Wishful Thinking...

[FlyingMonkey]

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.