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Comment by LukeWalsh | Hacker News Reader

I think it's odd that tech people are comparing this to the Big Bang theory. Big Bang theory dumbs down all of the jokes at the expense of not conveying a genuine culture. This is why it is massively successful in the general population and regected by geeks.

Silicon Valley seems to be the opposite at least based on the first episode. There are at least 4x as many subtle tech memes as there are jokes.

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Agreed. I absolutely loathe Big Bang Theory and don't understand why people like it. It consists of cardboard cutout characters with unfunny dialogue. I watched the Silicon Valley pilot and was on the floor laughing. This is genuine stuff. No comparison.

Big Bang Theory isn't made for geeks; it's made for people who want to laugh at geeks. Mostly, it's made to sitcom conventions and happens to use geekery as the punchline to conventional setups, situations, and timing. It's a show on rails, with ostensible 'nerds' as set dressing. Provided you watch it as a formulaic, mildly entertaining sitcom, it serves that purpose. Occasionally you can nod knowingly at catching Sheldon's obscure-to-the-general-public science references. But if you're the kind of person who catches Sheldon's references, the show's not for you. (In the aggregate, at least. Personally speaking, I enjoy Sheldon, even though I recognize him as a caricature.)

There have been some great commentaries over the last few years about shows for nerds vs. shows about nerds. Compare, for example, Big Bang Theory and Community. The former has more putatively 'nerdy' characters, but it's by no means a nerdy show. The latter revels in its obscurity, geekery, and absurdity, even though only one of the characters is supposed to be a 'nerd' in the vein of BBT's Sheldon. General Population watches BBT for entertainment, but also for a sort of paradoxical validation: to feel 'in' on the nerdery, but mostly to place a safe distance between itself and nerdery. Nerds, meanwhile, watch shows like Community, which make no bones about their nerdery.

Traditionally, the gulf between content 'for nerds' and 'about nerds' has been pretty wide. That's because the non-nerdy public finds the genuine article to be unfamiliar and vaguely threatening. If Judge's take on Silicon Valley succeeds, it will be the first time in years that someone's bridged this gap.

> Big Bang Theory isn't made for geeks; it's made for people who want to laugh at geeks.

It's important to note that BBT's jokes are largely predicated on academia and NOT tech culture since their inside consultant is a physics prof. It's amusing when the "geeks" complain how the show portrays them, when they don't just get the humor having never shared the experiences of the academics on the show.

That said, the volume of nuanced yet poignant physics jokes has dropped since season 1. Still not bad though, and enjoyed by those without the misplaced egos.

The physics jokes are probably the best part of the show, and they're sort of an easter egg for people who get them. That's the part of the show where the effort invested (expert consultant, etc.) really shines through.

In general, I find the show mildly to moderately funny. I'm certainly not offended by it, as a lot of people seem to be. I just take it for what it is. It's a mainstream show that happens to feature some insider humor, rather than the other way around. Characterizations of the show as "nerd blackface" seem misguided, IMO. Legitimately offensive "nerd blackface" would be, for example, the portrayal of Asian-American characters in '80s comedies like Revenge of the Nerds and Sixteen Candles.

All true, but the main point is that the subject of BBT isn't "geeks", which explains the misguided haterade. For example, Raj seeking research/grant funding from Sheldon and their university office sharing hijinx hits home for a segment of nerds who aren't the type to frequent reddit or HN where the "laugh at geeks" narrative became popular.

This is esp. cogent if Community is supposed to be a "proper" nerdy show. The reality is a single-camera format is more conducive to a more subtle script (eg 30 rock, which geeks similarly like) than a cheap/quick multi-cam sitcom. The love seems to stem from the nature of the material, which is conflated with the material itself.

To be clear I'm not offended either, I just find the acting horrible, the characters cardboard cutouts and the jokes unfunny.

Disagree. The jokes are fairly accurate (accuracy checked by professor David Saltzberg of UCLA).

Throughout my life I've drown in conversation of minutia and have adhered to a sense logistical consistency that probably impeded my daily living.

Much of it's silly looking back. BBT theory gets this behavior spot on with Sheldon. I think I enjoy it more because it's self-deprecating.

Big Bang Theory is just nerd black face, it's a really hard to watch.

You're really comparing mocking one of the most privileged groups you could possibly mock... with blackface. Seriously?

You are exactly the kind of person that motivated Mike Judge to create this show.

While calling BBT "nerd black face" is over-the-top and inaccurate (see subthread above), what does privilege have to do with offensive stereotypes? Are you claiming that, for groups above a certain level of privilege, there is no such thing as an offensive caricature?

Not exactly but sort of. Think of the effect the caricatures have. Caricatures that are punching up (making fun of rich people, tech geeks, etc) affect people in a way different way than caricatures that are punching down (making fun of the poor, and racial and sexual minorities, etc).

It's similar to the difference between being called the n-word vs cracker.

It's 1000 times funnier than the Big Bang Theory if only because there's no laugh track.

Actually, the overuse of the laugh track is probably the only funny part of BBT.

Not that I'm defending BBT, but they're taped in front of a live audience, so it's not technically a laugh track.

Plenty of shows taped in front of a live studio audience still sweeten it with a laugh track. But I have no idea if BBT does.

edit: wikipedia says yes. "Sweetening has been used in a number of television series, from older shows like Happy Days, Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, to newer sitcoms Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetening

There must be a 'LAUGH' sign - because they are on cue even when the joke isn't remotely funny.

I feel it's a lot like Entourage. Has all the same elements. Entourage is about the Entertainment industry in LA whereas Silicon Valley is about the Tech scene in SV.

Well the article states that his team calls it "Entourage with Aspergers"

I didn't the read article. ;)

That would be another great meme for the show. Commenting on something without actually reading it. Definitely a HN meme.

It's not an HN meme.

See: http://gawker.com/npr-pulled-a-brilliant-april-fools-prank-o...

Another great HN joke: Have a character frequently referencing XKCD cartoons and acting as if they said something profound.

Big Bang Theory is a mainstream sitcom, and it has all the "qualities" of a mainstream sitcom set in any situation.

The vitriolic hatred of a certain subsection of geeks merely because of the setting, or god forbid, attempts at serious criticism of not "not conveying a genuine culture" only serves to confirm all geek stereotypes being exploited by that show.

Thanks for the feedback. I was on the fence about whether or not I wanted to check out this series because of problems like this, but I guess if it is well received by the tech community here I will probably enjoy it.

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