The Big Bang Theory

Smart is the new sexy.

Comedy
English     7.909     2007     USA

Overview

Physicists Leonard and Sheldon find their nerd-centric social circle with pals Howard and Raj expanding when aspiring actress Penny moves in next door.

Reviews

ComputerBlue wrote:
**What this review might have sounded like had I written it 7 years ago.** The first few seasons are, for the most part, extremely fantastic, focused, funny, fresh, intelligent and even at times, brilliant. Most importantly, it offers something that separates it from the pack...Must see TV! **What this review sounds like now nearing the end of the shows run.** A once great show which slowly starts to diminish around season 4, unfortunately. By the 9th season it seems as though the pen and paper have been handed over to teenage fans of the show...Decent background noise. **To conclude.** This show was once incredible, and something fresh, even at times brilliant. I couldn't wait for each new episode. Now, I watch it when it becomes available on a streaming service, and, on rare occasion you get a great episode, but it's not worth devoting a weekly schedule and sitting through all the fan-fiction episodes and story lines to get to the good stuff. The show can still be enjoyable, without question, though I find it better suited as background noise while doing work instead of must see TV that you're excited to tune in as it airs each week. It's now just another average sitcom which has been dumbed down for the masses quite considerably. At this rate, the show will probably end with Penny having Sheldon's child to fulfill the most commonly seen teenage fan-fiction.
Peter McGinn wrote:
I did not start watching this sitcom until the show end3d, but I had the good fortune to watch the episodes of all 12 seasons in order. I don’t agree with another review I saw that said the show had slipped over time. Rather, it is a consistently great show, as all of Chuck Lorre’s efforts seem to be, sort of comedy’s answer to Aaron Sorkin’s dramas. Mind you, I had some minor issues with it. I really got tired of Sheldon’s attitude and antics, but that 2as counterbalanced by the slow and careful ways he also showed character growth. Similarly, all of the characters exhibited realistic growth in their attitudes and behavior. The writing was usually strong, even during the few shows that I would classify as clunkers— plots that didn’t work for me. I am impressed that the show never jumped the shark, but rather stayed true to itself. Some long running shows can’t resist doing it, such as when Happy Days changed the Fonz from a cool dude to a combo superhero/cartoon character who could do almost anything, it seemed. Funny, I have a friend who told me she couldn’t watch it due to the canned laugh track, so I was amused to learn there was no laugh track as the show was filmed in front of a live audience. Imagine that!

Similar

The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised on CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Andy Griffith stated in a Today Show interview, with respect to the time period of the show: "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was when we were doing it, of a time gone by." The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in American television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show, a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry. The show's enduring popularity has generated a good deal of show-related merchandise. Reruns currently air on TV Land, and the complete series is available on DVD. All eight seasons are also now available by streaming video services such as Netflix.

More info
The Andy Griffith Show
1960