Which Big Bang Theory character Is Most Like You?

Quote: pacomartin

Every sitcom has a "bottle episode" which is defined as an episode with no guest stars and minimal extras, where the regular actors are forced into one or two scenes for the entire show, and they mostly talk to one another. The idea of a "bottle episode is to spend the minimum amount of money producing the show, to save the budget for sweeps week, series and season finales, and series and season opening shows. The Seinfeld 1991 episode "The Chinese Restaurant" where the show features the cast waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant is a "bottle episode".

While there was no guest star, there were a lot of extras in "The Chinese Restaurant;" not to mention an entire set used that once and lots of props. I don't know if that qualifies as a bottle show.

In Star Trek a bottle show is one that takes place entirely on the ship, has few, if any, visual effects, and doesn't involve the holodeck. And of course no guest stars and minnimal extras.

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Another example is Last Action Hero (1993) where Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a movie character who is basically a standard "Arnold Schwarzenegger character".

I don't know. The movie character was a parody of the generic action hero in cop mode. Schwarzenegger plays more rogue characters and secret/special agent types. BTW the movie wasn't as bad as it seems. Not if you see it as light-hearted, heavy-handed parody. Perhaps it whouldn't have been so "in your face," like the kid pointing out all phone numbers start with "555," or justa bout anything else the kid does through the movie as well. But there were a few good, funny scenes, like Death leaving his movie, or Schwarzenegger giving the bad guy a literal slap on the wrist for burning down his ex-wife's home.

Oh, as to a self-referential movie that kind of works, try Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles." and of course "Silent Movie," which is all about making a movie. Come to think of it, there are also aprts of "Spaceballs" that qualify: "you captured their stunt doubles!" or the bad guys watching "Spaceballs: The Movie," or Yogurt turning out "Spaceballs" merchandize, or... :)

It's a tv show about making fun of nerds. No one is really like those characters portrayed, right?

Quote: Nareed

While there was no guest star, there were a lot of extras in "The Chinese Restaurant;" not to mention an entire set used that once and lots of props. I don't know if that qualifies as a bottle show.

I don't know. The movie character was a parody of the generic action hero in cop mode. Schwarzenegger plays more rogue characters and secret/special agent types. BTW the movie wasn't as bad as it seems.

I like "self referential" comedy, as I consider it very clever. But with some rare exceptions (usually when it is slapstick comedy), it is not popular with large groups of people. The movies and TV shows are seldom among the most successful.

The tagline for American Dreams (2006) was: Imagine a country where the President never reads the newspaper, where the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons, and more people vote for a pop idol than their next President. But if you really live in a country where all those things are true, the majority of people won't get the humor.

My parents tell a story about a friend of theirs who took his Jewish mother in law from New York to see Shecky Greene, the famous Jewish comedian. She never cracked a smile once for the entire performance. She didn't think anything he said was funny.



The ultimate bottle episode was My Name is Alex on Family ties in March 1987. The entire episode is done like an "avant garde" theater production, with most of the show an extensive monologue by Michael J Fox as his character, Alex, talks to an imaginary therapist about the loss of his good friend in a car accident. The lack of any scene stealing special effects or guest actors means that the show is all about the writing and the dialogue. So when they work, they tend to be some of the best episodes of the series.

Quote: pacomartin

The tagline for American Dreams (2006) was: Imagine a country where the President never reads the newspaper, where the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons, and more people vote for a pop idol than their next President. But if you really live in a country where all those things are true, the majority of people won't get the humor.

It's not qere people live. It's having a premise so badly biased and so patently wrong.

For example, do you think the president gets a better understanding of foreign affairs from his daily Intelligence briefing than he could get from reading any newspaper?

Quote: pacomartin

Simon Helberg ( Howard) was excellent as "Rabbi Scott" in "A Serious Man".

I never made that connection before, thanks! I thought A Serious Man was a very underrated movie. I'm not saying it is among my favorites, but definitely worthy of my time. The rabbi was indeed one of my favorite characters in the movie. I'm not Jewish, but whenever I ask my Jewish friends the big questions, like what happens after we die, as were asked in the movie, I get the same kind of vague answers, that seem to have an undertone that some things just shouldn't be asked.

Quote: pacomartin

So when they work, they tend to be some of the best episodes of the series.

"Duet" from the first season of Deep Space Nine comes to mind.

Quote: Nareed

While there was no guest star, there were a lot of extras in "The Chinese Restaurant;" not to mention an entire set used that once and lots of props. I don't know if that qualifies as a bottle show.

I agree. The networks want to make bottle episodes. Seinfeld has said the brass DIDN'T like the idea of an entire episode waiting for a table at a Chinese Restaurant. They thought it would be ridiculous. I still laugh when i hear "Cartwright?!"

Quote: cclub79

I agree. The networks want to make bottle episodes. Seinfeld has said the brass DIDN'T like the idea of an entire episode waiting for a table at a Chinese Restaurant. They thought it would be ridiculous. I still laugh when i hear "Cartwright?!"

I don't like that episode. I respect them for trying something unusual, as they did with the infamous "bacwards episode," but if I catch it in a rerun I'll switcht he channel.

The "Cartwright?" bit was funny, though.

I was reading that the Q score of the actors in the Big Bang Theory are very high. A Q score is a measure of an actor's "likeability", or if you can't wait to see a them on talk shows, their new episode, or you want to win awards. TBS schedules the show 6 episodes in a row on Tuesday night, taking over the entire primetime from 8:00-11:00 pm.

When Cheers ended almost two decades ago, I remember that Woody Harrelson, who played also had a high Q factor immediately took on roles like Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers and Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt. He also became very outspoken politically.

If you had that kind of "likeability" where you could make millions of dollars and people just seemed very happy to see you, would you get frustrated and want to make a profound statement that probably would make some people very angry?