Posted Nov 3rd 2009 12:01AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E06) So Sheldon knows football. That is
amazing. I have no idea if the character of Sheldon was originally conceived as being from Texas, or they just wrote him that way because
Jim Parsons was raised in Houston, but I absolutely love when his Texas comes out. The entire sequence of Sheldon teaching Leonard about football and recounting the time he spent with his father watching games was absolutely the highlight of the episode for me.
As much as I adore the cast, sometimes you just have episodes that are about Sheldon and Jim Parson's performance. If you take that out of this one, nothing really stands out to me too much. I wasn't particularly fond of the Wolowitz/Raj storyline, and Leonard meeting Penny's friends was just bizarre.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Cornhusker Vortex
Posted Oct 31st 2009 10:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Like a stray dog that works his way into your heart, I think I've fallen in love with
The Middle. I didn't want to get so attached, because -- quite frankly -- ABC's track record for sticking with quality shows isn't so great. I'm still mourning
Pushing Daisies. But
The Middle is nothing like
Pushing Daisies, nor does it fall into the quirky, clever mode of other shows that ABC has been promulgating for years.
Ugly Betty is quirky.
Better off Ted is quirky.
Dirty Sexy Money was quirky. Quirky's the word.
Continue reading My Big Bang theory: The Middle's Brick is another Sheldon
Posted Oct 30th 2009 2:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
The candy manufacturers had better watch out, because as Halloween is approaching, TV shows have been coming up with their own candies, inspired by some of the more colorful, interesting characters. Take a look at this list, and see which are treats and which are tricks. And, listen, tell us what kind of candy your favorite TV characters might inspire!
8. How I Met Your Mother - Robin Scherbatsky's Canadian corn
Oh, Canada. Slutty pumpkins aside, Robin had to convince her American friends that Canada not only celebrates Halloween, but Canadian corn is the best Halloween candy ever. That's right, Canadian corn. It's like candy corn, only it's orange on the top and white on the bottom. It also tastes like pancakes because it isn't made with corn syrup; it's made with maple syrup.
Continue reading Eight TV character-inspired Halloween candies
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 10:03AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
The geek-friendly guest stars just keep rolling into
Big Bang Theory central ...
Battlestar Galactica's
Katee Sackhoff will appear in the Nov. 23 episode of the CBS comedy. This news comes less than a week after former Squadder
Wil Wheaton showed up to crush Sheldon's spirit and help boost the show's ratings.
Sackhoff will play herself in the episode, but don't expect her role to be as big as Wheaton's or
Summer Glau's last season. The former Starbuck is only dropping by for a cameo, says the
Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, but that won't stop Wolowitz from stalking her, and I doubt it'll stop her fans from tuning in and boosting the show's ratings again.
Continue reading Battlestar's Katee Sackhoff to visit Big Bang Theory (and, um, she might get naked!)
Posted Oct 21st 2009 9:08AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Remember
all those posts we did about
former TV Squad writer Wil Wheaton appearing on
The Big Bang Theory? Well, the ratings are in and it looks like that episode had a
15% increase in viewership in the sought-after 18-34 demo. While the article attributes the ratings boost to a Twitter campaign by Wheaton and executive producer Bill Prady, we here at TV Squad would like to think that our own promotion of the show contributed in some small way.
Speaking of which, wasn't the show great? Sure we
already did a review but it was amazing seeing Wil's screen character win by using the one aspect of playing cards (and, for that matter, reality) that Sheldon can't grasp: the human factor. Sheldon would undoubtedly be great at Blackjack and lousy at Poker.
Continue reading Wil Wheaton means record ratings
Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:29PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E05) What a dick. It turns out that
former Squadder Wil Wheaton, who guest-starred on tonight's episode as himself, is totally the
Jonny Fairplay of fantasy role-playing card game tournaments, who broke Sheldon's poor little heart not once, but twice. I love the fact that Sheldon has this vendetta against Wheaton in the first place, because
of course Sheldon Cooper would consider the guy who played Wesley Crusher on
Star Trek: TNG to be his mortal enemy. The only thing that surprised me about that is that Sheldon's complaint was due to a slight that happened in the real world, and not some scientific inconsistency in the show, or Crusher's anachronistic hair.
When Sheldon and Wil are skirmishing to the death, there's a part of me that was thinking that the story of Wil's grandma was a lie, but he's Wil Wheaton! They wouldn't actually make him evil, would they? But they did, and poor Sheldon nearly had the big aneurysm that Wolowitz had been wishing on his mother.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary
Posted Oct 14th 2009 6:30PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Wil Wheaton's guest appearance on
The Big Bang Theory airs next week, and neither he or CBS has had much to say up to this point about his character.
I speculated that he could be a rival for Penny's affection, but it looks as though he may be a rival of a different kind. We now know who Wheaton is playing in this episode, and it's not Penny he's after.
Continue reading Wil Wheaton's episode of The Big Bang Theory looks amazing
Posted Oct 13th 2009 1:24AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E04) Wow. I'm pretty sure Raj had more lines in this episode than he's had the entire season -- and he even shared scenes with two different women! It was nice having Leonard and Penny in their relationship, but in the background. Now that they're together, I'm glad the writers don't feel as though they need to focus on them every single episode. It makes sense though: sometimes your friends are going through some things, and you're just off having sex. It happens.
I really enjoyed this episode, but I'm not sure there's much of a need to talk about anything besides the amazing "Eye of the Tiger" montages. Not since, well, ever, has staring at a white board seemed so thrilling. Sheldon, of course, should never be allowed to have employees, as he is in no position to lead anyone anywhere except, perhaps, an insane asylum. But I sincerely hope Raj continues to work with -- er, for, Sheldon for quite some time.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Pirate Solution
Posted Oct 6th 2009 8:36AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E03) So we get our first episode of Leonard and Penny together, and it's... weird. She's in their apartment, making French toast, and somehow I feel nearly as uncomfortable as Sheldon when faced with the prospect of eating French toast on a Monday. It's kind of odd seeing Leonard and Penny acting all boyfriend/girlfriend-y. I've gotten so used to their casual banter, that them talking about breaking beds is kind of weirding me out.
However, what really struck me as odd about the opening scene is how mean Sheldon is to Penny. Now, obviously Sheldon would hate having his space invaded, especially by someone who doesn't understand that Mondays are for oatmeal. But the way he and Penny interacted was like early season one. Since then, between
Leonard Nimoy's DNA and
"Soft Kitty," they have formed somewhat of an uneasy bond. I understand that they need to have conflict at the beginning in order for the rest of the episode to make sense, but it didn't need to be so heavy-handed.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Gothowitz Deviation
Posted Sep 29th 2009 1:32AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E02) I really want to hear from you guys about this episode, because as I was watching it, I was thinking, "Oh, man. People are going to be
pissed." I'm talking, of course, about the fact that for most of the episode, it appeared that once again, after we waited patiently for Leonard and Penny to get together, the writers would find some reason to rip them back apart, only to give us yet another season of, "will they or won't they."
It wouldn't have been that implausible. Sometimes, if you spend all of your time building something up in your head, it doesn't live up to expectations. It's not completely unreasonable that after years of pining, it turns out that Leonard and Penny simply aren't compatible beyond friendships. That's life -- but it's certainly not satisfying.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Jiminy Conjecture
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 12:05AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E01) Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Big Bang Theory. Thank you for not dragging out the "will they or won't they" thing with Leonard and Penny throughout the third season. The guys
return from the North Pole looking like a pack of Teen Wolves (all except for Sheldon, whose goatee was much scarier), and the first thing that happens is Penny sticks her tongue down Leonard's throat. There is no dancing around, no skirting the issue. She missed him and had three months to realize that she wanted to give it a shot, so she did.
I especially love that the writers slyly copped to dragging the whole thing out for two seasons, with Leonard and Penny's constant interruptions. "I just can't catch a break!" Although, come on. They flew down to Texas to go after Sheldon. Are they trying to make me believe that Leonard didn't have a few spare minutes before he went to the airport?
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation (season premiere)
Posted Sep 20th 2009 5:08PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Friday Night Lights, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
If
Jim Parsons wins the
Emmy tonight for The Big Bang Theory, you better believe he'll be in a position to pick and choose the projects he does in the future. But here's one that I think would be fascinating, to quote Dr. Sheldon Cooper's favorite Vulcan scientist:
Jim Parsons would like to appear on Friday Night Lights.
In a recent interview, Jim was asked about his favorite current show -- other than his own -- and he said it was
Friday Night Lights. That's right, the NBC drama series about high school football deep in the heart of Texas! Somehow it's hard to imagine Sheldon in pads and a helmet. Maybe he could be the water boy? Or the genius offensive coordinator.
Continue reading Jim Parsons on Friday Night Lights? If he had his way...
Posted Sep 7th 2009 9:03AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
It's a match made in geek heaven:
Wil Wheaton has just announced via
Twitter that he is going to guest star on an episode of
The Big Bang Theory this season. Wheaton, who is currently attending
PAX (The Penny Arcade Expo),
tweeted, "
An announcement of extraordinary magnitude: I will be on an episode of this season. That's all I'm allowed to say. GLEE!"
It's not every day we get to review a TV episode that a former Squadder is guest-starring on, so I'm eagerly awaiting his Big Bang Theory appearance. As Wheaton is a self-proclaimed geek, he's obviously going to fit in great with Leonard, Sheldon, and the rest of the crew. The big question, of course, is what about Penny?
Will he be another rival for her affection? We left off last season with oceans and continents separating Leonard and Penny, and I doubt that they'll just run into each others' arms in the season premiere. So could Wil Wheaton be one of the things that continues to keep them apart? If so, is that such a bad thing?Posted Sep 4th 2009 11:16AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: The Daily Show, Interviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
For thirteen years,
Lewis Black has been ranting and raving as a correspondent for
The Daily Show, venting about all things political and pop cultural. For much longer than that, he's been a an actor, a playwright, and stand-up comedian, playing clubs and theaters everywhere around the country.
He taped his latest special,
Stark Raving Black, earlier this month in Detroit for a fall release in theaters October 8th before it heads to a new premium HB cable channel called
Epix, where it will debut December 5. (Black also filmed a documentary about his transition from a writer to a comedian - he's unsure where that will end up). And
Big Bang Theory fans will be happy to know he'll be doing a cameo on the show September 28. I spoke with him by phone last week.
Why release the new special theatrically? In order to... I think... I've got no idea. Everyone around me seemed to think it was a smart idea. Why not? I'm interested in seeing how that works and if it does work. It's another way to reach people.
Continue reading Lewis Black on his new special, The Daily Show, and the Root of All Evil
Posted Aug 14th 2009 3:29PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
The votes were counted and 77.2% of TV Squad readers
believed Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory has Asperger's Syndrome. Based on Slate writer Paul Collins' article on the subject and reported by
Joel, you were asked your opinion and agreed with Collins.
Well, majority may rule, but the writer is king.
Big Bang co-creator Bill Prady knows the character better than we do, and
Prady said Sheldon does not have Asperger's.
Continue reading Come up with a new theory: Sheldon does NOT have Asperger's
Next Page »
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
Ask TV Squad: Ghost Whisperer and more!
The TV Squad Podcast: Bill Scheft of The Late Show, Cake Boss, Mad Men and more
