This is an excellent topic. I feel the shows are about painting nerds comically, and so ordinary people don’t realize why we don’t like it.
Well, I think most people don’t think about the things they are laughing at, that’s all..

I think some parts of the IT shows just make metaphorical analogies to our apparent, inherent separation from the world. Although I find less conflict this way, the shows paint a general public’s usual stereotype against that type of life..

If a video showed what an ordinary lab environment was Actually like it wouldn’t be funny at all. People would probably relate with the actual Nerd rather then the Asshole sitting next to him, because in real life Nerd situations there is no Asshole;
That guy is busy being an asshole and isn’t in the lab! :D

@ Travis McCrea:
I think I’ll morph into all four of them depending on situation if I put on The Mask. Raj among people I don’t know, Howard among people I do know, Sheldon among people who do not share the same interests as me, and Leonard when I’m with my wife and kid. :D

I think this are shows not just about geeks, they are for geeks too. (at least IT-Crowd, i didn’t really watch big bang theory much)
There are at least the same amount of jokes about “normal” people like there are jokes about geeks (“have you tried turning it on and of again?”, “this, jen, is the internet.. don’t drop it!”).
A lot of Jokes won’t even be understood by most people. So yes.. i think they are a lot more funny if you are geek. (most normal people here in germany propably dont even know/understand the whole concept of geek and nerd… for them they are just strange acting people)

:P So then its not making fun of us, its pointing out truth! These are the chronically of my life… if it makes people laugh, great.

I do see your point. I also was not actually upset you didn’t respond to everything else… just giving you shit.

@ Travis McCrea:
I’d say I’m a mix of Sheldon and Raj.

@ Travis McCrea:
I’d say I’m a mix of Sheldon and Rajesh.

@ Travis McCrea:

Well, it was 2am in the morning and I was about to go to sleep, so I just kept it short. I do see your point though.

Yes the humor in the clip is character driven, stemming from the fact that Sheldon suddenly goes on an off-topic rant that while well thought out comes literally out of nowhere, most likely being unrelated to the previous conversation.

On the other hand, the fact remains that they purposefully ramp up Sheldon’s character to maximize the geekiness just to be able to make that joke. So my point still stands – I’m kinda tired of seeing geeks being mostly portrayed as comic relief.

That said, this does not really offend me or anything. BBT is one of the very few shows out there that does have a lot of geek aimed fan service, and thanks to that blog link posted above I’m gaining new appreciation on just how much research goes into each episode.

Also sometimes they are spot on – whether intentionally, or by accident. For example, I saw one episode where all characters are trying to help Leonard to figure out Football when he gets invited to watch a game with a girl and some of her jock friends. Funny thing is that something like this has happened to me – I had friends giving me crash course in the game, teams and players in the car on the way to a superbowl party so that I could at least pretend that I know what is going on.

I agree with you. Those series are boring, I’m geek, but those series just show a bad caricature of some geeks. I’m quite far from that profile…

:P I wrote two entries that combined were about as long as your whole blog, and the only thing you care to comment on is the little joke meaningless thing at the end?

lol … like I said… Sheldon. :P

hehe in your above comment you said “the series don’t have funny clips” instead of doesn’t. I find it entertaining, because I rarely see you make grammar mistakes like that… so I have to point it out.

So now go… go and watch the show … I was wrong before they moved from monday to Thursday (or some other day, I think its Thursday, look it up.. or just set your DVR… or just download the torrent… or watch it on the site)

@ Jereme Kramer:

I just can’t get into Xavier. I think it is one of these shows that can’t be enjoyed fully without some pharmaceutical enhancement. Most of it is disjointed noise to me, though it did make me laugh a few times, and I do acknowledge that it often does make some interesting points. I also hate their cheep looking animation and character models fished out of the deepest end of the uncanny valley.

@ stwawbewwy:

Wow, what a difference. It actually made me crack up. I love how the missing laugh track adds these prolonged awkward pauses. Why do we even have laugh tracks anyway?

@ Mart:

Thanks for the link to that blog. Very refreshing to see a show hire a real scientist consultant instead of just making stuff up, and looking stuff up on Wikipedia – which seems to be the norm these days.

@ JKjoker:

Yes, the internet clip is indeed quite funny and quite clever. I never said these series don’t have funny scenes – they do. As I said, they both do a lot of fan service directed at us geeks which is likely why everyone keeps recommending them to me.

@ Travis McCrea:

Yes, unfortunately I think I am very much Sheldon like. Well minus the brilliant theoretical physicist stuff. I usually try to conceal it when I’m amongst strangers and not externalize this stuff the way he does though. :P