We are being laughed at. A ranty article purely for debating purposes.

[JamesonCourage]

Friends - just how did they afford those massive appartments on their generally jobs.

I never did like "Friends", and that was always a good excuse for why in my mind.

I think that Chandler, Ross, and Monica had better paying jobs (there was an episode about this... the Hootie & the Blowfish episide?). The main apartment (the bigger one) was in Ross and Monica's grandmother's name, if I recall, and since it was rent-controlled from when she had it, they were paying a very low rate for it (I think the fact that it's in her name comes up in the episode where Joey has to teach a guy to dance, because he's threatening to get them kicked out over the grandmother thing). And, across the hall is smaller, and Chandler pays for that apartment. Ross is a PHD, so I think it's assumed he can afford his apartment, wherever he ends up as it goes on (I think Rachel, with her low paying job, always has a roommate with good pay... Monica at first in the rent-controlled apartment, then Joey when he has Soap Opera money, and then Ross, as I recall the progression?). I have no idea about Phoebe, but I don't recall ever really seeing her apartment.

At any rate, as someone who has watched the show, I think they had an explanation of it. I never had a problem with it, at least.

I assumed it was an LA-written version of NYC, as opposed to the clear NYC sensibility (and imaginable apartments) of "Seinfeld".

Totally different issue, and I get where you're coming from, here. It doesn't bug me, but I understand. Anyways... I know return you to your debate! As always, play what you like

 

[Tanstaafl_au]

Do you think children at school won't be bullied and name called because BBT is out there?

I think they get bullied less.

This is coming from my perspective as an Australian teacher in primary school, being a geek, and watching the school geek culture change over the last twenty years. Experience will differ of course depending on where you are. I don't know how much awareness you have about current school social environments..

BBT, and the fact it's very mainstream, has helped geek culture here grow in strength. Wearing a BBT Tshirt doesn't qualify as a 'nerd' Tshirt.
Saying Bazinga is like an earlier generation saying 'doh' from the Simpsons.
Seen as mainstream, not geek culture. And those bits overlap with geek stuff, and do make the geek cultures bits become more acceptable as they get blended together.

Geek, and identifying as a geek has become much viable. The reaction to kids saying things like BBT stars, playing WoW, liking science, playing collectible card games at lunch or other things the main (male) roles do on BBT get much less picked on now for those activites. These things used to earn scorn immediately. Giving non geeks a way of seeing these mannerisms in a non threatening way helps. Because a lot of bullying comes from not understanding or not being able to identify with other's behavior. In a similar manner and as a viewpoint, our Autism awareness group loves Sheldon as a way of humanizing the 'odd' behaviors autistic children can have. (Side note: This is despite BBT writers outright saying Sheldon isn't autistic).

Seeing geek types as successful is a good thing - all the main male stars on BBT are successfully employed in good jobs, have reasonable success with relationships (for a sit com).

Compare the insults and inaccuracies in Revenge of the Nerds compared to BBT and I think it's clear BBT is far more sympathetic and portrays geeks in a much better light.

Big Bang Theory is not an almighty engine of positive social change, but on balance it's much more a positive thing than a negative for geeks, and I think does far more good than you realise.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Look- sitcoms are unrealistic. Period.

How many attractive women do you know married to overweight & generally clueless but somehow charming blue-collar or lower-middle class dudes?

Now, start counting them up in the sitcoms...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

BTW, I have to admit that when I first noticed people using the term South Asian, I thought of Henry Cho.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c36873f6c1/whats-that-clickin-noise-from-henrycho

 

[Bedrockgames]

The Big Bang Theory does, indeed, laugh at geeks. It also laughs at Penny's stupid sporty boyfriends (hell, one was so dumb he was worried they were going to blow up the moon) - it's a sitcom. It laughs at the characters in it. This one happens to feature geeks as the main characters; there are plenty of sitcoms which feature sportsmen or waitresses or manic hotel owners played by John Cleese or the last human alive on a mining spaceship. We laugh at them, too. I don't get why you'd think geeks are being singled out. Sitcoms laugh at the characters in them; this one happens to feature geeks. Sounds like your issue is with the sitcom format, not the geeks.

Sitcoms exagerate for comic effect. I think in the case of the big bang what is important is even though characters are a source of humor they are likeable. People who are not geeks may watch the show and laugh at sheldon's antics but they also continue to watch because they like sheldon. Personally i am not offended by the Big Bang. In fact i have seen it make people more accepting of my geekiness in real life. The show is also made for geeks as well. It is filled with geek humor (which is one if the reasons I watch it).

 

[MichaelSomething]

There was another show, a game type show, King of Nerds I think? They had a couple teams of geeks and nerds that partook in challenges such as trivia, costume design, etc. Anyway, I saw a couple of those episodes. Again, it was pathetic. Part of the challenges were designed, at least in my opinion, to exploit the stereo-typical pigeon holes that geeks and nerds are placed into - meaning, they were designed so others could laugh at them. Sure, there were challenges that they were good at, but those were actually set up to be quite boring and still, they managed to turn some of those into events for mockery. Another two thumbs down.

I thought the whole point of reality shows was to be exploitative?

 

[haakon1]

Its only in he past..what, 5 years or so...that South Asians have been a very visible and essentially mainstream and non-stereotypical factor in USA entertainment.

Viva la demographics!

Nod, there does seem to be a demographic sea change . . .

For what it's worth, the first Indian guy I ever met was the first Indian family to move into my small hometown (4500 people), way back in the summer of 1981. In August 1981, I made my first D&D character, with him as DM and players being just me and his brother. Heck, we had so little diversity, even the ESL program in our high school was mostly for Italian immigrants, and the only Spanish speaking kid I knew was from Spain.

Last time I visited home, walking around the mall in a nearby city, I realized it was very different from the "we've got both kinds of people, white and black" America that used to be. Indians are no longer "very rare" on the encounter charts, at least there, and the encounter chart has a whole lot more entries on it than it used to.

 

[Jhaelen]

The geeks are not just geeks, they are hyper-geeks. They have very obvious and impossible to avoid OCDs, PHDs and incredible jobs as scientists. And they don’t know how to behave in front of the attractive neighbor.

I don't know, maybe that's because it's a sit-com?! All sit-coms are based on exaggerating the (stereo)typical traits of their protagonists. It's part of what makes it funny (if you find sit-coms funny at all). It's not meant to be a documentary about geeks.
The show also makes fun of 'the attractive neighbor'. She's laughed at just as much as the geeks. Other sit-coms or comedy shows make fun of other groups of people. Everyone is laughed at somewhere.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Threads like this keep reminding me that there's perhaps a greater-than-average correlation between "geeks" and people with some form of Aperger's-spectrum lack of ability to pick up on common social queues.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You bet your Asperger.