I was listening to sports radio this morning and heard the host apologizing to the listeners for “The Big Bang Theory”, a new CBS comedy about two stereotypical nerd/geniuses who share an apartment across the hall from the building’s newest resident, a very attractive young woman. (The specific quote: “I owe you some digital recording space for that one”.) My wife didn’t care for the show either, but I sort of enjoyed it much like I did Beavis and Butthead – in other words, I know people who are exactly like the two main characters, so I got a kick out of it.

So I wondered: why do so many people despise something I sort of enjoyed? I quickly realized that this show really has a very limited target audience, and I just so happen to fall into it: nerds with a sense of humor. The average person doesn’t get the nerdy references (like the guy wearing the 42 hat), doesn’t identify with the two main characters, doesn’t understand at all why a reasonably hot girl would give two such dorks the time of day, and ultimately couldn’t care less about the show. The average nerd does get the references, but has no ability to laugh at himself or those who are like him – for that matter, no ability to laugh at anything  . Seriously – crack a joke, any joke, and a true nerd will point out the slightest error in spelling, grammar, or logic, thereby sucking all the fun out of it. I wonder if this is a defense mechanism developed after constantly being given wedgies by football players in high school. Anyway, I digress…

So in conclusion, a show that makes its tiny target audience only sort of chuckle is doomed from the get-go. I give it six weeks, and that’s a shame because comedies on broadcast networks are nearly extinct. Yeah, I know there’s plenty of comedy on cable, but the vast majority of those shows seem to be trying to out-shock and out-offend all the rest, and that gets old and juvenile (to me, anyway) in a hurry.

Make me laugh, dangit!