Bazinga!

November 19, 2012 6:22 PM

The Big Bang Theory Flash Mob: Short Version. Full Compilation.

Tracklist for the full compilation:
0:14 Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
0:53 Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger
1:36 Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls)
1:50 Jay-Z ft. UGK - Big Pimpin'
2:08 Ludacris - My Chick Bad
2:29 LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
2:50 Flo Rida ft. T-Pain - Low

posted by zarq (46 comments total)

I was dubious until the end. Bazinga sealed the deal.
posted by wierdo at 6:47 PM on November 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

BAZINGA!
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 6:50 PM on November 19, 2012

This is literally the worst thing ever.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:15 PM on November 19, 2012 [10 favorites]

that was awesome. the full compilation is pretty impressive.
posted by sweetkid at 7:16 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Eh. It was cute for a minute. Also, Melissa Rauch is even tinier than I thought!
posted by Auguris at 8:49 PM on November 19, 2012

So much fun in the full compilation!
posted by sadtomato at 8:49 PM on November 19, 2012

This is literally the worst thing ever.

Has anyone ever watched a full episode or two of Big Bang Theory? It's maybe the most average sitcom I've ever seen. It's pretty dumb for the most part but has its goofy moments here and there. It is not AS cheap and formulaic as dumb sitcoms like Two and a Half Men, but not NEARLY as creative as dumb sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother (which, for a dumb sitcom, is pretty damn good). It's about on par with most dumb sitcoms put out the past decade, which is to say it's pretty dumb but nothing to get all in a hussy over.

Somewhere along the lines though, the internet decided it was worse than Hitler. And that fascinates me.
posted by windbox at 8:56 PM on November 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm not ashamed to say my entire family loves Big Bang Theory. We even DVR the old ones from previous seasons that are shown on TBS so we have a selection to watch when we're not in the mood for anything else. I guess we have a most average sense of humor.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 9:11 PM on November 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

I'm very confused. I've only been able to tolerate a few minutes of this show but... I could have sworn it had a laugh track. How can it be filmed in front of a live audience?
posted by dobbs at 9:17 PM on November 19, 2012

Perhaps the audience never laughs?
posted by Brocktoon at 9:26 PM on November 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

windbox: "Somewhere along the lines though, the internet decided it was worse than Hitler. And that fascinates me."

I think it was around when America generally decided it was a Nerd Show, because most of the jokes are about nerds, as opposed to Community, where much of the humor is for nerds. In other words, it's a lot like having it suggested to you, as someone who's into kinda nerdy stuff, that the close second-best hamburger patty, behind beef, is mud.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:07 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

In all honesty, I don't hate The Big Bang Theory. It's adequately serviceable for what it is: A series of three or four stinging barbs repeated every two minutes, airing in syndication on every channel all the time.

But flash mobs, especially of the halfhearted mass-choreography variety, especially when scored to horrifically overplayed and utterly mindless tweenpop, especially when they're a manufactured PR stunt designed to "go viral," especially when they are still inexplicably happening almost a decade after they were novel?

It doesn't make me want to watch The Big Bang Theory ever again. Mostly, it just reinforces my suspicion that, while The Big Bang Theory is about people like me, it's not for people like me, but more of a shotgun blast of mediocrity aimed at the fattest part of the bell curve.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:19 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

i'm a lifelong nerd as is my husband. we love big bang theory. apparently this makes us awful or unable to tell good humor or something. i just flat don't agree that it's mean spirited or laughing at nerds. it's not as good as some other shows, sure, but if you like formulaic sitcoms, it's a pretty good one. i liked roseanne and friends, i don't like last man standing or two and a half men. i don't really compare it to community. i understand there is nerd rage because big bang theory is super popular and community is always about to get canceled, but i think it's misplaced.
posted by nadawi at 10:49 PM on November 19, 2012 [12 favorites]

also, this was all adorable as a commercial. i don't mind when commercials are cute. it's certainly a better option than those awful "i hate my family and i'm a bitter asshole" direct tv commercials.
posted by nadawi at 10:50 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I could have sworn it had a laugh track. How can it be filmed in front of a live audience?

If you're hearing canned laughter, or what sounds like it, it's because either the sound mixers did a bad job of recording the audience laughter, or the sound mixers did a bad job mixing in the canned, sweetening laughter. Every sitcom with an audience uses canned laughter.

horrifically overplayed and utterly mindless tweenpop

26 year-old Carly Rae Jepson's literal song of the year? Or Kanye or Beyonce or Jay-Z or LMFAO or -- would Steely Dan have been more to your liking? You forgot to use the /rockist tag, maybe? There are many aspects to the video that're annoying, but saying the music is one of them just makes you look like a fuddy duddy.

more of a shotgun blast of mediocrity aimed at the fattest part of the bell curve.

And where, exactly, do you think very nearly all television might aim otherwise?
posted by incessant at 12:16 AM on November 20, 2012

You are all wrong. Penny is the Cylon.
posted by zaelic at 3:30 AM on November 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

I find Big Bang Theory so painfully boring that it totally blows my mind how popular it is. I'm not opposed to formulaic sitcoms-- I actually kind of love Friends-- but in terms of quality it reminds me of one of those anonymous in-flight shows that you're subjected to between Tin Cup and landing, on the same tier with...like...Hope and Grace or something. Gah...so generic, so lazy, so wooden. I don't get why people seek out entertainment that's less funny than everyday conversation between intelligent and socially adept people. Then again, I'm not intending to personally slam the people who like it; obviously I'm the one out of touch here...
posted by threeants at 3:53 AM on November 20, 2012

Okay, that was very silly.

Also, Bazinga.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:12 AM on November 20, 2012

I think the hate for BBT came to a head when CBS moved it to be scheduled against a struggling Community. "The Internet" thought that was CBS being vindictive but it was more like an aircraft carrier running over a sail boat and not even noticing.
posted by smackfu at 4:31 AM on November 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

In case you haven't seen it: Big Bang Theory without laughtrack.

That said, I thought this video was neat, even if I don't really love the show.
posted by inigo2 at 5:48 AM on November 20, 2012

Mostly, it just reinforces my suspicion that, while The Big Bang Theory is about people like me, it's not for people like me, but more of a shotgun blast of mediocrity aimed at the fattest part of the bell curve.

Yes, your end of the bell curve is way better. Whichever side it is.
posted by DigDoug at 5:52 AM on November 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Threeants: I think the key to "liking it" for a lot of people is that, in this case, the lame jokes are about geeky things like Star Trek or Lord of the Rings as opposed to being lame jokes about football or tuna casserole. A friend of mine raves about how much he loves it, and I did not for the life of me understand why. I watched it with him once, and I still don't like it, but I did notice that the geeky references were what made him laugh.

So it could just be as simple as that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:53 AM on November 20, 2012

Although, I do appreciate how much Wil Wheaton enjoys working on it. I may not dig the show, but I'm always happy for Wil Wheaton when he writes on his blog about how excited he is to be working on it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:55 AM on November 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure what liking the show or not liking the show has to do with somehow hating people doing something silly and fun because they think it will be silly and fun. I don't like mayonnaise, but if the people at the mayonnaise factory want to dance around like goofballs, I like to think I wouldn't begrudge them that.

Everyone in that room was having a good time. Even Chuck Lorre, you know? It's just people messing around at work. Even if you think their show is mediocre, I'm not sure why this would be offensive/terrible/THE WORST THING EVER.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 6:21 AM on November 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

I was at the stage where the show is filmed a couple of weeks ago. There are microphones hanging down every few feet or so where the audience sits. They do mix the laughter based on who is responding or they turn a mike off if someone is being obnoxious, but the laughter is not pre-recorded.

Also, your favorite band sucks.
posted by kamikazegopher at 6:47 AM on November 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

the lame jokes are about geeky things
EmpressCallipygos: I think that's one of the things I enjoy about it. My main complaint with the show is that it occasionally drifts too far into 'humiliation humor' for my tastes.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:51 AM on November 20, 2012

Metafilter: Fuck your side of the bell curve.
posted by stltony at 7:02 AM on November 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

My main complaint with the show is that it occasionally drifts too far into 'humiliation humor' for my tastes.

My problem is that it is a mediocrely-written formulaic sitcom and I just plain don't like anything mediocrely-written. But I've always been this way (I can remember criticizing the writing in a couple of Happy Days episodes when I was about NINE).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:06 AM on November 20, 2012

My problem is that it's actually a pretty well-written and well-acted show which, with the addition of the new female characters, has really opened up and become about more than nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrds. I didn't watch it for years and then decided to give it a try and liked it. It's grown on me so much that it's become a favorite. So, I guess that's not a problem. Except for all the people who have decided it sucks. *shrug*

This moment ranks as one of the top in sitcom history, afaic.

(start at :45 if you're impatient)
posted by papercake at 7:35 AM on November 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I like the show, maybe because I live with a ten-year-old proto-Sheldon. True story: we were watching an episode where Sheldon gives a terrible guest lecture and says something to the effect of "...that's like talking about the most important electron in a hydrogen atom."
My son: "There's only one electron in a hydrogen atom!"
Two seconds later, Sheldon: "...because there's only one electron in a hydrogen atom."
posted by Daily Alice at 8:03 AM on November 20, 2012 [5 favorites]

I think it's amusing the lengths people will go to distinguish their favorite mediocre tv from the mediocre tv others like but they don't. Long live the Internets!

Anyhow, the 22 minutes a week I spend watching dvr'd eps of Big Bang Theory while eating supper or whatever is worth it for Mayim Bialik's deadpan performances alone.
posted by aught at 8:08 AM on November 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I love it because I used to be a neurobiologist and, hey, how many sitcoms have you seen with neurobiologists?
posted by underthehat at 8:13 AM on November 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

I haven't watched it in a while, but the STEM academia humor always made me laugh.

"I have a Master's degree!" "Who doesn't?"
posted by Elementary Penguin at 8:30 AM on November 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

The Big Bang Theory is not nearly as bad as the internet makes it out to be.
Community is not nearly as good as the internet makes it out to be.

Or: Your favorite show doesn't suck, but it's worse than you think it is.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:45 AM on November 20, 2012

Or: Your favorite show doesn't suck, but it's worse than you think it is.

Or: Someone on the Internet thinks your favorite program / film / band / game sucks, but this should have nothing to do with you enjoying it anyway.
posted by aught at 8:58 AM on November 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

BBT is a forumlaic sitcom, but it's a formulaic sitcom about people and things I am interested in, thus it amuses me, regardless of its fomulaicness (formulaicity?)

That said, the power dynamics of friendship groups and in vs. out friends is *really* interesting on this show. They touch on it explicitly when Wolowitz goes to space and Stuart is invited to take his place, but it's constantly there, and is really interesting when it comes to relationship among the three female leads. There's somewhat more depth to these characters than just their obvious quirks.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:59 AM on November 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Somewhere along the lines though, the internet decided it was worse than Hitler. And that fascinates me.

I've attributed it to the strange mix of moderate/mediocre sitcom with some decent science jargon and jokes, and because internet science nerds demand more, the fact it isn't awesome, or at least a great sitcom, means it is MADE OF FAIL. Or science geeks think it's a sad attempt to pander to them, with an attempting to make it accessible to a larger audience at the same time, which makes the show an awkward mix of amusing and good and meh.

I used to really enjoy the show, but after reading critical reviews of it, I can't avoid comparing it to better sitcoms or paying too much attention to the laugh track.

Shows with laugh tracks only sound strange without them because they are scripted and edited for that laugh period after the jokes. When there is no laughter and just dead space, it's like a comedian who flubbed and no one even makes a nervous giggle.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:01 AM on November 20, 2012

I set up a season pass for it on my dvr because in the first episode I watched (after several nerds of my acquaintance had told me I might like it), the guys were doing cool things with ooblick on top of speakers, and, yeah, you've got my attention by using phrases like "non-newtonian" on TV.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:09 AM on November 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

They touch on it explicitly when Wolowitz goes to space and Stuart is invited to take his place, but it's constantly there, and is really interesting when it comes to relationship among the three female leads.

There was also an episode last season where, through exposition, you learn that Penny was a bully during high school. Her closest friends are now women who were bullied by girls just like Penny. The dynamic has been touched on since then in various off-hand comments made by Bernadette and Amy.
posted by zarq at 9:27 AM on November 20, 2012

I like it. You don't. No big whoop.
posted by Splunge at 10:50 AM on November 20, 2012

They're getting really close to having Raj come out this season. I wonder if they will, or if they're just going to make winks at the possibility. Eventually they have to do something.
posted by papercake at 11:59 AM on November 20, 2012

I don't like mayonnaise, but if the people at the mayonnaise factory want to dance around like goofballs, I like to think I wouldn't begrudge them that.

/embryonic in-joke
posted by herbplarfegan at 12:27 PM on November 20, 2012

papercake: " Eventually they have to do something."

They'll use it when it's convenient for a laugh and forget it when it isn't.
posted by the_artificer at 12:57 PM on November 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

when people say "laugh track" i can never figure out if they mean 100% canned laughter or studio audience laughter that has been "sweetened." big bang theory is the second kind (same as craig ferguson). so, yeah, when you take out the audience laughing the show changes - that's partially because they're performing for the audience. i bet if you took louis ck's stand up and took out all the audience laughter/response it would also come off as weird and stilted.
posted by nadawi at 1:28 PM on November 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

"This one with feeling guys, ok?"
posted by pjenks at 7:57 PM on November 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

There was an exchange on this program a few seasons back that went loosely as follows: a character is trying to convince Sheldon to meet with school donors since without his push on behalf of the physics department the money could potentially go to people in areas like drama and gender studies. Sheldon replied "Oh, the humanities!"

For this single, brilliant scrap of dialogue alone, I forgive this show all of its many faults.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:13 AM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]