bbt is blackface

I wouldn't say dumb people. It's a caricature, much like Dennis the Menace is a caricature of small children in a quiet, suburban neighborhood. Only Big Bang Theory wasn't based on an existing comic. So more like Friends being an unrealistic caricature of a late-20's/early-30's group of people living n NYC.

Entertainment doesn't always have to be authentic.

apologies for the pixels, I stole it from reddit

This changes my perspective on the entire show... I'm going to have to watch it again for the 152nd time with this in mind now.

Because, similar to blackface in its time, people love to point and laugh at exaggerated caricatures of something different from themselves.

And CBS airs lowest common denominator garbage that the masses devour.

EDIT: since I don't want the top reply not to mention this, fuck IT Crowd creator Graham Linehan for the incalculable damage he's done to innocent trans people. He's a worthless, disgusting bigot.

Honestly, I always found that episode... Weirdly progressive? Even maybe by accident? Consider the following:

• The trans woman April is legitimately physically attractive and with a distinctly feminine voice to match.
• She's a legitimately very sweet, intelligent, and earnest person.
• She tells Douglas upfront in no uncertain terms that she's trans (she phrases this as "I used to be a man", but honestly, considering both 2008 and the fact it was used to setup a joke, I think this isn't too transphobic? A trans person in 2008 might've even said this because there was less of a support network to understand that you always were a woman.)
• Douglas gets upset because he thinks he's been tricked, but 1) he absolutely was not, and the episode makes this crystal clear that it's because April made every effort and he's just an absolute dumbass, and 2) Douglas has been portrayed in the show to this point as nothing but a juvenile, overdramatic, chauvanistic sack of shit, and we're clearly not supposed to be rooting for him.
• She's a fantastic girlfriend and becomes the love of his life. A big part of this is because she has a duality between traditional femininity and an interest in traditionally masculine activities, but I also don't think this is terrible representation? I have a trans woman friend who carries herself in a traditionally feminine way but hasn't dropped more traditionally masculine activities that she grew up enjoying.
• She throws the first hit at the end, but this is after Douglas dumps her on the spot after they've hit it off, had sex, and confessed their love for each other because he was too stupid to listen, he tells her to get lost, he basically calls her gross to her face by talking in a disgusted tone about "that operation you had", and flat-out denies her existence as a woman.
• It's made very evident that if Douglas weren't transphobic, he could've lived the rest of his life with a woman who's established to be literally perfect for him.

Linehan has become much worse since that controversy, he's been on a proper trans hate crusade since like 2019. It wasn't about being insensitive, he's completely deranged and the episode was just an early slip.

Misogynistic pure shit.

... 3

I watched a scene where someone posted it without the laugh track and it was super cringey. Semi-related note.. Taking the laugh track out of BBT ruins it, but taking Garfield out of Garfield comics takes it to a new level, see here -> https://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

The laugh track alone is enough evidence

To whom it may concern... No too formal

How did they steal your wheelchair?

Mournfully: “I don’t knooooow”

Cracks me up every time

Absolutely. My favourite of the IT crowd.

Aside from all the hilarity inbetween, the set ups to the last few gags are ridiculous and the payoff is brilliant.

Jen, talking to Roy, figuring out why on earth he's in that wheelchair only to turn around in desperate need of a drink, to see Moss politely ready to serve her at the bar...

"Willys, willys, I like willys" "I love willys..." "What?" "It's I LOVE WILLYS!" "---Sir, would you keep it down!?"

My favourite too, mate. So bloody good.

Community, IT Crowd, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Scrubs... The 00's had a lot of great sitcoms. We didn't know how good we had it.