CP3S said:

Gaffer Tape said:

Hey! I love The Big Bang Theory!

I can't stand it. I find it generally shallow and obnoxious. It is "nerd" culture as perceived by and mocked by non nerds. It's laughing at these types, not with them. It makes me cringe seeing the quantity of Big Bang Theory merchandise on sites like thinkgeek.com.

Sheldon and Leonard are akin to the Mr. Yunioshi and Black Sambo cultural stereotypes. Much like Yunioshi and Sambo, they are endearing characters that people love, but are also exaggerated and disparaging representations of that stereotype.

I've heard this critique before and I don't get it. It's a very funny show. I don't think "nerds" are born as such or warrant some kind of protected status. If anything, the show is glorifying and popularizing "nerds." I think back to Steve Urkel or Screech and those characters perhaps come close to what you're saying, yet "nerd" status is not the same as race.

The mocking aspect to me is simply a reflection of reality. "Nerd" is not some noble title. It is word to applied to certain stereotypes. It is another n-word we have proudly adopted in order to try to claim a positive identity for it. And given the success of Big Bang, I think we've been successful.

But cf. (warning: racial humor)