Rethinking The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory has lately inspired a degree of handwringing in the research community. Not the theory itself; I think scientists are generally OK with that. Rather the TV show named after it, the CBS sitcom about a pair of geniuses — an experimental and a theoretical physicist, respectively — who share an apartment in Pasadena, just across the hall, of course, from a fetching yet slightly dizzy blonde waitress and aspiring actress. An aerospace engineer and an astrophysicist — the requisite “wacky neighbors” — round out the cast.

Much of the humor in "The Big Bang Theory" derives from the male characters’ marked lack of social skills and unabashed geekiness: "Star Trek" jokes abound in the series. Indeed, these deeply entrenched stereotypes about scientists lie at the very heart of the show. Here, the characters live in a world that only occasionally intersects with the real or “normal” world, and that’s what makes them funny.

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