The Intelligent Design Behind CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory”

The Big Bang Theory: Five Reasons I Love It

1. It reminds me of some of my friends. Of course, the characters in the show are greatly exaggerated, but a few of my friends are almost as geeky as these guys. Unfortunately, none of them are as smart…or as funny.

2. One word: Sheldon. He’s the funniest character I’ve seen on television for quite some time. His Monk-like OCD is taken to an extreme that is comical and yet believable. In the pilot episode when Penny (Kaley Cuoco) sat in his spot on the couch and he went off on a rant about why that’s the best spot in the apartment…writing doesn’t get much funnier than that.

3. The mystery that is Leonard. We discuss this in our circle of friends at times. Some don’t believe that he’s believable as a nerd. I think that this is done on purpose. I think that he is supposed to be kind of awkward in both settings - the nerd world and the outside world. He is comfortable among his fellow nerds, but he wants to break out of that group and experience what else is out there. But, unfortunately, he doesn’t fit in with the outside world either. It’s like he doesn’t want to let go of the nerd world because he knows they will always be there to accept him back if he fails on the “outside.”

4. The guest stars. It took about half of the pilot episode for me to realize that the guy who plays Leonard (Johnny Galecki) also played David on Roseanne. That was Darlene’s boyfriend. And Darlene (Sara Gilbert) plays his love interest in the “Big Bang Theory.” And then when her aunt from Roseanne - Laurie Metcalf - guest starred on the show, that just made it even better.

5. Sheldon’s Explanations. I love his uber-geeky explanations about everyday things. When he went into the explanation about why Superman could not have caught Lois Lane when she fell from the helicopter in the first Superman movie…I laughed about that for days.

6. The friends. The Indian guy - Koothrappali - is funny, but Wolowitz is that friend that you love to hate. And every one of us probably has one of him in our group of friends. The dork who thinks he’s God’s gift to women when, in fact, he’s a present that’s better left unwrapped. And if you can’t think of someone in your group that’s like that, maybe you’re it.

7. Penny. She’s such a cutie. I loved her in “8 Rules…” and was hoping she’d show back up on TV somewhere. I know she did a brief stint on “Charmed,” but that show was just not something I’d be caught watching. She plays a really cool character and I’m glad that they show doesn’t completely revolve around her relationship with Leonard. She’s really funny, too.

So there’s my thoughts about “The Big Bang Theory.” Hopefully the show gets picked up for an entire season because it is, without a doubt, my favorite new show on TV. Check it out on Monday nights at 8:30 EST on CBS. I think the writer’s strike has doomed them to reruns right now, but I just watched the pilot episode again and laughed just as hard, if not harder, than I did the first time I watched it.