Big Bang, Big Characters

For the longest time I protested watching the show The Big Bang Theory. In 2010 when Jim Parsons won best lead actor at the Emmy Awards for his portrayal the annal scientist, Sheldon Cooper, I was confused at how such a show could win. Finally this summer my friends convinced me to watch the show and I found to my surprise the show was not only hysterical, but it's characters were relatable on some level (despite large involvement in science and science fiction). I thought since I do not like science and I'm very into science fiction I would not get most of the jokes, but I found out that the writes realize that it is uncommon for most people to understand most of the dork/nerdy jokes, in fact they depend on it and the lack of understand leads to most of the hilarity.

The humor is not the whole thing that keeps the audience coming back, like it most other comedies, the jokes aren't always the key part of the show and eventually you start to shape a outline of an on going plot with developing characters. For me well developed characters that an audience can relate to is a major key to success. Though for the most part the characters on Big Bang are caricatures, they are relatable on some level and you come to love their quirks. A lot of people relate to Penny the new girl who moves across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon. Penny is not very smart so when she befriends Leonard and Sheldon as well as their two friends Raj and Howard, she tends to get lost among the guys geek/nerd talk. Leonard is another character a lot of people relate to because even though he is very nerdy, he tries the hardest to blend in with the rest of society and wants to be excepted by others. As they grow closer Penny and Leonard teach each other about their culture and they both start to understand their world. In a way the audience is taken on the journey of socialization through these characters.

Now that I am done watching the show I am very much looking forward to what the writers have in store for the upcoming season of The Big Bang Theory. The characters have greatly developed over the the last four seasons and has turned the series from comedy show with funny characters to a show with interesting characters with a growing plot that happens to be funny. It is the diversity of the characters and intrigue of what funny situation they will get into next that keeps the audience coming back.