The big bang theory was not for geeks or nerds. It was pure shit.
Misogynistic pure shit.
It had a good few first episodes with fun geeky jokes, but it quickly turned to bad jokes and lazy stereotypes and relied loosely on stereotypes to contain the geekyness.
I always felt like it was a show for moms of geeks and nerds that missed their kids once they moved out.
I’m a geek and a nerd and i loved it, sorry.
Hush you! Can’t have people not joining in the dogpile on a TV show that ended 6 years ago…
No… the IT crowd is a sitcom FOR geeks. That other shit just makes fun of us
I believe this is what happened to Dr Who. When it started it was for science and history nerds, science sounding gobble-de-gook, cos play outfits, very low production values (the infamous duct tape boots). All just good fun.
When it was rebooted the focus had shifted. The Doctor as the cool guy, a Jesus figure, became more and more pronounced. They started to make fun of nerds on a regular bases. Amazing writing and production values, but at some point during the Tennant era I stopped watching in disgust.The original Doctor Who was an educational show mostly aimed at school aged children that used a sci-fi gimmick to teach history lessons (much of which are a bit outdated now). They would alternate storylines between future and past settings through most of William Hartnell’s run.
Towards the end of classic Who it was already much more like modern Who than those first seasons.
I only started with NuWho, watching it as it came out in 2005.
I found it magnificent, exactly because it shied away from glorifying violence, made emotions be the focus of things and there was clearly some large over-arching thing with “Bad Wolf”, but it wasn’t like in the American shows, where if there’s a clue to be seen, the camera zooms in on it, making sure you can’t miss it.
I gather you are right, and NuWho is way more American and hero-centric than Classic Who — but because it was and I was a teenager enjoying shows like Prison Break at the time — I got into Who, and then into better British shows, better shows in general, chasing that sort or good pacifist writing. Star Trek is ofc prolly the best franchise when it comes to actual philosophy. Doctor Who elicits emotions more than thought when compared to the Star Trek Ethos, albeit in a more profoundly British way.
Uuh there’s actually a new episode of Dr Who tonight that reminded me.
Oooh, it’s out already. And I have a few glasses of rum left. And a steak. And a pint of red. Ooooooh. This is turning out to be a nice day.
Anyway tldr completely agree with you, but I think going a bit American with NuWho was a crucial step in luring in more watchers to start appreciating the good things. Kinda how for a kid, it’s easier to learn to eat a new dish when you introduce it bit by bit or with copious amounts of ketchup or something — slowly teaching them that the bitterness is what makes it tasty.
Because, similar to blackface in its time, people love to point and laugh at exaggerated caricatures of something different from themselves.
And CBS airs lowest common denominator garbage that the masses devour.
The term you’re looking for is minstrel shows https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show
BBT is a minstrel show to humiliate smart people, anti intelligence sentiment is high in America
In my mind, I still picture this as the archetype of an office’s boss inside a boss’s office. If it doesn’t have the 4th breaking wall picture, then it’s a fake boss
See, a real boss, ready to work for the greater good
FATHEERRRRRRR!!!
Chris Morris is a legend. I love Matt Berry but Morris is legitimately one of the most influential figures in British comedy.
The Day Today and Brass Eye put him on the map.
Jam is one of those shows that I doubt many people outside the UK would really get.
Jam is one of those shows I doubt many people inside the UK would get.
Ps: that’s how you know that J. Jonah Jameson wasn’t the boss at the daily Bugle, there was no self referential picture
I’ve watched IT Crowd half a dozen times.
I haven’t managed to finish an episode of BBT before I switch it off in disgust.
In other words, you have insufficient data to make a meaningful comparison.
It is amazing to me how people believe their subjective experiences automatically qualify for criticism.
I mean this is Lemmy. 98% of the people here believe that anyone who downvotes them is a Nazi and a fascist, plus whatever negative adjective you could think about
This place was way better before the exodus from reddit.
No no IT Crowd is a show about sysadmins, not geeks lol. There’s a very clear difference.
And Moss was a nerd not a geek. He wasn’t obsessing about comics, videogames etc. like the characters in BBT.
I also think this is a cultural difference. The comic book obsession seems more like an american thing. In the Netherlands and Belgium there is also a big comic book appreciation, but it’s much less about heroism and more humorous.
Okay but he didn’t obsess about the British equivalent of comic books either. Geeks obsess about consumerist pop culture whether it’s comics, LEGO or Harry Potter. And Moss did non of that.
Flashbacks to the rett & link “nerd VS geek” music video
That came out 12 years ago
The IT crowd came out almost 20 years ago
Yeah, it’s an interesting difference.
There was a lot of pop culture references in IT Crowd, all the music posters, the retro computers, etc. but the cast didn’t even acknowledge it.
Yes, in the proportion of furries vs weebs.
If BBT was made today it would be accused of being written by AI. Fully flanderised characters, and endless filler episodes.
AKA “The Chuck Lorre Special”
If I had to rate the IT crowd out of ten, I’d give it 01189998819991197253
… 3
I’ll just put all the fire together
A very good metaphor for IT support
I watched one random episode of BBT after it was recommended to me by a few people. That one episode was enough for me to decide that I never want to see that show again, and also that I should disregard all recommendations from the people who said I should watch it.
I watched a scene where someone posted it without the laugh track and it was super cringey. Semi-related note… Taking the laugh track out of BBT ruins it, but taking Garfield out of Garfield comics takes it to a new level, see here -> https://garfieldminusgarfield.net/
Taking the laugh track out of anything ruins it. You are replacing laughter with dead air.
I’d be interested to see an edit of classic sitcoms with laughs (tracks or live), edited to remove both the laugh and the associated pause in the performance.
There would be more cuts than a fight scene from Taken. It would be super distracting.
Hmmm
I haven’t watched many sitcoms recently. I felt like those pauses for audience laughs were often where they’d cut to other camera angles anyway (likely to distract from how unnaturally long the characters paused in the middle of their conversations)… But I don’t have any concrete evidence to back up my feeling.
I do prefer the Realfield edits, that replace Garfield with a normal cat.
Gives mire crazy cat guy than mental illness vibes.
You might like the Heathcliffe without Heathcliffe posts right here on Lemmy https://lemmy.world/c/heathcliff
The laugh track alone is enough evidence
IT Crowd also has a laugh track.
It tends to use it after actual jokes though.
IT crowd was filmed in front of an audience.
There is a laughtrack in IT Crowd too…
For sure it’s no contest. Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
Cooper always tries to walk it in.
BBT is a show about smart people for dumb people. The IT Crowd is a show about smart people.
I’ve always saw BBT as just a way to re-normalize making fun of neurodivergant people.
I think that’s right but at the same time I think you’re not doing it justice by implying that’s all it is.
And a way of renormalizing misogyny.
British humour is infinitely funnier than the laugh track pandering American sitcoms.
Most humor is funnier than a laugh track sitcom. But humor being regional is … an interesting phenomenon if nothing else. Like yea I enjoyed the hell out of Monty Python as a kid and even now. But ill take the office from Scranton ober the og any day of the week. But I also wouldnt expect peeps from across the pond to feel that way.
Is their anything from that late 90s era early 00s British tv had to compare the chapelle show? Honestly curious, I only have so much knowledge of British humor.
I don’t think laugh track is inherently bad.
But I watched the Big Bang Theory for like the first 3 years, and it just kept devolving into shittier and simpler humour, and like really begging for the laughs with the puns, whereas in Britain it’s genuinely considered somewhat important to keep it organic.
Like unfiltered BBC panel shows are just so much more hilarious than an episode of “hey come share laughs over archaic and super over-blown stereotypes”.
Whatever cheap shit they’ve made over at the BBC is usually funnier than overproduced hyper-supervised multi-writer numbers-pleasing BS. I know that’s subjective, and I won’t die on a hill of “who’s the funniest”, because that’s subjective, but that’s my opinion on it.
It’s interesting when America tries to make British panel shows (like the recent HIGNFY one). The competition aspect and the points, which are only a conceit in the British version, start having importance. They care who wins and it destroys the comedy. The right answer becomes more important than the funny answer.
The Office would like to have a word with you.
The American version of the office has a visual laugh track, every time a character sideeyes the camera and smirks.
But it isn’t though.
Some particular shows are better as Americans versions, I’ll not deny that.
I haven’t watched either of the Offices, but I have watched the entire American “Shameless” and that was glorious and fitting. The British version I glanced at was really meh. And whilst British comedy in general might be better, good comedy in a bad show is less valuable than mediocre comedy in a good show.
It’s like good food. Good side dishes won’t completely cover for a bad main dish, but if the main dish is really moorish, you won’t care about the side dishes being so-and-so.
Edit also do you like to think your username is pronounced “rhee-ri”, or “rhow-eh-ri”. People ask me about the pronunciation of mine sometimes and just made me question how you think yours…?
Fair point.
do you like to think your username is pronounced “rhee-ri”, or “rhow-eh-reh”. People ask me about the pronunciation of mine sometimes and just made me question how you think yours…?
It’s “Rory,” but I’d never thought it could be pronounced any other way until now. Lol.
I’d imagine yours is pronounced: “Dah-suse”?
“Rory"
Yeah okay that’s a simpler way of writing the latter way, then way I thought it probably would be.
Dah-sus is more or less how I imagined it originally yes. Like the “da” from “da man” as in “the” and the “sus” not from the phenomena a few years ago where everything was “sus”, but from the Finnish word for wolf, “susi”.
I know it’s cringe but it was like 2002 when I came up with it.
And I’ve had friends go “deyh-sus” “deissus”, sort of, and I’m comfortable with it, but it’s not like how I meant it.
Rory… Amy relation? (Pun intended.) (so bad-ass btw)
Love Doctor Who, love Rory, but no. No relation. It’s just a name. Boring, but the truth.
People be forgetting that the first season or two of the big bang theory was legitimately very good.
The first season or two of the IT crowd was… oh yeah, the whole show.
IT crowd’s best episodes were best-in-class. tnetennba. But it had a lot of meh too.
The thing about the IT crowd is they always try and walk it in
IT Crowd S02E01 is probably the funniest episode of any sitcom I’ve seen
The second episode of season 2 has the greatest introduction to a new character ever. You meet Matt Berry at his most Matt Berryist!
FAAAAAAAAAAAATHEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!
Edit: Here’s the scene for anyone who hasn’t seen it or just wants to enjoy it again, slight spoilers but it won’t ruin the first season.
SPEAK, PRIEST
Just moments after getting in a slap fight with the priest.
That shit lives in my head rent free and I ain’t even mad about it
When ever I think of that show the scenes that come to mind are Matt Berry’s introduction, moss rambling about Richmond not being in his room, he’s supposed to be in his room, why isn’t he in his room!? and the line " My thighs are as red as fire truck from here to here, with an undershot of his groin and Roy’s face just staring, IT crowd was a masterpiece of comedy.
The little theme tune he hums as he sprints towards the coffin is great.
How did they steal your wheelchair?
Mournfully: “I don’t knooooow”
Cracks me up every time
“I’m disabled”
The situation just keeps getting more and more ridiculous and amazing
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Absolutely. My favourite of the IT crowd.
Aside from all the hilarity inbetween, the set ups to the last few gags are ridiculous and the payoff is brilliant.
Jen, talking to Roy, figuring out why on earth he’s in that wheelchair only to turn around in desperate need of a drink, to see Moss politely ready to serve her at the bar…
“Willys, willys, I like willys” “I love willys…” “What?” “It’s I LOVE WILLYS!” “—Sir, would you keep it down!?”
My favourite too, mate. So bloody good.
“A gay musical… called ‘Gay’. That’s quite gay.”
“I’m disabled.”
What kind of disabled?
Leg disabled
“Willys, willys, I like willys!”
“It’s I LOVE willys”
“Sir, can you keep it down?”
That episode is a masterpiece
Yes yes. That’s my introductory episode for people who haven’t seen the IT crowd yet.
