Wishful Thinking...
#1
If you had control over the writing/plot of TBBT, what direction would you have gone in as oppose to the farcical disappointment we have now?

(I put it in here because I have no idea how upsetting it will be to the poor fragile ducks back in L'orange)
HARRISON FORD IS IRRADIATING OUR TESTICLES WITH MICROWAVE SATELLITE TRANSMISSIONS

AND WHO THE FUCK STOLE MY BOILED EGGS?
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#2
Actually, Doctor, I think this is a thoroughly reasonable and fascinating topic, and believe it warrants public eyeballing. After all it's CREATIVE as opposed to CARPING, and might drag in a few more vagabonding sods. If Tuesday and Toad agree, perhaps you could start this thread in the Mint in Box section instead? Or perhaps Pajamas can magically drag the bastard up there. Pajamas?
"WHERE THE HELL'S MY PARACHUTE?"
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#3
I'd have evened up the balance between Penny (who would have a surname, like she was an actual person and not a blowup sex doll for the troll to paw at) and the boys, made it more about her introducing them to the 'real' world, even as she got introduced to geeky things. Made it a a bit more about finding common ground and tolerance, and less about mean-spirited bullying and misogyny. So, there would be scenes that involved auditions or small roles, and she'd have an actual friend or two that she went out dancing with, or to yoga, or walking dogs.

Season 3 - well, that would have gone differently. I don't get why people accept that whole screw up - three scientists colluded to interfere with experiment results on a nationally funded expedition. Regardless of their personal reasons, or the fact they kept the data, or whatever weasel words anyone wants to try to justify it, this is a Big No. Scrambling data crosses ethical and professional lines. (Besides being a shitty thing to do to someone, which is a whole other rant.) Now, Sheldon failing to get results anyway, and stomping off to Texas in a huff, minus the sabotage, would have made a completely different feel to the show, and retained sympathy for Leonard - not that I am behind that idea, I'm more smiting with furious vengeance and would have put worse than ground up moths in the little bastard's food - but it's either keep it that light, or go down the true 'Beautiful Mind' route. One way of looking at the show is that we've been watching a slow mental disintegration of one man when the core of his identity is stripped away from him. Anyway, if you keep the sabotage, then there would be consequences down the line. Genuine, career and life affecting consequences, involving academic tenure, reputations and a possible arc about Raj staying in the country. (There was a whole 'Green Card' scenario to play with there) And I'd certainly have Penny waking up to the fact that Leonard is a scumbag. Their whole relationship is/was badly handled - she went from 'eh, well' to 'me jump' when he came back, total whiplash. Draw it out, show some of their dates, show some gifts or flowers or horrendous attempts to make dinner - from both sides. It was all Tell, not enough Show. ...As it is, I'd have the gradual realisation that she's better suited to the tall, strange one.

Heck, let's face it. You all know how I'd write S3. Mostly canon until around Christmas, and then it would all go LARP. Big Grin
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#4
^THIS^

Undoubtedly I would change a gargantuan amount of things post season 3:

- Perpetual Homo Novus (sob). I always saw Sheldon as a "straight" character besides his erratic behaviour. Perhaps it was due to him most of the time not getting caught up in the romantic problems his friends had.
- Amy would not exist (Or at the very most be a Leslie Winkle-style acquaintance)
- Leonard would come to terms with the fact that he and Penny make good friends but lack enough in common to be together 24/7, and he and Stephanie would work out. I liked Stephanie. She had a sternness about her which could have rubbed off on Leonard and made him less of a whiny, insecure prat.
- Raj would be less of a dick, as I find him difficult to sympathise with now.
- There would be very little gender segregation. It pisses me off to no end that the guys constantly beat themselves up (Particularly Leonard) because they assume that if they show love for their favourite shows and games women will find them unappealing. DEPENDS ON THE WOMEN, GUYS! Why would you want to give up yourself for a good sexual relationship with little to talk about, when you could have both? Also the "women-folk" would not just sit and bicker/gossip about their men constantly. There is a woeful lack of strong female characters in comedies, I've always thought. After a brief think Sally Solomon (love her to bits), Daphne Moon and early Penny come to mind; there's probably more, but still not enough.
- More Stuart.
- More Beverly.
- Evidence of Penny's friends. I thought she was one of the "popular" ones. Why don't they come to watch sports and have parties any more?
- Evidence of Penny's supposed dream to be an actress.
- A brief continuation of the ladies Sheldon and Raj picked up at the mixer. I liked Martha, and if she became friendly with Sheldon in a non-carnal but slightly flirtatious way I would approve and ship.
- More Peldon moments.
- Any long-running female partners would not be recurring cast members, as if you find them slightly irritating it jars the whole show.
- Sheldon would still hate Wil Wheaton.
- More Raj's parents.
- Very firmly planted "beautiful mind" undercurrent, reminding us what the show set out to enlighten to a wide audience.
- Just to keep it fresh, perhaps... the odd episode from a single character's point of view, e.g. Penny, Stuart, Raj in which the others feature, but there is an opportunity for a slightly different tone/humour in the writing. Watching Community lately has made me think that perhaps some strange alternate universe/disjointed, self-contained, plot-free episodes (The latter being reminiscent of old TBBT) would be a good way to break the formulaic pattern that a lot of simple set-up sitcoms embed into when they are stretched, and stretched, and stretched beyond four seasons (The average lifespan of a show in my view)
-Lucy and Stuart. How could they not see this. (Or am I alone here?)
-Sheldon's personality would not waver, as I believe in an ever-changing show you need a constant. And Sheldon was perfect the way he was. It would not have got boring, because...
-...The show would finish at the end of season 5 with characters intact, dreams fulfilled and lessons learned.
HARRISON FORD IS IRRADIATING OUR TESTICLES WITH MICROWAVE SATELLITE TRANSMISSIONS

AND WHO THE FUCK STOLE MY BOILED EGGS?
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#5
Oh, 'Community' - Troy and Abed is the way to have a geeky boy friendship. Though the best one I've seen was Chuck and Morgan. THAT'S how to portray geeky bro's, and allow character growth.

Wil Wheaton allowed to display his inner asshat as a nemesis would be funny. But you'd have to balance out the wins to either side. So many possibilities for Trek jokes in mock combat scenarios.

As for sudden!relationship late introduced characters, they would never be allowed to insinuate into this reality, especially when they are just a rehash of the failed character dropped from the unaired pilot, shoehorned in. You don't bang on about 'organic storytelling' and 'only mistress being science' and then pull a whammy like that on your audience, without someone calling shenanigans. Organically introduced characters, met through work or the comic store, make sense. Asspulls don't.

Oh, please, yes, a return to actual acknowledgment of intelligence, and genuine geek humour, as opposed to the ersatz mundane view of geeks we're getting. How about some genuine geek girls? (Wearing glasses doesn't count) Martha worked - but I suppose the concept of normal people having odd hobbies is a bit too brain-breaking for the show, which can't seem to get past 'geek= basement dweller'.
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#6
(01-10-2014, 12:56 AM)SpaceAnJL Wrote: Oh, 'Community' - Troy and Abed is the way to have a geeky boy friendship. Though the best one I've seen was Chuck and Morgan. THAT'S how to portray geeky bro's, and allow character growth.

Wil Wheaton allowed to display his inner asshat as a nemesis would be funny. But you'd have to balance out the wins to either side. So many possibilities for Trek jokes in mock combat scenarios.

As for sudden!relationship late introduced characters, they would never be allowed to insinuate into this reality, especially when they are just a rehash of the failed character dropped from the unaired pilot, shoehorned in. You don't bang on about 'organic storytelling' and 'only mistress being science' and then pull a whammy like that on your audience, without someone calling shenanigans. Organically introduced characters, met through work or the comic store, make sense. Asspulls don't.

Oh, please, yes, a return to actual acknowledgment of intelligence, and genuine geek humour, as opposed to the ersatz mundane view of geeks we're getting. How about some genuine geek girls? (Wearing glasses doesn't count) Martha worked - but I suppose the concept of normal people having odd hobbies is a bit too brain-breaking for the show, which can't seem to get past 'geek= basement dweller'.

Amen to that. It's always bothered me that the writers, though presumably well-meaning, seem to lack the knowledge (beyond guesswork) of intelligent, talented people. They come in all shapes and forms. All of the supposedly "geeky" women (Bernadette, Amy, Leslie) are, for lack of a better word, a bit plain. Dressing Amy in her grandmother's cast-offs was depressing to me.

It's like a lumping together of more closed-minded people's expectations of what an academic "geeky" person has to look like, and it's very superficial. I would have loved to have seen this subverted, like I have in other shows. Although I've only seen about 12 Community episodes from season 1 (In order), there is a nice bucking of the stereotype in Troy, because at first, I was unsure after finding out he used to be a "jock" whether or not that was it. I didn't expect him to cast off the highschool heirarchy shackles and befriend Abed, in the process become instantly more likeable. (It's a surprising show isn't it, that Community. I never know what's coming next.) It feels to me that the TBBT writers are incapable of "moving on" the characters and keeping their core personalities and credibility intact.
HARRISON FORD IS IRRADIATING OUR TESTICLES WITH MICROWAVE SATELLITE TRANSMISSIONS

AND WHO THE FUCK STOLE MY BOILED EGGS?
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#7
(01-10-2014, 01:12 AM)WITCHDOCTOR FANTASTIC Wrote: Amen to that. It's always bothered me that the writers, though presumably well-meaning, seem to lack the knowledge (beyond guesswork) of intelligent, talented people. They come in all shapes and forms. All of the supposedly "geeky" women (Bernadette, Amy, Leslie) are, for lack of a better word, a bit plain. Dressing Amy in her grandmother's cast-offs was depressing to me.

The entire character is depressing. She's the stereotype of the plain, desperate woman, who might be intelligent and successful in her career, but it means nothing without a Man. To then have her fixate on someone equally socially inept - if it had been done with affection, two odd little aliens discovering each other, it could have been sweet. (I can't believe I just typed that) But it was done with mean intent, to mock and degrade. Because 'plain' women are jokes. 'Hot' women, on the other hand, have nothing about them but the perceived 'hotness' - who needs character if you've got breasts?

I think it is the portrayal of female roles that I find most offensive. It is very easy to fix perception, because it is 'only' a sitcom, but the lack of respect and the sheer misogynistic nastiness is insidious.
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#8
(01-10-2014, 02:45 AM)SpaceAnJL Wrote:
(01-10-2014, 01:12 AM)WITCHDOCTOR FANTASTIC Wrote: Amen to that. It's always bothered me that the writers, though presumably well-meaning, seem to lack the knowledge (beyond guesswork) of intelligent, talented people. They come in all shapes and forms. All of the supposedly "geeky" women (Bernadette, Amy, Leslie) are, for lack of a better word, a bit plain. Dressing Amy in her grandmother's cast-offs was depressing to me.

The entire character is depressing. She's the stereotype of the plain, desperate woman, who might be intelligent and successful in her career, but it means nothing without a Man. To then have her fixate on someone equally socially inept - if it had been done with affection, two odd little aliens discovering each other, it could have been sweet. (I can't believe I just typed that) But it was done with mean intent, to mock and degrade. Because 'plain' women are jokes. 'Hot' women, on the other hand, have nothing about them but the perceived 'hotness' - who needs character if you've got breasts?

I think it is the portrayal of female roles that I find most offensive. It is very easy to fix perception, because it is 'only' a sitcom, but the lack of respect and the sheer misogynistic nastiness is insidious.

That's what it WAS for the first several episodes after the introduction of Amy. It was interesting watching two misfits discover each other. They only agreed to meet to placate others. They shared an aversion to soiled hosiery. They enjoyed each other's company but they weren't burdened by being in a "relationship". I wish they had continued that. Let the other characters go thru their romantic angst but leave Sheldon and Amy as curious, scientific observers of the turmoil

But then the writers decided to toss that away and gradually turned Amy into the mopey, humorless, sex-starved pursuer she is now. And I think it was done strictly for money. They know that there's a huge demographic out there who wants romance, romance and more romance. So they changed the show to attract that audience, and you have to admit that it's been wildly successful ratings-wise. You'll notice that the discussion on the other site after every episode now is almost entirely about the status of the various romantic relationships. Who's getting along, who's fighting, will they ever have sex, blah, blah, blah. It's obvious they've attracted far more viewers that they've turned off but it was done at the cost of undermining a unique, intelligent, refreshing show. Now I consider it an above average romcom. Nothing more.
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#9
(01-09-2014, 11:36 PM)SpaceAnJL Wrote: One way of looking at the show is that we've been watching a slow mental disintegration of one man when the core of his identity is stripped away from him.

That's what that has occurred to me too. Can it be that TBBT is in fact the tragic story of how the genius gets mocked, loses his mind and wastes away, with his spirit broken and his identity taken away from him, once he is put in the wrong place, associating with the wrong people, once he is made to doubt himself, made to become 'normal', made to fit in?

Not that I believe tptb are deliberately and consciously telling such a story, but the show these days indeed comes across, to me anyway, as one huge, tragic story of the genius and the different being defeated by - and made to show respect to - the mediocre and the "normal".
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#10
I keep banging on about the comparison, but 'Harrison Bergeron' definitely resonates. Sheldon also fits right in with characters like John the Savage, or Sam Lowry, or Winston Smith. I can see a genuinely dystopian finale for the show wherein Sheldon is a lifesize toy, broken of all will or higher thought process, and Penny is a Stepford style shell with a brittle smile and no life behind her eyes, both of them merely existing to be mauled at will. This will be a happy ending, according to the show as it stands. It frightens me that that isn't disturbing more people.

There's something terribly chilling in the fact that the show has such pathetic standards for conformity. Aspiration is ruthlessly crushed, unless it involves sex - not even happy, healthy relationships, just the act, as if the achievement confers some kind of social acceptance.
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