EVERYTHING BUT IMAGINARY #328: KICKING OFF WITH A BANG

[Blake Petit]

If you’ll indulge me for a moment, friends, today I don’t want to talk about a comic book, a comic book writer, a comic book artist, a comic book event, or a comic book movie. I do want to talk about a TV show, one that is near and dear to the hearts of any true comic fan – and if it isn’t, it should be. I’ve been watching for some time now. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot. And with all due respect to The Office and How I Met Your Mother, I think it’s time to come out and say it.

The Big Bang Theory may just be the funniest show on television.

Now, I’m talking about current television, not all-time. And if we’re going to be terribly specific, we’re talking about current American television. Living, as I do, in the US of A, I haven’t got the foggiest notion what’s on the tube in other countries (except for Doctor Who-related programming). So going strictly by my own admittedly limited perceptions, I’ve realized that there isn’t a show on TV that makes me laugh harder, longer, or more consistently than The Big Bang Theory.

If you’ve never seen the show, I’d love to know what you’ve got going on that’s better on Monday Nights, because this show rules. In the first episode a hot, aspiring actress named Penny (played by Kaley Cuoco) moves into an apartment across the hall from a pair of physicists. Leonard (Johnny Galecki) is immediately smitten by his new neighbor, while his roommate Sheldon (Jim Parsons) is far more interested in science and science fiction than any sort of interpersonal relationships. Also included in the cast are the guys’ friends Howard (Simon Helberg), an engineer who fancies himself the world’s greatest ladies man while the only woman in his life is, in fact, his mother; and Raj (Kunal Nayyar), an Indian immigrant who is unable to speak in the presence of women unless he’s also drunk.

It’s a little high-concept, admittedly. And there are a lot of standard sitcom tropes here as well. The comic and sci-fi loving nerds, the loser who is put upon by his mother, the hot girl and the geek dynamic and so forth. What makes this show so damn awesome is how those pieces are put together. From the first episode, you wanted to see Penny and Leonard get together, because the writers immediately made Leonard (the most “normal” of the four geeks) our viewpoint character. But they knew that it couldn’t happen right away. Not only was Penny – although a nice girl – still a bit too shallow to be smitten with Leonard, but Leonard – although smitten – was too emotionally immature to handle a relationship with Penny. But over two seasons of near-misses, teases, and relationships with other characters, the writers managed to make us believe that these were actually two people who could find happiness with each other. Not perfection – they’re too dissimilar for that, but then again, isn’t that the definition of a real, solid relationship?

The show is not flawless. The resolution of the second-season cliffhanger (which I will not spoil), for example, came way too fast. And there is a bit of a reliance on stunt-casting. (Galecki is probably best known as David from the show Roseanne, and his former castmates Laurie Metcalf and Sarah Gilbert have both shown up as recurring characters on BBT). And… um… actually, that’s it.

Let’s look at the things that do rock on this show.

First of all, the attention to detail. The geeks are all scientists of one stripe or another, and as such, the producers have actual physicists on set to go over the scripts, make sure the information is accurate, and add in up-to-date references whenever scientific jargon is necessary for a scene. Hell, they even write up the whiteboards that appear in the backgrounds so that the equations are accurate.

But that’s not all: if the science detail is up-to-the-minute, the geek detail is even better. And I’m not just talking about the episode where all four of the guys wanted to dress as the Flash for Halloween. (Although this did lead to one of the funnier gags in the show about Sheldon’s Doppler Effect costume.) The guys’ local comic shop has become one of the regular sets on the show, and the geek in me can’t help but look at the shelves in the background every time they go there. Sure enough, the comics are always up-to-date, recent issues. Okay, that’s probably not hard, right? Every time they film an episode there, they just need to send an intern down to the shop to buy a few new issues, right?

But try listening to the conversations the guys have. They’re talking about current TV shows and movies and making up-to-the-minute references that make the geeks in the audience twitter with excitement – both literally and figuratively. On an episode where Penny agrees to date the owner of the comic shop, her magical evening is utterly derailed when Sheldon engages him in a debate over who should replace Bruce Wayne as Batman: Dick Grayson or Jason Todd. As this conversation happened just as Battle For the Cowl was hitting the stands, the fans erupted, not just to give their own opinions on the issue, but out of sheer joy that the show was actually paying attention to what the comic fans were thinking about. (Sheldon, by the way, was right. As always.)

There are guest appearances by people who have serious fan followings in the geek community. Summer Glau, for instance, showed up in an episode where Howard and Raj competed for her attention on a train. Wil Wheaton made one of the show’s most memorable appearances playing himself as a supervillain, and Sheldon’s arch-nemesis, prying on one of the scientist’s few weak spots.

And if that’s not enough Geek cred, these characters made a cameo appearance in Power Girl #4.

A cameo. In Power Girl. That’s a new definition of “awesome.”

If the in-jokes and references are too metafictional for you, then you can still watch the show just for the incredible performances. Galecki and Cuoco, as the emotional center of the show, often carry a lot of the narrative weight. They work as flawed but, ultimately, likeable people that we all want to see happy. As the story rests on them, we have Helberg and Nayyar carrying the broader comedy. Howard is a totally pathetic character, but one that you can’t help but root for just a little. Raj, on the other hand, inspires the same emotion in the audience as he does in Penny – he’s like a little wounded bird that you really want to help, but you’re afraid if you touch him you’ll just make things worse.

Jim Parsons.

Jim Parsons as Sheldon is so damn good it’s scary. He handles rapid-fire dialogue, technical babble, and geekspeak effortlessly. His utter cluelessness about the people around him makes him a bit more sympathetic, even as it sometimes makes him come across as cold and stoic. To the audience, his genius is revealed as the curse it is, forever separating himself from the rest of the human race even as he, ironically, is totally unaware of it. Every deadpan delivery, every list of obscure Ukrainian astrophysicists, every ridiculous “bazinga!” following a poor attempt at a practical joke makes you love the guy a little more. His recreation, in the most recent episode, of an argument his parents once had escalated in volume, lunacy, and sheer stupidity of content until he exploded on the punchline (“You know why he’s crying? BECAUSE I LET YOU NAME HIM SHELDON!"). If that performance doesn’t get him another Emmy nomination this year, it’ll be a crime.

Hell, if Kanye West had interrupted Alec Baldwin’s acceptance speech in the last Emmy awards to shout in favor of Parsons, I actually would have agreed with him.

Okay, you get the point. It’s a great show, and if you haven’t given it a try, you’ve got no business calling yourself a geek. As I once told Emergency Backup Geek Kenny Fanguy, “The Big Bang Theory is to us what Sex and the City was to lonely, depressed women.”

And I’ll stand by that.

Another important, somewhat self-indulgent announcement

Since last we spoke, friends, something else cool has happened here at Everything But Imaginary Global Headquarters. My first-ever eBook, the anthology A Long November and Other Tales of Christmas, is now available from Smashwords.com! What’s in this attractive package, you ask? Oh, ever so much. In addition to the novella A Long November, the eBook also includes eight other Christmas-themed short stories, as well as a new introduction and notes on each story, where they came from, and in some cases, how they fit in to the larger picture of my Realms.

Want to hear something even better? The book is available in various formats suitable for any eBook reader! Have you got your Amazon Kindle, like I do? Got an iPhone or iPod Touch? The Stanza reader, the Sony reader, or a good ol’ PDA? Or maybe you just want to read the text on your computer screen. You can get the book in any of those formats, and for a limited time, you set the price you pay. You can pay nothing at all, or you can kick a donation of any size over 99 cents (to cover the PayPal transaction fees) into the jar. So if you’re a fan of my work, even if you’ve read these stories before, cruise on over to Smashwords.com and download this book to read by the glow of your Christmas tree this season.

Favorite of the Week: November 4, 2009

Proving that the Fables universe has the motts to grow beyond its creator, the first issue of the new miniseries Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love got my top honor last week. Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus managed to take the concept of Fabletown’s top secret agent and turn her into a true gender-reversed James Bond. And I mean that as a compliment. The issue starts with the conclusion of a previous adventure, the beginning of the main one, and we even get Beast and Frau Totenkinder stepping in to fill the M and Q roles. It’s a magnificent issue – funny, exciting, and a welcome addition to the world of Fables.

Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress Lost in Silver at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with whoever the hell is available that week, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcasts. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms. Read past columns at the Everything But Imaginary Archive Page.

[TobiasJeth]

The show is bloody brilliant, and I can't get enough of it. Thanks for showing that panel in Power Girl where they cameo, that was awesome too.

[Andrea Speed]

Congrats on the book, Blake!

And hey, how is smashwords? I've been checking them out, considering going with them, but I've been busy. They easy to use?

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Andrea Speed

Congrats on the book, Blake!

And hey, how is smashwords? I've been checking them out, considering going with them, but I've been busy. They easy to use?

As easy as "upload document, upload cover image."

After you properly format, that is, but that's pretty simple too.

[Mark Blicharz]

Big Bang Theory is great. Though I do find myself actually understanding what Sheldon is talking about and I'm not sure if that should worry me or not. It is rather funny watching it with someone and instead of laughing at the joke I just kinda sigh and they ask "You actually know what they are talking about there, don't you?" I just nod my head and then laugh because of how nerdy it is.

[Normalman]

I actually think the Roseanne people have done a great job in their roles on this show. I never liked her character on Roseanne, but here, Sarah Gilbert is just great, particularly when she's acting as Sheldon's female nemesis. And Laurie Metcalf gives Sheldon a more interesting backstory as his mom.

[Ryan Broussard]

I love BBT. Has anyone noticed they show nothing associated with Marvel? DC yes, Darkhorse yes, Image yes.....but no marvel

[Mini]

If it helps Blake BBT is the funniest sitcom show over here right now!

[BigWords]

Originally Posted by Mini

If it helps Blake BBT is the funniest sitcom show over here right now!

So true. I thought that The IT Crowd would be along similar lines, but it's only marginally funnier than hemorrhoids. To think that the UK used to be able to produce funny television like Fawlty Towers...

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Normalman

I actually think the Roseanne people have done a great job in their roles on this show. I never liked her character on Roseanne, but here, Sarah Gilbert is just great, particularly when she's acting as Sheldon's female nemesis. And Laurie Metcalf gives Sheldon a more interesting backstory as his mom.

Oh, I think the acting is just fine. It just distracts a little bit (just a little bit) when they show up, because I'm thinking, "Heh... Roseanne" instead of just watching the show.

[Andrea Speed]

So true. I thought that The IT Crowd would be along similar lines, but it's only marginally funnier than hemorrhoids.

What?! I love The IT Crowd!!!!

[Mini]

Oh no the IT crowd is good, but compared to BBT nah, considering it's supposed to be a little geeky they don't have half the things BBT does.

[BigWords]

The IT Crowd may be a few steps up the evolutionary ladder of comedy from the depths of My Hero, but when compared to shows that really know their geek stuff (No Heroics is a prime example) it lacks a certain class. It should be so, so much better than it is, but the cheap laughs and a cartoonish writing style dampen the effect. Best example is the Facebook gags which were recycled over the course of an episode, even though there were better mockeries made of the phenomenon a year earlier in other media.

The Big Bang Theory has figured out both character and comedy, while so many other "comedy" shows figure out the laughs and try to shoehorn the characters into situations where they can be exploited by the events. I would have used My Hero as the prime example of bad comedy, but it appears to have been cancelled. The IT Crowd is currently the dampest comedy in the UK (unless somebody wants to point out a worse example), which is why I pointed at it and laughed.

[Blake Petit]

Is "My Hero" that superhero sitcom the BBC did? I think I remember hearing about it a while back, but I never saw any epsidoes.

[Mini]

Yeah it had Ardal O'Hanlon of Father Ted fame, basically he was an alien who came to earth as a superhero because he's taking over from his dad and ends up falling in love with an earth woman and lives with her, hijinxs ensue when they have to keep his secret from everybody else.....wasn't that good in any sense of the word!

The best "geek" sitcom from Britain IMO is Spaced

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Mini

Yeah it had Ardal O'Hanlon of Father Ted fame, basically he was an alien who came to earth as a superhero because he's taking over from his dad and ends up falling in love with an earth woman and lives with her, hijinxs ensue when they have to keep his secret from everybody else.....wasn't that good in any sense of the word!

The best "geek" sitcom from Britain IMO is Spaced

I keep hearing about how great Spaced one... it's gotta go on the Netflix queue.

[Andrea Speed]

You know I reviewed the Spaced box set, right?

It stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Blake - I was sure you'd have been onto that by now!

[Mark Blicharz]

My favorite British sitcom is 'Allo 'Allo. I know Mini's heard of it!

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Andrea Speed

You know I reviewed the Spaced box set, right?

It stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Blake - I was sure you'd have been onto that by now!

I should be, I should be...

Mark -- I do, in fact, remember 'Allo 'Allo. My first roommate in college loved that show. It was, in fact, pretty good.

[Blake Petit]

Seriously, people, if you're not watching this show right this second, you're out of your minds.