Wishful Thinking...

[Trust No One]

*deep breath**, okay, I'm going to try posting some actual Wishful Thinking in the wishful thinking thread, instead of more ranting:

I sometimes wonder about different versions of this show, and ways that the early seasons might've been reconfigured or tweaked. As enjoyable as the early seasons are, it's still fun to imagine something different.

Personally, I really, really, really wish this had been more of a workplace comedy about the guys being at Cal-Tech, and their various colleagues/friends/enemies, there. More of a university-themed show about the inner workings of the college. Of course, they might have to substitute a made-up university with a different name, if they were going to satirize it a lot, but that's fine. Although I love watching the four guys interact, it might've been interesting if there was a bit more separation between Sheldon-Penny-Leonard* as one "grouping" and Howard-Raj as another "grouping." To me, the S-P-L scenes and the H-R scenes have sometimes felt like two different shows spliced together. (Which makes sense when you recall that H&R were not present in the original unaired pilot.)

If S-L and H-R were colleagues but not necessarily close friends, then you could have Penny interact with Sheldon and Leonard, and you could have Howard, Raj, Leslie, Kripke, and Ramona as the "other" nerds who are sort of observing this situation from the outside, almost like it's a show they are watching, too.

How very meta, right?

It would provide variety; you'd have all these different overlapping circles of people. You could have different combinations of characters, not always "the gang." They could have fun together, but also have minor conflicts and rivalries which would be amusing.

Of course, if you really wanted to, you could dispense with Leonard entirely, or make him a minor character, and have Penny meet Sheldon some other way. There are lots of possibilites. Maybe she could be a receptionist, or work in the cafeteria. A campus has countless jobs. Personally, I don't mind early-seasons Leonard, much, but we're in the realm of pure speculation, so please chime in. Of course, being me, I would gladly watch "The Howard & Raj Show" all day long, but I'm trying to think of something that involves all the characters.

I find that my fave episodes are ones like The Jerusalem Duality and The Bat Jar Conjecture, which are, to some degree, about the guys' activities at work. Of course, I love seeing the guys play games and such, that's my favorite part, and you'd still have that, just not always located at S and L's apartment.


WPP pointed out, in the S8 thread, that there is too much "sitting in the apartment eating takeout" now, and no longer a sense of action and movement, with the show. A version of TBBT which was not so centered on S-L's apartment might've alleviated that. Don't get me wrong, I love watching the guys sitting around and talking about geek stuff, but they can do that anywhere.

I'm not sure if *anything* could've prevented this transition to crappy relationship themes, but a workplace comedy *might* be less likely to become overly centered on "sitting at home, eating takeout, doing nothing." Above all, it would place the emphasis firmly on the science, and on the guys as actual, working scientists.

Different groupings of people, different activities, different friendships and rivalries, different locations. (I don't buy this "we can't build any more sets" line. You built that depressing dollhouse where the H/B live, didn't you? And characters have gone to hotels, etc. TPTB are not exactly scrounging through the couch-cushions for spare change...)

Of course, this new setting wouldn't prevent them from trying to foist Amy and Bernadette on us. These "love interests" always come in the guise of female scientists

But this is the Wishful Thinking thread, so A and B are not invited to my wishful thinking, and they are not invited to my alternative version of TBBT. Yes, it's that easy!

I think this version of the show would be totally viable, especially if Leslie and Ramona (and Missy?) had a larger role to shut up these people who claim "not enough female characters."

And now it's time for Louise's Fantasy Dreamland to take over: we get to watch Howard slowly, gradually break away from his mother, realize that he can survive on his own, and either be roommates with Raj, or maybe just live in the same building as Raj, but have his own apartment

Personally, I would watch a solid 22 minutes of the guys playing Klingon Boggle, but I'm trying to imagine something that is commercially viable, yet also more pleasing to my preferences. A compromise between pure, fanfic-style fantasy, and the premise we've been given. Unfortunately, "crappy romcom" has proved to be the most commercially viable of all, but...again, we're safe within the walls of the Wishful Thinking thread



*I know Shenny shippers might not like thinking of Sheldon-Penny-Leonard as a unit, but they're often presented that way.

I would also be fine with a version of this show where the guys are students at the university, not employees. I like the idea of the characters being very young. It's endearing. I also like the "boy genius" or "child prodigy" aspect of it all.

Making the characters younger could've solved a lot of issues. It might be harder for the Canons to demand that everyone needs to grow up, settle down, get married, and buy a mini-van, if the characters were 20 years old.

So many great points Louise. Love the idea of a workplace comedy and how it can open up different pairings and interactions. Could not agree about the sitting around the apartment. I'm so done with it. I thought it worked on Seinfeld, but these writers are not on that level.