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The Story of India 73
PBS, 1/5

Tess of the D'Urbervilles 66
PBS, 1/4

Game Show in My Head 34
CBS, Saturday

Big Bang Theory
SERIES: CBS, Monday 8:00p (30 minutes)


8.2

based on 23 reviews
read critic reviews
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based on 133 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, and Kunal Nayyar

Can physics be funny?

GENRE(S):	Comedy
CREATED BY:	Chuck Lorre Bill Prady
FIRST AIR DATE:	September 24, 2007

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Washington Post Tom Shales

Big Bang is the funniest new sitcom of the season.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

With so few traditional sitcoms on the air this year, the new ones had better be good. Happily for viewers, Fox's "Back to You" and CBS's Big Bang Theory qualify as generally welcome newcomers.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

It may not be a creative breakthrough, but it's lots funnier than the universal equation would predict.

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

A nice combination of brains and belly laughs and a solid addition to the CBS comedy block on Monday nights.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

Half the fun in this outlandishly funny sitcom is that Penny is so spacey that she doesn't appear to recognize what hard-core nerds Leonard and Sheldon really are--even the presence in their bathroom of Luke Skywalker No-More-Tears Shampoo doesn't tip her off.

New York Post Adam Buckman

An otherwise promising CBS comedy series.

USA Today Robert Bianco

This may not be the sitcom breakthrough for which we've all been hoping, but Lorre has produced a first episode that leaves you eager to try the second.

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

As far as junk like this goes, it's not heinous and has moments of OK-ness.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

"Chuck" has interests similar to those of the heroes of Big Bang, including a lack of interest in chasing women, but his comedy is more inventive--the better bet in a new era in which the nerd no longer loses, but the best nerd show wins.

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

The sporadically amusing Big Bang Theory needs some fancier moves.

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

It's just the same joke endlessly repeated--the everyday translated into geek-speak, and the obscure and difficult treated as if it were common knowledge.... These are perilous times for sitcoms, and Lorre & Co. may want to think up another.

Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart

I didn't get much of a sense where this show was going from the pilot, though there was nothing to hate about Big Bang Theory, and the writing’s every bit as sharp as "Two and a Half Men" and "Dharma & Greg," comedies overseen by Big Bang producer Chuck Lorre.

Variety Brian Lowry

That said, there are some qualms surrounding how long the producers can mine the Leonard-Penny aspect of the show, a shallow vein if there ever was one. More promising is the interaction among the key duo and their Mensa-worthy friends.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

This is a comedy that does what it's supposed to do, which is to make you smile and giggle at the appropriate points. Be that as it may, the pilot never ascends beyond the level of being cute and nice.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

While it's got that professional Burrows sheen of unerrant joke delivery--especially from the talented Galecki, who can do this in his sleep--you have to assume the pile of scripts on his desk in this hurting age for the three-camera studio-audience format isn’t what it once was.

New York Daily News David Hinckley

Standard setup? Sure. Standard execution? For the most part.

Entertainment Weekly Henry Goldblatt

To call this a one-joke sitcom would be a stretch.

PopMatters Todd R. Ramlow

Other shows do complicate and elaborate the geek mystique ("CSI" and "Bones" come to mind), but all we’re likely to get from The Big Bang Theory are missed communications, fumbled opportunities, and general yuckety-yucks.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

The show might even have been engaging, if the one-liners came less frequently and the characters had a little more dimension. As it is, Sheldon and Leonard are merely laughable, if sweet, and they are even less fleshed out than the characters on "Two and a Half Men."

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

A lame new sitcom.

Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy

This is by far the least charming--the lame, leering sitcom tales of two brainiac losers (Johnny Galecki, above, and Jim Parsons) goofily smitten by the babelicious girl next door (Kaley Cuoco). It's about as witty as a pocket protector.

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

Luckily, the writing here is so moronic and the situations so forced and mundane, it's easier to dismiss what is, all told, pretty fantastic work on behalf of Galecki and Parsons.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

Even if the jokes on this show weren’t tired and mean-spirited, it would be hard to care about any comedy that hates its own lead characters so much.

The average user rating for this tv show is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 133 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John M. gave it a10:
Great show, intelligent and witty with some classic lines!

Kelsy P. gave it a10:
Easily my all time favorite show. Finally, a new show that is not complicated and once again all of the issues are solved in a neat 30 minutes. Talk about a break from your day.

Shawn L. gave it a10:
A friend of mine turned me onto this show. I was hooked after one episode! It works for the same reason Friends was such a hit. The characters are genuinely likable and down to earth. You can't help but like Sheldon even if he's pretentious and arrogant and what guy (even non-geeks) can't relate to the seemingly unattainable hot chick scenario that Leonard finds himself in. Finally this show is just plain hilarious! I'm laughing out loud during most of each episode. I especially like that Penny is from Nebraska, although I don't know many people from Omaha that can hog tie anyone...Lincoln maybe.

Steve V. gave it a9:
Clever show! Some jokes are easily seen coming, but it's not about reinventing the wheel. It's a show about a few geeks, and it REALLY does the job well. VERY funny! Hell, even my girlfriend (who's not a geek) loves it!

Jake gave it a9:
Call me a geek (which i properly am) but this show just gets better and better and better. God knows how the supposed "experts" hated it so much, it it truly hilarious. Jim Parsons (playing Sheldon) is the best new comic on TV, and has completely mastered his role as the unbelieveably socially inept geek-king. Despite seeming to loose its way about a quarter of the way in, it quickly moves into its own, and doesnt stop getting better. Season 2 is on air now, and if youre interested in great sitcoms (or geekdom) then go buy the first season and catch up, ready for the next episode. It promises to be awesome.

Raul N. gave it a10:
Is probably the funniest tv serial in some years. Is easy that the "not geek" people can't understand some jokes but is a very good option with one of the best characters in years, Sheldon.

Adam A gave it an8:
The worst written comedy that still never fails to make me laugh. I'm ashamed to say I've never missed an episode.

Big Bang Theory SERIES: CBS, Monday 8:00p (30 minutes)

Big Bang Theory
SERIES: CBS, Monday 8:00p (30 minutes)