The Big Bang Theory is dead and CBS should stop extending it
"Oh, Sheldon, I'm afraid you couldn't be more wrong."
CBS's The Big Bang Theory (TBBT) is all set to come back for season 12 sometime around September this year. To my ears, it sounds like a very married Sheldon Cooper, the same old stereotypical Raj Koothrappali and Leonard, and the perverted-as-ever Howard Wolowitz along with some badly written female characters, will return to your screen to deliver the same old jokes.
One of the longest-running comedy series in television history, TBBT already has 255 episodes under its belt — and maybe now is the time to stop. It's one thing to have a great show run for a dozen seasons, but it's another thing to drag a plot so hard that it starts coming apart at the seams. This is exactly what seems to be happening with the show.
While the show has made a lot of money for the network and has gathered a massive fan base in the process, the audience are realizing that, if it doesn't end now, the end could simply be bitter instead of bittersweet.
For starters, there is no character development in the show. Even after running for a whopping 11 seasons, the characters have remained the same? There's no depth or development in the characters, and getting Sheldon married doesn't count. It's the same old overdone jokes that aren't funny anymore. In fact, most of the jokes aren't even jokes, they are just scientific names. I've had enough of a grown-ass man saying, "Knock, knock, knock. Penny. Knock, knock, knock. Penny," and expecting it to be funny.
The characters aren't even likable anymore. Sheldon, who was once adorably quirky is now just a ridiculous, stubborn and socially-awkward person. Had he grown and adapted to the changing times, it might have elicited some amount of interest. The whole concept of him hating everything is getting very stale.
Similarly, Leonard is still the same pessimistic man who only wants your pity. While that was a cause for a tiny "aww" in the beginning, now you just want to tell him to man up.
Raj is still the stereotyped Indian idiot and Howard still hasn't gotten out of the hormonal wild west of his puberty. Did they miss the grow up memo?
Where do we begin to describe how badly written the female characters are. Penny is either the punchline or the boobs, and there's nothing in between. The women in TBBT are like the secondary showpieces that are meant to make the men look better and smarter.
Misogyny is the word and, though it may have been overlooked in the first few seasons because of how everyone else was portrayed too, it is now unbearable.
Rape and stalk culture are casually placed too – in one of the episodes, Leonard has sex with an intoxicated Penny even though she was clear about how confused she is about his feelings for him. In another episode, Raj spies on women with the help of satellites.
Geek culture, I think, is grossly misinterpreted on the show. They aren't an uncool part of the society anymore — it's the era of acceptance.
TBBT has failed to grasp the change that has come over its audience and television. It fails to fit in with the changing times. Underlying homophobia and the condescending nature of the show are massive red flags that you see scattered all over the series.
The show has aired for longer than the most iconic sitcoms of our times – 'How I Met Your Mother' and 'Friends' – and, as the saying goes, the makers should quit while they're still ahead.