheldon as soon as all the ship crap is over he can lose himself back in Science and find himself again. (JP should have no problem)

All the problems solved in 12 episodes or less.
“There are no scenes more fun to do, I feel like, than the ones between Sheldon and Penny. They are such a wonderful odd couple.” - Jim Parsons
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What if you were to assign an "element" (Water, Fire, Earth, Air, etc.) to the Vintage characters? Even though he is an aerospace engineer, I kinda think Howard would be Earth because he builds things and works with various metals and materials. Raj would be Air because he likes space and the planets. (I know there's no actual air in space, I'm speaking metaphorically.)

Do you think Sheldon would be Water, because it has many different aspects? It can be calm or agitated, it has hidden depths, etc.

How about different seasons of the year, one for each of the four guys? I'd love to see a well-done BBT version of something like this:

[Image: bgsoxf.jpg]
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Yes, Sheldon does have that "still waters run deep" vibe to him. Here's an article I found about the Taoist Elements and personality traits

http://susanlevitt.com/about/writers-res...-and-wood/

According to this Leonard is such a Metal
“There are no scenes more fun to do, I feel like, than the ones between Sheldon and Penny. They are such a wonderful odd couple.” - Jim Parsons
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I'd like to think that when Howard and Raj were sitting in the car together at the end of Gothowitz Deviation, they simply drove away to start a new life somewhere else.

Or, that Raj had to leave the country because of the events in Pirate Solution, and Howard chose to go with him.
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I think we've all come to that moment. Mine is Sheldon never came back from Texas after the boys screwed him and Penny told Leonard to go fuck off since anyone who would do that to his best friend is definitely NOT boyfriend material
“There are no scenes more fun to do, I feel like, than the ones between Sheldon and Penny. They are such a wonderful odd couple.” - Jim Parsons
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This deserves a thread of its' own. "In your headcanon, how did TBBT end?" In mine, since I'm one of the few who still watches (OCD), it would be mercifully.
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(07-14-2015, 07:30 AM)devilbk Wrote: This deserves a thread of its' own. "In your headcanon, how did TBBT end?" In mine, since I'm one of the few who still watches (OCD), it would be mercifully.

Well, not including Time Machines, or surrealism, or turning the show into a Noir film, or being particularly inventive with any of the characters, ie, in terms of pure RELATIONSHIPS, then a feasible option I'd be delighted with;

Leonard ends up with the tart he snogged on the boat, Amy ends up with Stuart (or gets arrested for malpractice), Berny fucks off to somewhereshire, (or gets arrested for malpractice), Howard and Raj move in together, and Penny and Sheldon scarper off into the sunset.

[Image: Indiana-Jones-rides-off-into-the-sunset-640x277.jpg]

(That's Zack and Wheaton bringing up the rear)
"WHERE THE HELL'S MY PARACHUTE?"
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Even though she was a one-joke character, I kinda find Sarah the Sad Goth (nobody cares!)* intriguing, and I might've liked it if she'd had a two or three episode arc. I could maybe ship some Howard/Sarah.

Fanfic-wise, I think there's a lot of potential in these minor characters who are *so* minor that they basically function like an OC: there's almost no information about them, so you can make up their whole story and it's still canon-compliant.

*actually, it's "not that anyone cares..."
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