A very interesting take on the phenomenal popularity of Chuck Lorre's The Big Bang Theory.
The show, described as the adventures of four Pasadena-based scientists' "quest to navigate the world from a book-smart, yet socially addled perspective with the help of a street-smart, waitress/actress neighbor," has acquired a bit of a cultish status, not just among nerds and geeks, but among the culturally hip as well (meaning, those who swear by Girls and Mad Men).
Some of the show's "virtues", as listed here, are:
1. Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons, with his "dervishy nerdiness."
2. A prime time TV show where five of the seven main characters hold Ph.D.'s and one is a mere Masters from M.I.T., and the jokes are about derivatives, bosons, Schroedinger's cat and Madame Curie.
3. The accuracy of the nerd oeuvre: The obsession with superheroes, Star Trek, and Star Wars.
4. Finally the masterminds of The Big Bang Theory dares to:
Produce a TV program that plays not a whit to the aspirations of its audience. You might laugh at the characters, pity them or love them, but you don’t want to be them (especially because you might already be them). There are a good amount of pre- and postcoital scenes, but they’re not especially sexy. These are not especially pretty people. [You might have] a problem with Howard (Simon Helberg), the gnomish, dickie-sporting mama’s boy [...] Even Penny (Kaley Cuoco), the bombshell across the hall, often appears rumpled or with a bottle of cheap wine hanging from her like an extra limb.
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