The Big Bang Theory is the equivalent of eating a big bag of junk food. Instantly gratifying yet unsatisfying. No thinking required! All the characters are grating stereotypes with annoying personality quirks and voices. The show far too often relies on references instead of jokes. “Blah blah blah World of Warcraft,” as the audience erupts into laughter. Just listening to it makes me cringe. The characters are absurd, but not in a funny way. For example, we've all known parents who embarrassed the hell out of their kids, but why the hell is Leonard's mother actively trying to embarrass her son all the time? The show wasn't quite as horrible in its early seasons when its nerd theme was at the forefront, but now it's all relationship drama. I don't mind that the show moved on, it's that the girlfriend characters are just caricatures of people yet they get so much screen time. It's like the writers have never even met women before in their lives. But even though there's a nerd theme, these nerds are the butt of almost every joke. It's marketed like it's a show for the nerds, but you're really meant to identify with Penny and the other women. In that sense, the show is a mean-spirited one where you're meant to be laughing at the male protagonists for being obsessive, unwashed nerds (oh, the horror). In fact, that's why all the nerd references get a huge uproar of laughter from the audience. Yet we're also supposed to believe that three out of the four of them can get average to above average-looking girlfriends. The show doesn't bother with things like wit or subtlety. There was that character who played a fictional host of a kid's science show and the entire joke with him is that he's a horny old man. He's only around because Penny's hot and he asks her if she has any grandmothers he could get with (married or otherwise). Haw. The celebrity and scientist cameos actually piss me off because one would think they're above showing up in drivel like this. Clearly I don't like the show, but because my parents like it, I'm forced to listen to it. Overall, it's the the worst sitcom I've ever seen—in my opinion.