big bang rant

kneemos

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

30 rock is the funniest thing around.

The best thing going for big bang theory is Sheldon

Amy as well,I would say.

optimistic_

Meesared wrote: »

Just to point out the generalizations in your post, I like The Big Bang, and not one of the other ones you mentioned.

Apologies for the generalisation - I was exaggerating on purpose there just so I could go on a rant about that list of drivel.

suicide_circus

optimistic_ wrote: »

sure if this will be a dig at me, but I can tolerate Frasier, even Friends I find can be quite funny - that may be because I grew up with it though.

Not having a dig. In fact it was you having a dig at TBBT fans. Loosen your bra and download the TV series Taxi.

Gauss

optimistic_ wrote: »

sure if this will be a dig at me, but I can tolerate Frasier, even Friends I find can be quite funny - that may be because I grew up with it though.

Friends seasons 1-4 were brilliant, after those it became complete muck.

BensonSlide

This is the show filled with the usual tired tropes and clichés? The one where they use a laugh track to indicate when to be amused by what the chap with the symptoms of some form of autism says?

Ya, it's not that good at all.

TheDoc

Watching it since it first aired.

Season 1 went by with relatively little interest compared to its popularity now. At Season 2 it was picked up by some of the igger networks and its exploded.

I still enjoy it, Season 1 was a bit more specific with jokes, episodes all about world of warcraft, halo or just really specific nerdy ****, that if your not involved in it, you wouldnt get the jokes, and appreciate the detail.

Its a bit more broad now to appeal to a wider audience, but I still think its hilarious

optimistic_

Gauss wrote: »

Friends seasons 1-4 were brilliant, after those it became complete muck.

I know everyone disagrees - But I think Ross in the mid to late series was fantastic. I mean it was an outlandish and unbelievable character, but it was played very well. Everyone's character changed completely, and it go overly sentimental. I couldn't ever stomach the "heart warming" scenes. Tripe.

optimistic_

suicide_circus wrote: »

Not having a dig. In fact it was you having a dig at TBBT fans. Loosen your bra and download the TV series Taxi.

Ah I was but I sort of back tracked! Anyway, my bra is plenty loose...erm..as I'm a bloke and all. But seriously, no offence taken or anything - was jesting!

Oh I like Taxi, and Cheers. I know cheers is tripe, i just like it.

RainMaker

It's a terrible show.

Stop and listen to the canned laughter and you see just how bad it is. Plus they use the canned laughter after practically every sentence!

I think Sheldon has his moments, but other than that it's just recycled rubbish...

The on again - off again romance of two of the main characters, the quirky side-kicks, on-off friendship with local shop owner (coffee shop/comic book store). As somebody who studied Physics in college, I did make an effort to like it, but it was just too bad!

kneemos

BensonSlide wrote: »

This is the show filled with the usual tired tropes and clichés? The one where they use a laugh track to indicate when to be amused by what the chap with the symptoms of some form of autism says?

Ya, it's not that good at all.

It's a live audience apparently.

gobnaitolunacy

kneemos wrote: »

It's a live audience apparently.

Are they drugged up to the eyeballs like the 'mad' Winning Streak audience?

I'm sorry, but TBBT is not really laugh out loud material, I may smirk occasionally.

thelungs

optimistic_ wrote: »

Ah I was but I sort of back tracked! Anyway, my bra is plenty loose...erm..as I'm a bloke and all. But seriously, no offence taken or anything - was jesting!

Oh I like Taxi, and Cheers. I know cheers is tripe, i just like it.

Cheers is outstanding, a different league to most of the rubbish listed here. It has aged well too.

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201210/cheers-oral-history-extended

Tar.Aldarion

Do people that rant about canned laughter dislike all shows with it? Sounds like a double standard. Think some of these shows use audiences.

How I met your mother is one of the worst things I've ever seen, now that is painful laughter

doncarlos

I really can't believe people can write off TBBT and then in the same posts claim they like friends. Friends was rubbish. Some of the Chandler/Joey stuff was ok but the rest was rubbish.

GLaDOS

I find it funny enough watching it the odd time, wouldn't bother to watch it regularly though, very repetitive I find.

Wibbs

kev_Makaveli wrote: »

Wow. I cant believe some people dont Like the Big Bang Theory.

Fantastic show. Simple comedy and Sheldon is Superb

It's very disjointed for me. I'm not looking for Hamlet character wise, but some sort of consistency might be nice. The Sheldon character is a good un, the stand out in the story(by a long shot), but IMHO that's as much if not more to do with the quality of the actor playing him. The guy who plays Leonard is also a good actor, but the writing is lacking. The Amy wan another with quality going on. The rest can be nervous tics masquerading as acting, with the Penny wan at the bottom(she has a habit of looking behind the camera which throws things). She picks up the pace when bouncing of the Sheldon guy, but that's more evidence of his quality I reckon. The "penny is the unattainable roide" bit is getting old and a little jarring as she's gone off the boil on that score since the start*. Given she's the same age now(5 years in?) as the women on Friends were when they started...

RADIUS wrote: »

It's unfunny junk tv. Almost as bad as two and a half men.

TBH for me some aspects of 2 and half men were better(for a while anyway). Certainly more edgy, especially for a mainstream US comedy. The bad boy rarely got his comeuppance and it always went well for him, while the nice guy no matter what he tried was screwed over all the time. The usual cosy moral wrap up of old stylee mainstream US sitcoms was missing. Plus it was remarkably critical of women for a mainstream show. They were either money grabbers, dumb sex objects. loonies or harpies, sometimes all of the above. Not saying this was a good thing, but it surprised me that they got away with that and it was so popular with it.

donegal_man wrote: »

One of the funniest shows on TV in my opinion but it's totally subjective. I think "The Office" is one of the least amusing things ever screened both the US and British versions leave me cold as does "The Thick Of It" which most of my friends howl at.

The office never did it for me. Left me completely cold too. Mates who liked it suggested that I didn't get it having never worked in an office in cubicle land. They had and said it was scarily accurate with some of the characters and situations. So maybe that's it?



*IMH obviously. People peak in the looks dept at different ages and she has the kinda look that seems to require being 21. EG By comparison the guy playing Leonard is pushing 40 and easily gets away with being "young nerd". The Friends women were also pushing middle age, but it wasn't odd looking.

Tomk1

Liked the first 2&bit seasons of BBT, as into science got the jokes, but the show found-stupid so lost interest.
Liked the last few seasons of Friends, a real depth of characters.
Fraser is class, a few weak episodes, but some gems.
Seinfield, some good situation stories were funny, but the "caned?" laugther really annoying, and too many references to current events/people have dated the show.
Married with children, I really disliked that show at first, but it was always on the Tele in a house-share, it grew on me, great show, Mash use to be on about the same time 50/50 on like or dislike.

Misses Brown Boys would sobber a drunk, like pins in the brain, thats within the first 2min. hate leading to contempt doesn't encapsulate what I think of it, O my silent phone is ringing, "an emergency! you say" have to go.

optimistic_

Tomk1 wrote: »

Liked the first 2&bit seasons of BBT, as into science got the jokes, but the show found-stupid so lost interest.
Liked the last few seasons of Friends, a real depth of characters.
Fraser is class, a few weak episodes, but some gems.
Seinfield, some good situation stories were funny, but the "caned?" laugther really annoying, and too many references to current events/people have dated the show.
Married with children, I really disliked that show at first, but it was always on the Tele in a house-share, it grew on me, great show, Mash use to be on about the same time 50/50 on like or dislike.

Misses Brown Boys would sobber a drunk, like pins in the brain, thats within the first 2min. hate leading to contempt doesn't encapsulate what I think of it, O my silent phone is ringing, "an emergency! you say" have to go.

Don't smoke crack.


But I agree with your points.

Gauss

RainMaker wrote: »

It's a terrible show.

Stop and listen to the canned laughter and you see just how bad it is. Plus they use the canned laughter after practically every sentence!

I think Sheldon has his moments, but other than that it's just recycled rubbish...

The on again - off again romance of two of the main characters, the quirky side-kicks, on-off friendship with local shop owner (coffee shop/comic book store). As somebody who studied Physics in college, I did make an effort to like it, but it was just too bad!

How is canned laughter relevant to whether it's funny or not?

djflawless

event wrote: »

how have you proven it?

by sitting down and actually trying make sense of an hour of some crap.
it was said about laughter after every sentence.which hit the nail on the head.it seems every piece of wording/action really makes the shows audience out to be a thick, needing a cue of when somethings funny

kneemos

Gauss wrote: »

How is canned laughter relevant to whether it's funny or not?

I never hear canned laughter,it just becomes backround noise I guess.

2ndcoming

From what I can make of it from the few episodes I've seen it's typical American formulaic lowest common denominator TV with the twist that it makes idiots think they're clever because they're laughing along with a few smart-arse nerds and getting their jokes. It's actually worse than Two and a Half Men, and that's saying something.

Peculiarly, I can sit through an episode of How I Met Your Mother, the characters are a little more acceptable, right up until the last 5 minutes of every episode when they main character (Ted) makes some kind of maudlin emotional breakthrough and brings the cheese nausea levels thru the roof.

As has been mentioned earlier, for quality US comedy see Parks & Recreation, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Arrested Development.

Maximus Alexander

Jaysus After Hours has gotten awful dull today. First a thread slamming Ricky Gervais, and now the Big Bang Theory is not funny?

Next I'll be hearing about how Father Ted was completely devoid of humour.

The best part was when someone said they couldn't stand Big Bang, and went on to mention how they laughed at King of Queens.

Conall Cernach

Gauss wrote: »

How is canned laughter relevant to whether it's funny or not?

I have the boxed set of MASH which is deservedly considered a classic. Luckily there is an option to switch off the laughter track as it is almost unwatchable with it. It's like watching Scooby Doo or something.

kfallon

Comedy has been saved....Peep Show is back on Sundays on Ch4!

Ando's Saggy Bottom

Its no Modern Family, but I do enjoy Sheldon's character. Well acted.

Bazinga.

Scioch

Since they diluted it with the female characters to broaden the audience its just gone to shít. Might get one or two smiles from me. I still find it interesting to watch for some reason but as comedies go its not really funny at all.

Although the last episode seemed a bit better than usual.

Maximus Alexander

kfallon wrote: »

Comedy has been saved....Peep Show is back on Sundays on Ch4!

Such a shame they're only 6 episodes a season. I recently watched all of them back to back and they just didn't last long enough.

Gauss

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Jaysus After Hours has gotten awful dull today. First a thread slamming Ricky Gervais, and now the Big Bang Theory is not funny?

Next I'll be hearing about how Father Ted was completely devoid of humour.

The best part was when someone said they couldn't stand Big Bang, and went on to mention how they laughed at King of Queens.

King of queens is brilliant. Some great writing in it. The fact they were consistently funny and fresh for 9 years is very impressive.

I get the impression some people write off a show because the canned laughter sounds when nothing funny happened. That happens in king of queens a lot. But IMO there are more funny moments in king of queens than any other comedy I've seen.

RainMaker

Gauss wrote: »

How is canned laughter relevant to whether it's funny or not?

Because it makes it seem like they are trying to make it appear to be more funny than it actually is. It's easier to laugh along with something, so by inserting laughing noises every 30 seconds, it makes the program seem funnier than it actually is. If you actually stop and listen to the canned laughter you will see that it gets turned on and off every time there's something you're supposed to find something funny e.g. Sheldon says "Bazinga", Raj gets tongue tied when Penny walks into the room, Wolowitz makes some comment about being Jewish/his mother, Penny acts stupid, etc, etc every bloody time. Saying "Bazinga" for the 100th time is not funny! It wasn't even funny the first time!

Personally I find canned laughter takes away from the actual program, if it was funny enough it wouldn't need canned laughter in the first place.

pitythefool

The script has zero timing, the characters are knid of funny and the jokes can be good, i think its just presented wrong most of the time

As for canned laughter, take a leaf out of Modern Families book and just be funny

Message to the middle, introduce canned laughter, its not funny

Gauss

RainMaker wrote: »

Because it makes it seem like they are trying to make it appear to be more funny than it actually is. It's easier to laugh along with something, so by inserting laughing noises every 30 seconds, it makes the program seem funnier than it actually is. If you actually stop and listen to the canned laughter you will see that it gets turned on and off every time there's something you're supposed to find something funny e.g. Sheldon says "Bazinga", Raj gets tongue tied when Penny walks into the room, Wolowitz makes some comment about being Jewish/his mother, Penny acts stupid, etc, etc every bloody time. Saying "Bazinga" for the 100th time is not funny! It wasn't even funny the first time!

Personally I find canned laughter takes away from the actual program, if it was funny enough it wouldn't need canned laughter in the first place.

And if you actually pay attention to the show and ignore the canned laughter you can decide for yourself what's funny.

Kylo Ren

I enjoyed the first few seasons but then they got progressively worse. I haven't even bothered with tge new season.

Not a tap on Always Sunny and Arrested Development.

Carlos_Ray

Sure the "Big Bang Theory" is a bit like marmite. However, just because something doesn't make you laugh doesn't mean its not funny. It's an incredibly successful and popular show. It's a comedy show that gives huge numbers of people enjoyment.

The arrogance of the "Facebook" generation has resulted in many people viewing themselves with an augmented level of importance. They some how see themselves in this minority elite that, in contrast to the majority, have the intelligence to judge comedy. Ironically, such people are often the least fun to be around.

I don't like the show, but i don't follow this with the logic that it therefore must be bad. I, like everybody else posting here, am just a speck on a speck floating in nothing. We don't matter, nobody cares, get over yourself.

2ndcoming

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Jaysus After Hours has gotten awful dull today. First a thread slamming Ricky Gervais, and now the Big Bang Theory is not funny?

Next I'll be hearing about how Father Ted was completely devoid of humour.

The best part was when someone said they couldn't stand Big Bang, and went on to mention how they laughed at King of Queens.

Can you not spot the piggie in the middle there? Gervais, Big Bang Theory, Father Ted.

Are you genuinely comparing the Big Bang Theory with Father Ted?

Rasheed

Oh god it's cat bad.

But I'd rather watch every programme of TBBT than one episode of Friends. British comedy is way funnier.

Maximus Alexander

2ndcoming wrote: »

Can you not spot the piggie in the middle there? Gervais, Big Bang Theory, Father Ted.

Are you genuinely comparing the Big Bang Theory with Father Ted?

There are literally tens of millions of people who would find the Big Bang funnier than Father Ted.

I'm not one of them, but that doesn't make it somehow inherently funnier.

Gervais, easily as funny as Father Ted imo.

RainMaker

Gauss wrote: »

And if you actually pay attention to the show and ignore the canned laughter you can decide for yourself what's funny.

Did it loads of times, if you've seen one episode of BBT, you've pretty much seen them all. It's a crap show and the canned laughter just made it worse. I have watched other shows with canned laughter and never found it so annoying - you mentioned King of Queens which I used to watch sometimes - never had a problem with it - it's not great, but still very watch-able.

Look BBT was a show I actually wanted to like and occasionally I still watch it, but every time I watch a new episode I just end up wondering why it hasn't been cancelled already!

Ush1

Watched it once or twice and it's terrible. One of those American comedies for people who don't actually have a sense of humour.

Only comedy I still watch from America is South Park and even thats been hit and miss lately.

2ndcoming

Carlos_Ray wrote: »

Sure the "Big Bang Theory" is a bit like marmite. However, just because something doesn't make you laugh doesn't mean its not funny. It's an incredibly successful and popular show. It's a comedy show that gives huge numbers of people enjoyment.

The arrogance of the "Facebook" generation has resulted in many people viewing themselves with an augmented level of importance. They some how see themselves in this minority elite that, in contrast to the majority, have the intelligence to judge comedy. Ironically, such people are often the least fun to be around.

I don't like the show, but i don't follow this with the logic that therefore must be bad. I, like everybody else posting here, am just a speck on a speck floating in nothing. We don't matter, nobody cares, get over yourself.

Any more 'shrooms?

Carlos_Ray

Rasheed wrote: »

Oh god it's cat bad.

But I'd rather watch every programme of TBBT than one episode of Friends. British comedy is way funnier.

What...?? all British comedy is better than "The Big Bang Theory"? Or British comedy is better than American? Either-way, both statements are false.

Some British comedy is excellent. However, as a genre it doesn't/can't compete with American comedy. That's expected, the USA has a much bigger population and much more resources in that area.

flutterflye

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Next I'll be hearing about how Father Ted was completely devoid of humour.

Ah now - Father Ted can not be compared to that tripe.

biko

djflawless wrote: »

the big bang theory (not the science fact obviously) is pure and utter televised sh!te.and apparently, im only one of my friends who thinks this.

Your friends are right. BBT is pure tv gold.

_Puma_

Sheldon:"Bazinga"(Laughter)
Penny:"Oh you!"(Laughter)
Sheldon:Walks away (Laughter)
.
.
You get the drift.

Id love to see the script. Its like every piece of dialogue or action has some canned laughter attached to it.

djflawless

soooo...the facebook generation in me is kicking in, as your post reminded me of a pic i seen recently which stated "hitler was succesful"
does this make hitler good??

gimmick

I like BBT but it is more a show which is easy to watch than what I find very funny.

There are some good one liners in it.

The thing I hate about it, and this is a criticism of almost all shows which have it, is the awful canned laughter track. It doesn't need it and makes it kinda cringey at times.

RossFixxxed

Why did you watch several episodes of a show you don't find funny?

Humour is really, really subjective. I've sat with people watching what I consider very funny e.g. This is Spinal Tap, laughing my ass off as they sit there in total bored silence...

Canned laughter needs to stop it is beyond annoying and makes many shows cheap and tacky.

wnolan1992

djflawless wrote: »

soooo...the facebook generation in me is kicking in, as your post reminded me of a pic i seen recently which stated "hitler was succesful"
does this make hitler good??

Godwin's Law in action folks.

/thread

kneemos

RossFixxxed wrote: »

Why did you watch several episodes of a show you don't find funny?

Humour is really, really subjective. I've sat with people watching what I consider very funny e.g. This is Spinal Tap, laughing my ass off as they sit there in total bored silence...

Canned laughter needs to stop it is beyond annoying and makes many shows cheap and tacky.

They did a behind the scenes show on it and there was a stage,curtains and guess what...a live audience.

pitythefool

some people need canned laughter, so they know when to laugh