Any fans of The Big Bang Theory on CBS?

I thought it was pretty good. When they set fire to the van I laughed out loud which is always a good sign.

 

I've reached the point with this show that I don't care if I miss an episode anymore. If I see it, fine. If not, no loss.

 

It was good to see the guys hangin' and I very much liked the science tie-ins with Feynman and the various scientific approaches to solving the wheel nut conundrum. And at the end, it dovetailed nicely with the girls' experiences too.

 

Last night's episode was about as good as it can get for the show in its ninth season. Still has an air of everyone kind of going through the motions, and I found the constant cutting between the two gender groups kind of annoying (and most of the stuff with the three women was boring, with extra lazy writing). But I'll give them some credit for trying to finagle some early show-era sciencey stuff back into the show.

But I've been concurrently watching the early seasons again, and they're FAR funnier and more clever.

 

Modern Family seems to be doing well at Season 7, but I missed the first five so it may have worn on others more than me.

I didn't make it though the last season of Big Bang and deleted the record rule at the end of the season. Thought I'd check in to see if it was a mistake but maybe not.

 

I watch the 10-11 pm episodes before Conan comes on most nights and I make the same comparison. It just falls flat for me anymore. I enjoy the earlier years much more.

 

I was thinking the same thing last night. The writers on Modern family are kkeeping things pretty fresh after all these seasons. I don't know if there's been writer changes for BBT, but it's just not as well done as MF.

I think you made the right decision. I got a newer DVR in July and had to start over with my recording choices this season. I forgot to record the first episode of BBT, and decided not to record it this season.

 

I thought that was a bad episode. As if two extremely intelligent women would allow Penny to pierce someone's ears.

And Penny on the phone to her Dad? I was very surprised that they showed her Dad, I quickly assumed it would just be Penny's side of the conversation. And she has a beloved pig? Well okay. That whole thing was just odd and out of place. Bernadette's comment about 'breakfast family' was quite funny.

The guys together? Yeah there was some funny stuff but generally it was just whatever. I did enjoy the onscreen graphics when they were trying different ways to get the tire off the van.

 

I thought ep.3 was terrible, the chemistry is way off.

 

I see Kaley's hair is growing back out. About time.

 

Anyone notice that the running time per episode is getting shorter? It's down to about 19 mins of actual content.

 

That was a fun episode (4).

Thor & Dr Jones, Thor & Dr Jones...

 

The shows seem to go a lot faster

 

I didn't mind the latest episode. Really, I don't know what to say, they're totally treading water but it's The Big Bang Theory, what do I expect them to do. If it's a bit funny I give it a pass. It's not like they were every striving for greatness. It's a low bar I guess.

I don't understand why they can't just have Leonard and Penny live together. They could still spend most of their time in the Sheldon apartment and nothing would really change. It's stupid to have them moving around their sleeping quarters to satisfy Sheldon.

And while it had some humor, the Raj/Howard band seemed oddly out of place. At least they'd established, years earlier, that Howard played keyboards. Suddenly Raj plays the guitar? Okay, but it seemed like a stretch and indicative of the fact that they've got so little for the characters to do.

 

Good points. I think keeping the characters living where they are is the same deal as was the case with shows like "Full House", where Stamos gets married, has two kids, and his whole family is living in.... the attic?

The show also recently made a point of Penny's now-rarely-discussed job paying very well, more than Leonard. So with two solid incomes, they're collectively paying full rent for a one bedroom apartment and half of the rent for another two bedroom apartment? Why not at least move into a bigger apartment, if not rent a house? There is no indication they're saving to buy a house or something (and if they were, they'd be consolidating their living situation, not paying two rents).

I get it, sitcoms (with some obvious exceptions like "Roseanne") rarely address income, cost of living, and things like that. But for whatever reason, the writers seem to continually move away from plots that don't revolve around the same group sitting in the same apartments.

 

There's a nice tribute documentary for Carol Ann Susi on the Season 7 Blu-ray set. They explain their reasoning on how they handled per passing within the show too.

 

If anything, Sheldon should be the one moving -- he should take Penny's place while they take the big apartment. Of course that would be too big a leap for him.

 

Almost every episode of Big Bang feels like it's missing the third act. I'm always going "that's it?" when the episodes end.

 

Every network sitcom is about 20 minutes in length. CBS schedules "Big Bang Theory" from 8:00-8:31 to get an extra minute of higher ad revenue.

I always DVR it to make it go by faster.

 

It may be scheduled for 30-31 minutes, but the actual running time of the show proper is around 19 mins. Other half hour scheduled shows (like say The Middle, or The Grinder) also don't run for 30 mins, but they are longer than TBBT, typically around 21-22 mins.

 

If you would actually read what I wrote instead of jumping in to disagree, I said the show "proper" without using the word "proper" was about 20 minutes. If you sit around with a stopwatch and say it is 19 and other sitcoms are 21 then good for you. My point was that "Big Bang Theory" seems to have more commercials because it actually has an extra minute of commercials compared to other shows slotted in 30 minute blocks.

 

I wasn't trying to be disagreeable, just accurate. A difference of around 2 mins in running time in a half-hour sitcom is very noticeable - you can cram in a lot of fast talking dialog in those two minutes. In fact, that's what made me notice in the first place and do the timing.

But it does have more (or longer) commercials (despite the extra minute) - I've tested it. Family Guy content is around 21min, South Park: 21:40, etc.

In a way it makes sense. The more popular the show, as is TBBT, the more money it can get from ad revenue, and so what ends up suffering is the content itself, which is somewhat ironic because that's what attracted the big bucks in the first place.

 

It definitely seems faster. They might as well just get rid of the lousy theme song.

 

It does take up a long time.

 

Really? I love the theme song and it's just 20 seconds.