Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Astrophysicists do it with heavenly bodies

A friend of mine recommended The Big Bang Theory to me some time ago. This show combines two of my favorite things - science humor and cute nerds - into one adorkable package. But I was hesitant to get involved with Big Bang. I assumed that something that seemed so perfect for me was unlikely to tickle the fancy of anyone else. Honestly, I didn't want to fall in love and have my heart broken by a mid-season cancellation.


Now, with Big Bang in it's second season and going strong, I finally felt safe enough to start watching. And it's everything I dreamed and more. Big Bang concerns itself with the lives of two roommates (Leonard and Sheldon), their fellow post-doc buddies (Howard and Koothrappali - homeboy represent!) and their across-the-hall neighbor (Penny). You may recognize Leonard as Johnny Galecki, who played Darlene's shiftless boyfriend David on Rosanne and Howard as Simon Helberg, who played Moist on Dr. Horrible.


The basic conceit of the show is the difference between Book Smarts and Street Smarts. Each character pairs academic brillance with total incompetence when it comes to basic human interaction (or in Penny's case, vice versa). As such, it is chock-a-block with nerd humor (see: Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock), awkward moments, and geniuses making fools of themselves.


Have I piqued your scientific interest? You can catch The Big Bang Theory Monday at 8pm on CBS, or online at the official website.

3 comments:

Maggie Cats said...

I watched the show once and found it not that funny and couldn't abide the laugh track. I have heard that it had a bit of a shaky start in its first season, so maybe that was one of the episodes I saw?

Can you recommend a particularly funny episode I could check out?

Monkey Sri said...

I recommend "The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem" - lots of Sheldon (my favorite!), an appearance from Riki Lindhome (of recent Pushing Daisies fame) and a montage (with "You Can Be My Yoko Ono" by BNL). You can't go wrong!

Maggie Cats said...

Cool, I'll check it out!