"The Big Bang Theory" (2007)
Rated: Unknown
STARRING: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar
SUMMARY: The life of two uber-geeks is turned upside when a beautiful girl moves in across the hall.
iTunes had this pilot up as a free download in preparation for the series premier on Monday the 24th. I have to admit, I was dying laughing. I never thought anyone would have been able to make jokes about String Theory funny to a lay audience. Chuck Lorre has done it.
Lorre, of "Dharma & Greg" fame, has been in the sitcom game for decades now, and this show's writing, coupled with James Burrows' ("Cheers," "Friends," "Will & Grace") directing could potentially have this show running for years.
This is a sitcom for my generation. Mixed with the jokes about String Theory and the paradox of light as both wave and particle are jokes about MySpace friends being better than real friends and the bars in Online Fantasy games being a great place to kick back. There's a definite "Frasier" feel to some of the characters. The arrogance that often comes from such a high IQ was used masterfully in that show, but in this show it takes a much less refined form. It's still there, but instead of the wine snobs it's two guys arguing about derivative physics calculations in front of the pretty girl they just met because they don't know how to talk to her.
That’s another aspect of the show that isn't seen in others. Hi, my name is Ben, and I am a geek. So all the situations involving these guys not knowing how to communicate with a pretty girl are…well…NOT straight out of my life, but I know guys who have had those issues…yeah.
The performances are, of course, fantastic, being a Burrows directed show, and I look forward to the coming episodes.
Content: It's a sitcom aimed at adults, so there is, of course, some sexual humor. The twist, though, is that it takes on a vocabulary of physics professors, so most kids won't get it anyway. Language, nothing too bad. It is a prime time sitcom after all. Nudity/sexuality, girl in a towel, the guys in their underwear after being pantsed. The objectionable material is dialogue based.
(Oh, a note on the title. The title comes from the secular belief that the universe began with a big bang. Now, while debatably not entirely un-Biblical, I understand most people may worry about the issue. There is no preaching about evolution in this show or anything like that. Kids will not begin to be confused about creation through this show. However, they may be confused about the pretty girl asking to use the guys' shower because hers doesn't work yet.)
OVERALL: 7
LANGUAGE: 1
VIOLENCE: 0
GORE: 0
SEXUALITY: 2
NUDITY: 1.5
