The Big Bang Theory. If you don’t know what this is, then let me briefly explain: It is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. It aired on CBS from September 24, 2007, to May 16, 2019, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes.
Going back a few years (probably around 2018), I’d heard about the show, but had never watched it. A lot of people said it was brilliant, it had received a ton of awards and it was the subject of many an on-screen conversation on (U.S.) chat shows etc. References were made to Doctor Who, Star Trek amongst others, a fact that did pique my interest. So much so, I decided to give it a go.
I duly obtained Season 1 of TBBT and settled down to watch.
Absolute Dross
I think I managed to watch the first three of four episodes before I gave up. I couldn’t find anything funny. The characters (epecially Sheldon) were two-dimensional, stilted and uninteresting. There was literally nothing there for me to enjoy or laugh at. And so I gave up. After 60, maybe 80 minutes of TBBT at most.
And then I forgot all about it.
Many years later…
Three of four years later, I employed a young lad (I was still working then) into my team. As you do when you employ someone, you have conversations based on your likes and dislikes, along with the professional conversations. Turns out that this lad’s favourite show in the enire world was TBBT. So much so, he’d watched it more than a few times, from start to finish. All 12 seasons of it. He loved it. Once you got him on to the subject, he just wouldn’t shut up about it, in fact!
Then he said something very interesting. After a long sentance involving the words “Penny did this” and “Sheldon said that” and “Leonard said this”, he said “Chuck Lorre writes some funny lines doesn’t he? Did you ever watch Two and a Half Men?” I think I stared at him for at least a full two minutes before I mentioned that I had seen – and very much enjoyed – all of the seasons of Two and a Half Men.
The dawn of enlightenment
I hadn’t noticed that Chuck Lorre was indeed the co-creator and writer of both series. Now I did enjoy Two and a Half Men. I considered it to be a good blend of funny and sad, hilarious and ridiculous. Good characterisations and just a little bit naughty in places (broadcaster rules permitting) – just the sort of thing that I’d always enjoyed.
I explained all this to my young colleague. He advised me to pop over onto YouTube and view a few clips from the series. Lo and behold, there are lots of shorts from the entire series run (which had finished by then) and short two or three minute excepts. Which I duly viewed. And laughed. And enjoyed.
Maybe, just maybe, I might have been a bit harsh on TBBT. Perhaps I should give it another go – this time with a more positive attitude than I did before!
You are right, I am wrong. So sue me.
And so I did. I’ve no idea why, but I thoroughly enjoyed it from Episode 1 this time. Maybe it was because of the little glimpses on YouTube that I’d had to establish the characters a little more, but I enjoyed every single episode. I also found that I was almost in complete synch with Sheldon. Oh!
Of course the Sheldon story continues (well, up until 2024 anyway). Manifested in Young Sheldon (also a Chuck Lorre production), we get more of the same, but focussed on the Young Sheldon of the title. We learn of Sheldon’s early life, his family and are introduced to his siblings.
My inner Sheldon
Whether it was because I’d binge-watched TBBT every day for weeks, or whether I actually did believe this, but I found myself identifying very strongly with Sheldon’s out-loud responses, as thoughts that I’d sometimes had in much that same situation! I had a slight reputation (when I worked) as being “a little bit truthful” you see, which manifested itself in the kinds of things that Sheldon would say. It seemed that the “truthfulness” is the inner Sheldon that I have in me, manifested in word form. Words that people could hear!
(I’m much better now.)