The Big Bang Theory: What Went Wrong? - Wisecrack Edition 

Remove the laugh track and witness one of the most grim and unsettling series emerge.

The biggest flaw of TBBT is that the writers assumed that all very smart people love nerdy things, when in reality being a nerd and being academically clever are actually quite different.

They got girlfriends and ran out of ideas .. nerd plot gets old...

So basically, instead of making ‘smart’ jokes, they’re making jokes about being smart

References are not jokes , they're just references - Susan Jay Bauman

BBT isn't geek humor; it's a normie's interpretation of geek humor. Haha, he said sodium chloride when anyone else would've said salt. THAT'S LITERALLY HOW ALL SMART PEOPLE TALK! SMART PEOPLE DON'T TALK LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE! LAUGH AT IT, DAMN YOU!

"it´s funny because it´s nerdy or a reference" ... that is the concept of the show... Just watch "the IT Crowd", when you want to watch a proper show about nerds.

I liked the first 2 seasons. After watching the whole series multiple times, I now know why. In the beginning, all of them had coloured personas. They had their own eccentricities but also had a human side that you can connect to. Sheldon was quirky but he was not rude, he would listen to leanard when he was made aware of the situation. In the later season, sheldon just straight up became an egoistical jerk. For leanard, he was smart but also wanted to embrace the other lifestyle. He would stand up to people. By the end, he was just a needy people pleaser. For raj, he had problems talking to girls, but had a very friendly and amicable persona. He would have no problems sleeping with girls, or making fun of haward. by the end, we was just reduced to a whinny homosexual momma’s boy. I can keep going on. They had a promising start but instead to building on the human characters, they just took all of their eccentricities and made those their whole character.

I think the core problem is it's a show ABOUT nerds, not a show FOR or BY nerds. All the "nerds" of the show are just hollow stereotypes, used as a punchline. Lonely awkward nerds are lonely and awkward (insert laugh track here). Now, comare this to The IT Crowd - clearly created BY and FOR nerds. And it's freakin' hilarious! Why? Because they're not sereotypes, but relatable characters. They're laughing WITH us, not AT us. And that lets us laugh at ourselves.

Bazinga! Audience: 😂😂😂

Peenny : Sheldor why you bully me Sheldor : bonanza *deafening earrape laughter *

I was always amazed how much free time time these "scientists" had, seeing they were apparently working on cutting edge theories and engineering while also playing online videogames and reading comics most of the time. I actually found the female characters more realistic under that point of view. Still enjoy the show though (not as much as Silicon Valley, but it's a whole different level).

Ironically, TBBT made being a nerd and nerd culture (comic cons, etc) popular but at the same time insulted people already involved in the culture.

It's not the worst show in the world, but it is possibly the worst example of the use of a laugh track. It kills the flow of conversations and it's played after every single sentence even if there was no joke in it.

I think it boils down to, we thought we were getting a show for us about us. We were being represented. But it ended up being a show for other people ABOUT us. Basically it's a show for my dad, not for me.

When I was doing my PhD, I found great emotional support in observing the devotion of Sheldon Cooper to his work. I can't underrate this show, it really helped me through a difficult time.

The Big Bang Theory has one single joke: Intelligent science nerds lack practical day to day skills. And they just keep recycling it over and over in various different forms. Which isn't true, or funny. And even if it was a little funny at first, it certainly isn't after the 50,000th time they've recycled it. Take that away, and there's nothing left, that's all the show is.

We will never forget your sacrifice Thomas. God, well, if he even exist, bless you.

When i realized people were laughing at the nerds and not WITH them, it was way less funny.

the weird pilot in which a woman strips naked and takes her bath in the home of 2 strange men she literally just met. but its alright the guys are nerds right? Laugh track

BBT: nerd reference you don’t understand, and those that do understand it understand how poorly they portrayed it Audience: 😆 😂 🤣

this video just reminded me how good futurama is

The fact that Big Bang Theory got 12 seasons without flinching on the part of CBS and Community fought tooth and nail with so many losses for 6 seasons and 110 episodes means we are in The Darkest Timeline

"It's so bad, that it requires PHILOSOPHY to understand how bad it is." wowwwww

2:10 Sheldon defining friction wasn’t the joke there. The joke was the fact that he was so socially inept, that he thought it appropriate to define friction while she had a broken arm in a tub.

Even the laugh track isn't sure if the jokes are supposed to be funny.

*Just watch it without the laugh track and you know what‘s wrong*

As an avid D&D player, I've always felt they had no idea of what a roleplaying game even is.

"Sheldon it's 2AM get out of my bedroom" is actually pretty funny thoooo

The video is titled "what went wrong" implying the show used to be ok and got worse. Where is this discussion?

The problem is they overuse the laughtrack and try too hard to squeeze jokes out ot every situation

I actually like The Big Bang Theory and yet agree with most of what you say here. I just find the show enjoyable and get a kick out of the geek & science references given that I'm a geek and an engineer because it's nice to know there's people out there like me too.

"Community is the best sitcom about nerd culture because it doesn't just use references. It lives and breathes them." -> I second this. Please make a video about Community!

1. It's a sitcom. 2. It has a laugh track. 3. It's made by Chuck Lorre.

Star Trek, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal.... Doctor Who, X-Box, Fibonacci Sequence... Hey, I just wrote an episode of TBBT... sweet.

With me identifying as a nerd, I actually did enjoy at least some of the humor of BBT because of the fact it made fun of nerds.

I don't think it's "where did it go wrong" it's "how was this ever considered right?"

Sheldon: *exists* Audience: *_AAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAHHAAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!!_*

I liked the first 3 season. Then it started getting too much into relationships and I lost interest.

As someone who never watched big bang theory, I thought Sheldon was an alien

My answer to the title question is simple: It's a show based around a single joke: over the top nerd stereotypes. If we're really harsh here, this show should count as discrimination of a subculture, with Penny as the only "normal" character, scoffing at the over the top antics of these weirdos. It's like if there was a sitcom centered around a group of east asian friends, and the entire show is just about racist stereotype jokes like them talking in an over the top accent, having buck teeth, eating rice and taking photos, and the role of Penny is played by the sole western person on the show who scoffs at their asian antics.

Penny had no character growth from season 1-8

Community is the far better sitcom about nerd culture because it doesn't just use references. It lives and breathes them.

Loved this show as a kid. Hate this show as an adult.

I thought the 'joke' was Sheldon's social inaptitude.

The thing is...people watch it thinking it is a show for nerds. But it isn't for nerds or nerd culture...it is ABOUT nerds and nerd culture...but it shows a wrong representation of it. Basically making fun of it indirectly. It could be a smarter show, but instead it showcases nerds so "non-nerds" can laugh at them from the seat of their couch.

Despite all the problems with this show, I have to confess that I still love it despite those problems. I first watched it when I was 11 years old and it left an impression on me. I think we all have our hypocrisies when it comes to content we enjoy, and that’s okay.

it's just what happens when you don't have the guts and decency to end things when they run it's course. This show should have ended years ago. Now it's over.

It lasted way too long. 4 seasons would've been fine.

You’re like 10000 episodes too late.

There is a lot wrong with this show, and you nailed some of it, like the scornful humor (although beat-on-your-friends is a common trope outside TBBT too) and the kitchen-sink approach to geekdom. But the references aren't always as brainless as you claim and the show does often have a lot of heart. It also has a lot of character growth, sometimes cringily uneven but sometimes profound. And even when we're laughing at exaggerated nerd cultures, it's still normalized so that we accept it and the characters that embody it.

all american sitcoms are based on bullying and characters insulting each other

I don't laugh when I'm watching Big Bang theory...I'm just like 'I understood that Reference'...

I thought Sheldon’s jokes were his obliviousness to the most salient aspects of the situation

I watched for quite few years. It was simple and silly, and that's all I needed from it. So many hip comedies of the time were based on vicarious embarrassment, and that cringe comedy seemed to hold its characters in way more contempt than TBBT did.

Big Bang Theory had one good idea in its entire run, casting wil wheaton as himself, as an antagonist. That's it. that's their one good premise. also Mayim Bialik is a legit neuroscientist and I just think that's kinda neat (so long as you don't think too much on her wasted potential, doing this show)

The laugh track and the forced B and C story lines in each episode just made this show annoying to watch. I thought it had some heart at the beginning but it really felt like they were going through the motions in the end.

wow. a mainstream, primetime sitcom with lazy writing. I never thought I would see the day.

I see some points here but the show is fun to watch. If you just watch the show and stop thinking about what is incorrect or why its funny and just enjoy it. Thats what i do

One it was on way to long, 4 years is enough for any comedy show, it’s self parody now. And two when it became about changing the nerds into “normal” people because girlfriends make everything better it lost its focus and just became Friends with science jokes.

Okay say it with me, any show that goes past six seasons is in the danger zone, and virtually anything that makes it to 8 is it's own worst enemy.

í was okay with the series when it was about science and comics, nowadays its just drama and relationships.

I had a laughing fit about not being able to afford Thomas therapist 😂

The fakest ass laugh track in all of history.

Honestly my real problem is the laugh tracks. They put them in during moments that aren't at all funny. *Sheldon sits down* *Laugh track*

It was a funny show until the writers introduced Amy Farrah Fowler. Then, it went from a show about geeks and science to geeks and relationships.

I finished watching the series and I have to say, as a geek, that I enjoyed almost all of it. The references don’t always age well, but the characters really do develop, and call out the years of emotional abuse - which most shows don’t do. I see a group of incredibly intelligent, and equally flawed, individuals that I rooted for throughout the series. It wasn’t perfect, but I think it was pretty damn good.

I think the real question is *what went right?*

I like the show. I don't think it's funny, but it's good as background noise.

I don’t agree with most of the points in this video. Let me go over some of them (sorry for my english in advance): - Reference jokes are not necesarily bad. It depends, as with most jokes, on timing, context, build up, etc. Also, they are not only for reference’s sake, well, not all of them. Some provide characterization (different characters make different references and in a different way), some are connected to one of the themes of the episode... and, yes, some are just quick throwaways, which is perfectly acceptable in a sitcom. - The science jokes work as the video describes only for people who don’t understand the science behind them, but I think the video underestimates the viewership a little. As an example, I get more than half of the science jokes and I’m not a scientist, just curious enough to watch some Neil D. Tyson videos and read some Dawkins books. - On the topic of levels of reality representation, the video explained how it ties to some philosopher’s thinking, but it failed to point out what exactly is wrong about what TBBT does in this respect. The show is about de mix and clash of pop an geek cultures. Of course there’s gonna be references of references of yet other references. - Another thing the video talks about is the representation of geeks and nerds as a caricature... Yes, again, it’s a comedy. It uses exageration. As does Futurama, as do The Simpsons, as do all other comedy shows I can remember, as do all stand up comedias I ever watched. But that aside, I am a geek and a nerd and I have mingled in geek and nerd circles, and I can tell you that most of the quirks of the characters have a solid base in reality. And it’s not demeening, I find parts of myself in many of the (exagerated) attitudes of the characters and it’s very funny. And, again, it’s a recourse that every comedian uses. - About the fact that some of the humor is at the expense of some charatert or other... well, yes. The video itself explains that that is one of the foundations of humour. It’s not the only kind, but it’s not bad, as long as it’s not harrassing or bullying someone in real life. Yet again, name one comedian that does not make fun of somebody in some way (making it about yourself is not an exception). - On the note that the authors write about nerds without knowing what nerds are like... that is just a poorly made argument. First, you don’t know that. Second, even if that’s the case, so what? Do you think a writer has to know the inner workings of the mind of a psychopath to be able to write a good crime story? Realism isn’t always the goal. But, in the case of TBBT, as I said previously, I identify myself and some people I know in many bits and pieces of the characters, so I don’t think the writers are as oblivious as the video suggests. Finally, I think that TBBT has indeed gone wrong, but not for the reasons the video put forward. I think it’s mainly because it has been stretched too thin. It should have been 3 or 4 seasons long. Well, I’m sorry to be so contrarian, I usually enjoy Wisecrack content very much. And the video is good, I just happen to disagree.

I've noticed that "lazy writing" has become a popular phrase for lazy writers.

What killed that show was them getting into relationships, it was funnier when it was just the guys and penny as a friend

Interesting take. I remember when the show came out and being delighted with seeing characters who liked the same things I did, as I was mocked for liking comics until they became popular. Moreover, I adored Sheldon. He was incredibly intelligent, and it would be against his nature to dumb down anything for others, especially other PhD’s. He was pedantic, literal, and flawed. I was so relieved so see someone like myself who struggled with social nuance, which doesn’t make you smart alone. While I hated how entitled these guys were when it came to women (a lot has changed in the last ten years) and I hated it even more when the show became solely about relationships, a nerdy Friends. I guess in summary, Sheldon was a breakthrough character in his time, and for the first half of the show, he didn’t waver his character.

The best summary I've heard about The Big Bang Theory is: It is a show about smart people for dumb people.

Fun fact: the only live studio audience is when there's a scene in the living room of Leonard and Sheldon's apartment the rest is all canned laughter so its only put where the script needs it to be not automatically making said joke funny as this video implies

This might be punishable by burning at the steak on the internet, but I did find some of the jokes funny... Not the science references, those are essentially white noise. I find Sheldon’s utter lack of social graces worthy of a few chuckles, especially that DMV lady, as I think of myself as socially awkward, but then I’m reminded there is a rock bottom. Shame the show is still unwatchable because the references kill my investment before anything funny could happen.

Sheldon is one of the most offensive caricatures of Asperger's that I've ever had the misfortune of seeing

A good, simple concept that got old pretty quickly.

It’s a sitcom that’s entertaining & I’m sure that was its sole purpose. If it wasn’t entertaining it wouldn’t have been profitable enough to make 12 seasons and a spin off

It became bad when it stopped being a geek culture sitcom and became a romantic sitcom with all the plotlines revolving around relationships.

It’s basically to make people feel smart.

No, you kind of went off course here at the start... then got it toward the end. See, none of the jokes are about science or references really. If you understand the science/references this is what becomes irritating because you realize that there's no humor; the jokes only work if you *don't* understand what is being referenced (which gives away the intended demographic). But it can be even more irritating when you realize what the audience is actually meant to be laughing at: intelligence and a passion for "nerdy" things. The nerds are the butt of the joke. The implied intelligence of the four so-called nerds is always shown to be useless, extraneous, or cumbersome in some way -- having knowledge and interest in certain things sets them as outsiders who cannot be part of society, and their attempts to "fit in" therefore become laughable. Knowing that details behind what causes a road to be slippery is not shown as something useful or even interesting, but pointless and somehow stupid. And of course, the show doesn't just stop at making "nerds" a target if ridicule but manages to do so for other minority groups such as non-whites and women and homosexuals. By the way, if laughter is scorn, then what of absurdist comedy? Or puns?

In the genre of sitcoms, the Big Bang Theory is honestly really good after the first season. Sure it has it's cringe moments (season 1 definitely has the most), but it has made genuinely laugh fairly often.

The show sucks but I gotta admit "She's exactly his type: a hooker" is a pretty solid joke. The other thing that's bizarre about this show is besides there never being any substance to the scientific references, there's never any substance to their hobbies. They're into basically every "nerd thing" the writers have heard of: Star Trek, Ren Faires, board games, comic books, D&D, larping, you name it... these guys are supposed to be brilliant Caltech physicists - every scientist I've ever met spends a whole lot of time Doing Science - they don't have time for like 8 different time consuming hobbies.

God I hate this show. Probably because the show hates me. It hates all of us.

Yep. Huge disrespect. The reason the references don't rely on understanding is that the nerds and geeks are the joke. This isn't a show FOR geeks and nerds. It's a show for people who want to LAUGH at geeks and nerds.

I love how you pointed out how great futurama is in contrast to big bang theory. Futurama does such a great job playing with fun sci fi concepts and using actual science in their jokes.

So, I didn't watch this video, but "what went wrong" is pretty simple: It's a bad network sitcom with a laughtrack. Seriously... a laughtrack... in the 2010s. A solid 15 years after everyone else realized laughtracks were a terrible idea. This show is so unfunny it has to tell the audience where the jokes are by playing a recording of people laughing.

I know deep down that TBBT was a load of crap but I do enjoy watching it from time for reasons unknown to me.

When this show first aired I was astonished that any show mirrored the real-life conversations happening non-stop in my home every day. At the time my two sons- teen and pre-teen, high-functioning autistic sons, with stellar IQ's, and their Asperger step-father who runs one of the largest engineering business in my state, literally had so much in common with the 4 fictional male characters (minus the misogyny). Obviously there was no laugh track. This show was a very accurate depiction of my home life, from attending Comic Con, actually talking about dark matter, string theory, to arguing about what superpowers would be the best. I finally had a reference point if anyone outside my home wanted to know what it was like to be a bug on the wall in my home. I didn't really watch Big Bang Theory much, especially past the first couple seasons, but for me, it was interesting to know I wasn't alone. No surprise, my sons have ended up going into different fields of engineering. But the TV show did put Cal Poly on the radar when college admissions time came around.

I feel so bad for the friends and family of anyone who actually identifies with the characters on this show. Every single main character is just so cruel and vindictive and hateful to the people around them, even their supposed best friends, mocking and belittling each other constantly while the object of scorn is clearly not laughing along with the joke (like normal friends in real life do when making fun of each other). Not to mention the selfish mercenary way they all seem to use and take advantage of each other, only caring about their own problems and desires..... It's really fucking depressing.

Pop Culture Detective's channel made some great videos detailing the sexist & racist tones of TBBT. His insight helped me realize why this show had always made me uneasy, though I couldn't put my finger on it at the time.

Teh big bong theorem -Leon3r: Science stuff -Penn0r: Whe? -Shell1n: Zimbabwe! *queues hysterical laughter track of dead people*

Big Bang Theory started in 2007, before Iron Man (2008) and Marvel's mainstreaming of nerd culture. Now that superhero movies dominate the movie market, nerds aren't exactly desperate to see their perspective validated by mainstream media.

BBT was never funny. Without a laugh track I wouldn't know where or when to laugh.

I dont even care this show was fucking hilarious to me 😅😅

I can't believe I'm going to defend this show, I hated it when it first came out and I still don't watch more than a few minutes when it happens to be on... Buuuut People like it for the same reason they like any other canned, studio audience, yuck-fest sitcom: they like the rapport of the cast. Yeah the jokes are corny and the nerd culture "shallow"; but the characters work and everything else is superficial set dressing (like any other sitcom) Sheldon works because he doesn't understand social cues. The Guy from Roseanne works because he's perpetually frustrated by how obtuse his friends are. The Indian dude works because he's a clueless narcissist. The bowl haircut dude because he's even more clueless and hyper competitive. Sheldon's girlfriend works because she's humorless. Kaley Cuoco works because she's the odd one out. And the interplay of such keeps things relatively interesting.

What went wrong is they all got girlfriends, which took away alot of the lonely guy geek jokes..

honestly the show was actually good and funny up until about season 3 or 4 then it was just really lame and everyone kinda dissolved into their relationships if that makes any sense.

To say "what went wrong" assumes it was ever good in the first place