The Big Bang Theory has mobilized the integration of nerd culture

Television shows are not what they were. Gone are the days when everyone was watching a show at the same time, but everyone knowledge pretty much the same shows has long since disappeared. There is so much television that it is impossible to follow. The idea that some 80 or 90 million people have tuned in to watch the final of the series Cheers seems absolutely ridiculous, a figure hard to understand nowadays.

The "ranking of assessments" in 2019 is a relative term, especially when it can be difficult to determine ratings when you consider piracy and Netflix does not publish its viewer numbers. Game of thrones was considered a heavyweight when he received an average of 5 million viewers per episode; first broadcasts of his last season, airing simultaneously with The Big Bang Theory, are watched by more than 12 million viewers. The same thing was said of the first seasons of The dead who walkwhich attracted an impressive 12 million or more per episode. And yet, these series, these prestigious drama series and other similar ones, which apparently define our cultural conversation, can not compete with the competition of CBS. The Big Bang Theory, which is about to announce its finale of the series after 12 broadcast seasons. The show has always attracted 18 to 20 million viewers since its sixth season, a number virtually unknown over the past 10 years. How can we explain this popularity? What made a sitcom on a group of nerds so immensely popular?

The fact is that there is not so much particularity about The Big Bang Theory. It's a docile sitcom that is easy to watch for many people. That's no Blackish or Boat feesbut when we consider a show like Modern family and his quick descent into complacency, there is something to be said about The Big Bang Theory manages not only to take advantage of the integration of the nerd culture to become a dominant force in the notations, but also to find a way to transcend it by anchoring its most important arcs of characters in real emotional growth. What about Sheldon who gradually learned to become a more open and empathetic person or Leonard who learned to be a good partner in a relationship where he was constantly lacking in security, the series has evolved in recent years.

Originally, the show was happy to point and laugh at adult men who love superheroes and Star wars and Dungeons & Dragons-An easy target that also deserves criticism – but The Big Bang Theory finally had to change pace because of the evolution of the popular cultural landscape, giving its women a bigger role and moving towards something more like a family comedy, with marriages, pregnancies and relationships that come and go.

The Big Bang Theory debuted in the fall of 2007, when Hollywood had just won the hit movie directed by Tobey Maguire. Spider Man trilogy. Iron Man, the film that became the first of an epic 22 movies, which will last 10 years, will dominate the box office the following summer. the Harry Potter the movies were incredible. A change was coming. Several years later Game of thrones would become a hit, Marvel would essentially own the box office, and superhero TV shows would earn more money from Greg Berlanti than he could ever hope to spend. Nerd culture was no longer a superficial interest, a guilty pleasure or a kind of fandom niche. It was the mainstream and is still there. This kind of visibility, this kind of familiarity with the intellectual property of Marvel and DC, Star wars and The Lord of the Rings-in the early 2000s, the references and interests of Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj were not the interests of the excluded, but rather the norm for most people of this age.

If all this had not happened, if the culture had not changed and found a lot of money in the world of spandex and wizards, maybe The Big Bang Theory would not have been so successful, a dominant force in classifying networks at a time when broadcasts are struggling to retain viewers throughout a season, not to mention 12 seasons of pretty impressive numbers. Who knows if the show will be remembered in the decades to come, but as a historical artifact, it's incredibly interesting.

Without the growing popularity of superhero properties and nerd culture, The Big Bang Theory probably would not have become a cultural staple. The Big Bang Theory did not shape the cultural moment, but it fed on it in a way that fundamentally changed the show. These first seasons are meant to make fun of these nerds and their interests. Once these interests became the interests of the many, the series could not continue to reduce them. With Game of thrones It is a sensation, as it has done in its last seasons – the last season is between 11 and 12 million viewers the same day, with a big leap forward when streaming is included for the cumulative number – it's not "weird" or "niche" for these characters to be so interested in that. Many fans have visceral reactions regarding the last season of Game of thrones does not meet their expectations, and that's because they care about these characters. The same can be said of reactions to Avengers: End of the game. This is the kind of passion and intensity that The Big Bang Theory would treat as immature in his early seasons. But as this kind of fan engagement and this right became the norm, the series had to find a new angle for these characters and their bows.

Maybe then The Big Bang Theory were not content with references to pop culture at a time when they became familiar to a greater number of viewers. Perhaps this familiarity was a happy accident that forced the series to become something better, to question its premises and the purpose of its jokes and to pay more attention to motivation, desires and needs. of the character. To be satisfied with the traditional culture of the nerd is not enough for the longevity and the domination of the notations. Characters and stories are always the heart of the show, and The Big Bang TheoryDespite all its shortcomings, it managed to last as it matured alongside the pop culture it intended to mock.