It's no contest
It's no contest
It's no contest
BBT is a show about smart people for dumb people. The IT Crowd is a show about smart people.
If BBT was made today it would be accused of being written by AI. Fully flanderised characters, and endless filler episodes.
The big ban theory was not for geeks or nerds. It was pure shit.
It had a good few first episodes with fun geeky jokes, but it quickly turned to bad jokes and lazy stereotypes and relied loosely on stereotypes to contain the geekyness.
Misogynistic pure shit.
No... the IT crowd is a sitcom FOR geeks. That other shit just makes fun of us
I believe this is what happened to Dr Who. When it started it was for science and history nerds, science sounding gobble-de-gook, cos play outfits, very low production values (the infamous duct tape boots). All just good fun.
When it was rebooted the focus had shifted. The Doctor as the cool guy, a Jesus figure, became more and more pronounced. They started to make fun of nerds on a regular bases. Amazing writing and production values, but at some point during the Tennant era I stopped watching in disgust.
While I like IT Crowd it’s unfortunately written by a TERF activist so I will never watch it again. Also explains why there is an episode about a trans woman getting beat up
No no IT Crowd is a show about sysadmins, not geeks lol. There's a very clear difference.
And Moss was a nerd not a geek. He wasn’t obsessing about comics, videogames etc. like the characters in BBT.
I also think this is a cultural difference. The comic book obsession seems more like an american thing. In the Netherlands and Belgium there is also a big comic book appreciation, but it's much less about heroism and more humorous.
Yes, in the proportion of furries vs weebs.
this thread feels strange to me. anyone else?
I watched one random episode of BBT after it was recommended to me by a few people. That one episode was enough for me to decide that I never want to see that show again, and also that I should disregard all recommendations from the people who said I should watch it.
The laugh track alone is enough evidence
I watched a scene where someone posted it without the laugh track and it was super cringey. Semi-related note.. Taking the laugh track out of BBT ruins it, but taking Garfield out of Garfield comics takes it to a new level, see here -> https://garfieldminusgarfield.net/
I do prefer the Realfield edits, that replace Garfield with a normal cat.
Gives mire crazy cat guy than mental illness vibes.
Taking the laugh track out of anything ruins it. You are replacing laughter with dead air.
You might like the Heathcliffe without Heathcliffe posts right here on Lemmy https://lemmy.world/c/heathcliff
If anyone is wondering, it’s totally okay to like both.
I would say they're like apples and oranges but they're more like apples and hand grenades. They only vaguely resemble each other and I love them both.
The Brits try not to mix as much drama into their comedy. I appreciate that. BBT waxes pretentious then wains drama, I like it most when it's in the middle.
All that said, I've seen the entirety of BBT maybe one and a half times, I've watched ITC probably a dozen times.
Okay.
I'll alway remember the time I was hanging out with my GF at her parents house and she mentioned that she was going to play D&D later and her moms boomer-ass friend just immediatly started cackling about how "it's just like big bang theory!!".
There was no joke or anything just "oh, yea I'm going over to xxxx's house to play D&D later". That was enough for me to never bother with that show.
BBT is a bad show, but that's not a good reason not to watch it, that's just a dumb person who can only relate to reality through media references.
Just to be clear I'm not saying to watch it, but that a stupid person liking something isn't a reason to reject the thing...
A older person has heard of DnD because of a sitcom and laughed when they meet someone who plays? And thats why youll never watch the show? I finally gave dnd a chance after freaks and geeks. Which for me was after almost two decades of playing magic.
Dont get me wrong, ive seen a few episodes of big bang and yea nothing you need to watch. But seems an odd reason to write it off if you like sitcoms ... which the more I think about it a lot of sitcoms were nerd comedy. Best dam line out of friedns was alwazy "Ill prove it like a therom!!" And Frazier... And while never as cool as Homer, Lisa was always miles above Bart...
Sorry most of that was not actually in response to your comment. Hope the campaign is going/went well!
A older person has heard of DnD because of a sitcom and laughed when they meet someone who plays? And thats why youll never watch the show?
I guess you had to be there. This was not a "laughing with you" situation, and it indicated to me that the show was mostly just making fun of nerdy people so I wouldn't enjoy it. That was enough for me. I've seen enough clips of it since then to know I was right.
British humour is infinitely funnier than the laugh track pandering American sitcoms.
Most humor is funnier than a laugh track sitcom. But humor being regional is ... an interesting phenomenon if nothing else. Like yea I enjoyed the hell out of Monty Python as a kid and even now. But ill take the office from Scranton ober the og any day of the week. But I also wouldnt expect peeps from across the pond to feel that way.
Is their anything from that late 90s era early 00s British tv had to compare the chapelle show? Honestly curious, I only have so much knowledge of British humor.
I don't think laugh track is inherently bad.
But I watched the Big Bang Theory for like the first 3 years, and it just kept devolving into shittier and simpler humour, and like really begging for the laughs with the puns, whereas in Britain it's genuinely considered somewhat important to keep it organic.
Like unfiltered BBC panel shows are just so much more hilarious than an episode of "hey come share laughs over archaic and super over-blown stereotypes".
Whatever cheap shit they've made over at the BBC is usually funnier than overproduced hyper-supervised multi-writer numbers-pleasing BS. I know that's subjective, and I won't die on a hill of "who's the funniest", because that's subjective, but that's my opinion on it.
The Office would like to have a word with you.
The American version of the office has a visual laugh track, every time a character sideeyes the camera and smirks.
Some particular shows are better as Americans versions, I'll not deny that.
I haven't watched either of the Offices, but I have watched the entire American "Shameless" and that was glorious and fitting. The British version I glanced at was really meh. And whilst British comedy in general might be better, good comedy in a bad show is less valuable than mediocre comedy in a good show.
It's like good food. Good side dishes won't completely cover for a bad main dish, but if the main dish is really moorish, you won't care about the side dishes being so-and-so.
Edit also do you like to think your username is pronounced "rhee-ri", or "rhow-eh-ri". People ask me about the pronunciation of mine sometimes and just made me question how you think yours...?
I've always saw BBT as just a way to re-normalize making fun of neurodivergant people.
I think that's right but at the same time I think you're not doing it justice by implying that's all it is.
Are they still pretending that Sheldon is not supposed to be autistic?
He was just cosplaying as the Doppler effect
I mean people are allowed to like different things. There is no gatekeeping to be done on something as subjective humor
no, but i can gatekeep it for its misogynistic and abelist rhetoric, or its racist depictions, or having musk in an episode.
expressing dislike is not gatekeeping though..?
or am i gatekeeping gatekeeping now?
But yes, I haven't watch BBT but IT is better.
Because, similar to blackface in its time, people love to point and laugh at exaggerated caricatures of something different from themselves.
And CBS airs lowest common denominator garbage that the masses devour.
The term you're looking for is minstrel shows https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show
BBT is a minstrel show to humiliate smart people, anti intelligence sentiment is high in America
Moss, how many times have I told you to shave those sideburns?!
big bang theory is about what dumb people think smart people are like.
apologies for the pixels, I stole it from reddit
I wouldn't say dumb people. It's a caricature, much like Dennis the Menace is a caricature of small children in a quiet, suburban neighborhood. Only Big Bang Theory wasn't based on an existing comic. So more like Friends being an unrealistic caricature of a late-20's/early-30's group of people living n NYC.
Entertainment doesn't always have to be authentic.
Yes, it's a horrible caricature, Henry Cavill is basically the template for most geeks these days.
Big bang theory is about nerds.
Also, BBT stayed entertaining for the most part throughout the 8 or so seasons it was on. IT started great and then dropped to "meh".
Oh look, a dumb person.
How can you stay entertaining when you were never entertaining in the first place?
No explanation necessary:
If he's low masking, how did he just have a chat about that ludicrous display last night?
Id be tempted to swap jen and roy tbh
This changes my perspective on the entire show... I'm going to have to watch it again for the 152nd time with this in mind now.
I love this so much.
This image?
The show?
"Yes!" 💯
IT Crowd S02E01 is probably the funniest episode of any sitcom I’ve seen
Yes yes. That's my introductory episode for people who haven't seen the IT crowd yet.
The second episode of season 2 has the greatest introduction to a new character ever. You meet Matt Berry at his most Matt Berryist!
FAAAAAAAAAAAATHEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!
Edit: Here's the scene for anyone who hasn't seen it or just wants to enjoy it again, slight spoilers but it won't ruin the first season.
That episode is a masterpiece
Absolutely. My favourite of the IT crowd.
Aside from all the hilarity inbetween, the set ups to the last few gags are ridiculous and the payoff is brilliant.
Jen, talking to Roy, figuring out why on earth he's in that wheelchair only to turn around in desperate need of a drink, to see Moss politely ready to serve her at the bar...
"Willys, willys, I like willys" "I love willys..." "What?" "It's I LOVE WILLYS!" "---Sir, would you keep it down!?"
My favourite too, mate. So bloody good.
The Big Bang Theory was frustratingly bad.
Saw a critic call it, “Nerd blackface”
IT crowd is about nerds for nerds. Big Bang theory is about nerds for non nerds. "Nerd blackface" is more succinct though.
Blackface is a bit more complicated and disturbing than “pretending to be like a black person for comic effect.” I don’t think it’s appropriate to compare it to to depictions of nerd culture.
It’s what stupid people think smart people sound like. I’ve never been able to watch it, but I remember hearing Sheldon brag about Ubuntu being his favorite Linux distribution? Like, can you imagine someone saying that in a room of Linux nerds?
It’s stupid and disrespectful to geeky people, but it’s not perpetuating harmful and violent narratives.
Amazing
Omfg, that describes it adequately.
perfection.gif
I saw some clips on YT where they removed the laugh track.
It's really hard to find the show funny when they take out the bit where it tells you when to laugh.
I hate laugh tracks.
I watched and enjoyed TBBT, but I don't rewatch it. I saw one of these videos with the laugh track removed and was honestly surprised at how awkward the show was without it. It didn't change the fact that I liked it when I watched it though.
Fun fact. That show was filmed in front of a studio audience.
Although I don’t know if they augmented the audience with canned laughter in post.
Same with Friends and most shows with laugh tracks
I've seen that. Cringeworthy.
I like to say that Big Bang Theory was a stupid show about smart people, and Arrested Development was a smart show about stupid people.
It got so popular, had occasional Star Trek references, even a cameo by Leonard Nimoy, and I still couldn't get myself to enjoy it. It's such a a shame.
My grandparents used to watch it. I think it had one (1) funny moment I saw in all the show's run that I caught when living with them - when Neil DeGrasse Tyson calls up Bill Nye and says "I hear you've been talking shit about me", and Nye immediately hangs up the phone in abject terror.
I watched a lot of it back in the day and by like season 10 (I have no clue how long it ran) I realized it was super boring and bad. There would be jokes as lame as “dude owns a Nintendo 64”. That was the entirety of the joke.
Also there is a long running arc about a main character who is physically incapable of talking to women unless he is intoxicated (aka alcohol).
is this not comedy gold?!
In the beginning it was kinda funny. But it went downhill pretty fast, got super cringe regarding the guys trying to get girlfriends, then the creepiest one of the lot gets one. Just ugh.
Yes, it's the "Friends" of it's era - the comedy is in the laugh-track, I mean studio audience.
watched it, it was okey lol. don't put too much thinking in it
I think the first couple seasons of BBT are brilliant and then it rapidly became worse. There are only so many maths and physics jokes you can crack before it gets boring.
Also, it seems like the characters went from likable, socially awkward goofballs to just straight up being assholes all the time. Except for Howard, who kinda always was one.
Agreed. I enjoyed up to season 3.
It’s cuz they work as a team. An IT team. Team, team, team. Team players, each and every one.
You think that's a picture of my family? No! It's the A-Team!
God I loved that character. Wish he lasted longer, I found his absurdism waaaay funnier than his son's rape jokes.
What a way to go though.
I would take the notoriously bad American attempt at the IT Crowd over big bang theory any day
IT crowd 100%
I like both 🤷🏻♂️
Except for that one transphobic episode that Graham Linehan has ruined his whole life over instead of going "Yeah, I'm sorry, that was a bit insensitive."
EDIT: since I don't want the top reply not to mention this, fuck IT Crowd creator Graham Linehan for the incalculable damage he's done to innocent trans people. He's a worthless, disgusting bigot.
Honestly, I always found that episode... Weirdly progressive? Even maybe by accident? Consider the following:
Douglas ruined a great relationship because he just couldn't stop himself being a transphobic bigot. Pity Glinner didn't learn any lessons from his creation.
The fandom has universally decided that douglas did hear her correctly and still did not care and they lived happily ever after
100% agree. It paints trans women favorably and makes Douglas the asshole like he deserves.
I'm a ciswoman and I actually love April's ass-kicking. I'm sure it was meant to be a dig at her femininity but it's the first time in media where I felt like, yes. This is exactly how I want my gender displayed.
And her actress was gorgeous.
Yeah, it's kind of a Death of the Author moment. Ignore Glinner being a transphobic ogre and it's actually quite good.
Linehan has become much worse since that controversy, he's been on a proper trans hate crusade since like 2019. It wasn't about being insensitive, he's completely deranged and the episode was just an early slip.
Wow, I just looked him up on Wikipedia and you’re right. It’s way more than just producing a sitcom episode. Dude is legit on a crusade.
Absolutely. I can't know what has gone wrong inside him, but even if this particular brainworm was eating him up 20 years ago, he could have just said something vaguely apologetic and let it blow over. Instead, he decided a trans hate crusade was more important than his family or his career.
That episode aired in 2008 and I think a little self-reflection would have went a long way to getting people to forgive his mistake.
Only problem is, we now know it wasn't a mistake, it was deliberate, because he's extremely transphobic. To the point where he is now better known as an anti-transgender activist than a (former) writer.
The IT Crowd and Father Ted are genuinely brilliant, too bad Graham is a total dickhead.
He doubled down exponentially because he can’t be wrong.
Which episode?
Edit: oof
Series 3, episode 4, "The Speech". Sadly, it's also the episode where they convince Jen a box with a flashing red light is the Internet, but it has a subplot where Reynholm un-knowingly dates a trans woman. He finds her stereotypically masculine behavior attractive until he finds out she is transgender and a physical fight erupts between them.
It's not even on the upper end of offensive comedy about trans people, but when the episode was criticized, Linehan doubled down and has kept doubling down harder for 20 straight years, to the point where he now spends all of his time harassing, dead naming and doxing trans women on Twitter. His wife left him, writing jobs dried up, he's just a miserable has-been Twitter checkmark asshole now.
The IT Crowd creator has stated he does not believe trans women are women and that transgender rights oppress women.
I wanted to make some quip about it being typical but actually not all men think this way or assume they know what women think. And I’m sure some women think this way. But it also tells me all I need to know about this tool. Good riddance.
What it means is that the writer is closer in personality to Douglas than the rest of the cast. And that’s telling.
It was long after the reunion which I realized this and I feel ashamed for all times I’ve rewatched the series since.
If you think otherwise, you're head disabled.
The problem with the r-slur wasn't the word itself but dehumanizing mentally disabled people; I guess being more overt about it is preferable, if we have to choose one or the other, but you're not circumventing anything.
It's a reference to the show, but thanks for the insight my dude.
Yes
Exclamation mark
Yes
Exclamation mark
To whom it may concern... No too formal
Looking forward to hearing from you.
I've usually seen big bang theory compared to jersy shore.
one is a smart show about dumb people, and the other is a dumb show about smart people.
if we follow this logic, does that make it crowd a smart show about smart people?
See also: Community.
Community, IT Crowd, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Scrubs... The 00's had a lot of great sitcoms. We didn't know how good we had it.
I watched both, and yes.
I watched none, and yes.
Start here
I watched only TBBT, and no.
I did not know The It Crew, going through the first episode and I'm quite liking it.
If someone else is curious: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQxUFrtzYaUmbH4EzI4dxqpQt5Dhu_6Gs
TBBT can be an okay show if you don't mind the overused surface level nerd culture references, casual misogyny, and Elon Musk's appearance. Other than that it can be a guilty pleasure of mine.
Still all the normies be watching the big bang theorie.
But Silicon Valley is better than either of them.
SV is too real. I was close to Bay Area tech when I was watching it, and that show hit too close to home sometimes.
IT crowd maintains a humorous distance from the really shitty parts of tech and I’m here for it.
Honestly both a very mid.
Much rather watch Black Books or Community.
These shows are both for morons who think this is how nerds act.
What? The whole charm of the IT crowd is that it’s pretty spot on for how IT people act with each other. It’s hyperbolic for sure but I felt like it was the most authentic representation of tech people in the media.