A lot of people grew up being bullied, turned on a show that was supposed to appeal to them, only to be bullied again. 90% of the jokes are “hey look how fucking stupid these nerds are for liking nerd things.” The remaining 10% is sexist or ignoring Penny’s crippling alcoholism.
It was an attack on a culture of people, rather than the celebration of that culture it pretended to be. That’s why people hate it.
The weirdest thing is it didn’t seem to start out that way. I remember the first season actually having strong jokes. I specifically remember one about spherical chickens that was truely hilarious because it was a nerd joke on a prime time tv show. Then came season two, with it the show tried to become more relatable to the ‘average viewer’ and it was just bullying on TV.
A lot of people grew up being bullied, turned on a show that was supposed to appeal to them, only to be bullied again. 90% of the jokes are “hey look how fucking stupid these nerds are for liking nerd things.” The remaining 10% is sexist or ignoring Penny’s crippling alcoholism.
It was an attack on a culture of people, rather than the celebration of that culture it pretended to be. That’s why people hate it.
The weirdest thing is it didn’t seem to start out that way. I remember the first season actually having strong jokes. I specifically remember one about spherical chickens that was truely hilarious because it was a nerd joke on a prime time tv show. Then came season two, with it the show tried to become more relatable to the ‘average viewer’ and it was just bullying on TV.