One of my favorite television shows is “The Big Bang Theory” which airs on Thursday nights at 8pm on CBS. I will admit that I did not like the show when it first aired. In fact, the first three seasons I barely watched the show at all and did not understand why so many people thought this was the funniest show on television. It was only earlier this year when I was home for a week with the flu that I became a serious fan of “The Big Bang Theory.” My daughter also had the flu and insisted on watching “The Big Bang Theory” on DVD (her father’s collection) for hours. I thought I would sleep through most of the episodes but found myself laughing out loud and looking forward to what Sheldon would say or do next.
For those who are unfamiliar with “The Big Bang Theory,” it is a comedy about two nerdy scientists, their beautiful neighbor and their two nerdy friends. The show uses every “nerd” stereotype; however, it does so in a way that is remarkably funny, insightful and entertaining. My favorite character is Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons. Parsons won an Emmy for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series” in 2010 and in 2011, he won the Golden Globe Award for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical.” Parsons brings to life the incredibly brilliant but socially inept Dr. Sheldon Cooper whose inability to understand sarcasm, innuendo and irony combined with his obsessive-compulsive traits and arrogant, narrowly focused view of the world and everyone in it provides writers with an endless source of material.
Homunculus – perfectly formed miniature human being (Sheldon’s description of his roommate, Leonard Hofstadter)
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – enlargement of the heart muscle (Sheldon description of how the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes – by the way, Sheldon was rooting for the Grinch until he gave into social convention and changed)
How to Copy a Human – with DNA off a napkin and a healthy ovum (Penny’s Christmas gift to Sheldon, a napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy, Sheldon sees this as an opportunity to grow his own Leonard Nimoy)
Code Red -a hospital emergency alert, the computer worm, or the cherry flavored soft drink from the makers of Mtn. Dew (the three definitions of code red according to Sheldon)
Favor – an integral part of the implied covenant of friendship (Sheldon’s way of forcing Penny to drive him somewhere)
Doppler Effect – the apparent change in the frequency of a wave caused by relative motion between the source of the wave and the observer (and Sheldon’s idea of a great Halloween costume)
Hot Beverages – what you bring someone when they are upset according to the cultural convention (or Sheldon’s way of dealing with emotions)
Women are sensitive to high pitched noises – evolution is responsible for this so that women can hear babies crying at night (according to Sheldon speaking in a lower register will not wake Penny while he cleans her apartment because he cannot sleep knowing the mess is so close to his room)
Schrödinger’s cat – a theory by Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist Erwin Schrödinger to explain quantum mechanics. A cat is put into a box with a vial of poison and as long as the box remains closed the cat can be thought of as both alive and dead (this is how Sheldon gives Penny dating advice)
Fig Newtons – they are not named after Sir Isaac Newton but are named after a small town in Massachusetts (probably the most interesting thing Sheldon tries to teach Penny about physics during “Project Gorilla”)
Dr. Sheldon Cooper is the perfect stereotypical nerd who loves comic books, “Star Wars”, video games, “Star Trek” and super heroes. He is also an infinite source of useless information (unless you are playing Trivial Pursuit and need a partner) and loves to impart that information to you in a condescending manner. What is not to love?
