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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Monday, July 27, 2009

My Favourite TV: The Big Bang Theory

I can’t remember if I caught this late one night whilst channel hopping or if my friend CQ alerted me to it. However I found it I’m thankful that I did. Not only does it remind me of my college days in some ways but can’t help thinking that it speaks to my inner geek (OK, my geek isn’t that deeply buried but you get the point).

The plot is a very simple one. Two ubergeeks Leonard Hofstadter (played by John Galecki) and Sheldon Cooper (played by Jim Parsons) find they have a new neighbour when aspiring actress and cheesecake waitress Penny (played by the drop-dead gorgeous Kaley Cuoco) moves into their apartment block. The rest as they say is very well written and highly intelligent comedy. Penny struggles to get to know her less that socially skilled neighbours as Leonard struggles to date Penny and Sheldon just struggles with human interaction. The cast is rounded off by the sexually obsessive engineer Howard (played by Simon Helberg) and Rajesh Koothrappali (played by Kunal Nayyar) who is pathologically unable to talk to women – unless he’s drunk.

The individual episodes are only 21 minutes long but each one packs in enough jokes and amusing situations for a much longer show. By far the best thing about this series (apart from the amazingly funny Jim Parsons) is the interactions between the characters who are very easy to indentify with – CQ has called me Sheldon on more than one occasion (though I’d love to be that smart…. Maybe). Kaley Cuoco’s Penny is not only lovely to look at (and often rather under-dressed) but is both very funny and not half as dumb as she makes out in the show. Her comic timing is excellent and she makes a fantastic foil for Sheldon who really doesn’t know what to make of her.

I’ve just finished watching Series 1 on DVD and am already looking forward to the next 23 episodes. Unfortunately they show them at odd hours so I often miss them live. Thankfully I have enough on DVD to watch in the mean time before the second series comes out – with the added bonus of no adverts!

6 comments:

VV said...

I didn't watch this show in its regular season because it was up against something else I'd been watching. I meant to catch it in re-runs this summer but forgot. Thanks for the reminder, I'll go looking for it now.

dbackdad said...

I've had several people tell me it's a show I should check out. Sounds like a funny premise and I'm sure I will, as you did, see some of myself in the characters.

Thomas Fummo said...

I'm hooked on Friends at the moment.

When I've finished watching the remaining season re-runs... I'll check it out :-)

Stephen said...

It's definitely one of my favorite shows --- there's lots of geek culture to enjoy.

CyberKitten said...

V V said: Thanks for the reminder, I'll go looking for it now.

I think you'll like it.

dbackdad said: I've had several people tell me it's a show I should check out.

Oh, you'll definitely like it!

TF said: When I've finished watching the remaining season re-runs... I'll check it out :-)

*You'll* love it!

sc said: It's definitely one of my favorite shows --- there's lots of geek culture to enjoy.

The writting is very clever and surprisingly hard-core for a comedy show.

Kevin said...

Cori and managed to get it on DVD, and we couldn't stop watching it. Very clever and very funny. And the references to science, Sci-Fi and fantasy just did it for me (I loved the episode where the 'Hungry Morlocks' attack Sheldon in his dream of the Time Machine).