Ripped form the headlines of Deadline Hollywood I heard a rumour that The Big Bag Theory is renewed for THREE more seasons. This will keep the show running until 2017. Thus proving the Mayans were wrong, because the world can’t come to an end until Koothrappali finally gets lucky. And by lucky I mean, has sex with someone. And by someone I mean, girl or guy.
Now, the coincidence is not lost on me that the renewal of a show called The Big Bang Theory comes directly after Fox rocked the ratings with their sciencey Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Ken Hamm must be shivering in his ignorance now the easier to prove creation of the universe is going to be the talk over the water cooler for a long time to come. And if we learned anything from President Obama’s appearance on Between 2 Ferns causing a 40% hike in traffic on the healthcare.gov site, Comedy, with a capital ‘C’ is the way to reach the masses.
You’ve just been Scienced!
They say that now that the negotiations on the renewal of the series are over, it is a matter of salaries. Bumping the three main stars to $1 million per episode, which is Freinds’ territory. Holy Schnikey! My only gripe with that is referring to Galecki, Parsons and Cuoco as the three leads when it is clearly an ensemble, with the possible exception that the writers are too full of themselves to recognize that Parson’s character Sheldon is not the shining centre of the show and we keep getting too many story lines that follow him. And, for my money, throw in the Comic Book guy as a main cast member, I mean, sooner or later Raj and him are going to get married, amiright?
Some of you astute readers may be wondering why the show has lasted so long. In fact, I don’t know a single person who watches it, yet there it is pulling in the numbers! Well, I will tell you why I watch it: Because it is funny. Because no one learns a lesson. Because all the characters are interesting, personable, and genuinely funny. Much like Cheers, The Golden Girls, or even The Simpsons, we see that the key to good comedy is to have a group of well-defined characters and then drop them in new situations each week to see how they react.
Nothing ruins a good comedy like growth. Take inserting a new baby in Family Ties. Fail. When Jaimie and Paul had Mabel on Mad About You. Fail. When Three’s Company became Three’s a Crowd. Fail. Or, sadly, when The Golden Girls became The Golden Palace. Fail. Sorry Betty.
No one ever told us the series would make us smarter, or cure cancer. It just wants to make us laugh, and it does that. So, maybe we wanted more Arrested Development, or Firefly, but it ain’t gonna happen. So, to stop us from crying let us gather around the TV set on Thursday nights and laugh to make the hurting stop.
James C.
