The Big Bang Theory's Downfall Can Be Traced Back To One Moment
by Nina Starner · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Ever since it ended in 2019, "The Big Bang Theory," the CBS sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, has remained exceedingly popular. Not only is it still a hit on its exclusive streaming home (HBO Max), it's spawned two prequel spin-offs ("Young Sheldon" and "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage"), creating a small-screen cinematic universe. So did it ever jump the shark? Yeah, and I'll tell you how, when, and why.
At the beginning of "The Big Bang Theory," Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter (Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki) meet their new neighbor Penny (Kaley Cuoco), with whom Leonard is immediately smitten. Despite a rocky start, Penny and Sheldon ultimately overcome their differences and become good friends. More than that, Penny is a sort of audience surrogate, helping translate Sheldon and Leonard's nerdiness — as well as that of their friends Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) — for the masses. The guys work together at the California Institute of Technology as physicists, engineers, and astrophysicists, and spend their time reading comic books.
Eventually, Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik join the series as microbiologist Bernadette Rostenkowski and neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler, and they add some much-needed feminine energy to the proceedings — and give Penny some much-needed storylines that don't center around the guys. (Helberg agrees that they generally improved the series too.) Unfortunately, though, Amy and Bernadette's introduction on "The Big Bang Theory" was the beginning of the end for the show's better years. The downfall of "The Big Bang Theory" doesn't quite kick off at the end of Season 5 when Howard and Bernadette tie the knot, but when others start following suit, the quality decline is obvious. The real downfall, though, is the Season 9 premiere.
The beginning of the end for The Big Bang Theory starts with Penny and Leonard's (first) wedding
At the beginning of "The Big Bang Theory" Season 9, Leonard and Penny hastily decide to get married at a Las Vegas wedding chapel — without any of their friends or family present. The whole thing is weird, and honestly, the Season 9 premiere "The Matrimonial Momentum" is one of the show's all-time worst episodes). On the drive there, Leonard admits that he kissed another woman during a lengthy research trip in the North Sea two years beforehand, and Penny is understandably upset to discover that her then-boyfriend cheated on her and hid it from her for years. Still, they determinedly go through with the chapel wedding anyway, culminating in a less-than-satisfying wedding night at a Vegas hotel and the two returning to their respective apartments to sleep separately when they get back to Pasadena.
So, this episode stinks, but it also points to a much bigger structural problem in later seasons of "The Big Bang Theory." Once everyone starts pairing off, the show focuses less on the genuinely delightful interplay between the entire cast, and we get way more storylines about relationship problems, which start to feel flat-out repetitive and boring. By the time Penny and Leonard have their second wedding (with their loved ones in attendance) in the Season 10 premiere and Amy and Sheldon get married in the Season 11 finale, "The Big Bang Theory" is stuck in a cycle, especially because Howard and Bernadette have children in that same timeframe. As "The Big Bang Theory" pairs off all of its main characters (except poor Raj), it experiences a fall from greatness and becomes a run-of-the-mill sitcom ... and also makes one issue glaringly obvious.
The men on The Big Bang Theory are truly terrible romantic partners
There is not, and I'm not exaggerating, one healthy couple to be found within the later seasons of "The Big Bang Theory." Even after Leonard and Penny finally get together and stay that way, they have to get married twice after that botched first attempt. They constantly disagree on major issues like having children and career choices, and Leonard still sees himself as intellectually superior to Penny. Howard does put his time as a wannabe womanizer behind him and settle down with Bernadette, but throughout their marriage he proves to be a total manchild who was coddled by his mother for so long that he expects the same treatment from Bernadette. Then there's Sheldon and Amy, who experience the slowest-moving relationship possible due to Sheldon's issues with physical intimacy. This is a very real thing that could have been explored with sensitivity, but instead, Sheldon treats Amy like a sick, depraved pervert for wanting to sleep with her romantic partner — and the show does the same by extension, making her desire for more physicality with Sheldon into a running joke.
"The Big Bang Theory" features a ton of terrible relationship behavior. It almost exclusively comes from the male partners, and it almost all occurs from Season 9 onwards. That's why the downfall of "The Big Bang Theory" can be pinned to that terrible Season 9 premiere, which isn't just an uncomfortable, awkward, and largely unfunny half hour of the series — it's a stark indicator of the doldrums that follow as the show reaches its endpoint.
"The Big Bang Theory" is streaming on HBO Max now.