Bangin'

I just watched the season nine premiere of The Big Bang Theory, "The Matrimonial Momentum." It fascinates me that the little show that could, has become a powerhouse, as big a hit as TV has to offer.

This season will feature the show's 200th episode.  Very few sitcoms remain at peak efficiency that long, and I fear BBT has already gotten a bit stale.  You start out with fresh characters, and then add some into the mix as you go along, but pretty soon it seems you've tried every permutation.

Sitcoms used to end the season and start up again like nothing happened, but now they've all got to have cliffhangers, so let's catch up, shall we?  At the end of last season, Leonard and Penny were driving to Vegas to get married while Amy said goodbye to Sheldon, who was about to give her an engagement ring. I dreaded both these developments.

The whole show has been about Leonard going after Penny, and if he's caught her, isn't it time to call it quits?  A sitcom marriage, as interesting as it may be to fans, is often a jump-the-shark moment. (When I watched Friends I felt Chandler and Monica falling in love sidelined two good characters.  By the time they married, I'd stopped watching.) It's the chase that's the fun part.  I didn't love Howard and Bernadette getting married, either, but at least they're secondary characters.

As for the other main couple, it had been fun to see Amy pine after an essentially clueless Sheldon, occasionally getting her little victories.  To see their relationship in trouble, and to see Sheldon really care about it, threatens to turn the show from comedy into soap opera.

In the premiere, Sheldon and Amy clearly break up, and I'm hoping we don't have to watch a bunch of episodes where Sheldon tries to win his way back into her heart, though that's what the signs point to. As for Leonard and Penny, the results are even worse.  They married, but immediately started fighting and were separated before the wedding night was over.  I know you've got to have conflict, and want to keep the relationship moving forward, but why get them married just so they can fight like they often did before?

The only that that would be worse is if the cast start having babies.  I hope the show is canceled before that happens.