Of The Big Bang Theory and Epic Nerdery

I couldn't think of what to do for this post. But then my friend suggested something, and I knew I had to do it. I keep doing posts about drama shows... Why not a comedy? Therefore, my post this week is about 'The Big Bang Theory.'

Yes, the show is a sitcom. Which I generally tend to avoid. The laugh tracks drive me up a wall. But this is more than just your average sitcom. There are the regular awkward situations, well-placed and convenient dialogue, and the one character that no one can stand but everyone puts up with. But it's a SMART comedy. It's geared towards the nerdier aspects of life these days (which is the main reason I find it so funny). References to video games, cult TV shows, and science are thrown in almost constantly. Here's a link to the show's official site. 

The show follows the life of Caltech experimental physicist Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki, left) and his certified genius roommate Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons, right), who also works at the university as a theoretical physicist. 

The other main characters in the cast are Leonard and Sheldon's two friends; aersospace engineer Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg, left) and particle astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar, right). They also work at Caltech. 

Rounding out the bunch is Penny (Kaley Cuoco, left), the social, outgoing, waitress/aspiring actress that lives in the apartment across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon. In the pilot of the show, Penny moves into the apartment building after splitting with her boyfriend of four years, Kurt. Leonard is immediately taken with her, and that becomes one of the running themes of the show. The two do end up dating eventually, but it's spotty and their relationship status keeps changing. This is partly because of conflicting interests; Penny isn't really into video games (though she does have a brief stint where she's obsessed with online gaming), science, or the TV shows that the guys are all fans of. But they do their best to work it out and it makes for some very funny situations.

Sheldon is perhaps the most well-known character in the show. Anal, obsessive compulsive, and full of himself, he's a very hard person to be around and the show draws attention to this fact all the time. (If you're interested, you can watch some of him here.) He didn't have any friends before Leonard moved in as his roommate, and now he just sort of hangs out with the gang by default. Though he has shown some signs of actual friendship towards the other characters - for instance, when Penny gave him an autographed napkin from Leonard Nimoy for Christmas, he actually hugged her, a first on the show (he normally avoids any and all physical contact). He is also known for wearing shirts that represent nerdy fandoms or concepts - There's a site dedicated to his shirts if you click here. 

Another ongoing theme is centered around Wolowitz and Koothrappali. The two are notoriously prone to messing things up with women. Wolowitz claims to have been with many women, but it's referenced several times that most of these were hookers and/or 'fake women.' And Koothrappali has a psychological disorder that makes him unable to talk to women unless under the influence of alcohol. Because of this, the two spend a lot of time together, and though they are not interested in each other, the way the characters are written makes them sound like a married couple when they argue, and it's quite hilarious. Naturally, some people take the pairing way too far and write fanfictions about these two characters. If you're into that sort of thing, you can click here. 

The show has a huge following that is steadily increasing. It has it's own wiki, which is different for a sitcom. This past Thursday (9/23/10), the fourth season premiered in it's new timeslot, and was watched by approximately 13.95 million people, up about a million from the season 3 premiere last year. It's produced by Chuck Lorre, the same man who is responsible for the other well-known CBS comedy, Two and a Half Men. I, for one, hope the show continues for years, as I've grown attached to the characters and story and love the geekiness of the show. It plays for a different audience than many sitcoms, one that I'm a part of, and that's what makes it so uniquely brilliant. 

Of Dexter and Sociopaths

To keep my 'blog entries about TV shows' thing going (at least for one more week), I decided to pick another show that I quite enjoy. I'm not a fan of it in the same way that I love Heroes or Doctor Who, because it's not that kind of show. It's suspenseful, and there are no special effects or particularly funny moments that make you want to watch over and over. It's an intelligent show, full of murder, sociopaths, plot twists, and suspense. The acting is brilliant, and the story is even better. I'm talking about Dexter.

The show started in 2006, the first season being loosely based off of Jeff Lindsay's book 'Darkly Dreaming Dexter.' If you click here, you can go to the official site for the books. I've read that first book... it's written very interestingly. There's a lot of dark humor, and the author obviously did a lot of research on sociopaths before writing it. The character, Dexter Morgan, even seems a little off while you're reading it. It's really quite brilliant.

Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan)

The show follows the life of Dexter, who is a sociopathic serial killer. Going by a 'code' his adopted father Harry set down when he was young (Harry knew Dexter would have these urges to kill because of his past; Dexter's mother was murdered violently in front of him), Dexter only kills criminals, other killers, that the law couldn't convict because of a lack of evidence. Because Harry was a police office, he also taught Dexter how to flawlessly cover his tracks, and so Dexter remains undetected and uncaught, even keeping a day job with the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst.

With such a complex character, of course you've got to wonder who they would choose to play him. Who could pull of playing a sociopath? Acting like a person who has to act out every interaction their entire life, trying to seem natural, but just a little off-center? The actor that was chosen to play Dexter is Michael C. Hall, and he has won 5 awards for his portrayal, including a Golden Globe. Here's a link to his IMDB page, where you can view his awards, nominations, and other information.

Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan)

Opposite him as another main character is Debra Morgan, Dexter's adopted sister (in the book, her name is Deborah Morgan. There seems to be no apparent reason for the name change). She's played by, oddly enough, Michael C. Hall's wife, Jennifer Carpenter. But they're very comfortable with each other, and the brother/sister dynamic comes across. They started dating and got married after the show started - I'm not sure if they knew each other beforehand or not. Here's an article with some fan's reactions to the pairing.

The series usually features a new character each season that ends up dying and/or being a threat to Dexter's secret identity. These characters have been played by a range of actors, including names like Jimmy Smits and John Lithgow, most recently. Here is a link to an interview with Smits about his character, Miguel Prado, and another link here to an interview with Lithgow about his, Arthur Mitchell (aka 'The Trinity Killer'). Both draw some interesting parallels and conclusions about their characters and the series.

The premiere for season 5 of this show is this Sunday on Showtime, and frankly, I can't wait. The series was going to be cancelled because Michael C. Hall was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment. But he is now in steady remission and us fans are thrilled to have him back as America's favorite serial killer!

Of Heroes and Writer's Strikes

I spent a long time considering what the subject matter for this second post would be. I thought of continuing the Doctor Who theme and doing a post on David Tennant, Billie Piper, or even John Barrowman, who are all incredible. I may still do a post on them. But today, I feel like bringing my other favorite television show (who has been somewhat neglected of late, because of Doctor Who) and do a post on past world-wide sensation Heroes.

The logo for the series, featuring the plot-important eclipse.

The premise for the show is that the individuals that the show focuses on all have unique and individual superpowers. These powers are ingrained in their DNA, not because they're aliens or because they got too close to something radioactive. These people were born with these powers, but they only start to develop after a certain eclipse. Many connections between the characters are revealed throughout the storyline (which explains the appeal to fans of the show 'LOST,' it's the same sort of interconnecting character web. I happen to be a huge fan of both shows. Here is a link to the official Heroes wiki, for any question you could possibly want answered concerning the show). The show follows these people as they come to terms with who they are now that they have these abilities, and even more so, what they're going to do with them. Many issues of classic good and evil are brought up.

Peter Petrelli

Claire Bennet

There are many characters with 'classic' superpowers in the show, such as the flying Nathan Petrelli, the un-injurable Claire Bennet, and the telepathic Matt Parkman. But they also had more unusual powers, such as Peter Petrelli's 'power empathy,' the ability to absorb the powers of others, Micah Sanders' 'technopathy', the ability to control and direct machines, and Hiro Nakamura's time and space traveling, meaning he can teleport anywhere and anywhen (without a TARDIS). Obviously there were some bad decisions made about the show, leading to some (for lack of a better word) dumb powers. Here's a list that Cracked.com did of the worst 'Heroes' powers to have. I fully agree with this list.

Hiro Nakamura

Sylar (aka Gabriel Gray)

The show started on NBC in fall 2006, and within the first few episodes had gathered a huge following. People loved seeing these seemingly normal people have unique and individual superpowers. It seemed like everyone was waiting with bated breath for the finale of the series, when the main characters, the 'heroes,' as it were, would have their final standoff with the villain of the series, Sylar. (Sylar's power was to know how things worked, to -need- to know how they worked. Driven by a psychological need to be special, he killed other people with powers, and using his ability, took the people apart and absorbed the DNA that gave them their power. On a constant hunt for new abilities that would make him more powerful, he remained the main villain for the entire series.)

Elle Bishop

Season two rolled around. It introduced a few new characters and powers, including Monica Dawson, who could could physically copy what she saw people do, and Elle Bishop, who could generate and manipulate electricity. But despite these new powers, the storyline started to suffer, because that was the year of the infamous writer's strike (more detailed information on this event here). Other popular shows (such as LOST) also suffered from plot holes and bad writing because the writers simply stopped doing their jobs, and the slipshod replacements that TV stations brought in just weren't up to snuff. Season 2 is filled with gaps, blatant plot devices, and bad dialogue. It is also only about half of the length of the first season.

When Season 3 came the following year, the original writers came back!! This of course must be a good thing, right? No, sadly, they had to spend almost half the season cleaning up the mess the Season 2 writers made. Viewers were dropping like flies. Even as loyal fans of the show, my friends and I found Seasons 2 and 3 almost painful to watch. We watched still, but it didn't come anywhere close to Season 1. The season eventually did come back up to snuff, and the finale was as epic, if not more so, than for Season 1. Everyone assumed that the show would come back. NBC even did an entire superbowl commercial featuring the actors to promote the show. But when it was time for Season 4, the show never did regain it's original high-status or viewer count. NBC cancelled the show in the spring of 2010 (much to my distress and the distress of many fans worldwide. Click here to go to the unofficial/official fan page).

Leading up to this cancellation, many fans realized the show was in danger, and several attempts were made to save the show. SaveHeroesSaturday was one of them. Fans of the show put those words in every single one of their tweets that day, hoping that the topic would trend on Twitter and that NBC would see how big the fanbase was. This event wasn't as successful as the subsequent Heroes100Saturday, which I proudly took part in. The topic was high on the trending list in several places all around the world, and it managed to reach 8th on the worldwide trending list. But despite all of our efforts, NBC cancelled the show anyway.

Let me just point out that Heroes is one of the most purchased shows on iTunes and on DVD. Also, NBC was the station to cancel 'Star Trek' back in 1969. This station does not seem to realize what their viewers want, and what shows are going to stay popular.

There is one last effort being made to save the show, tomorrow actually. This is known as 'Spam NBC Sunday.' We're hoping, again, that NBC will take notice of us pathetic fans and give us back our characters we love so much. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE INVOLVED!! If you're interested, here's a link to the event page.

PICTURE SOURCES: 
Logo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Heroes_logo.png
Claire Bennet: http://hollywoodhatesme.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/claire-bennet_the-cheerleader.jpg
Peter Petrelli: http://heroes.download-tvshows.com/files/milo_ventimiglia.jpg
Hiro Nakamura: http://woodenspears.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/masi_oka_hiro_nakamura2.jpg
Sylar: http://www.heroestheseries.com/uploads/2008/07/heroes-301-promos-4.jpg
Elle: http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20071114/293.bell.heroes.111407.jpg

Of Doctor Who and Whovians

When trying to think of what I could blog about for my first entry, there was never really any question in my mind about the subject matter. I wanted to do something meaningful, but just a little obscure. And obviously it had to be something I'm a fan of. So... I figured why not blog about the current focus of my existence? (College! my Mum would say. Grades! Succeeding in life! No, no, and no.) This entry is about the British sci-fi television show, Doctor Who.

One of the better-known logos for the series.

I first heard of Doctor Who about three years ago, maybe even four. My friend Brittany was telling me about it, and to be honest, I wasn't all that interested. She said I should check it out, I agreed to, and then promptly forgot about it for the next thirty-six months or so. 

Then I got to college. My roommate Megan watched a lot of TV shows online, and one of which was Doctor Who. All I could remember is that my friend Brittany liked it. I saw a few clips here and there throughout the year, but somehow still never got into it. 

It wasn't until this summer just past that I started watching, as per Megan's suggestion. She wanted to start a roleplay storyline, and I offered to play Rose Tyler from the show, with her playing The Doctor. At first I just made stuff up as I went along, but then I felt bad and decided I should probably explore my character more. So I started watching from the beginning of the new series. And that's when the madness started. 

The TARDIS. Yes, it looks like a
police box from the 1950's.

Doctor Who, shown on the BBC, is the longest running sci-fi show in history, with it's 50th anniversary coming in 2013. (Click this link to go to BBC's official site for the show.) It follows the adventures of the Doctor, who is an alien known as a Time Lord, along with various companions, as he travels through space and time in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). The thing that's kept the show running so long (a brilliant idea on the writer's part) is the fact that when the Doctor gets injured badly (something that would kill him), because he's a Time Lord, he can regenerate into a new person; still with the Doctor's memories, but an entirely new personality and appearance. Meaning basically, whenever an actor playing the Doctor either wants to leave or isn't getting the show good ratings, they can have the Doctor regenerate and therefore bring in a new actor. Whenever the Doctor regenerates, it's always an important scene, and with the improvements on special effects over the years, these scenes have gotten more dramatic throughout the years. If you feel like comparing all of them, click here. Be warned, it's a long haul, especially if you don't know what's going on.

Since the show's been going on since 1963, there have obviously been many changes since its' first broadcast. For one, it was originally done in black and white. The theme song originally used during the title sequence was the first song ever to be done entirely with synthesizers. It's morphed throughout the years to match the show, along with the title sequence itself. If you're into overanalyzing things like I am, you might enjoy this video, which shows how the sequence has changed throughout the years. Another long haul, but more non-Whovian friendly. 

What is a 'Whovian' you ask? Basically, it's a fan of the show. I proudly consider myself a Whovian. Since the show took such a long break (it was cancelled from 1986 - 1996, and then another break was had between then and 2005), people who just started watching in 2005 can still be considered loyal Whovians, despite their failure to have watched 'classic' Doctor Who. (Here's a brief video explaining the appeal of the show, made by Whovian and popular Youtuber Charlie McDonnell.)

The cover art for Chamelon Circuit's
Trock album. Do I own it? Why
yes. Yes I do. 

Whovians can range from catching the show now and then, to watching it obsessively and making music videos for it, to composing their own songs about the show and releasing them on CD's that people pay money for. This genre of music, known as Trock (Timelord Rock) is hugely popular in certain circles, but basically unknown to most. One particular band that I want to highlight call themselves 'Chameleon Circuit', named after a certain contraption on board the TARDIS. Here is a link to the band's official Myspace page, where you can check out their music. 

Now, you say, this is sounding ridiculous. I mean, it's sounding as big as Star Trek! They can't possibly have their own conventions though, can they? Well... try clicking here. This is where you can buy tickets, if you really want to go. (I DO. SO BADLY.)

The fact is, particularly in the UK, the show is huge. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone over there that hasn't at least heard of the show. And because they keep bringing in new actors, the show is a big part of British pop-culture. Billie Piper, for one, was a singer before she starred as Rose Tyler in the show's revival in 2005. Scottish actor David Tennant, who played the Doctor from 2006 - 2010, has become a beloved figure and is renowned as a brilliant actor. A popular site that keeps up with the latest Doctor Who news is actually a blog known as Blogtor Who, and you can access that by clicking here.

Billie Piper as Rose Tyler and David Tennant
as The Doctor.

I'm going to end this before it gets even more ridiculously long-winded and my geekiness is made any more apparent. (If that's at all possible.)

PICTURE SOURCES (Which I forgot to add at first):
Logo: http://www.doctorwhochronology.com/doctorwho/images/doctor-who-logo.jpg
TARDIS: http://regmedia.co.uk/2007/11/09/flying_tardis.jpg
Chameleon Circuit Cover-art: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51brV52wAcL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
Billie Piper and David Tennant: http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/doctor_who_and_rose.jpg