I watched about a quarter of the first episode before I had to stop. I find awkwardness- and embarrassment-based comedy deeply uncomfortable, and the show relied too heavily on that.
Rumor has it that Abed of Community is a better geek/autie character but I’ve watched scarcely more of that; this is just what I’ve heard said from fandom.
I watched about a quarter of the first episode before I had to stop. I find awkwardness- and embarrassment-based comedy deeply uncomfortable, and the show relied too heavily on that.
This was my experience exactly.
Rumor has it that Abed of Community is a better geek/autie character but I’ve watched scarcely more of that; this is just what I’ve heard said from fandom.
He is. He is decidedly different but not in a way that provokes empathetic awkwardness. Come to think of it, the difference is hard to describe. Perhaps it is that BBT seems to be aggressively asserting norms and conveying that the individuals are breaking them and should be ashamed. Whereas Abed is just, well, Abed and he doesn’t care what people think of him and nobody really expects him to.
I find awkwardness- and embarrassment-based comedy deeply uncomfortable
I find it repellent.
The first I remember really noticing it was on SNL, but it has spread far and wide. I probably have only watched a few minutes of The Big Bang, but it didn’t seem like a show for nerds, but a show about nerds, a Geek Zoo, where you could go to point and laugh at effete nerds.
Along those lines, anyone know of any shows about and for introverts? Where introverts are the central, sympathetic characters in the show?
Damn! Only 6 shows so far! I saw two seasons, and figured I had 20 shows to go through.
Yes, great fun. Very different feel than US shows. Hard to imagine any of them as characters in a US show. Too much ruthlessness for an American audience, I think.
If Sherlock and Moriarty are so “bored” with the challenges presented by their simian neighbors, why don’t they fight Death or engage in some other science project to make themselves useful? If they’re such smarty boys, why don’t they take on the Universe instead of slightly evolved primates?
Arrested Development. Michael, pretty much the only ethical, responsible character on the show definitely seems to be at the introverted end of the spectrum.
… That comment did not make a lot of mathematical sense, though I understand the gist of it. Perhaps “orders of magintude better” might be more appropriate?
he said “exponential” not “exponential with base 2 and time constant equal to 1.0 per show”.
It could just as easily be something else, like 3 times better per show.
Also, didn’t specify the axis and we are only assuming it’s per show. It could be that “tbbt” and “community” are points on some axis, and quality varies exponentially along it such that community is better than tbbt.
Community is fantastic but is held back somewhat by the extremely cliched and sitcommy first couple episodes. It starts doing interesting/awesome stuff at episode 3.
I haven’t seen a more authentic Asperger’s character then Sheldon. I’m also not sure what distinguishes awkwardness-based comedy from ironic situations, so I may be approaching from the wrong angle.
One of my early comments was “People are going to think Sheldon has personality traits that have been exaggerated for comic effect.”, lamenting the fact that I am and know people further down the spectrum yet still fully functional.
I watched about a quarter of the first episode before I had to stop. I find awkwardness- and embarrassment-based comedy deeply uncomfortable, and the show relied too heavily on that.
Rumor has it that Abed of Community is a better geek/autie character but I’ve watched scarcely more of that; this is just what I’ve heard said from fandom.
This was my experience exactly.
He is. He is decidedly different but not in a way that provokes empathetic awkwardness. Come to think of it, the difference is hard to describe. Perhaps it is that BBT seems to be aggressively asserting norms and conveying that the individuals are breaking them and should be ashamed. Whereas Abed is just, well, Abed and he doesn’t care what people think of him and nobody really expects him to.
I find it repellent.
The first I remember really noticing it was on SNL, but it has spread far and wide. I probably have only watched a few minutes of The Big Bang, but it didn’t seem like a show for nerds, but a show about nerds, a Geek Zoo, where you could go to point and laugh at effete nerds.
Along those lines, anyone know of any shows about and for introverts? Where introverts are the central, sympathetic characters in the show?
Sherlock, perhaps?
Ooo, seconding Sherlock! (the BBC one, of course!)
Damn! Only 6 shows so far! I saw two seasons, and figured I had 20 shows to go through.
Yes, great fun. Very different feel than US shows. Hard to imagine any of them as characters in a US show. Too much ruthlessness for an American audience, I think.
Love Moriarty.
Thanks to both of you.
If Sherlock and Moriarty are so “bored” with the challenges presented by their simian neighbors, why don’t they fight Death or engage in some other science project to make themselves useful? If they’re such smarty boys, why don’t they take on the Universe instead of slightly evolved primates?
Hail Science!
Well, Doctor Who is hardly an introvert, but he’s probably the geek to outgeek all geeks, and he’s damn powerful too.
Arrested Development. Michael, pretty much the only ethical, responsible character on the show definitely seems to be at the introverted end of the spectrum.
Community in general and particularly Abed is exponentially better than the Big Bang Theory.
… That comment did not make a lot of mathematical sense, though I understand the gist of it. Perhaps “orders of magintude better” might be more appropriate?
Clearly, what FiftyTwo intended to say is that the difference in quality doubles with each successive episode of the respective shows.
he said “exponential” not “exponential with base 2 and time constant equal to 1.0 per show”.
It could just as easily be something else, like 3 times better per show.
Also, didn’t specify the axis and we are only assuming it’s per show. It could be that “tbbt” and “community” are points on some axis, and quality varies exponentially along it such that community is better than tbbt.
Oh, that makes sense.
Community is fantastic but is held back somewhat by the extremely cliched and sitcommy first couple episodes. It starts doing interesting/awesome stuff at episode 3.
I haven’t seen a more authentic Asperger’s character then Sheldon. I’m also not sure what distinguishes awkwardness-based comedy from ironic situations, so I may be approaching from the wrong angle.
One of my early comments was “People are going to think Sheldon has personality traits that have been exaggerated for comic effect.”, lamenting the fact that I am and know people further down the spectrum yet still fully functional.