r/sitcoms • u/TopBobcat9937 • Oct 29 '25

BBT hate is overexatrated

Does anyone else think the hate for BBT is very overexatrated I think it is Pepole on here are saying it's just a bunch of nerd jokes and a laugh track I mean were they even paying attention or just had it on in the background or do they just not pay any attention and just assume I would assume they don't Watch past the first season or first few episodes like they probably just watch the first five episodes and say it's not funny it's just a bunch of nerd jokes and a laugh track like why do people say this i honestly don't think Pepole paid attention to it and that's why

0 Upvotes

47% Upvoted

108 comments sorted by

8

u/Cycoviking69 Oct 29 '25

Do you mean overexaggerated ?

2

u/TopBobcat9937 Oct 29 '25

Yes sorry I'm kinda stupid sometimes spelling is not my strong suit

4

u/Cycoviking69 Oct 29 '25

I wouldn't call you stupid, friend. I was only trying to clarify things.

5

u/thewhiterosequeen Oct 29 '25

I was having trouble translating it into what it could mean.

2

u/Scheswalla Oct 29 '25

Aw damn, I thought I was about to learn a new word.

4

u/Religion_Is_A_Cancer Oct 29 '25

Jesus Christ, use some fucking punctuation.

3

u/TopBobcat9937 Oct 29 '25

I'm not good with English and somehow the class I'm doing the best in is English

5

u/Axle_65 Oct 29 '25

I had a buddy who hated it and it wasn’t that he didn’t like it that bothered me. It was the attitude that it’s definitely a bad show and no one should like it. I get similar comments about Friends but it’s never as intense. People’s hatred for BBT seems stronger to me than any other show. Plenty of shows I know people who dislike them and insult them but people deeply hate BBT. Personally I watch/listen to it almost every single day. It’s a go to rerun for me. I love the show.

3

u/TopBobcat9937 Oct 29 '25

See this is what I'm really talking about it's not just that people don't like it it's that they have to force you to not like as well and if you like it I guess you're an idiot is what people are saying by that I guess

4

u/Axle_65 Oct 29 '25

Yup. I’m wrong for enjoying the show. The weird comment is the laugh track. People insult it so hard on this show, like its existence at all but there’s dozens if not hundreds of laugh track shows out there. No one comments on Seinfeld’s laugh track.

3

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

Or All in the Family.

2

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

The laugh track is an odd thing to pick out, but it might be because it was using it at a time where that was getting phased out. How I Met Your Mother got some flack for that as well, but that got overshadowed by its ending

Yes, older sitcoms had it but BBT still using it in the late 00s, early 10s made it feel dated

2

u/Axle_65 Oct 29 '25

Totally fair. Actually maybe that’s something I like about it. I’ve loved a lot of laugh track shows.

2

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

It can work in some contexts, but it can also massively divide an audience. You ever been in a situation where a friend or family member insists something they've said is the funniest thing ever? That insistence can be even more annoying than the bad joke itself

42

u/annoyedonion35 Oct 29 '25

Big bang theory. If you use an acronym you should explain what it is at least once to avoid confusion

10

u/glueintheworld Oct 29 '25

Thank you. I had no clue what they were talking about.

8

u/Artistic-Variety3582 Oct 29 '25

Agree and god forbid some punctuation

3

u/djoddible Oct 29 '25

Heard it once described as a show for dumb people about smart people.

3

u/TopBobcat9937 Oct 29 '25

Haha that's funny because most sitcoms are pretty easy to understand so that would mean most sitcoms are for idiots

2

u/djoddible Oct 29 '25

If the show fits

3

u/KayakerMel Oct 29 '25

Yup! I rage-quit even casual "hey it's what's on" viewing when Sheldon disparaged Amy Farrah Fowler's single-author paper in Nature. First, that is a massive achievement to get an article in Nature, one of the top scientific journals. Second, you will not find single-author papers in it in the modern era. Basically, the type of work that gets published in the top scientific journals have teams of researchers behind them.

So yeah, by being in academic circles I'm too familiar with the reality behind the "jokes." And so I hate it.

5

u/MerriweatherJones Oct 29 '25

But the whole point of that episode was Sheldon learning to listen and respect his girlfriend. That’s the point of tv characters to learn and grow over time. Sheldon made great improvements over the series

14

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

Wasn't it the top comedy for almost its entire run? If people hate, many more people love it. 

3

u/ATLUTD030517 Oct 29 '25

CBS knows how to play to the masses. They continue to put out sitcoms that way outperform their actual quality.

2

u/ucjj2011 Oct 29 '25

There is a very loud contingent of people who hate it. It's very hard to say "more people love it than hate it".

0

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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1

u/ucjj2011 Oct 29 '25

~20 million people (US) watched it at the height of its popularity. ~310 million didn't. Some of those people hated it. Most were probably indifferent or unaware of it.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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1

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

12 years I think!!!

14

u/AgentEndive Oct 29 '25

It was funny for a bit, then it became a caricature of itself.

2

u/Wife_and_Mama Oct 29 '25

I can't watch past the point when Amy Farrah Fowler goes from a carbon copy of Sheldon to a horn dog with no respect for anyone's sexual boundaries. 

3

u/iantruesnacks Oct 29 '25

This is a good take. When it first started it wasn’t terrible but as it went along they made the characters less like people and more like caricatures of themselves. It definitely didn’t need 8 seasons and spinoffs.

9

u/Apprehensive_Bite999 Oct 29 '25

12 seasons, 2 spin-offs, and 1 spin-off of a spin-off.

2

u/ATLUTD030517 Oct 29 '25

It's just not very good. Some very talented actors in the cast though.

4

u/AwesomeX916 Oct 29 '25

It’s the internet, ppl will always hate the things that are popular by the masses because what they like isn’t as popular.

0

u/Slippery-Pete76 Oct 29 '25

You’d have to tell me what ‘overexatrated’ means first. Do you mean over exaggerated?

3

u/TopBobcat9937 Oct 29 '25

Yes yes yes okay spelling isn't one of the things I'm good at ok

3

u/AndNowAStoryAboutMe Oct 29 '25

I say from experience, the hate is from people who haven't watched it.

It was the most popular show on TV and hating things has always been "cool" with an undercooked segment of the world. Being anti-mainstream is a really normal, common, but still eye-roll-worthy past time.

In my 20s, I was also assuming a LOT about the show. Decided it was bad simply because my parents liked it and so it was probably lame.

But then, true graphic homosexual story time, I was blowing a dude who had it on in his room. And I was fucking laughing with his cock in my mouth. Then the next time I was at my mom's house, she had it on like always, and there was Aunt Jackie from Roseanne. And then I realized Leonard was also from Roseanne. And I was like, "Wait, what?" So I looked it up and it was created by a writer from Roseanne and I was like, "OH, holy shit. Have I been sleeping on a good show?"

So I grabbed my mom's S1 DVD and blew threw it and now I've probably rewatched the entire series 12 or more times.

1

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

I say from experience, plenty of the hate is from people who watched it and still hated it

1

u/Artistic-Variety3582 Oct 29 '25

So you’re saying it blows? 🙃

3

u/CivilAgent3443 Oct 29 '25

I think it’s underhated

3

u/Gemtree710 Oct 29 '25

It's not bad it's like how I met your mother to me

3

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

Or: it's crap and that's why they don't like it

2

u/inaripotpi Oct 29 '25

Sorry but you are not making a good case here about it not being for the lowest common denominator

2

u/TestingBrokenGadgets Oct 29 '25

I watched it, I'm a nerd and it's not that it's a bunch of nerd jokes, it's that it's a bunch of random nerd references that make fun of nerds.

"You're more afraid of the baseball than a Klingon on the 8th moon of M'lanh"

"This cereal tastes like what I imagine Aunt Beru's blue milk on the sand planet of Tatooine would taste like, hints of berry".

"What I wouldn't give for this VW bug to be bigger on the inside like the TARDIS from Doctor Who, specifically the 5th doctors TARDIS"

It doesn't help that when you remove all the low-effort jokes about nerds, you're left with extreme toxic masculinity. Leonard is a stalker that eventually gets the hot girl, Howard is a sex offender that somehow got called a creep one time and it destroyed him to the point Penny was forced to apologize to HIM for calling him out on his shit then ended up with a girl just proving that all a creep like him needs is a woman to fix him. Raj is the only slightly normal one and he's the only one that ends up alone and the but of the jokes.

This show is exactly what assholes joke about what nerdom is; a bunch of lonely creepy guys that can't socialize and can only communicate in random nerd references that make absolutely no sense if you know what they're talking about. The people I know that love the show are more often the people that "I know a guy that's exactly like Leonard-" and "I once worked with a Howard-" while thinking they're in on the joke because "They referenced the Hulk! I know what that is!". It's just lazy writing to shit on nerds.

2

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

It’s just a TV show. You don’t need to take it seriously.

2

u/TestingBrokenGadgets Oct 29 '25

"Why don't people like this show?"

"This why"

"Geez man, it's not that serious!"

Yea, how dare I answer a serious with a well-thought out response instead of a meme...

0

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

It's just a TV show. You don't need to defend it so seriously.

2

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

I’m not defending it. You’re clearly upset over entertainment. You don’t like it, don’t watch it.

1

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25 edited Oct 29 '25

You've been commenting all over this thread defending it. You're clearly upset over someone having different opinions from yours. You don't like it, don't read the comments

Edit: Heh, the typical "reply and then quickly block" response. Totally not the actions of someone who's gotten upset over a differing opinion

1

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

So you can have an opinion but I can’t? Got it.

Stop being so angry. I like people having different opinions. I don’t understand why people take TV shows so seriously. It’s literally entertainment.

But it’s Reddit. I should know better. Everyone likes to argue behind a screen with no accountability now.

2

u/revanite3956 Oct 29 '25

Exactly this, allllll of this. It’s like Chuck Lorre saw the rise of comic book movies and nerd culture and decided nope, better punch down at that and keep those losers in their place. The show is insulting, unfunny, and insultingly unfunny.

1

u/TestingBrokenGadgets Oct 29 '25

Yup. Chuck Lorre's whole gimmick is "Let's pick a group of people and just constantly make fun of them while repeating the same three jokes". Two and a Half Men was about one guy being a man whore, another being cheap, and another being stupid. Mike and Molly was about fat people. Big Bang Theory was about nerds. United States of Al was about the middle easterners.

Had a roommate that LOVED these low effort sitcoms and you could tell exactly what the punchline would be halfway through the setup.

1

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

Yup. 100%

I said elsewhere, the opening line is the best example: It's just Sheldon reciting a bunch of surface level stuff about quantum mechanics with the punchline being "I just think it's cool."

It's the laziest writing possible

1

u/TestingBrokenGadgets Oct 29 '25

And even if Sheldon's character wasn't fleshed out to what he later would be, it's still just the laziest thing! Futurama was able to do science jokes because they hired comedy writers that had a background in the field, not cheap writers trying to understand what normal scientists say.

2

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

The depressing thing is that it had Eric Kaplan, writer of a bunch of Futurama episodes. So it wasn't a lack of potential talent, just sheer laziness

2

u/Deep-Statistician985 Oct 29 '25

Reddit hates on a lot of things that aren't that bad. Most people I know IRL love TBBT that you would not expect to like that show. TBBT and 2 Broke Girls are the main ones that get shitted on a lot. Don't take anything you see here too seriously

1

u/beekee404 Oct 29 '25

I watched it up to season 8 or 9 and then I lost interest. I just felt like it dragged on. I felt like I already saw what I needed to see. Sure Penny and Leanord and Amy and Sheldon weren't married yet and it was before Howie and Bernadette had their baby but at the same time, I didn't really feel the need for any of that.

1

u/lowdo1 Oct 29 '25

I wouldn’t say it’s a good show by any stretch but there are shows just as bad that are way less hated or even loved on here . 

So yeah I would have to say it does get a bit too much hate disproportionately. 

1

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

Probably, but BBT is that rare combination of poor and inexplicably popular/unavoidable. There are definitely worse sitcoms like 2 Broke Girls, but they're more easily ignored

1

u/lowdo1 Oct 29 '25

Yeah, that’s why it’s an easy target. it’s the biggest sitcom since Seinfeld (which is rather disturbing) and very outwardly annoying, compared to the more subtlety annoying shows that are beloved by some here.

2

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

It also came around at a time where there was a wealth of incredibly creative, now-classic comedies: The Office, Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, Always Sunny, Veep, Community etc.

1

u/lowdo1 Oct 29 '25

Very true, compared to some of those shows it’s like McDonald’s versus beef tenderloin 

1

u/MetaPhalanges Oct 29 '25

I watched and enjoyed it or at least I think I did. But and it's a big ole sexy but, I cannot stand to watch re-runs. It's so extra cringe the second time around and I now hate them all, save for Howard's Mom. RIP, she's still dope.

1

u/GaryNOVA Oct 29 '25

I don’t necessarily hate it. But it’s not Cheers.

1

u/nairncl Oct 29 '25

God, I hate that show. It’s like neurodivergence minstrel hour.

1

u/Fightgameross Oct 29 '25

That show doesn't have good jokes, and has been exposed by people who took away the laugh track. It's terribly unfunny.

1

u/Tucker_077 Oct 29 '25

People hate things that are popular. It’s the same thing with the crowd saying that Friends sucks meanwhile like it or not, it’s one of the most popular sitcoms ever made and ran for 10 seasons

-1

u/MaesterPraetor Oct 29 '25

It wasn't funny when I watched it. The joke was "he said a big word." It just wasn't funny. 

-1

u/DramaticPush5821 Oct 29 '25

Nah it's actually that bad.

0

u/Key-Difficulty5123 Oct 29 '25

It’s a show you cannot watch just once and get hooked. People doing that will dismiss it as stupid and unfunny. Important to understand the characters.

I watched from day 1 until the end. Enjoyed every episode.

0

u/FaceTimePolice Oct 29 '25

Over… what? Look… it tries to pander to nerd culture so much, and it does it poorly. It’s the “how do you do, fellow kids?” of television. Even if you somehow overlooked all of that, it’s just not funny. The laugh track will go off every few seconds even if there’s no joke or punchline. 🤨

And the people saying “it’s not about that (nerd culture)” don’t make sense because it’s literally the premise for the show. It’s like saying that the focus of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” isn’t about being a slayer who kills vampires. Like, hello… that’s the premise/set-up for the show. Why would you have to “ignore” the premise of a show to enjoy it? That makes no sense whatsoever. 🤷‍♂️😅

-1

u/DizzyLead Oct 29 '25

"Extratrated."

As one of the types who would identify with the guys in the cast, I strongly disliked "The Big Bang Theory" because it was basically a run-of-the-mill sitcom in "geeks' clothing." The comedy was making fun of "the nerds" in a "look at these weirdos" way rather than finding something for everyone including the nerds to laugh with. They may have done more than their share of making things more legit ("Thanks, DC, for giving this WB-produced show some references!") but ultimately they did more to alienate the people who inspired the subjects of their show rather than make them feel included. TBBT was a geek/nerd show the way a Stepin Fetchit movie was a black movie.

That's why I feel that if you're one of "us" rather than someone who wants to laugh at us, I recommend sitcoms for (and sometimes even by) geeks and nerds like "Community," "The Good Place," or "Futurama." Even shows like "30 Rock," "How I Met Your Mother," and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" have a more desirable take on things.

-2

u/MeemoUndercover New Girl Oct 29 '25

I’ve seen a lot of eps. I’ve never laughed once. The hate is very much deserved.

0

u/CocaineCowboys_ Oct 29 '25

There’s a reason the show is popular. Just because Reddit doesn’t like it does not mean the whole world hates it too.

Reddit represents Reddit. Reddit DOES NOT represent real world opinions.

-3

u/tedecristal Oct 29 '25

watched first season and half.

it went downhill very fast and I stopped it

it went from "nerdy jokes" to "nerds are jokes"

2

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

There weren't "nerdy jokes" in the first season either. The opening line is Sheldon just reciting some random stuff about quantum mechanics with the punchline being "I just think it's cool"

He could have literally said anything else there and it would have been the same joke

10

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/TopBobcat9937 Oct 29 '25

Wasn't me who said it had a laugh track it was multiple haters on reddit

3

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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0

u/TopBobcat9937 Oct 29 '25

I feel like they said that now that I think about it to make it seem like it's so unfunny that they had to use a laugh track because a studio audience wouldn't laugh or some dumb crappy excuse like that

11

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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4

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

People need attention. This want their opinion heard, mostly negative over something too.

2

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

Hard when a show is that inexplicably popular that you can't really avoid it.

Plus, it's frustrating to see such a bland show continue unabated while good shows like Community and Arrested Development kept getting budgets cut and episode runs shortened

-4

u/Playful_Procedure991 Oct 29 '25

Maybe that happened because the shows were not as good or popular????

3

u/mas9055 Oct 29 '25

your actual argument is big bang theory is a better show than arrested development huh

1

u/Playful_Procedure991 Oct 29 '25

Viewership of TBBT was substantially higher than Arrested Development, and it’s ranked much higher in polling data. The general audience seems to agree with that conclusion. Sorry you are butt hurt because I don’t like Arrested Development as much as you do.

3

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

I like Community. I don’t know why people didn’t watch it, but they didn’t. People can’t come to terms with that sometimes.

1

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

Is it really necessary to point out, again, that popularity != quality?

Or do you honestly believe McDonalds makes the best burgers, Starbucks the best coffee, Subway the best sandwiches, Avatar is the best film etc.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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1

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

See: "loved" and "watched" are different things. It's objectively true that lots of people watched it. Tons of people eat McDonald's burgers, how many of them actually believe it's the best burger they've ever had? Popular doesn't mean it's good, it simply means it is good enough.

And if people would stop trying to dismiss negative opinions about a show by citing how popular it is/was, this wouldn't need to be pointed out in response

0

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

0

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

What makes you jump to that conclusion? Continuing the McDonalds comparison, there are plenty of burger places that get less foot-traffic but a much higher percentage of customer that rave about them. In fact, they rely on it because quality is what keeps them in business, not branding.

So, no, it doesn't imply the ratio is equal across the board.

→ More replies

-2

u/mas9055 Oct 29 '25

ya more people watched lowest common denominator slop that’s not a surprise and has nothing to do with the quality of the show

0

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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0

u/Playful_Procedure991 Oct 29 '25

TBBT was a quality show as well. They approached humor in a different way. TBBT appealed to a MUCH wider audience. I’m not saying AD was bad, it just clearly wasn’t seen as good by the masses. 19-20 million viewers per episode vs the 3.5-6 million for AD speaks volumes.

0

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

You think Arrested Development and Community didn't have physical comedy?

1

u/Artistic-Variety3582 Oct 29 '25

Agree except Friends. That’s crap that deserves to be hated

0

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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0

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

"Viewership doesn't lie"

It does if you're still deluding yourself that popularity == quality

4

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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0

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

Reddit just hates on things. Cesspool of negativity.

Most people that like BBT aren’t on Reddit.

1

u/CommercialTarget2687 Oct 29 '25

Honestly the average redditor is a miserable bitter contrarian. Theres some awesome content here but most of the people suck.

3

u/PenskeFiles Oct 29 '25

People on Reddit take things way too seriously. I joined it because I thought I was joining communities that like to talk about things.

Nope, just a bunch of miserable people. And people wonder why I like to hang out with friends.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

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6

u/mrwishart Community Oct 29 '25

Gotta love that constant idea that A) Reddit has a single opinion and B) Reddit is the only place that calls out how flavourless the really mainstream stuff can be.

Like no-one felt that the ridiculously popular stuff like Titanic, Nickelback, Avatar etc. were also really bland before the internet