Why is the Big Bang Theory so reviled, yet the IT Crowd is considered good?

Status
Not open for further replies.
EskimoJoe said:
Finally, the Countdown episode is the best.
Click to expand...

Graham Linehan asked some people (one was a friend of mine) for some suggestions for ridiculously complex ways to do the numbers round on Countdown when he was writing that episode. Can't remember if he did it via twitter or some other medium. He didn't use any of my friend's suggestions, though, alas.
 
IT Crowd plays with geek culture stereotypes as a delivery mechanism for comedy in the same way Linehan's Father Ted leaned on the life of the clergy; launching pads for deliciously surreal absurdity and satire. BBT is a witless, repetitive minstrel show. The distinction is nuanced (okay, it's not, it's fucking obvious), but it is there.

Except, hey, they both have a laugh track.

Talon said:
The three actors in the IT Crowd are actually independently awesome, not human beings that you feel compelled to beat up if you were to actually meet them.
Click to expand...

Yup. The shorter answer: Talent goes a long way.
 
Discotheque said:
oh shit man. y'all are hyping this father ted to oblivion. time to watch an episode.
Click to expand...

Don't start me quoting the show or we'll be here for hours with a serious thread de-railing. Seriously though, definitely give it a go, I've seen every episode so many times and yet they're still funny. Hell, Reddit's r/Ireland decided to give up Father Ted quotes for Lent, they are so ubiquitous.
 
because this guy:

tumblr_lrm7ktu0SZ1qz5aifo1_500.jpg
 
I think one of the reasons I like Arrested Development was that it actually felt kinda British in an odd way; the whole universe was just a little bit askew from reality; just about concievable as having its own sound internal logic, yet utterly absurd. You don't see that all that often in US sitcoms, but I can think of quite a few UK sitcoms that work like that.
 
i'm a science major and adore bbt. their science advisor rocks, the references are current, accurate, appropriately witty.
the geeky trek stuff and whatnot nicely complements the nerdy science stuff. i don't get the hate.
 
The characters in BBT are pretty charming but I feel the writing of the show betrays them. Even then I still like the show. Same goes to IT crowd though I feel the writing is a bit better. Haven't seen it all the way through though.
 
I've watched a couple seasons of The IT Crowd and never really got into it. I like The Big Bang Theory, though. The characters are exaggerated, of course, but I see aspects of myself or people I know in them and I like the setting.
 
They are both as bad as each other. The fact that some people seem somewhat offended by Big Bang though is funny to me. Must hit too close to home. Not to mention Big Bang actually likes its characters, it's laughing with them as opposed to laughing at them.
 
jett said:
Wow that was fucking GARBAGE. People that defend the IT Crowd and shit on BBT are incomprehensible.
Click to expand...

Watch the episode before you call it garbage, or you're not going to get the context and think that the show is entirely about this kind of thing.
 
I really like the It Crowd. I like Big Bang too. Certainly like the It Crowd much more though. The jokes seem a lot drier and I like the boss characters (both of them) quite a bit.

I guess I'd say BBT seems a bit more referential which can be a turn off for me. I guess it seems a bit more pandering.

Never really thought about it.
 
Never seen the IT crowd.

Honestly Big Bang theory is the equivalent of blackface comedy except way less offensive.

It's a steaming pile of bad stereotypes and bad writing.

Have yet to meet someone I consider intelligent defend BBT.
 
Prophet Steve said:
And one reason that the writing in the IT Crowd is better, is that it actually comes back to jokes within an episode which I don't really see The Big Bang Theory do.
Click to expand...
BBT does it too. A lot. Even more times than "Bazinga" has been uttered.

And that Internet clip... just swap the characters with BBT characters but retain the exact same lines and you'll see the internet hate train shit on it. A scene like that wouldn't even look out of place in BBT.

Herne said:
Watch the episode before you call it garbage, or you're not going to get the context and think that the show is entirely about this kind of thing.
Click to expand...
Let's give IT Crowd clips the benefit of the doubt while we never ever mention trying to get the context of any BBT clip.

This entire thread just makes me smh. Both shows are just different flavors of the same thing. They're just the kind of shows you take lightly and not carefully analyze as if it's a George Carlin performance.
 
IT Crowd eventually has jokes built around these exaggerated cliches and comes up with stories that are fun even without ,,lolol such nerds!!1''. In Big Bang Theory, the fact that they are wacky nerds (hurrrr) itself is the only ,,joke''. That Windows 7 clip is like a laugh track parody, but sadly it's apparently real. I also don't like the internet clip from IT crowd, but the difference is that this show gets better. Big Bang does not.
 
Spieler Eins said:
IT Crowd eventually has jokes built around these exaggerated cliches. In Big Bang Theory, the fact that they are wacky nerds (hurrrr) itself is the only ,,joke''. That Windows 7 clip is like a laugh track parody, but sadly it's apparently real.
Click to expand...

Windows 7 clip is out of context. It's funny if you know the characters. But if you are random person who doesn't regularly watch BBT then it does seem like laugh track parody. Personally I don't like BBT, but I don't see how it's any different from other horrible network tv shows. 30 Rock and Community gets all kinds of praises here on GAF but for me they are on same level.
 
Herne said:
Watch the episode before you call it garbage, or you're not going to get the context and think that the show is entirely about this kind of thing.
Click to expand...

This is not the correct answer to his post. Just tell him he has bad taste and can only understand humor that is mind-numbingly obvious and be done with it.
 
Fuzz Rez said:
Windows 7 clip is out of context. It's funny if you know the characters. But if you are random person who doesn't regularly watch BBT then it does seem like laugh track parody. Personally I don't like BBT, but I don't see how it's any different from other horrible network tv shows. 30 Rock and Community gets all kinds of praises here on GAF but for me they are on same level.
Click to expand...

Even if you know that the guy talking is the super anti-social wacko of the show, that doesn't explain random laughs after ,,I bought Windows 7'' and then again after ,,It's much more user friendly''. It's just completely retarded.
 
The IT Crowd just has the more fitting jokes for "nerds". Like when a fire was burning and the guy with the glasses was sending a mail to the firemen. BBT is pretty much the usual US sitcom with jokes how worthless nerds are.
 
Eh, I like Big Bang. It's not the funniest show ever but it's good to chill out with after work. While the argument that it's making fun of nerd culture as opposed to 'laughing along with it' may be true, it can be funny at times seeing the guys do things I would do myself, yet looking at it from this outside perspective.
 
Fuzz Rez said:
Windows 7 clip is out of context. It's funny if you know the characters. But if you are random person who doesn't regularly watch BBT then it does seem like laugh track parody. Personally I don't like BBT, but I don't see how it's any different from other horrible network tv shows. 30 Rock and Community gets all kinds of praises here on GAF but for me they are on same level.
Click to expand...

Why do people always say that about BBT? "It's funny if you know the characters"? Really? They are socially inept nerds (with maybe a few personality quirks for each individual). The show simply hammers this into the audience's skull while giving cues to laugh. That is the singular "joke" in the entire show.
 
I found TBBT to be funny in the first few seasons. Problem is that after a certain point it grows tired, repetitive and the characters just turn into caricatures of themselves. Furthermore the show is rooted in reality so there's only so much you can do with the characters.

IT crowd on the other hand starts off with an aura of absurdity from the get go, and continues to use that kind of humour. There were only 4 season, each of which had 6 excellently written episodes, for a total of 24 episodes after which they found that doing more would decrease the integrity of the whole show. American shows, on the other hand tend to milk out 24 episodes a season and it takes an awful lot of talented writers to be able to pull off consistently good episodes.
 
HappyBivouac said:
Why do people always say that about BBT? "It's funny if you know the characters"? Really? They are socially inept nerds (with maybe a few personality quirks for each individual). The show simply hammers this into the audience's skull while giving cues to laugh. That is the singular "joke" in the entire show.
Click to expand...

In that specific context it's more funny if you know the character. It's still not funny but at least I understand why fans of the show might not find it random as many people here. It's same with shows like King of the Hill, most stuff Hank says or does doesn't come out as funny if you do not know the character.

edit. I do give that "I bought windows 7" should not grant any kind of laughter.
 
Cosmic Schwung said:
Damn, I'd forgotten that even existed. You got me there, I wasn't a fan. Looking up to see if Linehan had any other sitcoms and I can't say I've even heard of Paris. Apparently that was pretty shit.
Click to expand...

Paris isn't bad, Alexei Sayle is great in it. I think it's problem is more that the subject matter wasn't of much interest to a greater audience.

edit

There's a German version of the IT Crowd called Das iTeam - Die Jungs an der Maus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1101236/
 
The boss man jumping out the window is just an amazing scene. There's also a classic bit in S1 I believe where they walk into a club or bar or something and he's sitting at a table:

"... and, I turn around, four dead cyclists, all my fault!"
 
Jacobi said:
The IT Crowd just has the more fitting jokes for "nerds". Like when a fire was burning and the guy with the glasses was sending a mail to the firemen. BBT is pretty much the usual US sitcom with jokes how worthless nerds are.
Click to expand...

Or when they wanna find friends at a sports bar and eventually get involved into some bank robbery and shit, lol. They just come up with fun stories and jokes (that don't even have to relate to them being geeks), even though the overacting/cliches can be similar which turned me off IT crowd at first actually. BBT boils down to ,,LOL dude plays videogames and likes science more than sex HERP DIDELI DERRRP''
 
Tesseract said:
i'm a science major and adore bbt. their science advisor rocks, the references are current, accurate, appropriately witty.
the geeky trek stuff and whatnot nicely complements the nerdy science stuff. i don't get the hate.
Click to expand...

Hits too close to home. It's the only explanation I can think of. I get that some people don't like the show, but I don't get the hate.
 
Spieler Eins said:
Or when they wanna find friends at a sports bar and eventually get involved into some bank robbery and shit, lol. They just come up with fun stories and jokes (that don't even have to relate to them being geeks), even though the overacting/cliches can be similar which turned me off IT crowd at first actually. BBT boils down to ,,LOL dude plays videogames and likes science more than sex HERP DIDELI DERRRP''
Click to expand...

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Why so much Big Bang Theory hate?
2 3
110
6K
ResurrectedContrarian replied
  • Locked
It is considered illegal to only hire your own race, yet…
30
1K
light2x replied
It's time to revisit the simulation theory.
42
118
VaultBoy101 replied
So apparently, upcoming ''The Monkey'' movie is pretty good
16
1K
DeafTourette replied
  • Locked
Why Is Suicide So Stigmatized?
2
68
3K
ThisIsMyDog replied
Top Bottom