I've been trying to figure out exactly what bothers me about the show: The Big Bang Theory. I've been trying for weeks, actually. My family loves it. Yet to me it has been unsettling for over a month. Though on the surface it seems that nerds can "finally"(Futurama beat Prady and Lorre by nearly a decade) laugh with nerds, it's not the case. We are meant to laugh at them. I've noticed for a long time that the audience is meant to relate to Penny, and to a lesser extent, Leonard. The comments about "the ridiculousness of the nerdiness", or "I get why we were bullied" motifs are unsettling. It is not done out of love of Geek/Nerd culture, but in the same vein as it has always been.
The primary characters perpetuate stereotypes about the nerd/geek, and even their profession only represents an extremely small cross section of professions of people who enjoy some of the activities (D&D, Video Games) and nerd universes (Star Trek, Star Wars, DC and Marvel). Sheldon is a recluse who would rather be by himself to engage in his loved Science Fiction/Fantasy works and his work on Theoretical Physics rather than social activities (Geek Cliché Stereotype #1). Leonard is hopelessly in love with a woman who is way out of his league, and is also passionate about certain "fandoms" more than others (Geek Stereotype Cliché #2). Howard is a man in his thirties who masturbates all the time and lives with is mother (Geek Stereotype Cliché #3). Raj is hopelessly incapable of speaking to a woman (Geek Stereotype Cliché #4). While the use of these stereotypes by themselves allows for a large section of the show's humor and plot, it reduces the narrative and comedic power of the jokes. Compare this to Futurama, a show written by Trekkies, Tolkien fans, Star Wars fans, Mathematicians, and more; the Star Trek episode of the show ("Where No Fan Has Gone Before") is deeply rooted in the lore of Star Trek and Futurama itself: to really understand the humor of the episode, someone must have been a Star Trek fan; when they make the joke about a middle aged virgin living with their mother in Futurama, they've earned it by establishing the humor and poking fun at themselves as writers, not at the expense of others. There are many shining examples in Futurama that make The Big Bang Theory fall short of humor, situation and understanding of the culture, and that is the finest one.
Inserting jokes about varying "fandoms" reduces the power of the show considerably. I personally do not have the time to be a fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings(and its surrounding lore), Battlestar Galactica, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, A Song of Ice and Fire (colloquially called A Game of Thrones) and so many more that they reference in the show (likely to try and get fans of that particular "fandom" to watch for an episode), and I am in a transitional period of my life, where work is varying from week to week. The men in this show are not at that point. They have post graduate degrees (all in Physics), and work at a prestigious university, yet still find time to be fans of all of these things, and be experts in them. It's an unrealistic portrayal in two forms: first the suspension of disbelief is thrown out the window when the writers do this, no one has the time; second, and more important, it sets up an expectation that all nerds/geeks appreciate the same things to the same degree. This is not the case at all. I have never been able to get into Star Trek or superhero comics, but I love The Lord of the Rings, and a large amount of fantasy fiction to follow it. This second fallacy of the portrayal stems from a popular culture understanding of geek/nerd culture, and is not done with the depth and care for the show that Futurama, The Guild, and Video Game High School have shown for it, as if it was written by an outsider who does not understand the culture.
Geek is chic, but The Big Bang Theory is not geek. It is mainstream to the finest. While there is a subsection of geek/nerd culture that appreciates this show, I have found myself drifting from it. My parents love it, and I watch it with them because they think it helps them understand me. I am not Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, or Raj. My parents are not Penny and Bernadette. The deepest issue I have had with this show is not that it portrays geek/nerd culture, but that it does so with no regard or love for the content of the things that geeks/nerds are passionate for. And the show has the same shortcoming in its portrayal of religion.
In the show Christians are judgmental and "fundamentally flawed" about their understanding of the universe and morality (at least Sheldon's mother is and she is the only Christianity we see in the show), Judaism is a religion to be lax on (at least Howard is with dietary restrictions), and Hinduism is reduced to racial jokes about Indians. These in no way portray the experiences individuals have within these varying traditions.
I find myself rolling my eyes at the show more and more. Every time The Big Bang Theory makes a joke at the expense of a religion or geek/nerd culture, I cringe and roll my eyes. The jokes to me have been made with those subjects as the target of the joke, and not its subject. And it reduces the power of the show and its humor to the laugh track that carries it.
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