fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2781 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2781 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Game of Thrones]

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09. [broken]

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[Kevin Sorbo/Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]

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[Transformers: Prime]

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[Darkchylde]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 022 secrets from Secret Submission Post #397.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In theory, it was supposed to be a sitcom about hardcore nerds and for hardcore nerds. Instead, a lot of it has turned into being aimed at a general audience that likes to laugh at nerds the same way people have been laughing at nerds for decades in sitcoms.

On top of that are, well, the actual fans/watchers. As some anons have pointed out, some of the critics are just hardcore geeks who don't like having it slapped in their face that being more intelligent than someone doesn't make them the better or even smarter person. (In this context, I use 'intelligent' to mean aptitude in academia, research, etc. and 'smart' to indicate quick thinking, problem solving, seeing the big and small pictures and how they connect, etc.)

Now add these problems on to of the conventional criticism that can be attached to a sitcom (unrealistic, canned laughter, bad writing, etc.) and you've got a clusterfuck of resentment that this show became so popular.

(There are also criticisms about the presentation of race and gender in this show in particular, but I've seen both good and bad on the episodes I have seen and it's been a while since I've really watched it, myself, so I'm not sure how valid these are.)

An occasional joke about nerdom or science does mean BBT was ever a show for nerds and geeks. It's on CBS, that made it, from day fucking one, a show that was meant to appeal to as many viewers as possible.

I agree.

Which is kind of the point? It came across as "the sitcom for nerds" and then it turned out it wasn't.

The co-created credit or the fact it was on CBS should have been enough to clue people in that BBT wasn't passing itself over as "the sitcom for nerds." It wasn't like the show started off as a single-cam NBC comedy or a YouTube webseries or some shit.

I guess that would depend on familiar you are with various networks as content creators. With a handful of exceptions, I don't watch enough shows or even know about enough shows from any network to get a general impression of what the network creates on average. I definitely know that I didn't know until right now that CBS was "known" for crap sitcoms, and I went to see their show listing on Wikipedia to check.

Unless it's seriously problematic or other people more familiar with a network point out a trend, I'll take a show its own value and in this case, I look at TBBT based on how I remember it being advertised, what perceptions were being spread about it, and how people talked about it.

One thing I distinctly remember was that a lot of the earlier episodes I saw did have more jokes that tend to require at least some knowledge of nerd culture to make sense. (Not too deep, just that you'd get more humor out of a redshirts joke if you knew about Star Trek, or that "someone shot first" is funnier if you know the Han Solo addage). It seemed inclusive, that a general audience could like it but nerds could actually identify with it a little more. Pretty soon, though, it became less laughing with nerds and turned right back into laughing at them. As I've mentioned, it's been a while since I've seen the show, so maybe things have changed again, but based on the earlier seasons, I don't blame some of the resentment people have towards the show.

Probably one of the other big things about the show is even if it were meant to appeal to a general audience, the show still comes across as meaning to be a reasonable, even if not accurate, take on actual nerd and STEM-academia culture. Or at least a new take on it. Instead, it's just the same tired old stereotypes about various nerd and geek cultures, and even race and gender stereotypes, all condensed into one show.

Some people, at least, are upset because of what feels like a bait-and-switch. TBBT seemed, early on, like it could be something fresh and original and different, and now it's a standard romcom about weddings and shit. Lure people in with the promise of something special, then revert to your regularly scheduled programming for the Twilight crowd.

Yeah. I had a lot of people tell me I should watch it exactly for this reason, that I was a nerd and thus I would love it.

[ SECRET POST #2781 ]

Mostly confusion over the target audience.

Re: Mostly confusion over the target audience.

Re: Mostly confusion over the target audience.

Re: Mostly confusion over the target audience.

Re: Mostly confusion over the target audience.

Re: Mostly confusion over the target audience.

Re: Mostly confusion over the target audience.

Re: Mostly confusion over the target audience.