By far. I think that Big Bang Theory has rotten the minds of lots of highschoolers (that now are at university, or have already graduated)
No… the IT crowd is a sitcom FOR geeks. That other shit just makes fun of us
I believe this is what happened to Dr Who. When it started it was for science and history nerds, science sounding gobble-de-gook, cos play outfits, very low production values (the infamous duct tape boots). All just good fun.
When it was rebooted the focus had shifted. The Doctor as the cool guy, a Jesus figure, became more and more pronounced. They started to make fun of nerds on a regular bases. Amazing writing and production values, but at some point during the Tennant era I stopped watching in disgust.The original Doctor Who was an educational show mostly aimed at school aged children that used a sci-fi gimmick to teach history lessons (much of which are a bit outdated now). They would alternate storylines between future and past settings through most of William Hartnell’s run.
Towards the end of classic Who it was already much more like modern Who than those first seasons.
I only started with NuWho, watching it as it came out in 2005.
I found it magnificent, exactly because it shied away from glorifying violence, made emotions be the focus of things and there was clearly some large over-arching thing with “Bad Wolf”, but it wasn’t like in the American shows, where if there’s a clue to be seen, the camera zooms in on it, making sure you can’t miss it.
I gather you are right, and NuWho is way more American and hero-centric than Classic Who — but because it was and I was a teenager enjoying shows like Prison Break at the time — I got into Who, and then into better British shows, better shows in general, chasing that sort or good pacifist writing. Star Trek is ofc prolly the best franchise when it comes to actual philosophy. Doctor Who elicits emotions more than thought when compared to the Star Trek Ethos, albeit in a more profoundly British way.
Uuh there’s actually a new episode of Dr Who tonight that reminded me.
Oooh, it’s out already. And I have a few glasses of rum left. And a steak. And a pint of red. Ooooooh. This is turning out to be a nice day.
Anyway tldr completely agree with you, but I think going a bit American with NuWho was a crucial step in luring in more watchers to start appreciating the good things. Kinda how for a kid, it’s easier to learn to eat a new dish when you introduce it bit by bit or with copious amounts of ketchup or something — slowly teaching them that the bitterness is what makes it tasty.
British humour is infinitely funnier than the laugh track pandering American sitcoms.
The Office would like to have a word with you.
Some particular shows are better as Americans versions, I’ll not deny that.
I haven’t watched either of the Offices, but I have watched the entire American “Shameless” and that was glorious and fitting. The British version I glanced at was really meh. And whilst British comedy in general might be better, good comedy in a bad show is less valuable than mediocre comedy in a good show.
It’s like good food. Good side dishes won’t completely cover for a bad main dish, but if the main dish is really moorish, you won’t care about the side dishes being so-and-so.
Edit also do you like to think your username is pronounced “rhee-ri”, or “rhow-eh-ri”. People ask me about the pronunciation of mine sometimes and just made me question how you think yours…?
Fair point.
do you like to think your username is pronounced “rhee-ri”, or “rhow-eh-reh”. People ask me about the pronunciation of mine sometimes and just made me question how you think yours…?
It’s “Rory,” but I’d never thought it could be pronounced any other way until now. Lol.
I’d imagine yours is pronounced: “Dah-suse”?
“Rory"
Yeah okay that’s a simpler way of writing the latter way, then way I thought it probably would be.
Dah-sus is more or less how I imagined it originally yes. Like the “da” from “da man” as in “the” and the “sus” not from the phenomena a few years ago where everything was “sus”, but from the Finnish word for wolf, “susi”.
I know it’s cringe but it was like 2002 when I came up with it.
And I’ve had friends go “deyh-sus” “deissus”, sort of, and I’m comfortable with it, but it’s not like how I meant it.
Rory… Amy relation? (Pun intended.) (so bad-ass btw)
Love Doctor Who, love Rory, but no. No relation. It’s just a name. Boring, but the truth.
The American version of the office has a visual laugh track, every time a character sideeyes the camera and smirks.
But it isn’t though.
Most humor is funnier than a laugh track sitcom. But humor being regional is … an interesting phenomenon if nothing else. Like yea I enjoyed the hell out of Monty Python as a kid and even now. But ill take the office from Scranton ober the og any day of the week. But I also wouldnt expect peeps from across the pond to feel that way.
Is their anything from that late 90s era early 00s British tv had to compare the chapelle show? Honestly curious, I only have so much knowledge of British humor.
I don’t think laugh track is inherently bad.
But I watched the Big Bang Theory for like the first 3 years, and it just kept devolving into shittier and simpler humour, and like really begging for the laughs with the puns, whereas in Britain it’s genuinely considered somewhat important to keep it organic.
Like unfiltered BBC panel shows are just so much more hilarious than an episode of “hey come share laughs over archaic and super over-blown stereotypes”.
Whatever cheap shit they’ve made over at the BBC is usually funnier than overproduced hyper-supervised multi-writer numbers-pleasing BS. I know that’s subjective, and I won’t die on a hill of “who’s the funniest”, because that’s subjective, but that’s my opinion on it.
It’s interesting when America tries to make British panel shows (like the recent HIGNFY one). The competition aspect and the points, which are only a conceit in the British version, start having importance. They care who wins and it destroys the comedy. The right answer becomes more important than the funny answer.
TBBT can be an okay show if you don’t mind the overused surface level nerd culture references, casual misogyny, and Elon Musk’s appearance. Other than that it can be a guilty pleasure of mine.
Still all the normies be watching the big bang theorie.
No explanation necessary:
This changes my perspective on the entire show… I’m going to have to watch it again for the 152nd time with this in mind now.
If he’s low masking, how did he just have a chat about that ludicrous display last night?
I might require some explanation.
Autism.
Masking is a strategy used by some autistic people, consciously or unconsciously, to appear non-autistic. While this strategy can help them get by at school, work and in social situations, it can have a devastating impact on mental health, sense of self and access to an autism diagnosis
Oh shit, I’m a high masker.
Getting through the day be like:
Subject: Fire. “Dear Sir stroke Madam, I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out at the premises of…” No, that’s too formal. “Dear Sir stroke Madam. Fire, exclamation mark. Fire, exclamation mark. Help me, exclamation mark. 123 Carrendon Road. Looking forward to hearing from you. All the best, Maurice Moss.”
0118, 999, 881, 999, 119, 725…3.
Oh good. I first thought this was some racist image editing joke based on skin colour. And everyone was happily going along with it.
I love this so much.
This image?
The show?
“Yes!” 💯
I think the first couple seasons of BBT are brilliant and then it rapidly became worse. There are only so many maths and physics jokes you can crack before it gets boring.
Also, it seems like the characters went from likable, socially awkward goofballs to just straight up being assholes all the time. Except for Howard, who kinda always was one.
Agreed. I enjoyed up to season 3.
If IT Crowd had as many seasons with as many episodes as BBT it would probably end up in a similar state tbh. Thats the great thing about UK shows: they have fewer episodes and fewer seasons, so they leave out the bad ideas and never jump the shark. (except dr who 😅)
For sure it’s no contest. Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
Cooper always tries to walk it in.
In my mind, I still picture this as the archetype of an office’s boss inside a boss’s office. If it doesn’t have the 4th breaking wall picture, then it’s a fake boss
Chris Morris is a legend. I love Matt Berry but Morris is legitimately one of the most influential figures in British comedy.
The Day Today and Brass Eye put him on the map.
Jam is one of those shows that I doubt many people outside the UK would really get.
Jam is one of those shows I doubt many people inside the UK would get.
Ps: that’s how you know that J. Jonah Jameson wasn’t the boss at the daily Bugle, there was no self referential picture
FATHEERRRRRRR!!!
See, a real boss, ready to work for the greater good
I mean people are allowed to like different things. There is no gatekeeping to be done on something as subjective humor
no, but i can gatekeep it for its misogynistic and abelist rhetoric, or its racist depictions, or having musk in an episode.
Right? Like there can be no objective criticism of literature or something.
expressing dislike is not gatekeeping though…?
or am i gatekeeping gatekeeping now?
I’ve usually seen big bang theory compared to jersy shore.
one is a smart show about dumb people, and the other is a dumb show about smart people.
if we follow this logic, does that make it crowd a smart show about smart people?
No no IT Crowd is a show about sysadmins, not geeks lol. There’s a very clear difference.
And Moss was a nerd not a geek. He wasn’t obsessing about comics, videogames etc. like the characters in BBT.
I also think this is a cultural difference. The comic book obsession seems more like an american thing. In the Netherlands and Belgium there is also a big comic book appreciation, but it’s much less about heroism and more humorous.
Okay but he didn’t obsess about the British equivalent of comic books either. Geeks obsess about consumerist pop culture whether it’s comics, LEGO or Harry Potter. And Moss did non of that.
Flashbacks to the rett & link “nerd VS geek” music video
That came out 12 years ago
The IT crowd came out almost 20 years ago
Yeah, it’s an interesting difference.
There was a lot of pop culture references in IT Crowd, all the music posters, the retro computers, etc. but the cast didn’t even acknowledge it.
Yes, in the proportion of furries vs weebs.
Are they still pretending that Sheldon is not supposed to be autistic?
He was just cosplaying as the Doppler effect
neeeooooo
big bang theory is about what dumb people think smart people are like.
bbt is blackface
Reddit ass comment
Not true. Blackface can be funny.
It’s just a dude dressed up like a dude, pretending to be another due.
This is a charged topic that needs grace and nuance to do right. When blackface is done with the input, support and consent of the black community, it can re-open discussions about how black identities continue to be co-opted by white media.
Tropic Thunder is a great example of blackface as social commentary.
Sarah Silverman did it, too, as…I think a statement on stereotypes? There were levels there but I don’t think they were intentional.
Tropic Thunder had input, support, and consent of the black community?
I don’t believe it was, no. I said what I think should be done, not necessarily how things have been done.
I still think Tropic Thunder did it well, since it’s not making fun of black people, it’s making fun of how out of touch white people can be. I’m basing that off what Brandon T Jackson and other black performers have said about it in the years following its release.
Anyone down voting you never saw tropic thunder or did and have no sense of humor, probably think big bang theory is banging.
apologies for the pixels, I stole it from reddit
Big bang theory is about nerds.
Also, BBT stayed entertaining for the most part throughout the 8 or so seasons it was on. IT started great and then dropped to “meh”.
How can you stay entertaining when you were never entertaining in the first place?
Oh look, a dumb person.
Calling a person dumb because they like watching sitcoms is like saying Gordon Ramsey isn’t a chef because he likes fast food burgers.
Yes, it’s a horrible caricature, Henry Cavill is basically the template for most geeks these days.
I wouldn’t say dumb people. It’s a caricature, much like Dennis the Menace is a caricature of small children in a quiet, suburban neighborhood. Only Big Bang Theory wasn’t based on an existing comic. So more like Friends being an unrealistic caricature of a late-20’s/early-30’s group of people living n NYC.
Entertainment doesn’t always have to be authentic.
So more like Friends being an unrealistic caricature of a late-20’s/early-30’s group of people living n NYC.
Actually a pretty good comparison given how awful Friends is.
I’ll alway remember the time I was hanging out with my GF at her parents house and she mentioned that she was going to play D&D later and her moms boomer-ass friend just immediatly started cackling about how “it’s just like big bang theory!!”.
There was no joke or anything just “oh, yea I’m going over to xxxx’s house to play D&D later”. That was enough for me to never bother with that show.
BBT is a bad show, but that’s not a good reason not to watch it, that’s just a dumb person who can only relate to reality through media references.
Just to be clear I’m not saying to watch it, but that a stupid person liking something isn’t a reason to reject the thing…
Except that IS what passes as a joke in BBT. Just references to things without any humour except a laugh track.
but that a stupid person liking something isn’t a reason to reject the thing
Historically I’ve found that to be a very good indicator that I’m not going to like something. I’ve learned to trust my gut and I’ve seen enough clips of it since then to know my gut was right.
Correlation vs causation.
Yes, big bang is dumb, but just to pull a famous example Paul Ryan likes Rage against the Machine, sometimes people can feel a beat even if they can’t hear the lyrics.
Call it whatever you want I’m not changing my opinion. There’s plenty of shit that people I actually respect like and have recommended to me for me to watch. I don’t need to waste my time on slop that was created for morons.
I get you, but as someone who just started with the litrpg genre because i avoided it due to the people who liked it, I’m just saying that sometimes you may be missing something you love because most of the people who like it are dumb and most of the genre is garbage.
I’m not sure why they were so weirdly hostile and yet kept engaging when they clearly didn’t want to have a conversation about it.
In any case, I agree. Idiots are all over the place and like a lot of different things. Unless you only want to consume works that use obtuse language to scare away dumbos, you’ll have to reconcile with that fact. That is, of course, assuming the person doesn’t find certain forms of idiocy agreeable.
yeah, theres lots of litrpg trash, but most is certainly an overstatement. Also lots and lots of great novels. Not being bound by a publisher can be a blessing and a curse at the same time.
A older person has heard of DnD because of a sitcom and laughed when they meet someone who plays? And thats why youll never watch the show? I finally gave dnd a chance after freaks and geeks. Which for me was after almost two decades of playing magic.
Dont get me wrong, ive seen a few episodes of big bang and yea nothing you need to watch. But seems an odd reason to write it off if you like sitcoms … which the more I think about it a lot of sitcoms were nerd comedy. Best dam line out of friedns was alwazy “Ill prove it like a therom!!” And Frazier… And while never as cool as Homer, Lisa was always miles above Bart…
Sorry most of that was not actually in response to your comment. Hope the campaign is going/went well!
A older person has heard of DnD because of a sitcom and laughed when they meet someone who plays? And thats why youll never watch the show?
I guess you had to be there. This was not a “laughing with you” situation, and it indicated to me that the show was mostly just making fun of nerdy people so I wouldn’t enjoy it. That was enough for me. I’ve seen enough clips of it since then to know I was right.
That is the joke to them though. That’s literally what the show is like. It’s so bad.
[avengers “I get that reference”]
