The Big Bang Theory Spiralling Downward
Season 4 of The Big Bang Theory is now on air, Star World. I’m not sure if I like it. The show does have some of most iconic lines on current television. The characters, particularly Sheldon Cooper, are going to stay in audience memory for a long, long time to come. And yes, having come to Season 4, it was probably time to try some new things. I’m just not sure whether these were the right things.
The show originally began with a format of 4 geeky guys and the hot girl who lives next door. With this season, there are three new female characters, two of them with romantic (!) associations with the guys. Penny no longer holds that position of power that being the only one of her gender brings. The thing is, I think Penny represented the viewer, the common non-genius person, the ‘Uhh…okay, genius. Real world, now!’ attitude to obscure science references. When she’s no longer center stage or even an equal player, what am, the viewer to feel? Of the other 3 women, one is a supergenius (a female Sheldon Cooper) and one is a hot Cambridge-topping lawyer. Who can compete with that??!
Then there is central point of the story that’s undergone a change. The funniest bits of The Big Bang Theory came from the ‘genius’ conversations with each other and with Penny. That strange, indecipherable world inhabited by superintelligent scientists, physicists and other scientific clergy made funny by the lovable characters – that’s what the show was all about. But with the new characters (all female), the show is suddenly about relationships (albeit geniuses in relationships). It’s not as bad as but I’m very afraid we’re veering the way of Friends, a show I never really liked. I don’t really mind relationship/dating sitcoms but we’ve already got Modern Family, Coupling, How I Met Your Mother, The Wonder Years and every other sitcom doing that.
To go back to the boys, I liked them as geekboys with zero lives. It was disconcerting enough to watch Leonard finally manage to hook up with Penny. Now we’re being subject to couple showering, marriage proposals, joint vacations – what??!! Is this the same geekboys we’re talking about? Gah, no!
Genius just fell into ordinary with this turn. Bring me back the geekboys whose lives revolved around XBox, Star Wars paraphernalia and comic books, please.
