The BBT can be split into two sections - Season 1&2 when it really was four geeks and a girl and Season 3 onwards when it became a couple-shipping, ratings-grabbing machine.
The high viewing figures are in part to three sets of shippers - the ones shipping Leonard and Penny, the ones shipping Amy and Sheldon and the ones shipping Penny and Sheldon.
In the later seasons there has been too much shipping eating in to the time that was reserved for the geekier pursuits and the guys trying to fit in Penny's world.
I like both Friends and TBBT, but as others have said, I can watch Friends again and again and will still laugh. With TBBT, I will chuckle and smile, but I don't find myself laughing out loud like I do with Friends.
The BBT can be split into two sections - Season 1&2 when it really was four geeks and a girl and Season 3 onwards when it became a couple-shipping, ratings-grabbing machine.
The high viewing figures are in part to three sets of shippers - the ones shipping Leonard and Penny, the ones shipping Amy and Sheldon and the ones shipping Penny and Sheldon.
In the later seasons there has been too much shipping eating in to the time that was reserved for the geekier pursuits and the guys trying to fit in Penny's world.
I'd have said it was more Season 4 onwards really, though I completely agree with you, some of the damage began to be done in Series 3....
I understand how people think it's changed, but I don't think TBBT would still be going if it was still just the guys and Penny. There's only so many geek-good looking girl storylines that could be written. The addition of 2 more girls has given the show so much more to go with.
Seinfeld got huge, the actors started demanding silly money, the show was cancelled. There was nothing else as good at the time.
Friends got huge and milked it for a few years, then the actors were commanding huge salaries per episode, it was ended as it had run its course. Again there was little else around at the time of Friends.
The Big Bang Theory is part of a new generation of American sit cons, more channels, more shows, there are loads of them with more being churned out every month and they all have a share of the market, TBBT is not the best of them either.
Its unlikely any sit com will ever reach the level of Friends or Seinfeld again, the market is too fragmented and saturated.
Seinfeld got huge, the actors started demanding silly money, the show was cancelled. There was nothing else as good at the time.
Friends got huge and milked it for a few years, then the actors were commanding huge salaries per episode, it was ended as it had run its course. Again there was little else around at the time of Friends.
The Big Bang Theory is part of a new generation of American sit cons, more channels, more shows, there are loads of them with more being churned out every month and they all have a share of the market, TBBT is not the best of them either.
Its unlikely any sit com will ever reach the level of Friends or Seinfeld again, the market is too fragmented and saturated.
Actually Seinfeld wasn't cancelled, Jerry decided he didn't want to do anymore and ended it after season 9.
The Network were so desperate for a 10th season they offered him $100 million to do it (that's 1998 money as well) which he turned down.
Of course he's since made a small fortune from syndication of the show so doesn't miss that money. I'm sure I've read a figure of several hundred million, near a billion, dollars. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
And on the plus side Seinfeld never ended up outstaying its welcome.
Just a comment: I always thought Friends was ok - but TBBT is consistantly funny even if I watch repeat episodes - it's clever - the man playing Sheldon reminds me of Spock, a preying mantis, CP30 as has been said on the show - but there's a lot of Kenneth Williams in his performance too! All the characters, and visiting characters - eg the lady in the job centre, the hospital receptionist, the sperm bank receptionist etc are brilliant.
I understand how people think it's changed, but I don't think TBBT would still be going if it was still just the guys and Penny. There's only so many geek-good looking girl storylines that could be written. The addition of 2 more girls has given the show so much more to go with.
Indeed, it needed to evolve in some way to keep going. Amy irritates me, but I can see the point of her character (and Mayim Bialik is brilliant), same with Bernadette.
The issue it has to deal with now is how to evolve the show further to cope with so many of the characters being in relationships - there are only so many times Leonard and Penny can break up and get back together....
Indeed, it needed to evolve in some way to keep going. Amy irritates me, but I can see the point of her character (and Mayim Bialik is brilliant), same with Bernadette.
The issue it has to deal with now is how to evolve the show further to cope with so many of the characters being in relationships - there are only so many times Leonard and Penny can break up and get back together....
The early seasons were the best especially with the science stuff, but since the female characters became regulars far too many of the episodes suck badly, especially the scenes with the female characters bitching away with each other.
I'm not really looking foward to season 7, I think it will continue to go down rhe Friends road, a series I could never stand and found about as funny as cancer.
I'm not even bothered with buying the season 6 DVD set as I have 1-5 and only 1-4 are worth watching in my view.
Just a comment: I always thought Friends was ok - but TBBT is consistantly funny even if I watch repeat episodes - it's clever - the man playing Sheldon reminds me of Spock, a preying mantis, CP30 as has been said on the show - but there's a lot of Kenneth Williams in his performance too! All the characters, and visiting characters - eg the lady in the job centre, the hospital receptionist, the sperm bank receptionist etc are brilliant.
Jim Parsons makes the show, he is brilliant. Shame they stuck him with Amy, that just doesn't work.
The whole shipping wars get very irritating. TBBT in seasons 1-3 was far better. I love Mayim Bialik and Amy's character but she has very little chemistry with Jim Parsons, so it makes it hard to find some of their forced relationship storylines funny at all. The relationships in Friends at least all had great chemistry between them.
Not quite sure how it can get better. Bernadette and Amy are there to stay, and the producers of the show are adament that Leonard and Penny will always be together for some reason ergo no chance at Penny/Sheldon (which is a complete waste of chemistry) so its likely going to continue to slide downhill.
I realise you're being Facetious but technically Ross and Rachel only broke up twice, and one of those times they were barely back together before it was all over again by the end of the episode.
the producers of the show are adament that Leonard and Penny will always be together for some reason ergo no chance at Penny/Sheldon (which is a complete waste of chemistry) so its likely going to continue to slide downhill.
Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki have decent chemistry given it must be slightly strange as they used to be a couple in real life but aren't anymore. I think Leonard and Penny are by far the most interesting couple on the show, and for me the show would be sliding downhill if they were with other people for too long (I hated Priya, for example.).
I've never understood the shipping of Penny and Sheldon, I don't think they have any more chemistry than Sheldon and Amy do (which is basically none). Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco are generally hilarious and work well in scenes together, but there's no chemistry in the romantic sense at all. It wouldn't work if there was though, the whole point of the show is that Sheldon's relationship development is incredibly slow due to how socially awkward and unaware he is. Mayim Bialik is great, but I find Amy annoying. Bernadette isn't as annoying, but can just be a bit boring.
I prefer seasons 1-3 in many respects, but I don't think the show currently is terrible - in fact I got into it by accidentally catching a couple of season 6 episodes on E4 not so long ago, and have watched the entire series since. It has good and bad episodes in every season, so I wouldn't really say it's going downhill. Anyway, I just enjoy the good and don't bother re-watching the not so good!
Just a comment: I always thought Friends was ok - but TBBT is consistantly funny even if I watch repeat episodes - it's clever - the man playing Sheldon reminds me of Spock, a preying mantis, CP30 as has been said on the show - but there's a lot of Kenneth Williams in his performance too! All the characters, and visiting characters - eg the lady in the job centre, the hospital receptionist, the sperm bank receptionist etc are brilliant.
I prefer bbt to friends, less shrieking (Monica) less weirding hippy (phoebe) I just don't 'buy into' or like friends enough.
Friends is ok, but ... I don't know, I can't rewatch episodes repeatedly. .. but then again, I've not watched reruns of bbt as we have jusy started watching it.
I really like BBT and agree the earlier seasons were better but I get why they had to add extra characters to allow more storylines and interaction pairings. Big fan of HIMYM and seeing what new ploy Barney has come up with but my current favourite, and I only found out about it a few months ago, is Community. That one has me laughing out loud far more than either BBT or HIMYM!
As to getting to friends status, maybe. I can happily watch repeats and I know some people at work who will talk about episodes as they comeout. Its harder though with so many channels and programmes and some people watching US pace and others UK.
Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki have decent chemistry given it must be slightly strange as they used to be a couple in real life but aren't anymore. I think Leonard and Penny are by far the most interesting couple on the show, and for me the show would be sliding downhill if they were with other people for too long (I hated Priya, for example.).
I've never understood the shipping of Penny and Sheldon, I don't think they have any more chemistry than Sheldon and Amy do (which is basically none). Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco are generally hilarious and work well in scenes together, but there's no chemistry in the romantic sense at all. It wouldn't work if there was though, the whole point of the show is that Sheldon's relationship development is incredibly slow due to how socially awkward and unaware he is. Mayim Bialik is great, but I find Amy annoying. Bernadette isn't as annoying, but can just be a bit boring.
I prefer seasons 1-3 in many respects, but I don't think the show currently is terrible - in fact I got into it by accidentally catching a couple of season 6 episodes on E4 not so long ago, and have watched the entire series since. It has good and bad episodes in every season, so I wouldn't really say it's going downhill. Anyway, I just enjoy the good and don't bother re-watching the not so good!
Surely that's the whole point of the relationship. Leonard is just geek enough to get Penny as a friend/girlfriend (even that is unlikely) but with Sheldon is should be an impossibility.
From the first few series there is no reason at all why Sheldon would be in a relationship with anyone, even if it is another socially arkward 'genius'
The whole shipping wars get very irritating. TBBT in seasons 1-3 was far better. I love Mayim Bialik and Amy's character but she has very little chemistry with Jim Parsons, so it makes it hard to find some of their forced relationship storylines funny at all.
As above, character development is one thing but i'm not sure how they got from Sheldon in the early seasons to him being in a relationship. The one off date episode was quite good but from that to where they are now???
Comments
The high viewing figures are in part to three sets of shippers - the ones shipping Leonard and Penny, the ones shipping Amy and Sheldon and the ones shipping Penny and Sheldon.
In the later seasons there has been too much shipping eating in to the time that was reserved for the geekier pursuits and the guys trying to fit in Penny's world.
I'd have said it was more Season 4 onwards really, though I completely agree with you, some of the damage began to be done in Series 3....
'Slightly amusing' makes me imagine that it causes you to laugh like Sheldon!
Friends got huge and milked it for a few years, then the actors were commanding huge salaries per episode, it was ended as it had run its course. Again there was little else around at the time of Friends.
The Big Bang Theory is part of a new generation of American sit cons, more channels, more shows, there are loads of them with more being churned out every month and they all have a share of the market, TBBT is not the best of them either.
Its unlikely any sit com will ever reach the level of Friends or Seinfeld again, the market is too fragmented and saturated.
It never did though, but I agree its the best of recent years.
Good cast, good writing, but the concept got irritating by the end.
Actually Seinfeld wasn't cancelled, Jerry decided he didn't want to do anymore and ended it after season 9.
The Network were so desperate for a 10th season they offered him $100 million to do it (that's 1998 money as well) which he turned down.
Of course he's since made a small fortune from syndication of the show so doesn't miss that money. I'm sure I've read a figure of several hundred million, near a billion, dollars. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
And on the plus side Seinfeld never ended up outstaying its welcome.
Indeed, it needed to evolve in some way to keep going. Amy irritates me, but I can see the point of her character (and Mayim Bialik is brilliant), same with Bernadette.
The issue it has to deal with now is how to evolve the show further to cope with so many of the characters being in relationships - there are only so many times Leonard and Penny can break up and get back together....
Friends' funniest episodes were funnier than TBBT's
plus Friends stayed funny much longer than TBBT which went downhill pretty fast imo
Ross and Rachel managed it almost daily
Final episode, make it happen!
That would ruin the entire series - final episode needs to be Leonard and Penny's wedding
I'm not really looking foward to season 7, I think it will continue to go down rhe Friends road, a series I could never stand and found about as funny as cancer.
I'm not even bothered with buying the season 6 DVD set as I have 1-5 and only 1-4 are worth watching in my view.
Jim Parsons makes the show, he is brilliant. Shame they stuck him with Amy, that just doesn't work.
Not quite sure how it can get better. Bernadette and Amy are there to stay, and the producers of the show are adament that Leonard and Penny will always be together for some reason ergo no chance at Penny/Sheldon (which is a complete waste of chemistry) so its likely going to continue to slide downhill.
I realise you're being Facetious but technically Ross and Rachel only broke up twice, and one of those times they were barely back together before it was all over again by the end of the episode.
Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki have decent chemistry given it must be slightly strange as they used to be a couple in real life but aren't anymore. I think Leonard and Penny are by far the most interesting couple on the show, and for me the show would be sliding downhill if they were with other people for too long (I hated Priya, for example.).
I've never understood the shipping of Penny and Sheldon, I don't think they have any more chemistry than Sheldon and Amy do (which is basically none). Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco are generally hilarious and work well in scenes together, but there's no chemistry in the romantic sense at all. It wouldn't work if there was though, the whole point of the show is that Sheldon's relationship development is incredibly slow due to how socially awkward and unaware he is. Mayim Bialik is great, but I find Amy annoying. Bernadette isn't as annoying, but can just be a bit boring.
I prefer seasons 1-3 in many respects, but I don't think the show currently is terrible - in fact I got into it by accidentally catching a couple of season 6 episodes on E4 not so long ago, and have watched the entire series since. It has good and bad episodes in every season, so I wouldn't really say it's going downhill. Anyway, I just enjoy the good and don't bother re-watching the not so good!
I prefer bbt to friends, less shrieking (Monica) less weirding hippy (phoebe) I just don't 'buy into' or like friends enough.
Friends is ok, but ... I don't know, I can't rewatch episodes repeatedly. .. but then again, I've not watched reruns of bbt as we have jusy started watching it.
As to getting to friends status, maybe. I can happily watch repeats and I know some people at work who will talk about episodes as they comeout. Its harder though with so many channels and programmes and some people watching US pace and others UK.
From the first few series there is no reason at all why Sheldon would be in a relationship with anyone, even if it is another socially arkward 'genius'