Unanswered Questions from This Week's Free TV Show Download from iTunes

1. Is The Big Bang Theory really meant to show on mainstream television? Do the network executives expect a non-trivial number of people to watch it? As I'm watching it, I'm thinking that whoever pitched "a dumb sit-com for smart people!" must have been joking.


2. What do people who don't know anything about calculus think when they hear a joke on a TV show that is based on calculus? Do they realize that it is a joke? Or do they just think it's more of that crazy math-science mumbo-jumbo?


3. Is anyone else bothered by the scenario of the nerdy guys chasing after the beautiful woman? I don't think that I've ever seen a tv show or a movie in which the nerdy guys are trying to go out with nerdy girls. Nerd-on-nerd action could be funny! Or, at least as funny as the desperation-rejection cycle that marks nerd-on-hottie plotlines.


4. I don't watch Ugly Betty. Do her romantic travails mirror the situations where the protagonist is a socially awkward guy? Socially awkward women are extremely rare on television.


5. Which of the main characters am I supposed to like more? Am I supposed to like Leonard (the shorter guy) because he seems to have some intrinsic sympathy for other people? Or am I supposed to like Sheldon (the taller one) because he is always right? If I had to pick one of the two to hang out with, I'd totally pick Sheldon. I suspect that this taps into the same part of me that likes the character of Dr. Reid on Criminal Minds.