A show that reminds us how far we have come as a society in embracing our inner nerd.
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There was a time in our society when nerds were seen as undesirable. Women didn’t want to date them, and preferred to be with jocks, especially in high school. They were strange, nervous around women and had acne and dressed funny. I am a nerd, and in high school it was sort of accepted but was still not a good thing. I was awkward, and had difficulty talking to women and making friends. I didn’t even make some friends until about Sophomore year when I found a few people like me. It wasn’t really until college that I started to accept I was nerdy and weird, and that people were willing to not judge me for this. Thanks in part to this show, society is finally embracing nerds. This show is now on its eighth season, and the characters have come a long way since then. It is a very popular show that millions of people watch each week. It is definitely worth watching, especially if you are a nerd.
But all that being said, I was in no rush to watch this show when it first came out. I had no desire to watch it, even when my mom and sisters said I had to check it out. Their pushing me to give it a try finally got me to watch one episode, and I loved it. I watched every episode to catch up, and even watched the un-aired pilot, and I was shocked just how much I enjoyed this show. It spoke to my people, with the comic conventions, the jokes about Star Wars, Star Trek and video games, and just the way they lived. They also get some really good guest stars on here like Levar Burton, Wil Wheaton, Brent Spiner, Bill Nye the science guy, Steve Wozniak, Leonard Nimoy, and even had Stephen Hawking on for an episode.
The show follows Leonard Hofstader (Johnny Galecki), Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) who are four friends who all work in the field of science. Leonard and Sheldon are physicists, Howard is an engineer, and Raj is an astrophysicist. They all work for the same university and start off with the usual nerdy traits. They are all awkward and love to talk about comic books, TV shows, movies and video games. None of them have steady women in their lives, and they lack the skills in the beginning to even talk to women, let alone to date them. Leonard is nervous around women, especially beautiful woman; Sheldon has no desire to be with women; Howard wants to be with every woman in sight but comes off too strong; and Raj is so nervous he is unable to talk to women at all unless he is drunk.
Their world gets turned upside down when Penny, who is a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory, moves in across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon. She is recently single, and Leonard would give anything to be with her. They have little in common, but that does not mean it is hopeless. Over the course of this show, they have been one of the reasons people love to tune it each week. It is a lot of fun to see them grow and develop, and they have also brought many interesting twists to this show. I am always curious to see what will happen to them next, and their chemistry is just perfect.
Over the course of this show, all of these characters have grown and developed in ways I would not have thought possible. Howard is now married to Bernadette (Melissa Rauch); Leonard and Penny are engaged; Sheldon amazingly has a girlfriend now named Amy (Mayim Bialik); and even Raj has finally found a woman who makes him happy. The show truly is not the same as it was eight years ago, but that is not a bad thing. When these men were once interested in only finding love and science, the show is not more about romance in the nerdy world and how it can be different, but there are some normal elements. The show also deals with relationships, not just romantic but close friendships. It really shows viewers how important friends are,and that when joined together for a common purpose there is no telling how far you can go in life.
I have to say I really love the direction this show is going. Each episode is clever, hilarious and full of great lessons. They deal with issues I am sure men have to deal with these days, like how to handle being with a woman who makes more money than you. It also deals with how tough a long term committed relationship can be sometimes, but if you truly love that person you have to do your best to make it work. I have learned a lot, thanks to this show, and I enjoy watching it every week. It is so popular that it was picked up for at least three more seasons, so it isn’t going to be cancelled anytime soon. I am excited to see where this show goes next. Watch it every week on CBS on Thursday nights at 7pm.
I don’t think this season so far as been very funny or good. The show was at it’s best season 1-4. But this season has been the worst. Some of the character develops have been annoying. Some good. Howard is much more likable since he has matured. But Sheldon has gotten mean the last couple seasons. Penny did too a little bit. I also didn’t like that they made her such a drunk sometimes.
Heaven forfend if you’re a gamer though – which apparently is now a hate movement, or somesuch nonsense.