History Series / TheBigBangTheory

** [[spoiler: subverted in the third season finale where Leonard has sex with a drunken Penny]].

** Similarly his [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend not-girlfriend]][=/=]DistaffCounterpart Amy Fowler refuses to touch or have sex with him. But the more she hangs out with Penny she displays more signs of sexual repression rather than straight asexuality, along with hints towards [[BiTheWay seeing the appeal of either side]].

** Sheldon was very droll in the pilot episode but there he seemed to have a genuine understanding of physical attraction and human subtleties, he could tell almost instantly that Leonard had fallen for Penny and seemed to appreciate the attention she gave him upon seeing his white board. Very quickly he loses that (with Leonard having to constantly explain sarcasm to him in the second episode); in this case his personality was virtually identical but just with some minor tweaks.
*** Sheldon appears not to have been asexual in the first episode.
----> (at the sperm bank)\\
'''Sheldon:''' "Leonard, I don't think I can do this."\\
'''Leonard:''' "Are you kidding? You're a semi-pro."

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Penny does not actually drive badly, she drives like a person who has driven for a very long time and will sometimes bypass 'normal' behavior for a quicker route, such as not slowing down much over speed bumps. For example, chefs often cut in ways that could be deemed "unsafe" but they're not, for them anyway. Her constant ignoring of the Check Engine light is a running gag, though.

* OnceASeason: A couple of recurring gags you can expect every season: "Soft Kitty" being sung to or by Sheldon, Leonard and Sheldon's parents visit (although somewhat sporadically) and everyone appears in costume for some event (Halloween party, Renaissance fair, the punishment for loosing a game...)

* QueerPeopleAreFunny: with a rare female example of Amy and Penny.

* DuelingShows: With ''{{Community}}'', due to the focus on geekdom.

--->"That's more like: We're [[Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmations tall thin women who want to make a coat out of your Dalmatians]]."

** Not to mention this gem from The Desperation Emanation:

* PacManFever: Averted to some extent: They do use realistic sound effects for the games, show actual ''AgeOfConan'' screens, and showed Howard and Leonard boxing in ''WiiSports''. However, they never actually show their ''{{Halo}}'' matches (likely due to copyright), and some of the commentary is a bit off (at one point, they mentioned a "health pack" in ''{{Halo 3}}'' and charging a plasma rifle when a plasma pistol is the weapon that does that)

** And as [[ShownTheirWork typical for this show]], it's a perfect recreation of "KHAN!" and not the [[PopculturalOsmosis osmosis]] version. Sheldon doesn't actually ''look'' up at the sky, he looks straight ahead with a close-up and screams "WHEATON!" and then the camera cuts to an AstronomicalZoom pulling away from Earth.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The original (unaired) pilot for the series was quite different; Sheldon and Leonard were really the only carry-overs into the actual pilot. Penny was originally cynical and manipulative, Kaley Cuoco wasn't cast as Penny in the original pilot because her actual personality was closer to the modern Penny, bubbly and warm.

** Played annoyingly straight in "The Ornithophobia Diffusion" where Leonard says [[CharacterDerailment he only put up with Jennifer Aniston movies and letting Penny eat all his curly fries was for sex.]]

The show's humor can be divided into three categories: [[GeniusBonus obscure references]] to physics or {{Geek}} culture (including discussions of the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]] and the metaphysics of [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation]]), every {{nerd}} stereotype the writers can think of (including ''{{Halo}}'', ''StarTrek'', ''StarWars'' and {{Basement Dweller}}s) and the culture clash between Penny and the guys (after Sheldon tries to explain what Semiotics is Penny replies "Okay, Sweetie, I know you ''think'' you are explaining ''but you're not!''"). In addition, there's a surprisingly high number of fart jokes, as many of the cast speak matter-of-factly about their bowel movements.

* NoOshaCompliance: In "The Engagement Reaction" there is a patient in the hospital being treated with radiation sickness. Sheldon accidentaly walks in the quarintined room that is unlocked. [[TooDumbToLive Smooth move hospital.]]

* ManHands: Leslie breaks off her brief relationship with Leonard when she finds out that, in her ongoing debate with Sheldon over whether loop quantum or string theory is the superior model of spacetime, he doesn't actually care, and would have let their hypothetical children decide for themselves which one they thought was correct.

* ActorSharedBackground: Raj was originally going to be an American-born Indian until Nayyar was cast, with him being much more Indian (actually raised in India) than planned. JimParsons is also from Texas like Sheldon is and although Parsons' accent doesn't come in very often with Sheldon, Sheldon's mother and sister have very thick drawls.

* CastingGag: The actors who play Leonard and Leslie previously played David and Darlene on ''{{Roseanne}}''. Sheldon's mother is played by Laurie Metcalf, also from ''Roseanne''. Mayim Bialik, who plays neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler, has a PhD in neuroscience.

** There's also some Les Yay between Amy Farrah Fowler and Penny. For example, in "The 21-Second Excitation", Amy thinks that at slumber parties, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot girls often experiment with lesbianism]], and tries it on Penny.

* XanatosGambit: Arguably done twice in "The Good Guy Fluctuation" when Howard and Raj reveal themselves as the pranksters behind the attempt to scare Sheldon at the office. But to paraphrase Homer Simpson, their zany scheme was a front for an even zanier scheme. Banking that their relatively tame and cliche hijinks wouldn't scare Sheldon, Howard and Raj seemingly admit defeat in Sheldon's office when a man wearing a mask of the alien from the end credits of ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' pops out behind Sheldon's white board, successfully scaring Sheldon. The man unmasks; [[spoiler: it's Leonard.]]
** In the second possible example, Sheldon tries the old "joy-buzzer" prank on Howard by getting Howard to shake Sheldon's hand with the buzzer attached. Howard collapses and Bernadette is immediately upset, reminding Sheldon that [[OrIsIt Howard has a heart condition.]] Bernadette pulls out an adrenaline needle and insists that Sheldon inject it into Howard's heart, claiming not to be strong enough to do so herself. Howard opens his eyes and reveals the ruse. This one had to have taken some planning and anticipation on Howard and Bernadette's part for whatever Sheldon had in store.

** 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 troll's]] brains out?"]]

The show's humor can be divided into three categories: [[GeniusBonus obscure references]] to physics or {{Geek}} culture (including discussions of the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]] and the metaphysics of [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation]]), every {{nerd}} stereotype the writers can think of (including ''{{Halo}}'', ''StarTrek'', ''StarWars'' and {{Basement Dweller}}s) and the culture clash between Penny and the guys (after Sheldon tries to explain what Semiotics is Penny replies "Okay, Sweetie, I know you ''think'' you are explaining ''but you're not!''").

* JustOneMoreLevel: Penny in "[[{{In-Universe}} The Barbarian Sublimation]]".

** There was an ironic shout-out to Firefly by Joss Whedon in The Staircase Implementation:
--> '''Sheldon''': "Roommates agree that Friday nights shall be reserved for watching Joss Whedon's brilliant new series, "Firefly"."
-->'''Leonard''': "Does that really need to be in the agreement?"
-->'''Sheldon''': "Well we might as well settle it now, it's gonna be on for years."

--->"That's more like: We're tall thin women who want to make a coat out of your Dalmatians."

*** episode 5x07 had several #1 issues from the September DC reboot. Presumably those issues will be missing the page adverts for this show.

--> '''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?]]\\

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

* FakeCrossover: The LateLateShow with CraigFerguson did a ColdOpening where he was applying to be friends with the group, filled with quite a few character bits (Raj didn't like his accent) and SelfDeprecation. Craig later interviewed Johnny Galecki that same night.
--> Sheldon: "It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it."

** Mary and Shelly Cooper have to be a shout out to the writer of Frankenstein.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Howard says this when he and Raj find the ''perfect'' match for Sheldon at the end of 'The Lunar Excitation'.

* OhCrap: Penny in 'The Roommate Transmogrification' when she [[spoiler: wakes up and discovers that she has had sex with Raj.]]
* OmniDisciplinaryScientist: Sheldon, a string theorist who on his days off also dabbles in, for example, genetic engineering, and who purportedly built [[MadScientist a nuclear reactor and a "death ray"]] as a [[TeenGenius child]]. This [[DependingOnTheWriter Depends On The Writer]], though: we've also seen him unable to ascertain how to open a toolbox.

* ThatCameOutWrong: In 'The Roommate Transmogrification' when Raj proves himself to be a better roommate than Leonard, Sheldon compares Leonard to Homo Erectus saying that he, like Homo Erectus, has been replaced by something better. Raj then makes a comment he regrets.

** In "The Psychic Vortex" Raj and Sheldon managed to acquire dates with two very hot, intelligent and slightly geeky girls (one of whom played by [[TheWonderYears Danica McKeller]]) named Abby and Martha, and even got a second date shortly after. What made these girls really unique was that the ice-breaker was Sheldon carrying GreenLantern's power battery at a party and ''they [[GeekyTurnOn fully knew what it was]];'' they ended up playing RockBand back at Sheldon's apartment. Not to mention that Sheldon even appeared to enjoy talking with Martha (discussing ''{{Flatland}}'' among other things) with Raj and Abby making out on the chair. It can be assumed that Sheldon's {{asexual}} nature really disappointed Martha, and that took Abby away from Raj. But these were girls who could relate to them in interests, intelligence and were attracted to them ''because'' of it (not even Penny can really claim that with Leonard), with no follow up episode it almost seems to be a waste.