Big Bang Theory, "The Precious Fragmentation": It's one ring in a box!

Very funny "Big Bang Theory" last night, I thought. I probably would have watched an entire episode that was nothing but the guys pulling different items out of their cardboard box of geek treasures, and/or an entire episode of the guys trying to psych each other out in their hands-on-a-hard-ring competition, while still making the effort to move together ("And plie! And releve!"). As things stand, it probably worked that we only got a bit of each, but I enjoyed both greatly.

The one flaw, as usual, was that Leonard and Penny as a couple just don't work at all, and having Penny constantly ask herself why she's dating Leonard doesn't really solve that problem.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Excelsior Acquisition": One angry Sheldon

Last night's "Big Bang Theory" had its moments (primarily, for this comic book fanboy, Raj's endless rant about Stan Lee's penchant for goofy character names). Overall, though, it felt like one of those episodes the show will do on occasion where the writers try to figure out which old sitcom trope might be funny if they insert Sheldon into it. And Sheldon's day in court/jail had a rough draft feel to it, as if the idea of putting him in those settings had been satisfying enough for everyone involved. I hope when Sheldon inevitably delivers a breach baby in an elevator next season, there's a bit more polish.

Still, Stan Lee seemed more convincing as himself than he did in either "Mallrats" or that "Who Wants to Be a Super-Hero?" reality show he did.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Large Hadron Collission": Swiss miss

Dealing with the ongoing comment apocalypse in the "Chuck" episode post has occupied far too much of my day, so I'll be quick on last night's "Big Bang Theory." Sheldon's Tuvan throat singing was funny (even if they went to the well once too often), and I liked his various schemes and rationales for getting to go on the trip (particularly the pancakes in the shape of Leonard's favorite fictional characters), even if I don't believe that Penny would have made the offer she did in the laundry room. (Fienberg, on the other hand, argues that Penny was completely insincere and just trying to get him to go away.) Also, Raj's list of depressing Valentine's Day rituals was very funny.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Einstein Approximation": Ball pit Bazinga

Though the scene with Sheldon and Leonard in the ball pit on last night's "Big Bang Theory" was hysterical, overall I found the episode to be one of those occasional outings where Sheldon's behavior is pushed so far to the extreme that you wonder why any human being would tolerate him, why Leonard would live with him, the others be friends with him, etc. And I usually find those episodes tough to take, as was the case here.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Maternal Congruence": My mother! My girlfriend! My mother! My girlfriend!

The return of Leonard's mother on last night's "Big Bang Theory" wasn't quite as strong as her original appearance last year, I thought. Inherently funny as Christine Baranski is, and as good as she is with Jim Parsons, it felt a bit one-note - or, at least, like it was repeating the same note we heard last year. Funny in spots, particularly in the car ride back from the airport, but not one of the season's best.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Gorilla Experiment": I am so smart! S-M-R-T!

A quick review of last night's "Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as a racially stereotypical plumber eats my dust...

Another funny episode, as per usual. It's nice to see Bernadette (aka Howard's Girlfriend Bernadette) integrated into the group, and to see that she's at least learned to identify Howard's jokes, if not understand them, as that seemed a bigger stumbling block to the relationship than the Megan Fox issue. Simon Helberg had a great time playing a smug, content version of Howard, even if that was revealed to be a bit of a facade from a guy who's still not secure about his ability to get and keep a woman.

And the Penny/Sheldon interaction was gold, as always. This was a really strong episode for Kaley Cuoco, from Penny's playful taunting of Sheldon in the opening scene to Penny's exasperation at Sheldon's teaching methods.

The teaching scene was also a reminder of the opportunity they missed to not actually show Sheldon teaching Leonard about football under similar circumstances in "The Cornhusker Vortex," which instead spent most of its time on the less funny spectacle of Leonard awkwardly trying to show off his new knowledge.

But then, I wonder (as Todd VanDerWerff did with this episode) if Leonard isn't starting to feel a bit extraneous to his own show. Not a slight against Johnny Galecki, but the strongest episodes tend to be ones that put Sheldon together with Penny, or some other combination of Sheldon, Penny, Raj and Howard. The Leonard/Penny-focused episodes particularly seem like the weakest, though of course that relationship does lead to a lot of the Sheldon/Penny material, since Penny mostly tolerates Sheldon because she likes his best friend.

Every comedy needs a straight man, and Leonard does sort of work as a bridge between nerd world and the real world (though he's still a little too far on the nerd side), but I've definitely noticed a pattern - The Inverse Hofstadter Ratio? - where the more central Leonard is to the stories, the less entertaining the episode is.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Vengeance Formulation": The Pasadena way

Thoughts on last night's "Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as I try to be the 101st caller to my favorite radio station...

The biggest laughs in "The Vengeance Formulation" were contained in the Sheldon vs. Kripke storyline, with the one-two punch of Sheldon way overdoing the prank and the ill-timed, overly-explanatory video that followed it. But I want to mainly talk about Wolowitz.

Howard is by far the most problematic character, the one the show usually seems to be laughing at, rather than with. So I commend any episode which attempts to humanize him - even if part of that humanization involves his masturbatory fantasy of taking a bath with Katee Sackhoff. And I thought this one did a better job than the episode last year where Penny tore into Howard for being an utter loser. There, it felt like the writers were paying lip service to the idea that Howard's not just a clown, but their hearts weren't in it. Here, he made tangible progress with Bernadette(*), and the idea of him having a regular girlfriend has real promise, and at the very least, will take the character out of his rut.

(*) Did they name her Bernadette because they knew at some point Howard was going to do his own mangled version of The Four Tops song?

However, I do wish that they hadn't gone with the obvious, superficial dilemma that Howard feared Bernadette wasn't hot enough, especially since the actress is plenty cute and has just been dowdied up a bit to be a plausible Wolowitz girlfriend. I know that Howard is a relentless horndog with an overdeveloped sense of ego, but I think the more interesting way to go - and a story that they could still very easily do - would have been for Howard to get hung up on the fact that the two of them have nothing in common, other than a shared resentment towards their families. The first Bernadette episode dealt with this, but I think there's plenty of mileage left in the idea that everyone thinks Howard should be so grateful to have a nice, attractive girlfriend and he can't quite appreciate her because she doesn't know or care about robots or "Battlestar Galactica." That seems like a conflict that's richer, one that might give Howard a little more credit as a person, instead of just having fantasy Starbuck tell him he needs to settle for someone less overtly hot.

Of course, going that way would have deprived the show's target audience of a glimpse of Katee Sackhoff in the tub. Can't blame the show for giving its fans what they want, I suppose.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Guitarist Amplification": Sheldon's solo

Quick thoughts on tonight's "Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as I ask for more than a comic book and a robot...

There are episodes of "BBT" where it feels like the show has caught up to Jim Parsons' great work as Sheldon. And then there are episodes like "The Guitarist Amplification," where Parsons seems way too good for the rest of the show.

So many parts of the episode drove me up a wall, from the repetitive and unfunny Leonard/Penny argument (which would have had me going for the blender as well were I in the room) to yet another nails-on-a-chalkboard fight between Howard and his mom(*), to the way the writers keep selling Stuart out as a loser after giving him such a promising introduction at the end of last season.

(*) Seriously, I want to find whatever member of the "BBT" writing staff who dreamed up Howard's mom and/or the one who keeps arguing to include these scenes, and I want to lock him in a room where he can do nothing but hear those two actors yelling at each other for at least 72 hours. Maybe then he'll understand how I feel about that.

And yet Jim Parsons had that perfect moment where Sheldon acted out every argument his parents ever had. (As Fienberg put it, it was like Alec Baldwin's Emmy-winning therapy scene from "30 Rock," only played for real - and still screamingly funny.) Watching it in the middle of this otherwise lame episode was like going to see a band give a mediocre concert punctuated by the guitar player surprising everyone with a face-melting solo. There are nights when the rest of the band can almost keep up with the guy, but mostly he's carrying the group all by his lonesome, and the imbalance can get awkward.(**)

(**) If you prefer to put faces to analogies, "The Big Bang Theory" is Stillwater from "Almost Famous," and Parsons is Russell Hammond. I look forward to his "I am a golden god!" moment.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Cornhusker Vortex": The football whisperer

I know people want a "Big Bang Theory" post each week, but I don't have a ton to say about last night's solid but unspectacular episode, save that I've started to prefer episodes that shake up the character pairings over ones like this that has the more standard alignment of Raj with Howard, and Leonard moving back and forth between Penny and Sheldon.

Talk about it if you want, though. What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary": You should be nicer to Hwil Hweaton

Quick spoilers for last night's "Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as I put on my yarmulke...

For the second week in a row, the Raj/Sheldon pairing paid good comic dividends, with Raj first enjoying Sheldon's superhuman card-counting powers and desire for vengeance on Wil Wheaton(*), then freaking out when Wheaton so successfully conned Sheldon in the final round. And so long as they had Raj point out that Acting Ensign Crusher wasn't part of "Wrath of Khan," it gave the writers license to keep putting Ricardo Montalban dialogue into Jim Parson's mouth.

(*) Wheaton, as you might expect, has a post on his blog about the episode, and I remain impressed by how this guy has gotten the Trekkers to do a complete 180 on him. Wesley Crusher was one of the most-despised characters in all of sci-fi fandom, but by embracing that hatred - and admitting that he, too, wasn't particularly fond of the part he was playing - and being whip-smart and funny about it all, Wheaton's now one of the more beloved alums from any of the "Star Trek" series. Well-played, Mr. Crusher.

Meanwhile, the Penny/Leonard/Howard subplot was one of the better Wolowitz stories of late, in that he wasn't a complete ass throughout. It's all too easy for the "Big Bang" writers to make Howard be an oblivious sleazebag, and/or a pathetic mama's boy, and to make him the butt of every joke - he's definitely the character most often standing on the wrong side of the line between Laughing With and Laughing At - and so it was nice to see a Howard story where he was still bumbling, but trying to be on his best behavior and failing (for a while) through no fault of his own.

Also, Kaley Cuoco nailed the moment where a post-coital Leonard starts trying to tell Penny about the deal he cut with Howard, and where Penny's mind understandably goes to the worst case scenario.

Finally, even though they no longer air back-to-back, I still tend to watch "How I Met Your Mother" consecutively with "Big Bang Theory" through the magic of DVRs, and it feels like the stylistic contrast between the two shows has never been greater. "HIMYM," as always, is packing 20 pounds of story into a 10-pound bag, with a whole lot of scenes and flashbacks and cutaways, where "BBT" seems far more streamlined, less interested in plot than in creating simple situations on which to hang a lot of punchlines. Neither approach is better than the other, and last night both shows were quite funny, but am I the only one who feels the two shows are heading in opposite directions in terms of density?

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Pirate Solution": Trade your passion for glory

Quick thoughts on tonight's "Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as I lecture you about your religion...

I never got around to writing about last week's episode, in part because it felt less like an episode of a half-hour sitcom than a couple of intertwined extended comedy sketches. (Sheldon trying to use conditioning therapy on Penny was funny at times, but incredibly slight.)

"The Pirate Solution" had more of a plot, and just when I feared it was going to turn into one of those episodes where Sheldon is just an insufferable ass for a half-hour, he said "Bazinga!" and everything turned out to be okay. Sheldon was still obnoxious, but at an amusingly tolerable level, and not at the Larry David levels he can sometimes reach. And the "Eye of the Tiger"/"Rocky" spoof of Sheldon and Raj just thinking about the problem was inspired. (I just wish they hadn't gone back to the well at the end of the episode, as the use of the song wasn't as clever in that later context.)

And on my usual internal debate about whether the show laughs with or at its characters (as opposed to whether Raj was working with or for Sheldon), I still can't decide how I feel about Raj's inability to talk to women without the aid of booze. On the one hand, it feels incredibly lame and stereotypical. On the other, Kunal Nayyar always does a great job of flipping the switch between timid Raj and liquid courage Raj, and I thought the set up this gag particularly well with the professor's talk of drinking times in other solar systems.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Jiminy Conjecture": Buggin' out

Back at work today but a little under the weather, so I'm not really up to dissecting last night's "Big Bang Theory," save to say that the Sheldon/Howard/Raj banter was very funny, and the Leonard/Penny subplot pretty lame. What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Electric Can-Opener Fluctuation": The bearded men of ice station 11

I don't have much time to write about the "Big Bang Theory" season premiere, so I'll just say that I liked seeing Laurie Metcalf as Sheldon's mom (and seeing the show at least allude to the fact that a guy like Sheldon would not share his mom's religious beliefs) and that I'm always a sucker for a good beard and/or mustache joke.

What did everybody else think?

Reader mail: Does Sheldon from 'Big Bang Theory' have Asperger's?

Today's column, posted belatedly by me due to a minor technical issue, is another reader mailbag. The lead question is one we discussed here back in February: Does Sheldon have Asperger's syndrome?

Big Bang Theory, "The Hofstadter Isotope": Comic book guy triumphant

Quick spoilers for last night's "The Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as I alphabetize my Garth Ennis trade paperbacks...

As always, I have to give the "Big Bang" writers (in this case, David Goetsch) credit for getting the geek details right. During the gang's trip to the comic store, I kept waiting for them to make some kind of obvious mistake about DC continuity, but near as I could tell, they got everything right -- up to and including Stuart's description of "Hellblazer" to Penny.

I also liked the depiction of Stuart as a guy Penny might like. There are, in fact, guys who hang out at (or work in) comic book stores who aren't as socially inept as our heroes (or Captain Sweatpants); they're just normal, sometimes even charming, people who just happen to dig illustrated stories about short Canadians with adamantium claws. My only disappointment was how the episode's climax undercut that by having Stuart be completely oblivious about the true meaning of Penny's "coffee" invitation. I think they could have still told the joke about Sheldon ruining everything while having Stuart be aware Sheldon was ruining it -- if anything, it might have been funnier to see Stuart trying desperately to end this argument but not knowing how -- but instead it seemed like the last five minutes of the episode undercut what happened earlier, and I fear we won't see Stuart again.

As for the other guys looking to score at the bar, Raj getting drunk continues to be a good running gag, while Howard being creepy continues to not be. I had hoped after "The Killer Robot Instability" that the writers might finally let Wolowitz grow up just a little and stop being an oblivious sleaze, but instead he remains the character who most embodies the laughing-at (vs. laughing-with) problem I often have with the show.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Terminator Decoupling": Summer time blues

Quick thoughts on last night's "The Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as I get out my scanning wand...

I seem to find a blog-worthy "Big Bang Theory" episode about once a month, and an episode that guest-starred Summer Glau from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," not to mention one that largely kept Penny on the sidelines (and used her well when she wasn't) seems to qualify.

Though "BBT" has become, rightly, The Sheldon Show, this was a good episode for the whole ensemble, while still leaving plenty of moments for the other actors to stand back and let Jim Parsons riff. (My favorite of those was Sheldon's monologue about SkyNet sending back Terminators who look like actors who have played Terminators, but his packing explanation was also nice.) And in those moments when Penny did pop up, it was to set up Sheldon's increasingly exasperated and desperate reactions to her as she tried (or didn't try) to follow his instructions about the USB drive.

But at the same time, we got to see Leonard grow frustrated with his inability to use sarcasm as a coping mechanism with Sheldon, and to see Raj turn all suave with the placebo effect of some near-beer, and (somewhat more predictably, and more horrifyingly) to see Howard's epic fail with Summer Glau.

Despite having been present at several different press conferences for Glau-related shows, it's still so strange to me to see her acting like a normal person instead of a robot or a surgically-enhanced mental patient. And then, towards the end of the episode as she had to listen to Howard drone on and on, it was amusing to see how closely her "I'm miserable and want to kill myself" affect resembles her portrayal of River Tam.

Fun episode, though it wasn't a patch on the "HIMYM" that followed it.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory: Aspie vs. Sheldon-y

I picked up a nasty strain of the Mutaba Virus or something like it over the weekend, and I'm on the verge of going into a coma for the next 12 hours to recuperate. Because of this, I don't have the energy to write about, or even watch, tonight's "Big Bang Theory," but I want to point you all to a story on Slate that asks a question I and others have asked ourselves many times in the last year and a half: does Sheldon have Asperger's? (More thoughts after the jump.)

The writers try to duck the issue, and Jim Parsons goes along with the party line while still acknowledging that the character's behavior couldn't be any more Asperger-like. I think this is a case of the writers either not knowing about Asperger's Syndrome going in, or else being reluctant to say Sheldon's on the autism spectrum because that would imply that they're making fun of someone's disability.

Now, I have some experience with friends who are on the spectrum, so I'd be sensitive to the idea of mocking something he can't help. And I actually like the show more if I watch it with the belief that Sheldon is an Aspie. Yes, the other characters tell jokes at Sheldon's expense and get exasperated at his rigidity, but they also indulge his quirks a lot more than they would if he was just socially tin-eared, I think. Watching the Mary McDonnell arc on "Grey's Anatomy," where the character's diagnosis is made explicit, and then used as fodder for jokes, I feel like old-fashioned sitcom "Big Bang" provides a more realistic, more human and, yes, funnier take on the situation than the big hit medical series.

For those of you who know about spectrum disorders, what do you think? Are you glad "Big Bang" refuses to spell out tha Sheldon has Asperger's, or do you prefer that they leave it vague and never even use the word?

Big Bang Theory, "The Killer Robot Instability": Mecha-Wolowitz attacks

Spoilers for last night's "Big Bang Theory" coming right up...

I'm still never going to love this show remotely as much as the one that follows it, but fair is fair: I laughed louder and longer at the robot crashing through the door and frightening Penny than I did at anything in last night's "How I Met Your Mother."

Wolowitz has always been the show's most problematic character, the easiest one to point to in the debate over whether the show laughs with or at the nerds and say that the answer is "at." This episode was obviously an attempt to humanize him, and while I appreciate the effort, the execution felt thin -- not quite A Very Special "Big Bang Theory," but not far.

Now, I have a very high standard for this type of episode. There's an amazing episode of "Taxi" where the Danny DeVito character -- an obnoxious bully whose come-ons are every bit as frequent and gross as Howard's -- finally goes too far with the Marilu Henner character when she catches him peeping on her getting changed in the locker room. She threatens to have him fired unless he can humiliate himself in front of her the same way he made her feel. So he tells her this long, mortifying story about the shopping trip he takes every year to the Husky Boys section of the department store, which is the only place that has clothes his size. And by the end of it, you understand why he's such an ass, and she understands it too, and while she never forgives him for his disgusting behavior after that, she now lets it roll off her back because she's gotten a glimpse of what's behind the creepy facade. It's an amazing episode -- changing not only her, but the audience's, perception of the guy -- and one that has an emotional of truth to it that the comparable Howard-Penny scene didn't.

Obviously, it's not fair to compare "Big Bang Theory" to one of the best sitcoms ever made. This is a much lighter, sillier show, one that's sometimes funny, sometimes not. I suppose I should give the writers some credit for making an effort to show a different side of Wolowitz, but the execution didn't do much for me, and I imagine I'll still be annoyed by him in future episodes.

What did everybody else think?

The Big Bang Theory, "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis": The search for Spock

So, a bunch of people in the "HIMYM" post started going on and on about the wonderful final scene from last night's "Big Bang Theory," with some going so far as to discuss certain elements of it in such detail that I worried the joke had been ruined. Turns out, the moment was so expertly-played by Jim Parsons that no amount of advance knowledge could have spoiled the gag. Alas, "Big Bang" isn't available anywhere on-line, but feel free to discuss the joke -- and the episode -- in the comments.

Big Bang Theory, "The Lizard-Spock Expansion": Is there life on Mars?

I haven't really written about "Big Bang Theory" since the middle of last season, and while I still have some issues with the ratio of laughing with the characters versus laughing at them, I have to admit that the show makes me laugh a decent amount of the time when I watch it while waiting for "HIMYM" to start. The bit last night with Sheldon attempting to convincingly lie about Leonard working "at the office" was priceless.

Again, I don't have much free blogging time over the next few days, so go read Mo Ryan expressing opinions that are remarkably similar to my own on this subject.