Feb 13, 2014

[TV] The Big Bang Theory: Season 6

I honestly enjoy watching The Big Bang Theory. I know, I know, the show gets a lot of flak within geek circles for celebrating stereotypes or having no real character development and things of that nature, but I can't help but feel that folks are already nitpicking at this point. Or there's the ironic possibility that geeks aren't actually the target audience for this show.

Stereotypes will always be a staple of comedies, and perhaps the entertainment world at large. They're easier to understand for most people and it becomes easier to write jokes around them. Of course there are stereotypes that are less than ideal but there are those that we just need to accept as having some relevance by now.

If anything, I've always treated to be more like Friends with a slightly geekier context. And if we want to argue semantics while we're at it, the guys in The Big Bang Theory aren't just geeks - they're also nerds. And that's a completely different subset of intellectuals entirely. And too often I have members of the geek community complaining that the show isn't realistic since geeks aren't all that into science or whatever. Sheesh.


Synopsis:The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, who remain the show's executive producers (together with Steven Molaro) and head writers. The show has received many nominations and awards including multiple acting awards for Jim Parsons.

This sixth season begins with a newly-married Howard (Simon Helberg) has been on the International Space Station for some time. A few unusual events happen while he's on the station that is milked for its comedic potential for a number of episodes. As a side effect, Raj (Kunal Nayyar) is left without someone to hang out with and this eventually leads to a minor build-up of the character of Stuart (Kevin Sussman), the guy who owns the local comic store that the guys tend to patronize.

The rest of the season continues to explore the three relationships that now involve the main characters. Howard and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) eventually get to explore newly married life and the fact that Howard finally works on moving out of his mother's place. Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) has their weird sort of relationship with Amy taking more and more aggressive steps to get the romance that she's certainly entitled to despite the guy involved being Sheldon. And we have the weird continuation of the Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny (Kaley Cuoco)

Admittedly, I really have a thing for the Amy-Sheldon match-up. Sure it's painful to watch the dear girl's heart being broken over and over again by Sheldon's lack of intimacy and social skills in general. And yet you can also see that because she genuinely loves the guy, she's patiently trying to whittle away at his defenses until she gets to the man that she sees in him (but is yet to be evident to the audience).

I had always found the Bernadette and Howard pairing to be a little too convenient at first, but this season really helped explain why it all worked out. And the answer - Bernadette has the same fire and spirit that Howard's mother has and could very become something like her in the future if she's not careful. Of course this was demonstrated in the most hilarious ways possible, but what else would you expect from a sitcom, right?

Raj really was the odd man out this season since everyone else was pretty much committed and such and the writers did try to help him explore a potential relationship with the extremely timid Lucy (Kate Micucci). Sure it was fun to transpose all the jokes about his sexuality from Howard over to Stuart, but Raj really could use a girl in his life. I just don't know when that's going to happen for him for real though - there's too much comedy value in him struggling to be single. Unless they decide to cause Leonard and Penny to break up again and see how that goes.

This sixth season was decently fun, but not necessarily exceptional. The girls continue to dominate the true comedy of the show with the guys sort of just responding to them, if you get my drift. The show still rates a good 4 surprise cameos (I love you Bob Newhart!) out of a possible 5.


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