<p>This show is so painful to watch, as a student/scientist with OK social skills that I constantly try to improve. Why does the show need to rub stereotypes in our faces, or trivialize deep passionate interests, and why are the girls shown to be less brilliant (in contrast to my brilliant female colleagues in my own lab group) and why do none of the main scientist/engineer characters have artistic/creative hobbies like most scientists have in real life? Ugh, this show makes such utterly inaccurate caricatures of my demographic. I don’t get why people love it so much.</p>
<p>I love BBT. Absolutely relate to the characters, especially Amy. I think it’s a real and funny show with superb acting and writing.</p>
<p>Also, many of them do have hobbies…</p>
<p>“Ugh, this show makes such utterly inaccurate caricatures of my demographic. I don’t get why people love it so much.”</p>
<p>What? A depiction of some stereotype in a fictional TV show that departs from actual reality? I don’t think that has ever happened before.</p>
<p>A lot of people have this view of scientists / engineers and that is why the show is as popular as it is. From my experience there is some truth to this view.</p>
<p>I second the part about disliking the show… but not for that reason… you’ve surely heard about artistic license, right? :D</p>
<p>There is some artistic license but just compare a party with scientists with a party of other folks.</p>
<p>As an female engineer, I find the show very funny. You have to learn to be able to laugh at yourself! Yes, they have exagerated a bit, but I do see a lot of the traits they portray in people I went to school with and people I have worked with. Have to agree w/ DocT- a party with scientists/engineers is a whole different ball game than one with other types.</p>
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<p>Not hobbies that the viewer would relate with, like music, drawing, photography, poetry; I know a lot of scientists who swim and run; but they don’t seem to be portrayed as 3D characters and none of the scientists seem to get depression, anxiety, bipolar or the like, which occurs statistically higher among scientist-types.</p>
<p>I love BBT because it’s hilarious. I’m an engineer and I take as I hope it was intended–for fun. While I find some of the stereotypes annoying, each of the characters has something endearing about them. Yes, even Howard. lol</p>
<p>My wife is a elementary school vice principal and I’m a theoretical physicist. Trust me when I say that the parties we go to that are made up of teachers etc are very different than mine.</p>
<p>Leonard and Sheldon both have musical hobbies. Howard has an array of hobbies ranging from music to sign language. Sheldon does modeling (toy models, etc).</p>
<p>You can’t make a comedy centered around mental illness for a variety of reasons. Sheldon clearly had very high anxiety and Leonard may have depression. </p>
<p>You’re way way way over thinking this COMEDY show.</p>
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With the exception of Penny, and also Sheldon’s mom (both of whom possess exceptional people skills), I think the women on the show are in the same academic ballpark as the guys. Amy’s a neuroscientist, Bernadette’s a microbiologist, Leslie Winkle was a physicist, and Leonard’s mom is a psychiatrist. One of Leonard’s girlfriends was a surgeon, another was an Oxford-educated lawyer. I think the show is pretty pro-female, considering that the producer is also responsible for the truly horrendous Two and a Half Men.</p>
<p>It’s a sitcom - it’s going to play with stereotypes. I like the fact that none of the main characters are idealized - they’re all ridiculous in some human way.</p>
<p>Adding - Amy Farrah Fowler plays the harp! Also, I think Sheldon’s “Fun with Flags” webcasts are pretty creative. :)</p>
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<p>But they aren’t necessarily of the expressive type people would relate with – singing-songwriting or spoken word for instance.</p>
<p>I’m not overthinking the show. It’s just so offensive and painful watching it.</p>
<p>In addition to what frazzled said, Leslie fixes one of Sheldon’s problems that he’s been hopelessly stuck on, Bernadette is shown repeatedly to be smarter than Howard, etc. If anything, the brilliance of the men is pretty down-played.</p>
<p>The show’s creators are very clear that this is something created with both love and humor. If it was just a stereotype, there wouldn’t be a Caltech prof fact checking the script, and Sheldon and Leonard’s whiteboard would just be a jumble of random algebra rather than some pretty intense equations and graphs. </p>
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<p>[‘Big</a> Bang Theory’ Becoming Favorite of Audience It Lampoons | Space.com](<a href=“http://www.space.com/7316-big-bang-theory-favorite-audience-lampoons.html]'Big”>'Big Bang Theory' Becoming Favorite of Audience It Lampoons | Space)</p>
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<p>So don’t watch it? Not all scientists are incredibly gifted at many different areas of art. Two of my best friends are scientists. The microbiologist is a fantastic painter and violinist but can’t write music or poetry. The engineer is not artistically talented in any way. Just like with the general population, some are artistic in one way, some multiple ways, and some hopelessly lost.</p>
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<p>Some people might relate to “expressive” hobbies. Others just want to figure out how to speak Klingon or Dothraki. There are all kinds of people, you know.</p>
<p>And heck, I would give up any artistic talent I have (which is just about zero) to be multilingual like Howard.</p>
<p>evitaperon–I’ll admit that some shows are better than others. Maybe you happened to hit the few bad ones … or tuned in to the sections that are less funny. I thought that about “Friends” and “Seinfeld” when they first came out, then I happened to catch a few really funny shows and I started watching them (after they were off the air and people were still raving about it). There’s an entire season of “Friends” that I don’t like, but overall it’s funny. There are some shows of BBT that I won’t re-watch, and some that I watch over and over and over! I can’t remember the names of the ones I thought were the best, but one that comes to mind is when Sheldon can’t decide what to get Penny for Christmas.</p>
<p>A female scientist here. Take it for what it is - entertainment, comedy, fun. And as far as portrayal of female characters goes, if you look closer, even Penny is not being portrayed simply as a dumb blonde. :)</p>