How THIS Character Solved Big Bang's Biggest Problem
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- The Big Bang Theory is one of CBS's biggest shows of all time. Lasting 12 seasons, with a successful spin-off in Young Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory had a reach most sitcoms can only dream of. But going into Big Bang Theory's 3rd season, the show was at a tipping point. They needed something fresh to round out the main characters and Bernadette Rostenkowski rode in to save the day. Without Bernadette our main characters, specifically Howard, could have been doomed to circle the drain with the same tired tropes until it's eventual cancellation. Luckily Bernadette saved The Big Bang Theory.
#bernadetterostenkowski #thebigbangtheory #youngsheldon #sheldoncooper
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Great analysis... But one other "problem" was fixed: Penny didn't have any friends. She was stuck in the boy's world without anyone. And at its core she was just an "object of desire." Adding Amy and Bernadette gave her a "world" that really added to Penny's story and the overall story. The story telling really evolved.
> And at its core she was just an "object of desire."
Absolutely, and you see it most starkly when she and Leonard finally became an item. The writers didn't know what to do with this two-dimensional character they'd concocted, now that her purpose had been fulfilled. It took a while for Penny to find her true stride.
Penny had friends...or "friends". She had a bunch of guys over with some of their gfs for a football game once. Although I'm sure most of those dudes just hooked up with her.
@@shannendawes8725 They did go on a brief venture of portraying penny as that one wife who wonders why she married her husband, believing to have settled for him. It begun at season 9 iirc
Glad they made her better, but It took a while
It's true, Penny was just a prize at first. She didn't even have a last name ... but she did have a monetary value.
Penny had plenty of friends when the show started. She even dropped by with girlfriends to make fun of the guys. It always bugged me her friends disappeared after she and Leonard started dating.
Bernadette made Howard less creepy, Penny made Leonard more confident, and Amy gradually encouraged Sheldon to get out of his OCD routines. So i guess alcohol was Raj’s main lady at first.
So, the women changed the men from funny to less funny.
@@Bow-to-the-absurd They were still funny. Just less aggravating :P
@@benwasserman8223much less interesting
They did Raj so dirty. Everyone could find someone even Sheldon but Raj was an after though.
I don't totally agree especially towards the end Penny took every chance to beat Leonard and his confidence as a man down. I don't know if it was intentional or not but Penny despite saying otherwise quite literally became what Leonard's mother was to Leonard's father
"Tell her I’m really sorry, and if she doesn’t want to marry me, I get it. But what I really want her to know is the guy that she’s disgusted by, is the guy that I’m disgusted by, too. But that guy doesn’t exist any more, he’s gone, and the reason is because of her. So, if this relationship is over, let her know that she made me a better man, and tell her thank you."
The entire video can be summed up by this.
True, those were the best words that TBBT Howard ever said. But here is the problem that I have with all those IRL Howards out there: The sentence "this disgusting guy doesn't exist anymore" may be true for THEIR lives, but they are still very much part of the lives (memories) of all the women they harrassed & hurt on their path to finally becoming a "nice guy".
This means that they are stil responsible for having hurt the boundaries & feelings of those women, and that it's their job to apologize and do their best to heal/minimize the damage done. Unblocking those women's path of healing is a prerequisite for self-forgiveness (and self-healing). They should not let themselves off the accountability-hook too easily.
And if there's no way of contacting some of these women again, at least join the fight against sexism. And if your dude friends think that's embarrassing/uncool, you'll need to re-evaluate a couple of friendships. (Also: it's not enough to just defend the females of YOUR family, patriarchs have done that for centuries. It has to be ALL women.)
@@PhilosophyOnTheNightbus, what is the problem exactly? He is obviously repentant of his younger behavior (aren't we all to varying degrees) and declares even without Bernie, he's a better person because of her. You can't cancel a person forever for their past.
@@pamelakrumvieda3153 Your reply makes me assume that you have missunderstood my point: I am not advocating for "cancel culture", I am advocating for "consequence culture". It is the job of all those "reformed Howards of this world" to minimize the damage they have done to all the women they harrassed before they met their future wife: Apologize face-to-face, in a phone call, or write an email. Ask what they need to forgive you and and heal.
I personally would not consider marrying a man who hasn't done everything (within reason) to undo the sexism he has brought upon other women. That's why I live my life on the side of a wonderful male feminist. (Wonder what those men are like? Watch "Jimmy on Relationships", it's awesome)
@@pamelakrumvieda3153 The problem is that he caused grief to countless women along the way to becoming a better person. If he is not mortified by his past actions enough to want to make up for them - apologies for a start - then he's not sincere. There's an entire much better show called "My Name Is Earl" about how bettering one's self is impossible without making amends.
She doesn't make him better, she just dominates him more than his mother does.
When Rausch did her impression of Howard's mom, I thought she actually voiced Howard's mom and they brought her onscreen to play bernadette
So did I😅
I think that had been an actual rumor going around at the time. I remember a friend telling me that back when she was trying to sell me on the show.
I honestly thought that too!!!
Me, too.
Rausch did such an incredible job of doing an impersonation of Howard’s Mom’s voice within the context of Bernadette’s voice. The vocal skill level level was exceptional.
Had the best line in the series "How do you know Red Hulk's not worthy?! YOU DON'T KNOW HIS LIFE!!!"
Bernadette seeing Red Hulk: "i can fix him"
My favourtie was "You'd better find my husband's mother, because one way or another we're walking out of here with a dead woman"
For me it’s “Gee Amy I’m sensing some hostility. Is it perhaps because like Sheldon’s work your sex life is also theoretical?”
Raj: Will I ever find a girlfriend?
Bernadette (viciously): Of course you will, you’re a cutie pie. Any woman would be lucky to have you!
@@michaelshort2388 Featured in this very video!
Howard got his best line in the series after his bachelor party, apologizing to Bernadette (well, asking Penny to relay his apology, though Bernadette heard it anyway). I loved Penny's reaction, "Oh my God, Howard. That was the most beautiful thing I ever heard. And it came out of YOU!"
Howard is always dissatisfied with B, so why does his strong attraction to Penny suddenly, permanently disappear when he meets her?
@@RobertTaylor-gz2fu HUGE KNOCKERS
While Howard might not be the most relatable character in the show, in my opinion Helberg is by far the best actor of the whole cast.
Crazy talent. Parsons too though
The one episode where he mimics Nicolas Cage and more in dungeons and dragons game made me his fan. That man is so talented
@@deandeck helberg is a way, WAY better actor than parsons
She was def an element that the show benefited from. Can’t believe she was first off only casted for one episode. Never knew that.
Same with Amy’s character.
Big bang writers cheated. These nerds w good jobs in reality would get at best avg women w avg looks and avg job. The women would accept nerds for stable home and children. But magically then she got a sense a humor, a great career making MORE than him, and into sex. Unrealistic. They didn't want to portray how couples are realistic and settle. Nerds don't get the top women .. in reality Bernadette with great job and sexy would get a jock or banker, not a midget ugly engineer ..... Only Penny clearly was lower class and low education, but then magically she ALSO got a job that paid super well .. no poor person on tv anymore?
I thought Bernadette served 2 major functions on TBBT.
1) The first was her role in being a love interest that served as a means to redirect and soften Howard's chararacer and
2) To - at least initially - provide a communication bridge between Penny and Amy. A dynamic which would have been very forced without Bernadette
Melissa brought the house down when she did her 'Mrs. Wolowitz' voice at Comic Con:
"Howard! What's this Comic Con thing you're going to?! Is it the sex thing I saw on 20/20?!"
Oh yeah. I saw that. She was very good at imitating Howard’s mom’s voice.
"I like the Wii. 😊"
"Thanks Grandma."
That line really reminded me of my little blonde Catholic wife.
Such an iconically Bernadette thing to say. 😁
Bernadette had great timing and delivery too, such an unexpectedly funny character
She's one bad joke, repeated endlessly.
@@RobertTaylor-gz2fu the entire series can be described like that.
Don't like how they changed Bernnadette from quiet and sweet to loud, mean, bossy later on
Yes, greatly worsening her voice & personality.
Honestly I liked it .......we "small" people don't get our voices heard unless we should them or through passive aggressive comments....ok it sounds dumb and childish....but it's the only way for us to get heard.....at least that's with me and my family
I chalk it up to her being a waitress and having to bottle it all in for a long time and then she found some friends where she could let it all out.
@@geloyzarsadias4244Oh I get it, I am a very short lady who also looks way younger than her age ...now it's better but especially when I started my career my appearance definitely didn't make it easier for me to be taken seriously...so I understand a bit where Bernadette attitude may have come from.
She represents many women that also unexpectedly change from quiet and sweet to loud, mean and bossy
You know bernadette also solve the issue being a mediater bridge between two other female leads. Because she is smart intellectual which help Amy to conversation and make penny that conversation easy, and also she is well aware about relevant pop culture which make her bond with penny and include Amy with defining the terms. Without her I don't think that characters chemistry remains same.
Biggest problem was the massive increase in sheldon-centric melodrama combined with huge drop-off in jokes after series 5.
Really? The biggest problem was the constant mysoginy and creeper behavior. Then the second problem was that it was just not funny. A classic TBBT setup is.
Penny runs into the guys
Hey guys what are you doing
We are going to buy some comic books because the new Green Lantern is out.
Cur laughter
@@TheTransitmtl you think they were creepy? Huh.
Not been around adolescent boys much then.
Or humans in general.
Ever seen women on a hen night?
Some of the most perverted behaviour you'll ever see in the open.
@@TheTransitmtlYou forgot about the last part where Penny either acts like they’re speaking another language or makes fun of them sarcastically.
9@@TheTransitmtl
Yepe. It pass from a not pc real nerds comedy show... to a empowerment chick flick for pc babies in the late seasons. To put all the focus into "parenting" sheldon was a mistake as well (just like paying galecki and cuoco more than helberg and nayyar).
They went too far making Bernadette like Howard's mom. Her character became not so liked but that was what happened with most of cast
I only watched the show sporadically, but I'm in the target audience. Bernadette's domineering behavior toward Howard never sat right with me; I otherwise liked her character. I also never liked the Leonard-Penny relationship because they never really seemed to have anything in common. Sheldon-Amy I was fine with.
I agree. Pretty much every character became too predictable for the rest of the series from Season 8, in my opinion.
@@jlillershe just became off-putting. Like imagine if the show was flipped and if it was about nerdy geeky women with attractive boyfriend's. Imagine a male version of Bernadette constantly ripping into a female version of Howard acting like he was doing her favour by being with her and having sex with her, calling her a slut whenever she makes jokes about dicks. Then eventually making more money than her and ripping into her even more
I hated how they changed Amy. She should have remained more like Sheldon, and she should have been a comic book and/or science fiction nerd, too. The writers denied the fact that women can and do like nerdy things -- not just men. Also, I thought Penny and Sheldon would have been the better couple. He made her crazy, but they had chemistry, and she liked playing with him; e.g., {{knock, knock, knock}} "Who do we love?" "Penny." "What's the gist, physicist?"
@@SunshineCatwoman Technically, Amy was interested in nerdy things (science), but not as much geeky things (comics). I agree having her as more of a geek would have been an interesting angle, even explore how at least one of the characters possibly dealt with feeling threatened by a woman who knew more about some geeky topic than he did.
Sheldon was, intentionally or not, coded as Asperger's + OCD (IIRC, the showerunners didn't explicitly intend it that way originally, but they and Jim Parsons kind of recognized and ran with it over time).
I'm not sure that Amy was written quite the same way, in terms of mental health. I've seen some argument the character also has Asperger's, but it seems to me like it could be more anxiety and stunted social development caused by environmental conditions (parenting, peers, and being a high-IQ woman interested in science). I don't know if Mayim Bialik or the showrunners ever discussed this?
Shoutout to Bernadette's Dad. That one episode with Sheldon when they bond over football. I'll never forget. She's my favorite girl among the main cast.
Yes, I enjoyed that whole bit. Particularly when they get drunk.
And maybe by accident it's a good intro to Young Sheldon.
Sheldon daddy issues is one of the parts I wished they explored more in the series. Instead of treating him like a kid with 3 mommies he could have grown up more but that is not milkable for 12 seasons
I love that episode, Sheldon really misses his dad, so that was a sweet bonding moment.
Howard isn't a problematic character, is a flawed character.
Next people will get offended by villain characters.
You can have a characters that wants to erase half of the universe population but no one will complain about Marvel movies.
I had problem with his behaviour being represented as humorous, via laugh tracks. And it was rarely called out by his friends or family
a character in a marvel movie is not comparable to a character in a sitcom.
in marvel movies you know it is a fantasy world. you know the big evil guy is most likely not someone you meet every day. his evil actions are not able to translated to your everyday life.
characters from a sitcom however are caricatures of people like you and me. they are supposed to be able to be compared to the people you know in your life, they are supposed to be relatable. and people like howard exist and if you have been a victim of these sexual harassments you cannot distance yourself from characters like howard. it is more likely to be a victim of howards action than to be a victim of a marvel antagonist. plus, howard is supposed to be on the good side, you are supposed to consider his actions harmless. a marvel antagonist is supposed to be evil.
I didn't know that there was a "Howard problem"
yeah i think most of the complaints of his character were from people who didn't watch the show. But again everyone is unanimous that non single howard was more enjoyable to watch than single howard, and Bernadette was my favorite character on the show.
Amazes me how entertainment today is afraid to have a character that isnt nice as theyre afraid that will get the show cancelled.
People are pathetic.
Not everyone has the bandwidth to withstand misogyny for 3 seasons straight. There has to be the promise that this is something that will be redeemed in the future. But with how quickly the shows are being cancelled and unfunded, you only get one series season at most to do your best job. You can see how this leads to whatever you're saying. Not every series has the guarantee of running for 8-10 season minimum
@@noone36101 not every character in a story needs to be nice or redeemed from whatever flaw though.
A-freaking-men.
As much as I've come to reevaluate TBBT negatively because of how much I hate the last couple of seasons, Howard's apology to Bernadette after his bachelor party is one of the sweetest moments of the show.
I think the character started out great... and it was a good way to "de-creep" Howard. However, in the later seasons, especially after she got her PhD... she stopped being the sweetheart type and became a worse and worse person as the series went on. She border-lined on becoming insufferable in the last couple seasons, because she was such a bully.
I loved that giving Howard a stable girlfriend and later wife in Bernadette decreased his sleazy, creepy behaviour towards women, and made him more likable.
No, it was showing that he was a care free fun loving guy and ended up with a controlling monster for a gf who ended up replacing his mother. It's a cautionary tale and they even make it clear that she's a horrid gf, wife, friend, and overall human being. Can't believe you thought it was good for him to have his life ruined... He was so happy just being a nerd and should've stuck to that. Raj didn't become obsessed with finding a woman until his friends started leaving him behind. The 4 of them could've lived happily ever after the way they were. Sheldon is the only one who benefited from letting a woman into his life
@@Kjos_jaxI’m kinda wondering if we watched the same show?
Howard at first wasn’t so much “care-free” as he was “immature, desperate, and shameless”. And Bernadette didn’t ruin his life, at least not according to what was shown on-screen. Both Howard and the writers generally clearly thought he was happier and better-off with her. As for her being a horrible person: yes. But arguably less horrible than Howard.
@@natbarmore nope..she was a bit of a pervert herself
They made him more likeable but Bernadette very unlike will my opinion.
Like she constantly criticises, mocks and tries to emasculate Howard, even when he's not there she's just with her friends, acting like she's doing him a favour by being with him despite the fact that he's a doctor and an astronaut working at MIT.
Imagine if the roles were flipped and the show was about unattractive women with attractive boyfriends and the boyfriends were constantly making fun of them joking about their femininity and acting as though they were doing the women of favour by being with them/ having sex with them and earning more than them...
@BrutalCarnage Agreed
Basically, they tried out Bernadette and Amy and checked the audience's response. If the audience started to lose interest in the character after a couple of episodes in, something would happen that will cause the relationship to break up.
This is exactly why Raj never ended up in a committed relationship. It is not that the script writers never tried, or intentionally want to keep him single. It is us audience that made him single (or the scriptwriter/actresses failed to produce a good enough gf for Raj).
I liked Kate Miccuci. They could have developed her character beside social anxiety.
Howard never bothered me. First of all, if you can stomach "2 and a Half Men", you can put up with Howard all day. Also, he came across as way overcompensating and harmless. I think most people felt the same way.
I rematch TBBT almost every year. Although early Howard is cringey, I still find him hilarious. He's an exaggerated version of those misguided guys who were bullied for being nerds and developed the wrong ideas about relationships with women.
Who says we can stomach 2 and a half men..?
@@stephanien6237 Hence the word "IF" in my comment 😁
Good point. 2 and a Half Men was gross most times. Funny yes, but gross.
"Go have a weird relationship with your own mother and cousin, (pointing to howard) this is his turf" got me laughing like crazy😂😂
It's baffling to me how people nowadays have no ability to analyze something beyond the surface. When they complain about a guy being creepy or acting like Howard in the beginning, they just have the virtue signaling mask on. They don't see, for example, how sad and pathetic the character is. All the things that happened to him to have reached that mindset and that even though it's played as a comedy, u can see that it's never a glorified behavior. It's always meant to be rejected and we all know that his actions aren't good.
I'm not saying this towards this video but to the people complaining about these kinds of characters when they don't even see beyond the first coat of paint.
If you ignore the comedy aspects of Big Bang Theory, there is *a lot* of tragedy going on there, like how Howard is clearly overcompensating for some kind of serious damage that was caused by his mother. It's honestly weird that Leonard isn't the same way, come to think of it.
Yeah sorry but Howard isn’t the most cring character
Rage
And
Lenard are extremely cring
Actually, I don't remember there being backlash against Howard's character at the time. I think people saw him as overcompensating and harmless as you mention. Not to say that he wasn't very much improved by his relationship with Bernadette.
@@InfernosReaper Yes! For me the 2nd layer of the characters was always very sad. I actually felt bad with some jokes because they highlighted sad parts of them. And I like that kind of thing, it makes it deeper.
@@nahuel Yeah, it especially hits hard if someone removes the laugh track
Later in seasons Howard became my favorite character because his arc was always progressing, and Simone is the best actor of a group
I liked Bernadette period. Howard aside, she was so much fun to watch. Until the later seasons, when they leaned too hard into how much she resembled Howard’s mother. But by then, a lot of nuance in the ensemble was getting muddled
Her voice is far from fun.
yeah the later seasons could have been squished into fewer episodes and had been better for it but that show as on the top of the world and making so much money that they stretched it out a bit to far just like every successful sitcom.
Understandably, Howard's behaviour in the first 3 seasons didn't age well today. But if the show had been cancelled after those 3 seasons, looking at it today it would have been more disappointing for not allowing the character to evolve and end up as a better person than the one we met in the pilot. Plus, I think modern viewers are smart enough to differentiate how a character behaves on screen from how it would behave in real life.
He didn't change... he was controlled by a new mommy figure and she took full advantage. She's a horrible excuse for a friend, gf, wife, and person. Hate Bernadette
Is he better though?
And you think Bernadette being a bossy bItch aged well?
That’s because these days you can’t possibly have character development
Simp
I always thought that was her real voice 😂
Her voice in the show was very annoying, she should have just used her natural voice
The most unrealistic thing about this entire show is Howard bagging a goddess like Bernadette.
lol
It's kind of makes sense when you think about it. She loves to put people down and having s husband who idolizes you while you constantly, criticize and berate them and stays with you. She definitely wants to keep him around cause of that
That's most TV shows (King of Queens comes to mind)
"Goddess".
@@Xspurr Well, I'm straight.
Bernadette and Amy just turned it into "Friends"
Yep. It was just a normal "Friends" sitcom by the end.
I was thinking the same thing
Yes, because life isn't about people growing up, getting into LTR then married, and some having kids. 🙄
@@l00k4tstuff you can't say that in a world where Seinfeld exists
Bernadette is my favorite character in TBBT, along with Howard, and it's because of the unique dynamic they share. Bernadette is sharp, ambitious, and only comes across as mean when faced with utter nonsense or immature behavior, which makes her reactions all the more relatable. What really stands out is how she serves as a catalyst for Howard’s growth-she pushes him to mature and become a better version of himself. Together, they add depth to the show, balancing out the quirkier, less developed characters. I also connect with Bernadette’s no-nonsense attitude, which stems from growing up taking care of her siblings, a relatable experience for anyone who’s had to handle early responsibilities. She’s an inspiration, showing that ambition, strength, and compassion can go hand-in-hand. Bernadette’s character represents real-life qualities we should all strive for, which is why she, alongside Howard, is such a standout for me. 😊
Melissa Rauch is an outstanding actress.
I think the 'Howard problem' also wasn't quite as, well, fatal as HIMYM's, because he didn't actually score with (and then dump) women. He just wished he could. Not *a lot* better, but still maybe somewhat more redeemable.
Now tell us why Doctor Stephanie was erased from the show as if she never even existed, please!
A bit like Brock from the Pokémon Anime, but than a bit more PG
My guess: she wasn't crazy enough.
Everyone on the show is a neurotic or nutjob of some sort. But Dr. Steph was basically a 1980's sitcom mom.
@@Lolkop555 Or Pepe Le Pew.
I’d say the main reason it wasn’t fatal is that both the outcome from the behavior and maturation out of it were very grounded and realistic. There are plenty of people who need to go thru that in order to grow out of it and change their ways.
Not sure about that. Howard stalked women. He actually hid cameras in teddy bears and flew drones over to spy on some hot women. Howard would be just as bad as Barney if he had his charm and I think both are irredeemable.
Damn I forgot how cute Melissa Rauch is
I've had such a major crush on her that I wound up watching the Night Court sequel series and having never watched the original, it's a surprisingly good show.
She's a tiny little bombshell
And busty
She needs to reveal the puppies.
Okay keep your pants on everybody
Bernadette was great for the first 3-4 seasons she was on the show; But, she turned pointlessly rude later on.
Bernadette always felt a little too much. All of them were stereotypes but I have a feeling they pushed her towards cartoonish with the voice, wardrobe and attitude slightly more to preserve Penny as "The Hot Chick" of the group.
No question that his relationship with Bernadette was the single biggest reason that Howard was able to rehabilitate as a character.
However, the actual start of that rehab happened a few episodes earlier after Penny punched him in the face when he tried to make a creepy move while she was comforting him. Howard started to tone down the sleaze after that, to the point where Penny was ok with introducing him to Bernadette.
It’s a nice reminder that a swift punch to the face is not always a bad thing for someone who deserves it.
True!
Bernadette screaming at howards off screen mom was sooooo freaking good on a freudian level!
When Howard had the whole group sing the song to her while she was in quarantine I knew how Penny felt when she said "That's the most beautiful thing I ever heard and it came out of you". I know I looked at Howard differently after that. Bernadette made him a better man.
I guess it takes a domineering bully to turn a pervert into a good man.
The song lyrics are wrong. B doesn't support all of Howard's dreams & hopes. She often says to him that he's wrong.
Corolla-ry cracked me up 😂
It's kind of funny. She fixed Howard, but then ended up derailing as a character herself in the later seasons.
Fixed?
What effing show did you people watch!?
The song they sang to her while she was in quarantine actually made me cry. I can admit it. It was a beautiful moment in TV history.
3:03 That's the best pronunciation of corollary I've ever heard.
They turned the sleeze from Howard to Raj and made Raj a pathetic character that reminds me of the Indian guy from That 70s Show.
What Indian guy from That 70s Show? It is never revealed where Fez is from, he's hinted to be from South America more than once.
Maybe you're the problem, hun.
@@92brunod his name is Fez and he has an Indian accent. I'm Latino and I don't know anyone from that region with that accent.
Maybe YOU are the problem. Hun.
@@92brunodand only condescending white people call others "hun".
True he went from the esotic friend learning to approach women to the fall guy for the nerdy unsociable weird guy, often borderline feminine because ofc he didn't have enough stereotypes as he was
@@rockoorbe2002 Fez wasn't his name. His name was un-pronouncable, so they called him Fez (Foreign Exchange Student). His accent was fake so it was untraceable.
Am I the only one appalled that of all the characters in this franchise, it's not Missy getting her own spin-off show?
Dang.
Prior to Bernie's presence in the series, we witnessed Howard try and fail multiple times at getting ladies to fall for his sleazy approach. After Bernie showed, but Penny noticed him getting second thoughts, she had this to say: "If you let her go, there is no way you can find anyone else. Speaking on behalf of all women, it is not going to happen, we had a meeting." Bernie accepted Howard for who and what he was: a work in progress. She knew his type, she knew what buttons to push and how to shut down his less appealing tendencies. The only way to make Howard more appealing to the audience was to apply the song by Public Image Ltd: "This is what you want. This is what you get." Bernie was the woman Howard needed, and that worked for we the people watching.
People are really stupid to not like Howard. He was supposed to be horrible so people can learn to NOT BE HIM. We need to accept that there are people with creepy behaviour but they can change them too with more love (as the series did) and not hate (like real people do)
Howard was much more funny before Bernadette
Love how the solution to a character with a strong mother that was a thirsty sex pest was to give him a mothering girlfriend. Like replacing the prison warden that controlled him with 1 that loved him. I mean she is a nice but also hot character i just find it funny.
Really plays into the "Jewish mommy's boy" trope.
I doubt his mother didn't love him. Also I think one of the better scenes is when the apartment upstairs was free and he was going to rent it. That exchange between him and his mother showed much more that he's not willing to be separated, and not that she didn't let him. Anyway, some people feel the need for a guiding hand their whole life.
While I liked Bernadette early on in the show, she became my least favorite character by the end. She became the bitter annoying loud one that was one dimensional.
The moment the show went under... the moment the 5 stars became 6, then 7...
summary: people can't take a joke, so they had to change the joke
Pretty much. I thought Howard being weird was his character. And the show never condoned it. I don’t understand why it didn’t age well when he’s supposed to be a creep.
and by people, we mean feminists.
Shame they made the character mean and annoying
THANK YOU!!!
Yeah, I don't like what they did to her after Season 3.
3:03 that’s… that’s not how you say that
Bernadette's line during a spat with Amy about Amy and Sheldon's s*x life being theoretical is absolutely savage 😅
Bernadette is the least likeable character.
It's over acted, the cartoon version of a woman who doesn't make her mind between being 'adorable' or a total Karen
The Big Bang theory occupies a special place in my heart. Throughout the show’s run I was in the midst of a bad medical situation, and this show with its whit and love of science helped make those dark days a little bit brighter. Also it was one of the only things that my parents and I all enjoyed to watch. So it was one of the very few things that we could watch together as a family.
And I also want to add that although the main relationship that got the show started was the Lenard/Penny one, it was always the Howard/Bernadette one that I found the most touching. Almost every time I got teared up watching this show it was from something related to their storyline. Well played y’all. Well played indeed.
I loved Howard and Bernadette. Would be all for a spin-off with them raising their children.
The only problem I have with this is Bernadette essentially became a character to "fix" Howard. Which becomes a reoccurring theme with all the shows romances.
Writing and producing a video essay on the merits of a Chuck Lorre show is like the ultimate irony. Its like trying to find the artistic reasoning behind chimps throwing poop at you.
The series really took off when they realized that the real dynamic on which the show hinged was not Sheldon+Leonard or even Leonard+Penny, but that it was Sheldon *vs* Penny.
The key to making the show work was Sheldon's rather bizarre perspective of the world vs. Penny's very very normal outlook on the world. This is where some of the best humor comes from.
Everything else largely hinges off that. As someone else notes, they also gave the guys GFs, which gave her more people to interact with, of varying degrees of strangeness.
Part of the surprise of the show was that they largely avoided the obvious source of humor, and instead went the My Cousin Vinnie route -- the fun is not abusing one behavior pattern or the other, it's the contrast between them where the non-vicious, non-"mean", non-demeaning humor lies.
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Howard is not slime because he wants to be slime, or naturally is -- he's just socially inept, just like the other guys, but is trying not to be, and doing a horrifically bad job of it.
There ARE guys like this, and Howard is just an absurdly extreme version of it played to the hilt for comedic purposes. I don't think the show ever ever ever suggests this is ok behavior, so it's not like they were advocating it. In fact, they pretty much mark him off as a very undesirable guy from the start.
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It's pronounced "Coro-Larry" by the way. 😛
Not "Coral-Larlry".
The show could of survived without Sheldon and Amy at least 5 or more seasons. Just develop Raja more and maybe bring in Kripke as a more permanent character.
The problem is, that science nerds are not allowed to live as they want, but need to be pressed in standard family dad roles.
Writers did justice to every character except for Raj.
She grew up in the town I teach in now. Most famous person who came out of Marlboro, NJ!
Sometimes I don't know whether I have missed out, or spared myself by only watching sitcoms, but not studying them.
Bernadette was actually often surprisingly tolerant of Sheldon’s quirks and defended him on several occasions, even when he wasn’t present in the scene, which I found interesting. The two have little direct interact until later on though and no scenes one on one until toward the end of the series.
Bernadette was my favorite character, but I never had a problem with Howard. Maybe I'm too sleazy? He's just a fictional character and it's not like he was ever painted in a good light like Sam Malone.
You're not too sleazy. Howard's antics were genuinely funny, not in spite of them being inappropriate, but because of it. His creepiness enhanced that.
I don't know why so many people have complain over Bernadette?
Bernadette's best comedic bits were her cutting lines about the pharmaceutical industry. Jokes about drug testing on "death row inmates with nothing to lose" and the overall ineffectiveness of prescription drugs makes me wonder if Big Pharma companies boycotted TBBT?
My girlfriend and I are just in the process of re-watching the series. There are some comically creepy moments with Howard that wash over the other characters too. Plugging him into a relationship did change the tone, not only of the character, but the whole show. It brought the testosterone level down.
Thank god “Two and a half men” came before the “me too” movement.
I agree I hope as more years pass the ugliness of the me too movement gets more distant and we can have characters like Charlie again.
Howard devolved into one more neutered male sitcom character. "Aw shucks, I'm just an overgrown child who needs a woman to constantly correct me. Please show me how to be an actual human being." In case it was too subtle, they even had Bernadette shout at him in his mom's voice. The guys on the show all went from socially awkward to complete buffoons so the female characters would feel superior, like every other sitcom of the last 40+ years.
Personally, the girlfriends ruined the show for me.
Same.
True. But Bernadette was the least of that problem.
Penny was the worst, because she made Leonard stop being funny at all, and seemed to encourage Sheldon to be even more annoying.
really? i think they added something to the show that helped the show have more seasons because you can't have howard just being creepy episode after episode
For what ever reason the writers on BBT had a real issue writing female characters initially. The fact that it was the female lead that they had to scrap from the pilot is indicative of this. When the series started Penny was quickly sidelined to the unrequited love interest, think Malory from Family Ties or Laura from Family Matters where the "quirky" man become the more interesting character. Of course over time they did work out the rhythm for Penny, but Leslie wasn't so fortunate because she had the potential to be a really interesting character, but they just couldn't work out what to do with her so she just disappeared without mention. Bernadette and Amy were both completely different characters in their first few appearances until they worked them out. I would say the most successful BBT female characters were probably Leonard and Sheldon's mothers and this was probably because a lot of their character building was done with mentions and back story then small cameos before they became the focus of a few episodes.
The actress who played Leslie has stated all she wanted was a guest slot and didn't want to be part of the cast.
@@l00k4tstuff Well that was a shame
I absolutely love Howards character even before Bernadette. I always considered him to be the most relatable and funny guy on the show.
She's actually my favorite character and one day while rewatching, I told my brother, I (a woman in my mid 20s) want to be Bernadette when I grew up.
She evolved to be quite mean to her co-workers, Howard and sometimes her friends. But in the first few episodes she was quite sweet. Why such inconsistencies.
Howard isn't a Doctor like Anakin Skywalker isn't a Master.
Wait. Was that Katie Sachoff?
Normally, I'm not happy about the "She fixed him" trope that's often played up in sitcoms but in this case Howard desperately needed it.
I'm a fan of the entire cast and all of the characters. Watching the characters deepen and "grow up", even as we watched the actors perfect their craft was an incredibly satisfying journey. I think that Howard's flaws were always an opportunity. The more deeply flawed the character, the greater the capacity for growth. Howard's song to Bernadette when she's in the hospital is about as heartwarming a scene as can be imagined, particularly since he performs it with all of their friends. It's and endlessly re-watchable show.
The biggest problem of TBBT was, that it changed from a comedy show about nerds to a soap opera.
So much great character development on this show. That is why this show is very re-watchable long after it finished.
Many of those writing tv shows today need to learn from TBBT. 😊
She was only 10% a sociopath and a menace to society... she really averaged out that group.
Come on, you left out the best part from that fight between her and Raj:
*I'M NICE TO EVERYONE!!!*
I definitely preferred Howard in the first couple of seasons he was so funny
Same here, the sleazy Howard was much funnier
I agree the whole show was a lot funnier until around season 5 or 6
While Seinfeld and TBBT are at their core the same show, (toxic, unhealthy individuals treating each other poorly) one is genuinely funny, and the latter is the epitome of cringe and completely unwatchable.
I’m a fan of both lol. Growing up in the late 2000’s I already saw Seinfeld and recognized how lowbrow TBBT was in comparison to something like Curb, but I liked it anyway because for some reason it felt the most like 2.5Men(the Charlie Sheen seasons) out of any of Chuck Lorre’s productions.
I’d even argue something like Friends, which had great writing but worse comedic synchronicity than Seinfeld is a sort of precursor to what TBBT would do specifically in relation to “nerd” culture as seen from a screenwriter’s perspective.
@Nthsey with Seinfeld and 2.5 Men the show and its writers knew the characters were despicable and never tried to pass them off as anything but where TBBT definitely wants the audience to view these characters as wholesome, caring or something to strive to be like in real life. Almost trying to convince the audience that it's ok to act and treat people this way. Modern Family is another example that's very guilty of this same dynamic.
Seinfeld and Two and a Half Men were meant to be more edgy. And both were better written. And I do like TBBT, at least the pre Amy/Bernadette era. But I'm not a fanboi so I can criticize the heck out of it.
And if you want a show similar to it but better, just watch 3rd Rock From The Sun. Seriously, Dick Solomon would run circles around Sheldon Cooper any day.
@@rockoorbe2002 such a great cast on 3rd rock!
Melissa Rauch is the best edition to BBT since Penny. Not to mention my fallback position whenever someone tries to argue that there is "no such thing as a funny woman."
I'm glad that the world knows her.
There is a pattern in sitcoms where the married bossy woman is always the funnier one instead of the main character love interest
I like Bernadette but I never took Howard too seriously before she appeared on the show. I always saw him pretty much as a looser with women, no matter how bald or sexist his lines were. He was a funny nerd who tried his way with women in a creepy way and that made him very funny and therefore not offensive
Not to mention Bernadette but for me, Howard growth is the best character arc for me in any sitcom show, he went from a creepy dude to a romantic quirky funny loving husband and father. I mean his idea of gift for Bernadette is the star that actually has been space! To hell with it, when Bernadette sick, dude brought piano to hospital and play it for her. He grows a lot and came a really long way. I love his character! (The character i still get annoyed by to the end of the show is Raj)
You forgot the very characteristic piece where Bernadettes boss took Penny on for an interview they both didn't want to do, but bonded because "she scares me".
Big Bang's biggest problem is that they had like half a season worth of fun, interesting ideas and then it became a regular, stupid, repetitive sitcom.
3:00 The Creepy Candy Coating what now?? Nerds who don't know how to pronounce corollary sheesh...
Amy and Bernadette 100% completed the show.
Ironically the introduction of Bernadette also got rid of the character because very quickly it was not the same person on the TV show, ditto with Amy, while sure you can say "the character evolved" that was an evolution, that was a completely different character.
I think the height of her character and her hidden nature is when Penny is interviewing for the sales job, and both she and the boss reach the point of her getting the job over both being scared of how bossy Bernadette can be. Such as the boss not being able to tell her a project she was working on was cancelled as he's scared to do so.
I always thought his biggest problem was being bossed around by his mom. And they solved that by having him be bossed around by his wife instead of ever standing on his own two feet. I read the whole thing as a cautionary tale.