The Big Bang Theory

I fell in love with this show after the first two episodes and the next ones get better, better, and better. In short, a big bang as it should be. "Hello, this is Dr. Sheldon Cooper, Yeah, I need to cancel my membership to the planetarium. There's just no room for you in my wallet. No, I understand, but it was between you and the Museum of Natural History, and frankly, you don't have dinosaurs." (12/26/2009)

I just can’t give The Big Bang Theory five stars. Sure, it's funny, Sheldon is one of the best characters ever, but this series has way too many flaws. Most importantly, it is quite clear how most of the episodes will turn out and the punchlines of the jokes are obvious a mile away. Calling this series brilliant? No way. BBT only provides the viewers with the feeling that they’re so goddamn smart, because they’re the only ones who appreciate all those incredibly smart jokes, making them feel like beings of superior knowledge, who find it hard to understand how dumb everyone else is. This is what irritates me about this series, and even though it's quite funny, there’s no way it's worth five stars. S01: 8/10. S02: 8/10. S03: 8/10. S04: 8/10. S05: 5/10. S06: 7/10. S07: 6/10. S08: 6/10. S09: 6/10. S10: 6/10. S11: 6/10. S12: 7/10. (01/12/2013)

It used to be great, by right now I’m watching it only out of habit and intermittently (“wow, another season ended? I should download it”). They repeat the same template and the same jokes over and over, more or less effectively. After getting to know more (and better) comedy shows, I’ve lost my belief that TBBT is peak sitcom. Shallow mainstream entertainment. (01/21/2009)

For the first five seasons, the show had been one of my favorites. I loved the premise and had a royally good time with the gang of geeks and Penny. Each episode had me laughing out loud, and some scenes were truly unforgettable. The first minor hiccup came with Season 6, which was the first time I didn’t give a five-star rating. More disappointment was in store for me from Season 7 on. The creators seemed to have forgotten everything that was so great about the show and turned it into a run-of-the-mill series about relationships, which stayed that way until the finale. If I had known what I know now, I would have stopped watching after Season 6 and wouldn’t have spoiled my overall impression. / Lesson learned: Enjoy it while you can. You never know what's coming. (09/03/2022)

Shy, Annoying, Confident, and Stuttering meet Beautiful and a pleasant sitcom begins, which fate has determined to become an unbelievable phenomenon over time. Sometimes clichéd and unoriginal, other times genuinely funny but essentially gentle enough to entertain for many years. However, every topic eventually runs dry, and because the creators only dare to move the main characters forward once every few seasons, my smile faded by the third season. The unexpected salvation for the entire series is the gradual introduction of female supporting characters, while the repeated jokes (the unbearable running joke with Howard's mother) and the routine with which Sheldon's monologues are delivered increasingly undermine it. In short, I don't know what to do with this group. Thanks to the initially fantastic (and later at least reasonably reliable) Amy and Kaley Cuoco's ability to effortlessly outshine everyone as Penny, I still occasionally find it entertaining. On the other hand, Leonard, Howard, and Rajesh have seemed like mere pawns reciting expected lines for quite some time, not to mention Stuart, who is inexplicably favored in later seasons. After six years, the fourth star clung on, perhaps out of nostalgia, but from the seventh season onwards, it's just beating an empty straw, so I'm losing my longstanding sympathy, especially since the tenth and eleventh years are painfully and embarrassingly sleepy. However, I stayed with the series until the very end. The direct correlation between mediocrity and lack of wit and the impressive ratings fascinated me even more as I understood it less and less. (10/03/2008)