11 Reasons Geeks Hate The Big Bang Theory

This isn't a geek-specific gripe against The Big Bang Theory, but really: it's 2011. We know what's funny and what's not funny. Laying an ocean of canned laughter down on top of something doesn't make it any funnier, and in fact often makes things less funny. The Big Bang Theory has one of the most intrusive and obnoxious laugh tracks on TV right now. Any actual enjoyment that you could get out of the show is suffocated underneath it. And even more bizarre, it's actually generated by a live studio audience, trained like Pavlovian dogs to guffaw on cue. Obnoxious, overwhelming fake laughter is a Chuck Lorre trademark, so I wouldn't expect it to go away anytime soon.

Chuck Lorre is notorious for how badly his shows treat women. Two And A Half Men is probably the worst offender, but The Big Bang Theory is horrible as well. Women exist as sex objects for men to lust over and not much else. Amazingly enough, the show actually tried to take a step in the right direction by introducing Leslie Winkle, a female optical physicist who works with Leonard at the lab. Leslie, played by Sara Gilbert, brought a refreshing take on the female geek to the table, but after four episodes as a featured performer, the writers claimed they "didn't know how to write for her," so she was dropped from the cast.

This isn't a problem specific to The Big Bang Theory, but the show does illustrate one of the lamest things about modern comedy. Lazy writers have learned that it's easier to skip the jokes and just make your "punchlines" references to things that your target audience dimly remember from their childhood. Obviously, the worst proponent of this style of humor is Family Guy, but The Big Bang Theory rolls around in it like a dog in its own vomit. Nary a scene goes by without a shout-out to some nerd culture tidbit, but none of it actually means anything. It's just cheap.

The flipside to the excessive cultural references on the show is that, to be frank, the writers don't seem to really understand what they're writing about. It seems like just about every episode they'll make a joke that falls flat to the geek audience because the writers simply didn't bother to do their homework. Sheldon referring to the principle of reductio ad absurdum as a "logical fallacy"? Claiming you can loot your allies' corpses in World of Warcraft? Unforgivable. If you're going to satirize geek culture, do it right.