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Why Is ‘The Big Bang Theory’ So Popular In The UK?

Over the past few months or so, I’ve been talking a lot about the weird British stuff that I’ve learnt since moving over here from Arkansas and man, some of it has been really weird. But another thing I’ve noticed is that we also have a lot in common and enjoy a lot of the same things.

Nothing makes me prouder as an American than thinking about all the great stuff we’ve given the world. Whenever I see a McDonalds (or more likely a Subway, because they’re freakin’ everywhere) on a street corner, a pack of Oreos in one of your stores – sorry, ‘supermarket’ – or hear y’all praising an American movie, I can’t help but hearing the first few bars of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ striking up in my head.

But I ain’t so sure about what is undoubtedly the biggest American export of the 21st century to the shores of Britain so far…

The Big Bang Theory.

The new series is currently showing on E4 (is that related to Channel 4, by the way?) and from what I can gather, you guys in the UK freakin’ love this show. I’ve seen a whole bunch of people walking round in t-shirts with catchphrases from the show. I see people on Twitter quoting that whole ‘paper, lizard, Spock’ scene. Heck, now I think ‘bout it, I think I see this show more off the TV than I do on it, which is weird ‘cos it seems to be on TV like everyday, usually more than once.

Before y’all get angry with me for badmouthing your favourite show, I just wanna say that I don’t mind The Big Bang Theory. Y’all might remember I included in a post about my pop culture guilty pleasures a few months back, where I said that I couldn’t stop watching it.

What do I like about it? Well, it’ll probably surprise y’all to know that I’ve been called a nerd myself (really Alan?! – AS) and I can kinda relate to a majority of the folks on the show – though they ain’t much like the nerds I knew back home.

It’s kinda nice to see that the show doesn’t just use nerds to laugh at too, ‘cos we’ve had enough of that to last us a lifetime. The humour comes more from references to nerdy stuff like comic books and scientific theories (the episode where Sheldon draws up an algorithm for making friends is one of my favourites – though it don’t work in real life…I tried…) and the guys’ relationships with the people round them. I can tell y’all right now that if I ever met Kaley Cuoco in real life, my reaction would probably be like Raj’s in the show.

But – and it’s a pretty big but, the kind of but that dude Sir Mix-A-Lot would like – I don’t really get why it’s as popular as it is, especially over here in the UK. This show is literally freakin’ huge, with folks saying that it could be even more popular than ‘Friends’, but it’s kinda…I dunno, functional?

It’s a standard sitcom is what I’m trying to say. There’s an annoying laugh track, some situations that we’ve all seen done before like a million times on other shows and a lot of the jokes are pretty lame, like even lamer than some of the jokes I cut out of this post before sending it to American Soda. It’s fine ‘n all and I can see why people enjoy having it on in the background or something, but we’ve got much better stuff over in the States.

The show doesn’t seem to fit into what I got told was ‘the British sense of humour’ either. I thought y’all enjoyed sarcastic and cynical humour and like…stuff that shouldn’t be funny but kinda is. Y’know, like laughing at bad situations. I was kind of expecting all of y’all TV shows to be like mini-Shakespeare plays and full of lines like that dude Oscar Wilde (yeah, I know he’s Irish…) would write. Or at least like ‘Monty Python’.

Plus, y’all have got a much better nerdy sitcom over here too; Red Dwarf!

So my question to y’all is this – why is ‘The Big Bang Theory’ so popular over here in the UK and why isn’t more awesome US stuff – like WWE or A1 Steak Sauce – as popular? Oh, and if y’all could explain why ‘Jersey Shore’ and ‘The Hills’ are so popular here while you’re there too, that’d be swell. Tweet me @AStoneHCO, add me on Facebook or leave a comment!

Until next time Stonites!

  • Holly

    It seems like the modern day friends equivalent. Personally, I think there’s much better comedies available; Archer, Arrested Development (its coming back, what better excuse for another marathon!) Community, The League, It’s always sunny in Philadelphia.. to name but a few.

    The league is set around Fantasy League Football, ok, people may have zero interest in american football but the characters and the comedy are strong enough to not make you care. It doesn’t rely on its subject to derive comedy from it, unlike Big Bang Theory. without the ‘nerdiness’ of it, it would be a very flat comedy.

  • Kay

    Comparing the big bang theory to steak sauce and wwe is impossible. It’s popular because people find it funny, myself included. The same way other us sitcoms have become popular in the uk and British sitcoms have become popular in the us, some things just work.

    FYI wwe is a craptastic example of the dumbest tv out there.

  • Sally

    Us Brits love an underdog, and this is a show featuring nothing but underdogs.

    I’ve worked in a fair few tech companies, and I can see shades of my friends in all the characters. It’s a nice change to see odd characters enjoyed and not just a friend on the periphery of the story.

  • http://blog.americansoda.co.uk Alan Stone

    I agree with you on that Holly even though I can probably sympathise with the guys in the Big Bang Theory more than the guys in Friends! But yeah, there are better sitcoms out there for sure. I don’t think I’ve seen The League, I guess you’d recommend it?

    Kay – WWE is awesome! I mean, yeah, it’s pretty dumb but that’s why it’s so awesome! But you’ve got a good point, though I was kinda interested in how a real cheesy American sitcom got so popular in the UK, what with our different senses of humor (or so I’ve been told!) – maybe we ain’t so different after all!

  • Caitlin

    I think you’re being unfair to a show that seems to be popular on both sides of the pond.

    Firstly, it’s not a laugh track. The show is filmed in front of a live audience, as can be seen by glancing at any of the behind the scenes clips that can be found on the dvds or even just a quick search on youtube. Yeah they’ll need to tweak it a little to make it seamless due to the scene cutting but EVERY comedy show using a live audience does that.
    The comedy of the show doesn’t really come from the nerdy stuff or the references really. Like any great classic comedy it comes from the characters and the situations they’re put in.
    You mentioned Red Dwarf. Is red dwarf funny and popular because it was set in space? No, its because the characters are strong and put into situations that might seem ludicrous but at their basic level are something we already recognize. Its how all good sitcom works, whether its set in space, with a bunch of geeks, in a prison, in a hotel or a hundred years in the past. People are people and the comedy comes from who they are and how they react and interact. The location and references are just the icing on the cake.
    Big Bang Theory has more in common with US sitcom structure than it does with most UK sitcoms (The Office is the exception) Most US Sitcoms have got the core group with the main running theme of a ‘will they/won’t they’ relationship running through everything and the rest orbiting that concept.
    UK sitcoms (with only a few exceptions) don’t have that dynamic running through them. instead focusing on a small group of main characters (3 or 4 tops usually) and how they interact. Look at Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Red Dwarf , Father Ted, The It Crowd etc…they all follow that classic formula. They all remain popular and even funny today not because of when they’re set or the references they make but because of the characters and how they react.
    When people say it has a British sense of humour I think they’re more referring to how the characters are similar type to the ones you find in UK sitcoms, they’re flawed and not quite ‘normal’ and even though they have things in common they’re quite mismatched…and that’s what give the writers the opportunity to give them the comedy.
    As for why its popular here its got to have something to do with how its more similar to a UK sitcom than you’re average US sitcom.

    And shows like Monty Python, we’ve not actually had that many sketch shows like that over the years and I’m not even sure that Python is as funny as everyone remembers it to be…with maybe only one or two skits per show that were funny and the rest just being bizarre or just boring and most don’t even have an ending. Seriously go check it out probably the most famous sketch they did, The dead parrot sketch, and it just gets interrupted by The Colonel at the end.

    I wouldn’t even call Red Dwarf nerdy…or at least no more nerdy than an actual episode of star trek…Way less so. Don’t get confused by describing a show by its perceived audience. That would be like calling Father Ted a religious show…when you actually watch it it hardly anything is about religion.
    But we do actually have a comedy that out geeks Big Bang Theory…and IS a LOT funnier. The IT Crowd.

    Ok so quick recap – Brits like Big Bang Theory because its more like a UK comedy in character type and character interact than your average US sitcom.

    As for WWE and Jersey shore, they can all burn for the vast waste in time and money that they are…you can burn all the UK equivalents while you’re at too…and Big Brother…and dancing on ice….and X factor…and Britains got talent….BURN THEM ALL.

  • Rachel

    Haven’t you heard? It’s cool to be a “nerd” now.

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