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Things can be tough, let people enjoy the things they enjoy. It brightens there day as long as there healthy.
Good for you that you think that way :). Fuck that show though. I can't stand the unfunnyness and misogyny in it
Problem is the misogyny (and racism, and queerphobia, and ableism and so on) in it doesn't stop when the show ends, it makes the people watching think it's ok, or worse - funny, normalising it. Hell, even this post is defining it as "healthy", which is so fucked up, because who exactly is that content "healthy" for?
So while I'm all for letting people enjoy what they enjoy, doing so uncritically, and/or refusing to hear when people tell you that something you enjoy is harmful to others (which misogyny, racism, queerphobia, ableism, and so on normalised in the media are) is when you go from "enjoying" to "supporting" and even "actively contributing", no longer "harmlessly" enjoying something, and I will judge you for that (edit to clarify: we all consume harmful trash entertainment, it's unavoidable, it's about acknowledging that it's harmful trash and not buying in to it, rather than insisting it's "healthy" or "harmless" despite all evidence to the contrary)
Watch out for the misogyny though. I haven't seen much myself to judge, but this video essay makes a pretty good case. Just be careful.
Basically the entire show boils down to "they're bigots but it's funny because they are nerds who are supposedly also oppressed by society"
Nah, this show is terrible and if you disagree I'm not so sure you deserve happiness.
Bazinga
Who hurt you
Oh, stop. It's a sexist, homophobic, unfunny shit pile.
The show writers by helping to perpetuate ableism, mysogany, transphobia, etc...
To be fair, every corporate enterprise I engage with by any terms regards me as an antagonist it must catch and parastize and engages routinely in dark patterns to trick me into its barbed snares.
A better question is, who doesn't hurt you?
It's a shorter list.
I wouldn't define it as safe and happy when it's full of toxic masculinity.
It's a show for bullies. To enjoy laughing at caricatures of people people they never respected or understood.
So full of it. The show definitely became aware of it nearer the end of the shows run but it was too little too late.
As someone who lived with people who fetishized intelligence and used it as an excuse for toxic behavior the show is an uncomfortable reminder of that period in my life. Not just because of the characters themselves but due to the people I knew back then that would watch it
Me then: BBT is trash
Me now: still trash, like, it was always really bad. You're allowed to like trash. I encourage you to like trash. If you learn to love trash then the world is full of wonders. But we're not gonna pretend it's good out of some sense of politeness.
Thank you. So many people recommend it to me because "I'm a computer guy" and I've never made it more than 5 mins. It's awful.
nah im a certified hater
If hating brings you joy in these dark times...
IMO BBT is just nerd mockery dressed up like nerd humor.
It's bullying. It's people who aren't like me and my friends going "this is you. this is what you're like." It's satire without love for the thing it's satirizing.
I like to say that BBT is a stupid show about smart people, while Arrested Development was a smart show about stupid people.
You know what, that's exactly how I feel about it. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but that sums up my feelings about that show precisely.
Boy you could have chosen any other example, hahaha.
No it's perfect. That way if you like some other show and are worried you'll be judged about it now you can think "well at least it isn't the Big Bang Theory"
No, it's still awful.
I know this will sound pretentious as fuck, but as someone who got a physics degree and knows some shit, BBT drives me fucking nuts with its relentless pandering. Nerd culture isn't even nerdy anymore since being a nerd implies being some kind of outcast. When the outcasts become the majority, they're no longer outcast.
Gimme old Star Trek episodes for comfort TV any day.
As someone who got a physics degree and knows some shit, the first couple seasons are not too bad. The physics/math jokes are mostly fairly accurate, and those shows happened as nerd culture was getting mainstreamed. The first Avengers movie were several years away. I can't really say whether the series had a part in this mainstreaming, but at the least it was in the Zeitgeist.
I grew up in the north Italian province. Being a nerd didn't make you an outcast, but definitely an odd one.
The first couple seasons came out while I was doing my bachelor (i.e. the equivalent of undergrad) and with its caricature of some quirks I could recognize in many of my friends and colleagues, it made me feel at least acknowledged.
Then it got progressively worse as they kept looking for more and more ways to drag it on, lost those qualities I found positive, and I really gave up not too long after that.
Edit: I still need to point out that Star Trek TNG is peak comfort TV, together with maybe The West Wing or some Doctor Who.
Glad someone said it.
Season one or two are actually pretty decent. As the show continued, it doubled down on the minor stereotypical qualities of each character and made that feature their entire personality. It's a pretty normal outcome for any television show, particular across comedy and sitcoms, when the qualities in question are "has autism/aspbergers" and "doesn't know how to treat people like they're human", it quickly becomes a show focused on punching down. Before long, the plot breaks down to the more socially competent characters "fixing" nerds and nerd culture as it continually reinforces the stereotypes that the first couple seasons, sure, poked fun at, but in equal measure challenged the validity of.
At some point the show stopped being a comedy about nerd culture and shifted to actively mocking, not even nerd culture, but the entire culture around academics and intellectualism. It shifted to bullying, validated on your television screen, by showing you time and time again how horrible these socially awkward nerds are, and how difficult they make life for others.
BBT isn't nerd culture, it's nerdface.
"These aren't real nerds! They make us all look dumb!"
Other than Sheldon's quirks, I've always felt like the characters were just like my friends and I and this sentiment that permeated Reddit always just felt like people who very much are like Sheldon were the ones taking the most offense at the show.
Bazinga!
Later seasons really flanderized some aspects of the characters, but I always fondly remember one scene where The Gang is assembling a new TV stand for Penny's apartment and someone questions the airflow it offers. So they immediately start designing a water-cooling system for her TV.
I know people like that. I am people like that.
Your friends are sexist homophobes?
While they have done some pretty unsavory things involving Penny being the butt of many jokes that border on sexist, I can't think of a single example of homophobia from the show.
As long as you remember that Sheldon is a sociopath and not autistic, it's fine.
You know a show is trash when a character saying some jargon is somehow a laugh line
The problem with BBT was making a stereotype caricature out of being a need or having aspergers, and then assholes get to call you Sheldon cause they think they're funny.
No, the problem is how misogynistic Leonard is but they portray him as an adorkable guy to be loved.
I had no issue with this show for a while until someone pointed out how overtly perverted many of the main cast are. The laugh track and 'adorkable' aspect really throw you off, but once you see it...
Yeah, it's fucking creepy.
Live and let live man. I don't care what everyone does in their own time, have fun, live your life and be happy.
Where I have a problem is when someone forces me to do something. You NEED me to watch this show? No. Watch it in your own time.
To be fair, I have this attitude regarding those friends who drink, smoke or try to kill themselves with fentanyl.
This world drives us to terrible, monstrous copes, and better these than fascist pogroms.
Reading thru the thread ... Only thing I can say is, I don't like Friends. Cool if you do though. Can't watch Seinfeld anymore. Didn't age well as I aged. Again, just me. Cool if you do.
Get you your joy as long as it harms no one else.