The Big Bang TheorySmart is the new sexy.
Physicists Leonard and Sheldon find their nerd-centric social circle with pals Howard and Raj expanding when aspiring actress Penny moves in next door.
WriterAdam Faberman
Pilot
Sep 24, 2007
Brilliant physicist roommates Leonard and Sheldon meet their new neighbor Penny, who begins showing them that as much as they know about science, they know little about actual living.
The Big Bran Hypothesis
Oct 1, 2007
Leonard volunteers to sign for a package in an attempt to make a good impression on Penny, but when he enlists Sheldon for help, his attempt at chivalry goes terribly awry.
The Fuzzy Boots Corollary
Oct 8, 2007
Leonard asks a woman out after he finds out that Penny is seeing someone.
The Luminous Fish Effect
Oct 15, 2007
Sheldon's getting fired forces him to explore what life has to offer outside physics, leaving Leonard to take drastic action to snap his friend out of his funk.
The Hamburger Postulate
Oct 22, 2007
Fearing he's wasting his time on Penny, Leonard ends up making a connection with Leslie.
The Middle-Earth Paradigm
Oct 29, 2007
Penny hosts a Halloween party, putting Leonard, Sheldon, Wolowitz, and Koothrappali through a new test of their social skills.
The Dumpling Paradox
Nov 5, 2007
With Wolowitz AWOL with one of her friends, Penny's recruited to fill in for him on the guys' Halo team
The Grasshopper Experiment
Nov 12, 2007
Raj's parents set him up on a blind date, but just when he discovers he can talk to her, she shows interest in Sheldon.
The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization
Mar 17, 2008
When they're invited to present at a physics conference, Sheldon's reluctance to share the credit leads to a tiff between him and Leonard, and Penny's intervention only exacerbates the situation.
The Loobenfeld Decay
Mar 24, 2008
Leonard and Sheldon each lie to avoid seeing Penny's concert, but Sheldon's is a bit too complicated for his own good.
The Pancake Batter Anomaly
Mar 31, 2008
With his friends knowing how sour he acts when sick—and avoiding him as a result—Sheldon is nursed by Penny, who hasn't a clue what she's in for.
The Jerusalem Duality
Apr 14, 2008
With Sheldon rattled over meeting Dennis, a 15-year-old physicist who's smarter than he, Leonard helps him look for a way to debunk Dennis's research.
The Bat Jar Conjecture
Apr 21, 2008
Sheldon finds himself booted from the gang's Physics Bowl team and replaced with Leslie, so he forms his own team, hoping to prove he's superior.
The Nerdvana Annihilation
Apr 28, 2008
When delivery of another collectible leads to Penny's lashing out at Leonard, he decides it's time to give up his habit, much to his friends' protestation.
The Pork Chop Indeterminacy
May 5, 2008
The rest of the gang fall for Sheldon's twin sister, and Leonard's plan to win her heart is derailed when Sheldon declares he'll be the one to decide who can date her.
The Peanut Reaction
May 12, 2008
Penny wants to throw a surprise party for Leonard, but Sheldon's indulgence at an electronics store throws her off-track.
The Tangerine Factor
May 19, 2008
Penny's break-up spurs Leonard to summon the courage to ask her out, and each goes to Sheldon for advice on their upcoming date.
ComputerBlue
@ComputerBlue
**What this review might have sounded like had I written it 7 years ago.** The first few seasons are, for the most part, extremely fantastic, focused, funny, fresh, intelligent and even at times, brilliant. Most importantly, it offers something that separates it from the pack...Must see TV! **What this review sounds like now nearing the end of the shows run.** A once great show which slowly starts to diminish around season 4, unfortunately. By the 9th season it seems as though the pen and paper have been handed over to teenage fans of the show...Decent background noise. **To conclude.** This show was once incredible, and something fresh, even at times brilliant. I couldn't wait for each new episode. Now, I watch it when it becomes available on a streaming service, and, on rare occasion you get a great episode, but it's not worth devoting a weekly schedule and sitting through all the fan-fiction episodes and story lines to get to the good stuff. The show can still be enjoyable, without question, though I find it better suited as background noise while doing work instead of must see TV that you're excited to tune in as it airs each week. It's now just another average sitcom which has been dumbed down for the masses quite considerably. At this rate, the show will probably end with Penny having Sheldon's child to fulfill the most commonly seen teenage fan-fiction.
Peter McGinn
@narrator56
I did not start watching this sitcom until the show end3d, but I had the good fortune to watch the episodes of all 12 seasons in order. I don’t agree with another review I saw that said the show had slipped over time. Rather, it is a consistently great show, as all of Chuck Lorre’s efforts seem to be, sort of comedy’s answer to Aaron Sorkin’s dramas. Mind you, I had some minor issues with it. I really got tired of Sheldon’s attitude and antics, but that 2as counterbalanced by the slow and careful ways he also showed character growth. Similarly, all of the characters exhibited realistic growth in their attitudes and behavior. The writing was usually strong, even during the few shows that I would classify as clunkers— plots that didn’t work for me. I am impressed that the show never jumped the shark, but rather stayed true to itself. Some long running shows can’t resist doing it, such as when Happy Days changed the Fonz from a cool dude to a combo superhero/cartoon character who could do almost anything, it seemed. Funny, I have a friend who told me she couldn’t watch it due to the canned laugh track, so I was amused to learn there was no laugh track as the show was filmed in front of a live audience. Imagine that!
