In an industry where success is usually ephemeral, a decade at the top is an incredible achievement for The Big Bang Theory. Some people may point out that the series is popular, but it is no wonder. However, although the series has not won any critical awards, it has managed to be nominated for many consecutive years at the Emmys (the most prestigious of television) and Jim Parsons has taken home four as best leading actor comedy . The Big Bang Theory has quality, maybe not as much as its detractors strive to remind us, but it has enough. What nobody can deny is that the public loves it. And many times that is the most important thing. Quality and popularity are a winning combination that come together fantastically in The Big Bang Theory. Here we list what we believe are the reasons for the unstoppable success of our favorite sitcom: - It arrived when the geek subculture became "normal" (mainstream)
What was the first; the egg or the chicken? Maybe we never know if the popularization of geek culture explains the success of The Big Bang Theory or was it that popularized the geek culture. Maybe I'll get a bit of both. The truth is that The Big Bang Theory discovered terms like Schrödinger's cat, the Doppler effect or string theory and returned daily conversations about Star Trek, Star Wars, videogames and that having a master's degree at MIT is not something impressive . I'm sorry, Wolowitz. We live in the geek age and the popularity that The Big Bang Theory has reached is a reflection of it, the celebration of the intelligent, the intellectual and the different. "The Big Bang Theory gave prominence to characters who were once marginalized," says Katherine Brodsky, editor of Variety magazine, "the series allowed the audience to identify with and be a part of the geek world. The rock and the belle queens of high school are already dead. " Well, one should not exaggerate either. However, by going against some established ideas and pushing others that are divergent, the series helped to give visibility to certain sectors of the population that remained marginalized. It's not that things are going to change for a sitcom, but definitely, after ten years, some things have definitely changed. Of course, we have also seen the opposite effect within the show. For example, Sheldon no longer has that almost robotized personality he had at the beginning. He is really trying to lead a more normal life, socialize and establish stronger bonds with his friends. And above all, have a stable romantic relationship with Amy Farrah Fowler, and what we have been able to glimpse, start a family. Something not even his mother, Mary Cooper, thought possible. "People can also find an incredible idea, that geeks and normal people share many things in common. The idea that there are really no differences is sweet, "wrote Jacob Glifton
- Avoid complex and dense stories
Following in the footsteps of Seinfeld and Friends, the show only focuses on showing us the day to day of a group of friends, with his "deactivated shields," as Penny would say. Here you will not find complicated plots, unexpected twists or cliffhanger of vertigo. "There is no need to keep up," Jim Parsons told Vulture magazine a few years ago. "It's not that you stop watching the series a couple of seasons and it turns out that they no longer go out with prostitutes and they do not work anymore for the mafia and nobody understands what happened," he said ironically when compared to other series that require one to follow them weekly. For fans this is very convenient, because it means they can watch any episode, at any time, without having to remember what happened in the previous one. Of course, the show has had some general ideas that it has tried to follow season after season, like when Leonard and Penny would end up together. Because that's something we all knew would happen at some point, even from the first episode. Then there were similar plots for Howard and Bernadette and lately for Sheldon and Amy. Romance is perhaps the only thing that marked a certain line of development. And there is nothing more everyday than love. "People have many options on television now, nobody is obligated to see us. You can see our show without feeling overwhelmed by being on the watch every week of what happened, "Parsons wrote to Vultere. As a strategy, the absence of complexity and the autoconclusive episodes put the fan in a comfortable position. And comfort will always be welcome.