From The Big Bang To The Future
I was watching "The Bat Jar Conjecture"--a Big Bang Theory rerun--where the guys need a fourth for the Physics Bowl when Sheldon quits their team. Raj suggests a good replacement would be the actress who played Blossom on TV. Next he suggests the girl from The Wonder Years.
Or maybe it's not so strange. McKellar has a degree in math and has written books on the subject, while Bialik has a degree in neuroscience. I would guess the show's writers knew that before they put those words in Raj's mouth.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:11 AM
3 Comments:
I remember that. For me, it always breaks the fourth wall when TV characters refer to actual TV shows, because that immediately makes me start wondering exactly which TV shows are merely shows in their universe, and which are real. Clearly in BBT, all versions of Star Trek and Star Wars are merely shows (i.e., when George Takei appears, he is Takei, not Sulu).
But it's less clear with the Whedonverses: the characters have often mentioned Firefly as a TV show, but when Eliza Dushku showed up, she was playing an FBI agent, and they did not recognize her as the actress who had major roles in three of Whedon's four TV shows.
Comedy isn't hurt by breaking the fourth wall as much as drama is, but I still find it annoying. (Or does this just mean I'm obsessive compulsive?)
You are being obsessive compulsive. It is part of the characters that they watch (watched) the same nerdy shows that we - err - you guys watched growing up. It would not work if they start referring to shows that are on now, but I like the crossover references. In fact I wish they could really play "Magic, The Gathering" instead of the made-up D&D card game they feature all the time.
It reminds me of Godel. To make the show more of its time (and more realistic, if you like), the guys on Big Bang Theory discuss real shows and real pop culture. But the one thing they can never discuss or it would blow their reality right out of the water is a show such guys would undoubtedly watch--The Big Bang Theory.
Some shows, btw, deal with this by allowing history to be real but not recent events. Thus on Boss or West Wing or Homeland you may have references to older political figures, but none from the last generation or so (when the fictional world took over?).
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