Which Big Bang Theory character Is Most Like You?

For my fellow math/science/computer geeks on the forum, if you haven't started watching the Big Bang Theory, you should!

Personally, I identify most with Leonard. However, when it comes to my confidence around women, I'm not far from Raj.

I think I identify most with Stuart (the comic book store owner). While I tend to share interests with and get along with the mathematically inclined, I am not among them.

Sheldon. I don't have so many ingrained habits, but I can understand his preference for a spot, a nice movie theater, etc. I can tell you to avoid theater number 13 at the multiplex near my appartment because the seats don't recline, and that I prefer Cinepolis over Cinemex because they have reduced fat popcorn :)

What I like most about him is how much he enjoys what he chooses to do.

And he's hot.

Quote: Nareed

What I like most about him is how much he enjoys what he chooses to do.

I agree. I'm like him in his love for games and love for winning. Last night I watched the Physics Bowl episode, which showed his competitive side, that I definitely can relate to. The other three seem a bit ashamed to do nerdy things, but Sheldon, like me, does them proudly.

Quote: Wizard

I agree. I'm like him in his love for games and love for winning.

That, too.

Quote:

Last night I watched the Physics Bowl episode, which showed his competitive side, that I definitely can relate to.

I've seen that ep a dozen times at least. I still crack up when he says "I don't understand the question."

Quote:

The other three seem a bit ashamed to do nerdy things, but Sheldon, like me, does them proudly.

Indeed. The ep where Leonard tries to get rid of his "nerdy" stuff, because he's ashamed of what Penny thinks of it, is particularly telling. That's when Sheldon calls out Penny on her stuffed animal colelction, and the "Hello Kitty" shorts she's wearing. That was priceless.

His finest moment, however, is when he gives Penny a Christmas gift.

Oh, that reminds me. We'll know the series jumps the shark when Penny falls in love with either Raj or Sheldon :P

Im a Leonard. Mainly because Im punching above my weight with regards to relationships. :D

I'm none of those. I'm very mathematically inclinded and have a degree in Astronomy and Physics. I've known some Sheldon's in my life. If I was going to identify with anyone, it would be the Indian.

It's our favorite show. My 13 year old daughter loves Sheldon and it gave her more interest into Science Fiction.

People watching this show and not Community instead makes me sad.

Quote: progrocker

People watching this show and not Community instead makes me sad.

I've never seen a single episode of either show. Doubt I will. For that matter, I don't even recognize the name "Community" -- is that really a TV show?

Of course, I never saw any of Friends and never a full episode of Seinfeld or Lost. The mass popularity of a show doesn't seem to draw me in.

Quote: progrocker

People watching this show and not Community instead makes me sad.

For some reason I get way more of a kick out of Community than any other show on TV. It is just so creative and funny. Plus, I enjoy all the characters. Not so with Big Bang. Parsons has taken over that show and nobody is really at his level acting or character-wise. It is amusing for a episode once in a while, but I feel it has gotten stale.

Quote: Doc

I've never seen a single episode of either show. Doubt I will. For that matter, I don't even recognize the name "Community" -- is that really a TV show?

Of course, I never saw any of Friends and never a full episode of Seinfeld or Lost. The mass popularity of a show doesn't seem to draw me in.

Doc, you are scaring me. I think we are brothers from different mothers. Your list of shows never seen is exactly the same as mine. I don't watch as much TV nowadays. So perhaps something else is on at the same time. When is Big Bang on?

Quote: Ayecarumba

When is Big Bang on?

It's on at 8pm ECT on thursday nights. I never watched Lost, but that's the same night as Friends and Seinfeld were on.

No Votes for Howard yet?

I call shenanigans on the voters.

No one on this forum lives with their mom (or did so for a very long time), considers themselves a ladiesman (albeit only in their own minds) and is the 4th wheel of the friendship circle?

Come On Man!

Quote: Maverick17

No Votes for Howard yet?

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



Chuck Lorre is now one of the most successful producers & writers of TV Comedy shows, with "The Big Bang Theory","Two and a Half Men","Mike & Molly", and "Dharma & Greg" among other shows. Charlie Sheen picked the wrong guy to try and publicly humiliate. The network has to stick with Lorre.

Its been renewed thru 2014, so that means it will
definitely go into syndication. I never even heard
of it till just now. I don't watch network shows
anymore, I wait for syndication. I never heard
of 'How I Met Your Mother' till it was on this spring
7 days a week. I love it, but would never watch
the eps week to week. I'd rather watch cable
shows, which often don't show repeats and never
go into syndication anywhere.

Quote: Doc

Of course, I never saw any of Friends

Looking back on it, you didn't miss much....

Quote:

and never a full episode of Seinfeld

Go stand in the corner. No soup for you! :)

Friends was OK sometimes. Seinfeld was amazing when it
was on, just incredible. You can't watch it now and judge
how it was received 20 years ago. Its been copied and duplicated
so many times, it just looks trite now.

BBT is fine, it's gone downhill since the first few seasons but is still good enough to watch (ratings are through the roof).

Community... ugh. There's only like one episode of worth this season and the ratings are nowhere near acceptable for a network comedy.

My recommendation is "Archer" on FX. It's just... hilarious.

Quote: ahiromu

Community... ugh. There's only like one episode of worth this season and the ratings are nowhere near acceptable for a network comedy.

Completely disagree. 'Remedial Chaos Theory', 'Horror Fiction in 7 Easy Steps', 'Documentary Filmmaking: Redux' and last night's 'Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism' have all been simply great and unlike anything else in network sitcom land. The rest weren't so bad either (although 'Advanced Gay' was pretty lackluster). Last season's 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' and '...For a Few Paintballs More' were complete nerd-gasmly awesome.

The ratings weren't great for Arrested Development either. Just because a show is not popular does not mean it is not good. It could just be over the head of the average American television viewer. Or it could be murdered by a network that doesn't know how to promote or schedule it (Firefly, anyone?).

Quote: ahiromu

My recommendation is "Archer" on FX. It's just... hilarious.

But I'll completely agree with this. H Jon Benjamin is great in Bob's Burgers too. His show on Comedy Central has its moments.

Quote: progrocker

Completely disagree. 'Remedial Chaos Theory', 'Horror Fiction in 7 Easy Steps', 'Documentary Filmmaking: Redux' and last night's 'Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism' have all been simply great and unlike anything else in network sitcom land. The rest weren't so bad either (although 'Advanced Gay' was pretty lackluster). Last season's 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' and '...For a Few Paintballs More' were complete nerd-gasmly awesome.

Community spends a lot of time making fun of the idea of making a television sitcom, as they do on the plot lines. In theater, it is similar to breaking the fourth wall, when the actors talk directly to the audience.

Cooperative Calligraphy which aired November 11, 2010 was a bottle episode. 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".

The difference is in Community, the characters actually say out loud that it is a "bottle episode".

A good example of a "self referential movie" is City Heat (1984) where Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds play characters who are basically send-ups of their normal movie characters. Another example is Last Action Hero (1993) where Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a movie character who is basically a standard "Arnold Schwarzenegger character". The movie American Dreamz (2006) about the USA being obsessed with a stupid karaoke talent show on TV, and a president who discovers that he can learn things by reading near the end of his first term, was a self referential comedy.

Self referential media almost never appeals to broad taste, but it can be some of the most inspired writing. I think most viewers find it confusing or irritating.

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.

Quote:

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.

' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/TheWrap/jimparsons.jpg]

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?