Big Bang Theory - season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Here here, Lucia. The best ensemble in years, everyone compliments each other.

But Jim is the standout by far, he simply kills me every week and I continue to be amazed at how he can effortlessly (of course we don't see the flubs so it could take him forever to get a line right lol) he gets that dialogue out.

BTW, Jim was on Craig Ferguson AGAIN last night...

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

FYI, the phrase is "shoo-in" (as in the waving motion to shoo flies away from a pie or children into the house.) No footware involved.

Nitpicker Joe

 

[NeilO]

I just watched that on DVR earlier today and it was a great appearance (I actually only recorded it for the Ray Davies appearance and this was a great bonus). I hope he does get nominated for an Emmy - he does just an amazing job.

 

[AnthonyC]

This season has blown the first one out of the water, but even so...am I the only one who doesn't really get the hype? I don't know, maybe I just resent that the much funnier and better-written How I Met Your Mother is treated almost like an afterthought, but to me BBT is amusing and clever but nowhere near as amazing as so many people make it sound.

I'm not saying this as an attack, but am I just missing what exactly makes this the best sitcom since Seinfeld as I've heard people call it?

 

[Lucia Duran]

Ha! The funny thing is when I was typing that, I was actually thinking not a shoe.... shoo... and yet I still ended up typing shoe. Go figure!

 

[Malcolm R]

Just shows how different shows appeal to different people. Personally, I can't understand why "How I Met Your Mother" is even still on the air. I've tried watching it and don't find it funny at all.

But I guess some people like to watch it.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I love HIMYM but it has the thankless task of following TBBT.

Typically after a given ep of TBBT i'm usually still laughing and pondering the episode and having to abruptly shift gears from a flat-out hilarious show to a funny show with a semi-serious message (relationships etc) is sometimes difficult for me lol.

 

[Patrick Sun]

From a very recent contribution to the tribute to blondes thread:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...1-post164.html

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, i'm off to rescue a dog and grab a copy of 'The Bark'.

 

[DaveF]

I've loved this show from the first joke of the first episode. But I wouldn't call it the best sitcom ever. It's a fun, creative show. And it's one of only two (the other being Futurama) that really targets the nerds, geeks and academics in a good way. Both laughing at them and laughing with them.

Mother is a totally different animal, in my opinion. Also a fun show that I watch, but it's more "generic" in that it's about young, quirky twenty-somethings in a big city. This has already been done, and it was called Friends.

BBT is "Friends" for geeks.

 

[Jon Martin]

I was a huge fan of HOW I MET. Still am.

But I think BIG BANG is the superior show. CBS realized this as well, and flipped the time slots around.

As for the season comparisons, from the first episode, I thought this was one of the best sitcoms on TV. Early on reviews were mixed, and I never understood it. While there have been some reevaluation of it (most notably in EW) has the critical consensus really changed that drastically?

As for Emmy chances, it didn't get any for the first season, and there are what six months to go for the next nominations. I don't think it is a shoo in, although it certainly deserves it.

 

[NeilO]

I enjoy both of the shows a lot. Of late, I get more "laugh out loud" moments with Big Bang Theory than HIMYM. The shows have completely different feels, though. I am surprised that Big Bang Theory is getting such a large audience as it has so many inside "geek" jokes that I didn't think would appeal so broadly.

In the 2005-2006 season there was a CBS Monday night comedy (Out of Practice) that didn't last one season. It had an episode full of "geek" jokes (#4 - "The Truth About Nerds and Dogs" is probably the episode), but they were definitely of the "laughing at" variety instead of the "laughing with" that appear on Big Bang. I liked the cast, but after that episode I dropped it.

 

[Lucia Duran]

I must admit that I don't always understand all the jokes on TBBT, but the way the cast delivers them, I laugh every time. I think that is the genius behind this show. You don't need to understand physics to get the humor.

HIMYM and TBBT are so different that you cannot really compare them. I enjoy both shows. I think both casts are incredible and make each show special. I started watching HIMYM first and figured that I would see what TBBT was while waiting to watch the other show. I've been hooked ever since.

 

[DaveF]

"I prefer George Lucas to disappoint me in the order he intended."

 

[JohnS]

Did anyone catch the letter to George Lucas and the P.S. to William Shatner of Star Trek 5 after the show?

The letter states.

Dear George Lucas,

May I call you Mr. Lucas? On behalf of the writers of The Big Bang Theory.
I would like to thank you for your astounding body of work, which has
awakened the child within us and unleashed our dreams. That being
said, we hope you don't take offense at our good-natured jest regarding
your most recent animated efforts. Yes, they were cheap shots, but we
can't help but hold you to a higher standard.-- a standard of your own making, in closing we are all looking forward to Indaina Jones 5-The Curse of the Golden Catheter. Oops sorry again.

Very truly yours,

The Writers

P.S. to William Shatner, director of Star Trek 5
Go ahead, sue us.

 

[Lucia Duran]

Best line of the night.

The vanity card was too funny!

 

[Derek Miner]

Well, guess what. The taping of "The Big Bang Theory" ran almost three and a half hours tonight and I missed my flight home. So I get to report to you from a very quiet Delta ticket counter in LAX with a handful of some other poor saps who seem to have missed a flight as well. I'll stay out of the specific plot so I don't spoil anything or run afoul of any CBS or Warner Bros. people out there who might wish to protect it.

Photos were not allowed, sorry. In fact, cell phones and cameras are taken away as you enter the stage.

For those of you who have never been to one of these tapings (I've done three over the years), the audience seating is very much like auditorium bleachers and the various sets for the show are layed out left to right down the stage in front of the bleachers. For the taping I saw, they had Leonard's bedroom on the far left, actually out of sight of the audience. Next was the lunchroom at the place where the guys work, which we were told is a "swing set," or one that comes on or off the stage as needed as it isn't in every episode. Then we had the main sets - Penny's apartment, the hallway and Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. The last set on the far right was the laundry room. Not sure if this is a set that gets pulled in and out of service depending on the show. The sets not being used at the time are blocked from the audience's view by rolling black walls.

I was seated on the far right side of the bleachers, and there was a curtain next to them so we couldn't see more to the right. I could hear the producers over there, so I assume it's "video village," where they have the monitors. From my seat, I had a great view of Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, which was a bit unusual to see from that vantage point. The set is built in kind of a V-shape that opens up to the audience, rather than having the back wall parallel to the audience. The rest of the sets were really hard to see where I was. The curtain blocked my view of the laundry room. Everything was up on monitors, though.

Before the taping got underway, they showed the audience an episode that hasn't aired yet, which was good because it helped get us accustomed to a storyline that's starting in the future.

The general format of the evening is to tape the scenes in sequence, doing a second take for safety and then getting "pick ups" to fix or punch up a particular line or bit from the middle of the scene. The producers and directors will confer for a few minutes between all the takes and sometimes swap out lines or make other changes to make the scene flow better. They have a comedian act as MC through the night to keep the audience focused and amused during that downtime.

The taping of the "cold open" took a little while to complete because Jim Parsons had a huge run of dialogue that he tripped up on a few times. The second take of the scene inserted some Leonard dialogue in the middle to give Sheldon a pause.

The second scene was first done in a way that will NOT be on the air. I'll spoilerize here a bit:
The scene calls for Penny to enter Leonard and Sheldon's apartment looking for coffee. On the first take, they had Kaley Cuoco enter in just a red bra and frilly panties! For the subsequent takes, pickups and related scenes, she wore a pink tank top in addition to the panties, so there's no chance they'll use the first take. Though just before the second take, I heard someone say something like "That'll be in the DVD extras." Not sure if he was referring to the alternate take or something else!
At the half-way point of the night, they gave us each a slice of pizza and a bottle of water. I was happy to be there, but the comedian's schtick wore on me and I was bummed that I had such a bad view from my seat. When they did the curtain call at the end of the night, everyone in the audience was standing up and I couldn't see any of the cast come out to take their bows (echoes of having my view of Ben Folds blocked by four guys over six feet tall on Friday night). Still, it was very interesting to see the retakes and small additions they did throughout the evening, and I'm very curious to see how it all gets stitched together in the end.

I'm also curious to see people's reactions to the storyline that runs through the two episodes I watched tonight. I'll save my verdict until they air.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

That's awesome, Derek, although sorry you didn't get a great seat but still just to be there and see it go down is beyond cool.

Did they happen to mention when that episode will air?

 

[Derek Miner]

Well, looks like I thought this was much further out than it is. I didn't get to watch the show on CBS this week (and didn't read messages above mine about it), so I didn't know they introduced Sara Rue already. The episode they showed us before the live taping is next week's episode and unless they go on holiday hiatus, I assume the episode I saw will air in two weeks.

Also, interesting to note that the breakout of Jim Parsons is having a bit of an effect. In the printed info sheet they gave everyone, Johnny Galecki is listed first in the credits and in the bios. But when they introduced the cast during curtain calls, they reserved Parsons for the end, so as far as audience perception goes, Parsons is the star.

 

[DaveF]

Derek, I take it you didn't see the apt entrance and stairs? I've been mildly curious about how they do the staircase scenes.

That sounds like a fun thing to do. Thanks for sharing.