Big Bang Theory vs. Mike's Sitcom Theory

At times I'm inclined to believe that no one reads my blog. Other times I'm inclined to believe everyone reads my blog. For instance -I wrote that opening sentence once before, then I forgot to save it and rebooted my computer. I think it was better before... For instance -is it worse that I interrupt myself, or that I'm offended by it? FOR INSTANCE! ...if you watched this week's episode of The Big Bang Theory, you could easily deduce that the writers read my blog, then sat at their bull-pen style round table that all Hollywood writers have and said -all at once- "You know that guy Mike, that blogs and always thinks no one reads it, well, I read his blog. To be more specific, I read the blog he wrote last week about sitcoms. And you know what?! He's right, damnit! The sitcom is a wondrous thing, possibly the most wondrous contribution of late century western society! We've got a great sitcom here with The Big Bang Theory, let's trot it out there this week in all of it's sitcom glory!" That's what they'd all say at once while sitting around their bull-pen style round table. Also 3 of them would have their feet on the table, because they're creative types that can't be bothered with society's "rules".

Anywho, as I watched BBT this morning (c'mon! it comes on at 9:30!) I thought to myself "......." -All right, I didn't think anything specific or groundbreaking to myself. But I did find it greatly entertaining. Much more so than the season premier, and I was thrilled with the classic sitcom elements that it "rocked out with" this week. Also, this week's Simpsons was awesome.

Number one, top of the list effort this week to keep BBT in sitcom nirvana was the failure of Penny and Leonard's burgeoning romance. Let's be honest; geeks love when TV lead character geeks get the girl. This show is clearly aware of it's geek audience. I am also clearly aware that I'm a big geek and as such, I'm aware that part of me was happy when it looked like Leonard was going to get the girl. But in sitcoms as in life, what's good for the goose, is not always good for the gander -I'm aware of both the fact that I messed up that adage, and that it's lame. We've already covered that this is my blog and I do what I want.

You see, if Penny and Leonard become a couple, all of the sudden there's some reality to this show, some weight, it can't be a straight ahead sitcom. SitcomTown is built on top of landfill, and it's a very loosely packed landfill, if you start to add too much weight, or shake things up too much... BAMN! Sinkhole!. Look at The Simpsons; 20 years and how many real changes have they made? I can think of three. The death of Maude, Bleeding Gums Murphy, and Dr. Marvin Monroe. That's it. They make a joke of it: revealing that Principle Skinner is an impostor only to agree at the end of the episode that no one will ever mention it again; Adding new character Frank Grimes and killing him off by the end of the episode; but it's an important aspect of why they can hold on for 20 years (man, I'm freaking old!) they don't shake up SitcomTown, they don't pile too much weight on the landfill. BBT should take cue -of course, it's got the distinct disadvantage that it's characters will age- but it would do well to enjoy it's time in the light airy world of SitcomTown.

So can I follow all of that with a recount of the show? Sure I can.