Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Going Off With A Big Bang!

Going Off With A Big Bang!

So I dropped the ball and was too busy catching up with a lot of the Television shows last two weeks to actually write about this show but guess what, It's the fall season already, what the hell are you watching?! I know what I'm tuning into seeing..

First off, The Big Bang Theory. Yes, a nerd show. I know, how original. But the Big Bang Theory returned for another season of Chuck Loure bringing his nerd on to your television screen with not only this season, but they were already pre-renewed for a season 4 as well. So you shouldn't worry about cancellation or anything like that.

So what's the show about? CBS.com says:
Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door. Sheldon, Leonard's roommate, is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow CalTech scientists Wolowitz and Koothrappali. However, Leonard sees in Penny a whole new universe of possibilities... including love.
What will you need to be caught up? Well, we're three weeks in, but at the end of the last season, Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard had taken a summer position in the the North Pole, and Penny admitted to herself that she did have feelings for Leonard.. just in time for him to leave. Now he's back and they decided to get together and try it out.. only to come up with some sexual incompatibilities that... well, lead to comedy for us, the viewers. Oh, what will happen when an extremely hot girl gets together with a nerd? And no, I'm not talking about my life.

I think the only thing holding CBS's line up from being a really strong powerhouse is that CBS decided to split the show from being paired with How I Met Your Mother leaving an hour of soul-sucking unfunny in between the two funniest shows on Monday. So who's the characters in this show? Well, I'll fill you in to that right now:



Leonard Hofstadler is probably the most "Normal" of the nerds. Leonard is a physicist and out of the four, is the most ready to change his life. Last year, Leonard and Penny went on a date, then Leonard managed to insult Penny and screw things up. Later, they almost got together again, but Leonard put his foot in his mouth again, and screwed things up. Leonard has also had an on-again off again relationship with Leslie Winkle, which is now off again, probably permanently. Leonard is played by Johnny Galecki, who was Darlene's boyfriend David in Roseanne.



Sheldon Cooper is Leonard's roommate, a brilliant physicist and the smartest of the four. He's also the most socially inept, and many episodes revolve around Sheldon's quirks, social fallacies, and learning how to function in normal society. Jim Parsons was nominated for an Emmy for season 2 of The Big Bang Theory and is considered the show's breakout star. Jim Parsons most notable previous role may be a spot in Garden State where he played the Medieval Times employee who slept with Jean Smart's character. He's also the character I constantly get told wears the same t-shirts that I do. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing... It's just a thing, I suppose.



Penny lives across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon. Penny is an aspiring actress, though she spends most of her days working at the Cheesecake Factory. Penny is of average intelligence, though she's able to hold her own around the four guys. Last season, another hot girl moved into the building, then took advantage of the guys genorisity. Penny showed she's very protective of Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and even Wolowitz, who's clumsy advances she's constantly fending of. She's been known to start catching on to Nerd Culture, getting hooked on Age of Conan and using Star Trek analogies last year. Penny is played by Kaley Cuoco, who was one of John Ritter's daughters on Eight Simple Rules.



Howard Wolowitz is an Engineer and "Only" has a Masters degree, a fact which often gets him razzed on by the other geniuses. Wolowitz lives with his controlling, loud mother, who is never seen but often heard. Wolowitz fancies himself a ladies man, but his advances are always clumsy and awkward. Last season, Wolowitz started a relationship with Leslie Winkle. Wolowitz is played by Simon Helberg, who you may also recognize as Billy's Buddy and Dr. Horrible's sidekick Moist from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and he was in A Serious Man as a Junior Rabi, which doesn't seem like a stretch.



Rajesh Koothrapalli is an astrophysicist who has a crippling fear of speaking to women. Raj has his own apartment, as his parents live in India and he often is seen speaking to them over webcam. Raj can, however, speak to women when he drinks heavily. Penny is particularly kind to Raj, trying to help him overcome his phobia. Kunal Nayyar is an excellent physical actor who brings a lot of life to an often silent role.



Leslie Winkle is more of a recurring guest than a cast member, but she shows up often enough to deserve a mention. Leslie is a very pragmatic and logical woman who also is fairly able to function in normal society. Leslie had a mostly off-again relationship with Leonard, and now also Wolowitz. Leslie is also a brilliant scientist who works at the university. Leslie is played by Sara Gilbert, who is most known for playing Darlene in Roseanne.

Galecki has also brought former Roseanne castmate Laurie Metcalf to the show, playing Sheldon's mother in a season 1 episode and in the season 3 premiere. So it really is an extension of Roseanne without Roseanne Bar, that in itself is a win-win! And to those people who think that this show just panders to nerds... well, it does. But it's actually funny if you can get used to Sheldon being annoying.. something that he's suppose to be.

There's a whole thing with creator Chuck Loure, who worked on Roseanne, but that's a blog entry in itself as he does some amazingly funny stuff with his title cards.

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