Why does Big Bang Theory piss off academics?

[MakeYourself]

I think this show is quite an accurate portrayal of academics and it only pisses people off because it's so true.

 

If you disagree, see my other thread entitled 'are grad students even human?' ... and I rest my case.

[bsharpe269]

I think the show is hilarious.

 

My fiance came with me to my holiday research group party. He is a banker and has a smooth, business man sort of personality. When we left I asked him what he thought of everyone and his response: "I thought that the Big Biang Theory was a satire... I didnt realize that it was a very accurate portrail of your life."

[TakeruK]

I also think it's very entertaining and one of my favourite shows! When I look for entertainment, I don't always make accuracy a top priority. But honestly, I think BBT does do a fairly accurate portrayal of various behaviours of researchers!

[Sigaba]

I also think it's very entertaining and one of my favourite shows! When I look for entertainment, I don't always make accuracy a top priority. But honestly, I think BBT does do a fairly accurate portrayal of various behaviours of researchers!

 

Have you looked for their apartment, or rather, where there apartment should be based upon their view?

[CageFree]

I know people who behave just like that (well, not like Sheldon, but more like Leonard and Howard). It's not so much about academia but about "nerd" culture in general.

[ss2player]

Besides being poorly written, the show uses "geeky" stereotypes to get general audiences laughing AT the characters, not with them. Otherwise they wouldn't need Penny as the "normal" one.

[TakeruK]

Have you looked for their apartment, or rather, where there apartment should be based upon their view?

 

So in one episode, they did give their "address", which was something like 2250 N Los Robles Ave, however the northern most address on N Los Robles Ave is 2200 (I don't remember the exact number but the relationships between their "address" and the max number is what's important!). In addition, this is far north of city hall**, which is somehow very prominently visible in their nice big window! I think another reference somewhere else in the series (something related to a Chevron station on Colorado Blvd) would place their apartment at yet another location!

 

I enjoy the show also for references to places I've now been to! The aforementioned Chevron station is kitty corner to my favourite bubble/boba tea place. And sometimes I see buildings in which I work appear in the background/green-screen as they drive around. 

 

**Fun side fact: This city hall is also "Pawnee City Hall" from Parks & Rec

[MakeYourself]

Besides being poorly written, the show uses "geeky" stereotypes to get general audiences laughing AT the characters, not with them. Otherwise they wouldn't need Penny as the "normal" one.

 

Oh boo hoo.

 

Stereotypes have a purpose, there are many stereotypes that are true and many generalizations that one could make about any group of people. Academics are often geeks and nerds, it's the truth, suck it up. Yes, the show is over-exaggerated but it's a comedy show on cable TV, it's not setting out to be a realistic portrayal of life, it's just playing on common stereotypes which can be funny - it's okay to laugh at yourself once in a while. Also, I think it is one of the better-written sitcoms on cable TV right now (which is not saying much cause sitcoms suck pretty bad nowadays).

 

And I'm not sure how much you've watched the show, but they make the audience laugh at Penny as well. Penny's role is not necessarily to be the 'normal' one, her role is contrasted with the main 'geeky' characters and the show makes just as much fun of her as they do of the geeks.

 

If anything, the 'normal' non-academic people that I know who watch the show love the academic characters and think that the show has made 'geeky' cool. It seems like academics are the only ones angry about being called geeks, but it is what you make it.

[ss2player]

Stereotypes have a purpose, there are many stereotypes that are true and many generalizations that one could make about any group of people. Academics are often geeks and nerds, it's the truth, suck it up. Yes, the show is over-exaggerated but it's a comedy show on cable TV, it's not setting out to be a realistic portrayal of life, it's just playing on common stereotypes which can be funny

 

Damn chief, I didn't know I could group people like that as opposed to seeing them as individuals...life just got a whole lot easier!   

But seriously, if I want cleverly written entertainment about geeks and nerds, Futurama and Community are far superior.

[GeoDUDE!]

I just don't like it when new people I meet find out that I'm a physicist and always ask me about the show. I don't really watch it, my dad finds it funny but it isn't quite dry or absurd enough to get a chuckle from me. 

 

Furthermore, physicists are among the most multidimensional, balanced people i've met. While i've met people who portray some of their characteristics, I haven't met anyone super similar to them. I'm sure there are some of them out there.

 

I think the biggest problem is that physicists in particular are always portrayed as super nerdy socially inept people. Most people never come into contact with a physicist, we are among the least popular college majors. If you go to a big enough school there is a likely chance that you wont even meet one there. When people thought physicist, they though Albert Einstein. BBT has replaced him as the default frame of reference.

 

I know it is very hard to see a world where you are not the center of the universe, we are all programed that way, but just as all humanities majors don't like being framed as useless, some physicists don't like being framed as abnormal. 

[MakeYourself]

Damn chief, I didn't know I could group people like that as opposed to seeing them as individuals...life just got a whole lot easier!   

But seriously, if I want cleverly written entertainment about geeks and nerds, Futurama and Community are far superior.

 

Right, but this thread is about BBT.

[MakeYourself]

I just don't like it when new people I meet find out that I'm a physicist and always ask me about the show. I don't really watch it, my dad finds it funny but it isn't quite dry or absurd enough to get a chuckle from me. 

 

Furthermore, physicists are among the most multidimensional, balanced people i've met. While i've met people who portray some of their characteristics, I haven't met anyone super similar to them. I'm sure there are some of them out there.

 

I think the biggest problem is that physicists in particular are always portrayed as super nerdy socially inept people. Most people never come into contact with a physicist, we are among the least popular college majors. If you go to a big enough school there is a likely chance that you wont even meet one there. When people thought physicist, they though Albert Einstein. BBT has replaced him as the default frame of reference.

 

I know it is very hard to see a world where you are not the center of the universe, we are all programed that way, but just as all humanities majors don't like being framed as useless, some physicists don't like being framed as abnormal. 

 

I can understand that, but I also think that there is nothing 'negative' about being a geek, and that you can be a geek and be normal. I'm also not trying to say that every academic is like the characters on the show, just that there is some truth to the characters and I don't think the show should irritate academics so much.

[GeoDUDE!]

I can understand that, but I also think that there is nothing 'negative' about being a geek, and that you can be a geek and be normal. I'm also not trying to say that every academic is like the characters on the show, just that there is some truth to the characters and I don't think the show should irritate academics so much.

 

I can't understand why you think it is wrong that people feel a certain way. As if feelings are supposed to be rational. I know it is hard to see a universe where you are not the center of it, we are all programmed that way. 

[MakeYourself]

I can't understand why you think it is wrong that people feel a certain way. As if feelings are supposed to be rational. I know it is hard to see a universe where you are not the center of it, we are all programmed that way. 

 

I don't recall ever saying that it is 'wrong' to feel a certain way. And I also don't think that nothing should ever be discussed just because people have certain feelings.

 

I am the center of the universe tho.

[CageFree]

I just don't like it when new people I meet find out that I'm a physicist and always ask me about the show. I don't really watch it, my dad finds it funny but it isn't quite dry or absurd enough to get a chuckle from me. 

 

That happens with very profession. My partner used to work in forensic science and he'd get asked about CSI. I was a teacher and got asked about movies like "Bad Teacher" and "Dangerous Minds." Doctors get questions about House and E.R.. Etc... 

[ExponentialDecay]

It pisses me off because you won't believe how many times I've heard a mofo be like, I AM VERY SMART BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY TALK ABOUT ON BIG BANG THEORY.

 

I've seen like two episodes myself because, when I watch TV, I like to watch dumb slapstick dumb middle class sitcoms instead of dumb slapstick dumb middle class sitcoms that liberally utilize wikipedia to make the viewers feel smart or like they've not just wasted an hour of their lives. PS I do like Mayim Bialik, not that I know her at all, but I am fond of her grandfather's poetry.

[Scarf in the wind]

Big Bang Theory, much like Two and a Half Men, was funny during the earlier seasons because Sheldon was a character that was different. However, the show has, much like Two and a Half Men, gone downhill after those early seasons. The incessent need to end every scene with a joke harms the show. Take the episode where Leonard had a fight with Penny over a proposlal (it's the episode where Sheldon receives tutoring on humor from Amy). The ending saw Leonard contemplate his future, and he had a short discussion regarding what the future holds for both him and Penny. The show took what could have been a touching scene, and ruined it by having Sheldon make a bad attempt at humor (I know the attempt at humor wasn't bad from Sheldon's perspective given his ineptitude regarding human social interaction). Again, it's their need to end every scene with a joke that has made the show bad, and the jokes aren't funny anymore. Okay, some things Sheldon does are kind of funny, but the show itself has, much like Two and a Half Men, gotten stale.

 

Also, Penny isn't needed to be the so called "normal" one. That role is filled by Leonard.

 

Also, I did get a kick out of Sheldon breaking up Leonard and Raj's sister. Slithering bastard.

[QASP]

People who say it's laughing AT nerds or complain about the stereotypes make me roll my eyes. The characters are pretty accurate to people I know in the world. Though, perhaps Geodude is right-- it shouldn't be physicists, but engineers instead.

 

The only thing I find bothersome about the show is how uncritically rapey it is.

[MakeYourself]

It pisses me off because you won't believe how many times I've heard a mofo be like, I AM VERY SMART BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY TALK ABOUT ON BIG BANG THEORY.

I've seen like two episodes myself because, when I watch TV, I like to watch dumb slapstick dumb middle class sitcoms instead of dumb slapstick dumb middle class sitcoms that liberally utilize wikipedia to make the viewers feel smart or like they've not just wasted an hour of their lives. PS I do like Mayim Bialik, not that I know her at all, but I am fond of her grandfather's poetry.

I dont think I've ever heard that one before. But if it makes people feel smart, who cares, even if they are really dumb

Bialik is also a neuroscientist.

[Eigen]

I think it's funny, and I like it, but I've never met anyone in the physical sciences for which the characters portrayed are even a reasonable stereotype. 

 

They're how people think physical scientists and engineers are, but the perception doesn't match the reality. 

[GeoDUDE!]

I don't recall ever saying that it is 'wrong' to feel a certain way. And I also don't think that nothing should ever be discussed just because people have certain feelings.

 

I am the center of the universe tho.

 

I can understand that, but I also think that there is nothing 'negative' about being a geek, and that you can be a geek and be normal. I'm also not trying to say that every academic is like the characters on the show, just that there is some truth to the characters and I don't think the show should irritate academics so much.

[bsharpe269]

The characters are definitely exaggerated but I actually don't think they are that far from the truth... At the last acadmic "party" I went to, there was actually someone who was too scared to talk to people and sat in the other room curled up in a ball the whole party. I'm not saying this to be mean towards this person but I constantly run into these things in academia.

 

My undergrad degree was in math and I am now in bioinformatics... there are definitely strong similarities between the characters in the show and my classmates.

[Usmivka]

Bialik is also a neuroscientist.

Bialik has a neuroscience PhD, but is not a practicing scientist. She also holds pretty anti-science views--she's vocally anti-vaccine. Having a PhD doesn't mean that she is an ideal celebrity ambassador for science, and in fact her degree may do more damage than good as it gives perceived weight to an anti-science argument outside her area of expertise. Her arguments on public platforms undercut scientific experts who argue differently but are not in the popular spotlight, and makes people think that some scientists or fields are less legitimate or rigorous than others. Further, the views she advocates have seriously negative public health consequences--consider, eg, the rapid rise of measles in the US over the last decade largely driven by the anti-vaccine movement.

 

From the CDC:

"Ninety percent of all measles cases in the United States were in people who were not vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown....Clusters of people with like-minded beliefs (against vaccinations) can be susceptible to outbreaks when the disease is imported, and it's one of the most contagious diseases." (http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/t0529-measeles.html)

 

Moral of the story: if you don't like vaccines, don't go abroad. Also, you are effing up herd immunity and endangering others who can't take a particular vaccine for valid medical reasons (eg infancy, pregnancy, otherwise immunocompromised--here is a handy infographic: http://www.vaccines.gov/basics/protection/).

 

PS I've never watched the show, but someone else complained to me that it is ridiculous that a character would be working as a waitress to pay for graduate work in microbiology--no one is admitted to such a  program without external or departmental funding. I'm not sure that qualifies as pissing anyone off, but it is a complaint by an academic about the show.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Usmivka

[thedig13]

Besides being poorly written, the show uses "geeky" stereotypes to get general audiences laughing AT the characters, not with them. Otherwise they wouldn't need Penny as the "normal" one.

 

Basically, this. Obviously, it's a comedy, so you have to make fun of the characters, but BBT does it in a way that degrades the characters instead of humanizing them.

 

Also, if you liked Futurama and Community, I'd recommend HBO's Silicon Valley and FX's Archer.

[ss2player]

Basically, this. Obviously, it's a comedy, so you have to make fun of the characters, but BBT does it in a way that degrades the characters instead of humanizing them.

 

Also, if you liked Futurama and Community, I'd recommend HBO's Silicon Valley and FX's Archer.

 

I've seen some of both already, and want to see more, but thanks for the recommendation!