A Week in TV Shows: Big Bang Theory

Starting off, I have to say that after yesterday's awful episode, I am feeling much, MUCH better.  Still pretty sore, but I'll take that over debilitating back pain any day!

Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite shows.  I started watching it a couple of years ago when I visited Lindsey at her grandparents' condo when she was visiting there.  I had heard it was hilarious, but didn't think I would really like it since I'm not really into a lot of nerdy stuff.  I remember the line from Sheldon, "But I'm the whimsical elf that everyone looks to for a good time!" and I thought that was so hilarious and was hooked.

It is a show about a group of four nerd friends- Sheldon and Leonard, who are roommates, and Howard and Raj, who are best friends, as well as their beautiful friend Penny.  All of them work at Caltech, a university that is probably supposed to parallel UCLA.  Sheldon, a pHd theoretical physicist, is OCD and somewhat asexual, and was a child genius.  It is often referenced that he's not crazy, because, as he says on numerous occasions, "My mother had me tested."  He frequently belittles his friends for not being very smart, though all of them have advanced degrees as well, and has a list of rules they all must follow in order to be his friend.  He even forced Leonard to sign a roommate agreement, in which he often amends for his own selfish benefit.

Leonard, who somehow puts up with being Sheldon's roommate, is a fun-loving nerd who so badly wants to be normal.  He's sort of the "cool," most normal one of the group.  He is also a pHd experimental physicist, an area of physics Sheldon often believes to be useless, and he never misses an opportunity to remind Leonard.  He is constantly in love with their neighbor, Penny, who lives across the hall but is technically out of his league.  The plot of the show often surrounds these two and their drama.  Leonard is that nice-guy boyfriend you really wish you could find in real life.

Howard, the only one of the group who doesn't have anything beyond a Master's, is an aerospace engineer. who still lives with his mother well into his late 20s.  He is often belittled by Sheldon for not having a pHd.  He is somewhat of a pervert, and takes every opportunity to hit on every woman he meets.

Raj, an astro-physicist from India, is probably the most pathetic of the group.  He is incapable of talking in the presence of women without the help of alcohol.  But he is easy to love, and has the best one-liners.  He is very emotional, wants desperately to have a girlfriend, and spends much of his spare time watching chick flicks.

Penny, the hot neighbor across the hall who is waitress-aspiring-actress, is befriended by this nerdy group of four guys.  She finds them to be strange at first, but ends up becoming part of their group and finds them endearing.  We know that she has had a string of bad boyfriends before meeting them, and that she is from a small farm town in Nebraska.  Her on-again, off-again relationship with Leonard is one of the central plots of the series.

Big Bang Theory is, in my opinion, one of the funniest shows since Friends.  I look forward every week to a new episode, and own the first five season on DVD.  If I'm ever having a bad day, an episode or two of BBT always helps me feel better.