Why Do I Watch This Shit?

I'm not a big fan of sit-coms anymore.  I watched the Cosby-Family Ties-Cheers-Night Court combo back in the '80s, like everyone did, but really think they've stagnated as a humor-delivery vehicle.  But I do find myself watching "The Big Bang Theory" pretty much every day.

I'm still amazed that the producers haven't been burned for heresy yet, simply because the show isn't called "Intelligent Design." Actually, that's probably the answer to the question in the title of today's update - I watch because SCIENCE!  But it's really poorly written. Not in a "Two Broke Girls"-style, "every joke is like a corpse hitting the floor" way, but in an annoying, "Every character is a hard-core stereotype" way.

Sheldon is a terrible human being. He has shown that he can learn to follow "non-optional social conventions," yet he can't speak a sentence without mentioning how literally EVERYTHING and EVERYONE other than himself and his work is utterly meaningless. And his friends don't help him learn, they accept his shit and roll their eyes. He seems to think of women as truly unworthy of anything other than reproduction. He is destined to be beaten to death.

Raj is a terrible human being. He's given the most childish lines, using words like "wee-wee" and "doody," with no follow-up as to why his character says way more stuff like this than the others. Not only can't he talk to attractive women, he can't utter a word to ANY woman - old, young, fat, thin, white, brown, doesn't matter. Except when alcohol touches his lips (literally - he goes from mute to Casanova in the space of time it takes to raise the glass and put it down once). And then, he becomes supreme douchebag #1, and frankly a borderline date rapist, after a molecule of alcohol.

Howard is a terrible human being. He despises his mother, despises living with her, yet cannot even think of moving out. When Bernadette suggests it (going on memory, here), he not only assumes that she will literally wait on him hand and foot, as his hated mother did, he doesn't even pretend to consider her feelings, in the slightest. She's Hollywood gorgeous, "So round, so firm, so fully packed," as Bugs Bunny might say, and fucking brilliant, but settles for this repellent personality?

Penny is a terrible human being. Not in relation to others, but in how she treats herself. Sheldon dismisses her completely, without a moment's thought, because she's a non-academic (unintelligent, as he has literally stated), and a woman. Raj can't talk to her, but CAN whisper jokes about her pussy to Howard, right in front of her. Howard is a complete lech toward her, and she's lucky he hasn't tried to finger her in her sleep. And she is BESTEST BUDDIES with them.

Leonard is the only character that seems to be written as human. He has emotions, and desires, and the capability for deep introspection (as much as a sitcom character can).  But he's still JUST a nerd, really, a cute li'l' scamp who somehow gets the girl.

The other regular female characters are fully inconsequential - a female Sheldon in Amy, and a beautiful doormat in the aforementioned Bernadette.

I wonder if it's on now...