History Series / TheBigBangTheory

** One episode featured a dream of Sheldon's where Wolowitz and Raj had stopped holding desperately to the Ring of Power, [[SleepCute and were instead holding each other.]]

--> '''Raj (to Howard)''': Last night I had a dream, we got so rich from the app we made, you and I bought matching side by side mansions. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything But, there was a secret tunnel connecting my front door to your back door.]] [[FreudWasRight What do you think it means?]]\\

* AscendedExtra / DemotedToExtra: Leslie Winkle showed up three times in the first season, and her character was liked enough that the production team announced her as becoming a regular early in the second season. After about 4 episodes in they quickly realized that she worked largely because she was a staunch, stubborn ArchEnemy to Sheldon with no real room for her own stories or even CharacterDevelopment. They quietly put her character aside and she shows up more sporadically since.

-->'''Howard:''' Let me try one! Calling Mcflono Mcfloonyloo!
-->'''Cell phone:''' Calling... Rajesh Koothrappali.
-->'''Rajesh:''' Impressive! ...and a little racist.

* HotMom: Apparently, what Dr. Gablehauser thinks of Sheldon's mother ... [[AnythingThatMoves and so does Howard.]]

** Lots -- pretty much all of it intended by the writers / directors / actors. A disproportionate amount is between Rajesh and Howard. In Leonard's case, it often borders on FoeYay, as when he describes one of Penny's [[RomanticFalseLead boyfriends]] as "dreamy."

--> '''Raj (to Howard)''': Last night I had a dream, we got so rich from the app we made, you and I bought matching side by side mansions. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything But, there was a secret tunnel connecting my front door to your back door.]] [[FreudWasRight What do you think it means?]]\\

-->'''Raj''': "You are always so nice to me."\\

** Howard and Sign Language creates a WhatCouldHaveBeen possibility for the character as a whole; if the writers had introduced it in a prior season, it could have totally changed his CharacterDevelopment or possibly enhanced his JerkWithAHeartOfGold qualities.

--> '''Penny:''' ''(reading a trivia game card)'' [[LooneyTunes Tweety Bird]] will often say 'I tawt I taw a...' what.\\

* StatusQuoIsGod {{Lampshade}}d by Sheldon. After [[spoiler: Amy [[KissingUnderTheInfluence kisses him while drunk]],]] he suggests they treat their relationship like a malfunctioning computer and restore it to the last point they both agree that it worked (which, given that this is ''[[NoSocialSkills Sheldon]]'' we're talking about, is quite a mature thing to suggest).

* ThrowItIn: A noted aversion, the cast has said that they know almost as much about the nerd culture references as they do the {{technobabble}}. Going off script would be suicide.
** Melissa Rauch said that her vocal pitch for Bernadette was based on her mother's voice and thought it would fit the character, though she decided not to push it by including a New Jersey accent.
** In "The Boyfriend Complexity" Sheldon angrily tosses a large stack of loose papers in the air in frustration over hard work that was ultimately pointless. As the pages floated to the ground one managed to perch ''perfectly'' on his shoulder, and Parsons managed to stay in character long enough for that shot to remain in the final cut (trying to stare in anger at Galecki, he wasn't able to say his next lines without cracking up).

** And Leonard, starting at the end of season two and well into season three with [[spoiler:the Arctic incident and Sheldon's radio interview,]] for example.

* StopHelpingMe: In the second episode Leonard and Sheldon got a spare key to Penny's apartment, which Sheldon used to ''clean'' her apartment in the middle of the night (with Leonard begrudgingly helping), [[TooDumbToLive leaving a note confessing to the act and offering advice on further organization]]. When she understandably freaks out, Leonard demands Sheldon apologize, to which he tells Penny, "I would like to apologize for what happened and I take full responsibility... [[CompletelyMissingThePoint and I hope this doesn't color your perception of Leonard... who I hear is a gentle and thorough lover."]]

** In one episode, Sheldon sits out in the hall playing ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' on his laptop via {{emulation}}. The sound effects are entirely correct.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Sheldon. Leonard's Mother. Amy. Not exactly a sympathetic portrayal all 'round.

* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Leonard's mother Beverley is a professional psychiatrist, but she has a very distant and unemotional relationship with her own children.

-->'''Howard:''' Let me try one! Blable blublablabli!

-->'''Rajesh:''' Wow, it worked... and that's a little racist.

** A hurricane of them in "The Plimpton Situation", when Leonard tries to hint to Howard and Raj that he was [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean up all night]] with the titular scientist.

* SeriousBusiness: Amongst many other things (of which the weekly routine of meals and evening activities are just a small part), in the episode "The Hofstadter Isotope" a discussion about who would succeed Batman in the event of his death between Sheldon and an online community eventually leads to Penny's date being [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean cut short]] after he is brought into the discussion as well.

-->'''Sheldon:''' In here, you’ll find emergency provisions. An eight-day supply of food and water, a crossbow, season two of StarTrekTheOriginalSeries on a high-density flash drive.

--->[[spoiler:'''Announcer''': Next on Turner Classic Movies: Bridget Jones’s Diary.]] \\

* RuleOfFunny / DidNotDoTheResearch:
** The episode where Sheldon's WorldOfWarcraft account got hacked - while the desperate lengths the foursome get into to try recovering his items (including going into a BlackMarket in Goldshire, of all places, and Raj volunteering to seduce someone for the information), but completely ignores what ''actually'' happens when a WoW account gets hacked, and the reasons for doing so.

** When Leonard and Penny are together several episodes deal with them as if they were a married couple with Sheldon as their child. It is [[TearJerker heart-breaking]].

** Leslie and Sheldon's argument about their respective theories in 'The Codpiece Topology' was amusingly comparable to an argument over religious beliefs.

--> '''Sheldon:''' "Milk Dud?"\\

* IfYouKnowWhatIMean: "Bernadette doesn't mind where I get my motor running so long as I park in the right garage."

* JerkAss:

*** His last name also sounds like a combination of "[[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wallow wallow]]" and "wits." He wallows in his own wit, as it were -- or he would, if [[JerkAss Sheldon]] didn't constantly deflate him.

** Also happens when Sheldon calls the police to help with his hacked Warcraft account, from ''The Zarnecki Incursion'':

*** TheBusCameBack: She returned in "The Hot Troll Deviation" becoming a regular character [[spoiler:and got back together with Howard.]] AndTheFandomRejoiced.

** There are several shout outs to BattlestarGalactica. They range from the characters talking about watching the show to Leonard, as Howard puts it, "taking out his aggressions on innocent Cylons" (i.e. he destroys a Cylon action figure with a laser).

* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Leonard's mother Beverley is a professional psychiatrist, but she has a very distant and unemotional relationship with her own children.

* TVGenius: Parodied in one episode, where Sheldon and Raj solve problems to ''Eye Of The Tiger''. It's literally just them staring at a whiteboard of equations.

** Bernadette's description of the event that initially stalled their relationship, [[spoiler: "How can I ignore the fact that you were in the other room '''clicking''' that [[WorldOfWarcraft trolls]]' brains out?"]]

** Penny once questioned why the other guys stay friends with JerkAss Sheldon. The answer: "We like Leonard." Sheldon managed to save Leonard's life and kept Leonard out of prison, so he's indebted to Sheldon, but Howard and Raj fall back to "We like Leonard".

** to be fair in season four Leonard dose say he got good at it and them matching serapes

* EverythingIsCuterWithKittens: Sheldon's favourite childhood lullaby "Soft Kitty" proves you don't even need an actual kitten for this trope.

Starting in season four they added two new characters as semi-regulars, Bernadette Rostenkowski (Microbiologist) and Amy Farrah Fowler (Neurobiologist). Bernadette was Pennys' friend and co-worker who began dating Howard. Amy is a [[DistaffCounterpart female counterpart]] and asexual love interest to Sheldon accidently discovered through a online dating service prank. While they are also extremely intelligent, they ended up forming a trio with Penny that contrasts the four guys and gives [[TheBechdelTest a new female perspective on the show]].

to be fair in season four Leonard dose say he got good at it and them matching serapes