But I've never actually mentioned my favorite of all sit-coms, and that is the 1998-2004 CBS series Becker.
Becker and friends.
(It's an unusual picture of Becker: he's smiling.)
Before Dr. Gregory House, there was Becker. A brilliant Harvard Med School graduate who was a rising star in the world of medical research, John Becker gave it all up to open a small family practice in the Bronx. His office is run by Margaret, a good-humored and no-nonsense registered nurse, and Linda, an office assistant whose airhead nature is, fortunately, offset by her big heart.
Aside from the doctor's office, Becker spends plenty of time at a nearby diner. There, we meet Jake, Becker's best buddy, who lost his sight in a car accident when he was a teenager, and Reggie, who serves as both the diner's owner and staff. There's other supporting cast members, too: the patients, the customers, and the people of the neighborhood -- all who, as often as not, end up on the receiving end of one of Becker's tirades.
Because oh, are there tirades. While we're never exactly certain what made Becker turn his back on his rising career in the big leagues for the smaller prospects of an obscure family practice, we can at least be sure his fellow researchers weren't sorry to see him go. If there's one thing you can say about Becker, it's that he is, to put it kindly, an opinionated soul:
"The world is full of idiots, and someone needs to point it out to them or they will never know." "The [New York City] Marathon just gets my hopes up. At first it seems like 20,000 idiots are leaving the city, but then they just make a big loop and come right back."
"What is the matter with you people?! This is a movie! You're here to listen to the actorstalk! That's why the seats face the screen, and not each other!"
"Romance is like the cheese in the mousetrap -- it baits you into position so the cold, metal bar of reality can come down and snap your neck."
"I never told you to shut up." "You hung up on me once!" "So I didn't have to tell you to shut up."
"I have this friend -- well, we aren't really friends. We just share custody of an ex-wife." "If you and I were the only people on the face of the Earth, that would be the only thing we'd have in common."
"That's the problem with the world! Everybody says, 'Everybody does it,' so everybody does it!" "Someday you'll look back on this and laugh!" "Maybe I will. But before then, I will kill you. And then I'll use my powers as a physician to bring you back to life. And then, I will kill you again."
Like Dr. House, it's an almost cathartic experience to watch Becker rant and rave about life's little indignities, which are unfailingly hilarious and utterly relatable. But if there was no more to Becker than frustrated outbursts and angry tirades, I doubt the show would've hooked me. What really made Becker special to me is that our title character has a far bigger heart than his gruff exterior would lead one to believe.
For all his anger, Becker is a guy who genuinely cares -- not just for his patients, but for the friends he's managed to find who can tolerate his rather abrasive personality. (Reggie and Company are all pretty adept at simply ignoring him, which is generally the best tactic for dealing with Becker when he's in full-rant mode.) Many episodes give us an example of Becker acting out of genuine compassion: baby-sitting a neighbor's kids for the evening when she's got nowhere else to turn, quietly paying for a patient's specialist care out of his own pocket, lending a gruff but sympathetic ear to his friends as they navigate through their own struggles. Becker may be an opinionated soul -- but his friends find him worth the rough edges.
Becker himself was not the only engaging character. My personal favorite was Reggie, a former model who's back in New York after inheriting her dad's diner -- and, with it, her dad's most faithful customer: Becker himself. Reggie is a smart, independent thirtysomething who is also confronting the reality of her life not quite turning out the way she had expected it to, and we see her struggle to decide what she really wants for herself and her future.
Real depth of character extended to the rest of the cast and storylines, and such real-world issues as poverty, the AIDs epidemic, race, ableism, and political correctness were tackled throughout the show's six-season run. With its ability to balance the serious with the satirical, the weightiest of issues with the simplest of day-to-day routine, the result was a unique blend of philosophy and fun that I've rarely encountered in other sit-coms.
Besides, we've all got a little bit of Becker in us.
"Just when I think God couldn't screw me any further, He gets out the old Black & Decker and twists a little harder!"
"Interesting. You're being persecuted by a God you don't believe in."
The holiday season is all about family: spending time with the people who mean the most to us, sharing good times and memorable moments. Even when those special people drive us absolutely insane.
With the holiday season drawn to a close, now might be a good time for a little storytelling catharsis. I can't think of a show that would better fit that bill than the hit sit-com Everybody Loves Raymond.
Everybody Loves Raymond is the story of Ray Barone, a sports writer who lives in Long Island with his wife and three kids. His parents (and his older brother) also happen to live nearby. Right across the street, in fact. "Tha-a-a-at's right."
Throughout its nine-season run, the show offered an in-depth look into what family is really all about -- the highs, the lows, and the downright crazy. So if your holiday season was filled with family and you need a bit of a recharge, check out our list of recommended Raymond episodes: one from each season. And remember: It's never just about the can opener. (See Season 4's episode "The Can Opener" for more about that.)
Click on the Seasons' DVD links to request that season from our Catalog!
What to do when the cable's out? The family decides to break out "Scruples," a board game designed to bring out the truth. Of course, as anyone in a family could tell you, a little truth goes a long way.
Marie's making an effort to serve healthier meals to herself and her family -- even if it means a low-fat (and, to the guys' way of thinking, utterly tasteless) Thanksgiving. This episode gives new meaning to showing support through "thick and thin."
"He's the FBI, Ma! I wasn't applying for a job at the Gap!"
One of Marie's best qualities is her desire to help her family. Unfortunately, it's one of her worst qualities, too. Like when she decides to help her eldest son with his job interview. By faxing a letter to his interviewers.
When in-laws collide! Robert and Amy are getting married. Their parents are meeting for the first time. It's always a little rocky when two families take their first steps to getting to know one another – but when one of those families are the Barones, "rocky" doesn't quite cover it.
"We promise to protect your people and treat you with kindness."
"Lies. They're gonna screw us."
Robert and Amy are adjusting to marriage, and their families are adjusting to each other. Their "first Thanksgiving" cumulates in a family holiday pagent that seems to sum up the tension on both sides pretty well. Luckily, food does wonders to bring people together.
It was a scare that only lasted thirty seconds – but that's enough time for the family to realize how much they all mean to each other. With the final episode of the series, the finale shows us what this story's been about all along: the fact that, as crazy as they drive us, we love our family.
-- Exporting Raymond [DVD] - Phil Rosenthal oversaw a nine-season run of one of the most successful American television sit-coms of all time. Turns out there's a Russian production company that's interested in doing their own version of Raymond. This documentary follows Rosenthal overseas as he tries to break the culture gap and prove that, when it comes to family, some stories are universal.
It's the rare spin-off show that lives up to its predecessor. (You remember Friends, but what about Joey?) When Cheers was cancelled after a spectacular 11-season run, the character of Dr. Frasier Crane -- a stuffy psychiatrist originally brought in to complicate the Sam/Diane relationship -- had become an undeniable part of the show. But he was, perhaps, the last character audiences expected to see in a spin-off series. (When asked in a survey, only 2% of viewers picked Frasier as a character they wanted to see get his own series.)
But perhaps it's precisely the unexpected fun and heart the came from having the character at the center of his own story that made Frasier the powerhouse sit-com it was. Lasting for 11 seasons of its own, the show was the creation of the same writers who created Cheers, and they wisely decided to take the character of Dr. Frasier Crane and give him a show that was entirely different -- and entirely his own.
With stellar casting, snappy writing, and storylines that often employed farce in its most artful form, Frasier is simply a fun show. But it's also a show about family, exploring the relationships between parents and children, between siblings, between spouses, and between the friends that become like family. And in the end -- like all good stories -- Frasier is about its characters.
The show, a long-standing favorite of mine, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, having first premiered on September 16, 1993. In honor of the occasion, let's take a closer look at the Frasier family:
-- Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer)
"This is Dr. Frasier Crane -- I'm listening."
On Cheers, Frasier was a practicing psychiatrist who worked at a psychiatric ward in Boston. When the time for a spin-off series came, however, a freshly-divorced Frasier has relocated himself to his home town of Seattle, where he takes up a new career as a Dr. Phil-like radio host.
Out of the office, Frasier is, perhaps, the stereotype of the typical academic: stuffy, pompous, and particular, but also well-read, intelligent, and thoughtful. What balances out Frasier the most, however, is the fact that he's got a big heart. Legitimately caring about his family, his friends, and his listeners, he's got a strong moral compass and almost always tries to do the right thing -- even if it usually backfires on him. He's also a guy that, while actually having some truly good advice for those who ask him for it, is also on a quest to figure out his own life.
His catch phrases might sum him up best. While a bit pithy, they also show a guy who sincerely wants to help those listeners who call in for advice: "I'm listening," and "I wish you all good mental health!"
Best Moment: As both a writer and an older sibling, I'll always have a special place in my heart for the Season 1 episode "Author, Author." It's little brother Niles who has always dreamed of being an author, but when Niles gets the idea of writing a book about sibling relationships, he enlists older brother Frasier to help him out. With a deadline fast approaching, the two brothers lock themselves in a hotel room for 24 hours to hammer out the first few chapters ... and things go about as well as you'd expect them to.
Watch the scene from "Author, Author"
-- Dr. Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce)
"You're a complex little pirate, aren't you?"
Like his brother, Niles is also a psychiatrist in Seattle -- although, rather than hosting a radio show, Niles still has his own private practice. He's married to a woman called Maris (who, much like Norm Peterson's wife, Vera, on Cheers, is much discussed but never seen), though he still harbors a secret crush on his father's physical therapist (more on that in a bit).
Also like his brother, Niles is every bit as pompous and stuffy. He's also even more neurotic than Frasier -- the first thing we ever see Niles do is wipe down his seat at a restaurant table, a la Adrian Monk. His nervous personality and fussy habits make him a comedic masterpiece of a character, but his personal struggles add a touch of relatable humanity that can be a rare thing indeed in your average sit-com.
Best Moment: Nominated for an Emmy every year of the show's run (and taking home four of them), Hyde Pierce's superb comedic timing and acting prowess makes it difficult to pick just one moment. But if forced to choose, my vote has to be for the opening scene of the Season 6 episode "Three Valentines." Opening in Frasier's apartment (which Niles has borrowed for the evening to entertain a date), this nearly-wordless scene plays out like a Charlie Chaplin routine, as Niles's preparations for his date slowly build into a scene of utter catastrophe.
Watch the scene from "Three Valentines."
-- Martin "Marty" Crane (John Mahoney)
"You want to establish this great father-son relationship. Well, that kind of thing takes a couple of years -- not a couple of days."
Profession-wise, Frasier and Niles take after their mom, who was a research psychiatrist. But Martin Crane is no slouch in the intellect department, having once been a detective on the Seattle police force until an on-the-job injury forced him to retire. At the start of the show, Marty has not sufficiently recovered physically to be able to live on his own, and so he moves in with his newly-relocated son, Frasier.
Significantly more down to earth, practical, and casual than his somewhat-snooty sons, Marty is often at his comedic best when antagonizing Frasier and Niles for their various fussy habits. But even without a psychiatry degree, Marty also has plenty of wisdom on the trials and tribulations of life, which he always offers to his sons when they need it the most. And if he's still not entirely sure how his sons turned out so differently from him, he doesn't love his boys any less for it.
Best Moment: There's often a touch of condescension from Niles and Frasier when they're talking to their blue-collar father -- so it's always fun to watch that condescension come back to haunt them. In this episode, Frasier cajoles his father to play a round of chess with him -- only for his "uneducated" father to promptly beat the pants off him. Slightly daunted, Frasier challenges Marty to game after game, until he finally reaches the late-night moment when he's convinced he's finally defeated his father. Or so it seems for one brief, shining moment. (Marty's nonchalance about the whole thing only adds to the fun.)
Watch the scene from "Chess Pains."
-- Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin)
Niles shouldn't have made fun of Roz while standing in front of her with a newly-purchased antique novel.
While Frasier is primarily a show about family, I do enjoy the addition of Frasier's radio station "office life" -- best personified by Roz, who, over time, becomes like family herself. The executive producer of Frasier's radio show, Roz is smart, sharp, outgoing, and remarkably patient (most of the time). Skilled at her job, Roz must guide new-to-the-airwaves Frasier through his initial days as a radio star, but even after he's learned the ropes, the two go on to form a great partnership.
With an active social life, Roz also has plenty of stories to regale Frasier with -- much to his exasperation (and the audience's amusement). But as time goes on, she also becomes his best friend, someone he has to help him sort out his own personal conundrums (and he's always happy to return the favor for her).
Best Moment: This isn't just my favorite Roz moment, but one of my favorite moments of the whole show. It takes place in the very first episode, "The Good Son," when a despairing Frasier is wondering why his best intentions of growing closer to his father aren't working out the way he wanted them to. The story Roz responds with puts things neatly in perspective -- for Frasier, as well as for the audience.
Starting as something of a spear-carrier, Daphne is a physical therapist who moves into the Crane household to work with Marty on his post-injury therapy, as well as serving as an unofficial housekeeper. She is, however, quickly made another member of the family, providing some much-needed balance to the tension between father and son. ("Daphne, you can't go," Frasier implores her in one episode, when she's considering moving out. "You have to stay. I've only just recently realised how important you are to us. You see, if you go, Dad and I will kill each other.")
She's got her eccentricities, though in a far different way from the Crane brothers. Born and raised in Manchester, England, she fancies herself as the receiver of flashes of psychic insight and enjoys regaling those around her with unbelievable stories about her wacky family. But she's also funny, insightful, and quite sure of who she is, and is much more outright and forthcoming than the generally more reserved Frasier and Niles.
Speaking of Niles: the not-so-secret crush that Niles harbors for Daphne may have started life as a throwaway joke, but the evolution of their relationship becomes a major component of the show for more than a few seasons.
Best Moment: This is another hard one for me to choose, as Daphne is a favorite character of mine. That said, it has to be in the Season 2 episode "The Innkeepers."Niles and Frasier have gone into the restaurant business together with the purchase of a fancy Italian restaurant. When their entire staff walks off the job on opening night, it's up to the family to carry out the evening's duties. The results are classic -- especially for Daphne, whose practicality proves to be particularly hilarious as she helps prepare the star dish.
Watch the scene from "The Innkeepers."
-- Eddie (Moose & Enzo)
"DA-AD! I can't eat my breakfast; Eddie's staring at me!"
"Oh, Dad, not Eddie! He's weird!" When Marty moves in with his son, he's not about to leave his best friend behind. Eddie, a Jack Russell terrier, quickly becomes the bane of Frasier's existence, climbing up on the furniture and spending long periods of time sitting and staring at Frasier with apparent rapt fascination. Beloved by Martin and tolerated (mostly) by Frasier, Eddie -- like many TV dogs -- seems possessed with an uncommon intelligence that makes for hilarious results.
The role of Eddie was played for many years by "dog actor" Moose (and, later, by Moose's son Enzo, when Moose himself stepped down to "retire"). Impeccably trained, Moose and Enzo both did their duty in making Eddie an undeniable part of the Crane family.
Best Moment: Every time he stares at Frasier.
Watch some of Eddie's best moments in this clip of highlights.
Seinfeld was always happy to reference itself as "the show about nothing." But that really couldn't be further from the truth. The hit NBC sit-com -- it ran for nine seasons -- starred Jerry Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself: a stand-up comedian living in Manhattan. The show was co-created by Seinfeld and Larry David, and starred a trio of characters alongside Seinfeld: George Costanza (Jerry's best friend, and a fictionalized version of co-creator David), Elaine Benes (Jerry's ex-girlfriend), and Cosmo Kramer (the oddball next-door neighbor).
Like most cultural phenomena, a summary can't do it justice. The show's running joke was that it was a show about nothing, but the relationship trials, etiquette faux-paus, and farcical build-ups are hardly pointless. As Tim Delaney, author of Seinology: The Sociology of Seinfeldput it: "Seinfeld is much more than an entertaining show about nothing. It is a show about everything."
Seinfeld originally premiered on May 31, 1990. So in honor of its twenty-third anniversary, take a look at our favorite picks from its nine-year run:
“Ya know, its not fair people are seated first come, first served. It should be based on who's hungriest.” -- Elaine
Jerry, George, and Elaine are on their way to see Plan 9 From Outer Space and decide to stop and grab a quick dinner before the movie. It turns out to be anything but quick since they don’t have reservations, and they see people getting seated who came in after them. Elaine and Jerry try to pass the time talking; George is desperate to make a call to his girlfriend, but can’t because the pay phone is constantly in use.
This episode, while appearing to be about nothing, is far from it. Who hasn’t sat frustrated at a restaurant, waiting for a table? What also sets this episode apart is that it is in real time, which was incredibly out of the ordinary for a network situation comedy at the time.
The gang goes on a trip to the mall when Kramer wants to buy an air conditioner, and then no one can remember where the car is parked. They start wandering around the garage but have no luck. Elaine is worried that the goldfish she bought might suffocate in the plastic bag, George has to meet his parents for their anniversary dinner, and Jerry has to go to the bathroom, urgently! Who knew that a simple trip to the mall could result in such hilarity!
This episode is similar to "The Chinese Restaurant" in that it all takes place in one location. It also shows how childish and self-centered all four of the characters can be.
This two-parter finds Jerry meeting his sports idol, New York Mets Keith Hernadez, who also happens to be a fan of Jerry’s. Jerry develops a man crush and is very jealous when Keith starts dating Elaine. Meanwhile, George is trying to find a way to stay on unemployment without actually getting a job, by telling the unemployment office that he’s applied for a job at Vandelay Industries. Needing a contact for his fake company, George gives out Jerry’s phone number.
Kramer and Newman are appalled when they find out about Jerry meeting Keith Hernandez. They accuse Keith of spitting on Kramer after a game a few years earlier. Keith remembers the incident but says it wasn’t him. The whole incident is recounted JFK style, including film clips as flashbacks that are reminiscent of the Zapruder film.
The main story here is about Jerry's new friendship with Keith and how difficult it can be to make new friends the older you get. Friendships evolve like any relationship, whether it is romantic or not. Sometimes friendships can move too fast, which is how Jerry feels about his new friend, Keith. (Plus this episode has the magic loogie theory!)
"You wanna make this plane, you've gotta run like a man! Get your knees up!" -- Jerry to Elaine
Jerry and Elaine are headed back to New York after a trip to St. Louis for one of Jerry’s gigs, when their flight gets cancelled. They get moved to another flight, but Jerry gets upgraded to first class while Elaine has to stay in coach. Jerry is seated beside a beautiful supermodel, but poor Elaine is stuck in the middle seat and has a terrible flight.
Back in New York, George and Kramer are traveling back and forth between airports because of the flight cancellation. They get involved in their own hijinks (of course!), which end with George on a plane with a convict who took a dislike to George at the airport, and Kramer coming out of the chute at baggage claim. How does Kramer end up in baggage claim? You have to watch to find out.
This is so much fun to watch now, just to see how flying has changed in 20-plus years. However, the differences between First and Coach has not, which is where most of the relatable humor lies.
"Elaine, don't get too down. Everything will even out. See, I have two friends. You were up, he was down. Now he's up, you're down. You see how it all evens out for me?" -- Jerry
George has decided that every decision that he has ever made has been wrong. To rectify that, from now on, he’s going to do the exact opposite of what he would normally do. Suddenly, things start to work out for George – he starts dating a beautiful woman and he gets a job with the New York Yankees. Elaine, though, is having all kinds of problems. Her boyfriend breaks up with her, she loses her job, and she is getting kicked out of her apartment. Jerry’s life, of course, stays the same as always. No matter what happens, things always work out as he had planned.
Who hasn't wondered if some of the decisions they've made in their life were the right ones? I feel like George is doing what many of us have always wanted to try, but lacked the courage. Elaine, on the other hand, is so totally clueless about why things are not working out for her. And then there's Jerry. Don't we all know someone where everything always seems to work out for them?
The A-plot of this episode features Jerry, Elaine, and George going out to dinner and inadvertently getting one of the restaurant's busboys fired. As George (with Kramer's "assistance") attempts to make things right, things go from bad to worse -- until an unexpected turn of events results in the busboy being grateful to George after all. (At least ... for awhile.)
It's a fun enough episode right there. But the real comedy gold comes courtesy of the B-plot, involving Elaine ready to get rid of her week-long houseguest. It's been a boring visit and Elaine can't wait to get him loaded back onto his plane and out of her life -- which makes it all the more horrible when Elaine oversleeps the morning of the flight. Increasingly frantic, Elaine takes matters into her own hands to get both her and her visitor out the door and in time for the flight. Not to be missed by anyone who's ever been ready to see their houseguest's visit come to a close.
When Jerry and Elaine tag along with George to a party out on Long Island, it's not long before they find themselves trapped in conversations both offensive and boring. When George ducks out without them, Jerry and Elaine are left trapped and waiting for their ride -- and Jerry, out of sheer, panicked politeness, finds himself inviting the hosting couple to stop by his place any time they're in the city. Not a good long-term plan.
Seinfeld spends a lot of time exploring the conventions of polite interactions -- and what we all try to do to get out of them. I love this episode particularly for Elaine and Jerry's "secret signal" -- if one gets trapped in an intolerably boring conversation, a pat on the head is the signal for the other person to swoop in and "rescue" them from it. Like most things on Seinfeld, of course, things hardly go according to plan.
"I like dogs. I'm not sure this is a dog." -- Jerry
In one of Seinfeld's earlier, better build-ups, Jerry finds himself the unhappy sitter for an incessantly-barking dog named Farfel. Farfel won't shut up and is tearing Jerry's apartment apart -- leaving Jerry afraid to leave the dog alone. Missed movies, melodramatic romance, and George and Elaine realizing all they have to talk about is Jerry all come together in appropriately hilarious fashion.
There's a particularly noteworthy gimmick that stands out as being done, and being done well. Two of the episode's most important characters -- Farfel the dog, and Kramer's girlfriend Ellen (who he breaks up with, and subsequently begs to be taken back by) -- are never seen. The other characters interact with them, but "Farfel" and "Ellen" both remain off-camera.
Once again, it's the B-plot that shines for me, in this episode primarily about George's engagement to his old girlfriend, Susan Ross. George and Jerry have made a pact to start making serious changes in their lives -- but it's George who takes the most initiative, showing up at Susan's door and asking her, "Will you marry me?" When she says yes, George is initially thrilled until he finds out that Jerry broke up with his own girlfriend, meaning that, as far as George is concerned, he's the only one who properly honored the pact. And it's not long, of course, before George is hoping to find a way out of his newly-realized commitment.
But as a long-time apartment dweller, my favorite bits of the episode come from Elaine. Living in a new apartment, Elaine's been running on three hours of sleep a night thanks to the incessant barking of a neighbor's dog. When she enlists Kramer and mailman Newman to help her fix the problem (they'll kidnap the dog and relocate it to the country), she ends up, of course, with a bigger problem than she started with. Still, if you've ever had noisy neighbors, it's all fairly relatable.
"The sea was angry that day, my friends ... like an old man sending back soup in a deli." -- George
To say too much about this episode would rob those who haven't seen it of the most delightful comedic build-up that I've ever witnessed on TV. Suffice it to say that the apparently-disparate plot threads of Elaine's new electric organizer, Jerry's new girlfriend, George's fictional career as a marine biologist, and Kramer's current hobby all come together to bring two complex plot-threads into full-circle hilarity.
Relationships, pettiness, day-to-day annoyances ... for being a show about nothing, Seinfeld had a lot to say. But at its best, the show always brought its crazy, farcical, and entirely relatable stories back to their starting points. It made for a hilarious viewing experience -- and all-around great television.
VIDEO: "Top 100 Seinfeld Moments"
"They say, 'What's your show about?' I say, 'Nothing.'"
TRACY: One of the most popular shows on television is about a group of friends who like to hang out at their local comic book store, play Dungeons and Dragons, and discuss the merits of George Lucas’s changes to the Star Wars films. They sound like people we would know! Which is why The Big Bang Theory is one of our favorites shows. (Although, we wonder if Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj might have a hard time believing that there are any women who would enjoy a Star Trek convention as much as them.)
MS. B: The show stars Johnny Galecki (of Roseanne fame) as Dr. Leonard Hofstadter, an experimental physicist and nerd extraordinaire. He lives in Pasadena, California, with his insufferable roommate Sheldon (a theoretical physicist); the two of them spend much of their time with friends Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali (an astrophysicist) and Howard Wolowitz (an aerospace engineer and an astronaut, but not -- as Sheldon often reminds him -- a doctor). The final addition to their group is Penny (no last name), a waitress and aspiring actress who moved into the apartment across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon. Being a bit socially awkward, it's awhile before the four guys can make friends with Penny -- but she ends up being an important part of the group. (Not to mention the fact that Leonard has a huge crush on her.)
TRACY: One of the most popular characters on the show is Dr. Sheldon Cooper, played by Emmy Award winner Jim Parsons. He was a virtual unknown to most viewers when TBBT made its debut in 2007, but he had actually been working steadily in television, film, and stage after leaving his hometown of Houston, Texas in 1999.
After many off-Broadway performances early in his acting career, he has recently returned to the stage in 2011 and 2012 to perform in two well-respected plays, The Normal Heart and Harvey.
So in honor of Jim Parsons’ 40th birthday, Ms. B will pick her favorite TBBT episodes.
When Leonard inadvertently becomes the top bidder on a $800 replica prop from the 1960 classic The Time Machine, his pals are quick to jump on his offer of becoming joint owners (at $200 apiece). The guys are delighted by their piece of authentic sci-fi history -- except for Leonard, who becomes deeply embarrassed when Penny demands to know how these grown men could possibly waste their time with such silly toys. Leonard's subsequent lapse in self-confidence has him ready to give away his collection of collectables and comic books -- until Sheldon, of all people, calls Penny out on her criticism, in one of my favorite moments of the show.
The show is often at its best when pairing together the "odd couple" of Penny and Sheldon. In this episode, Penny slips in the shower and dislocates her shoulder -- and is forced, much to her dismay, to turn to Sheldon for help. Sheldon, reluctantly helpful (and fairly hopelessly inept), manages, after much trial and error, to get Penny out to the hospital and safely back home -- if with the two of them sniping at each other the whole way. Upon their arrival back at Penny's apartment, Penny (feeling a bit better after a hefty dose of painkillers) asks Sheldon to sing to her -- ending the episode with a hilarious but sweet moment of friendship between these two polar opposites.
As Leonard points out, it's not really that big of a change. After Sheldon decides that the only way to stay safe is to stay inside, he constructs a "robot" Sheldon to take his place in the outside world. It seems like the perfect plan -- even if Robot-Sheldon irritates friends and co-workers alike. Still, despite Leonard's most persistent efforts, Sheldon has no intention of ever emerging in person into the world again ... that is, until a chance encounter with Steve Wozniak (the co-founder of Apple Computer) forces him to reconsider.
The addition of Amy Farrah-Fowler -- Sheldon's friend who is a girl but not his girlfriend (at least at first) -- gave the show a whole new dimension. Despite his genuine fondness for Amy, Sheldon often has difficulty figuring out how to express it ... sometimes with disastrous consequences. When Sheldon fails to congratulate Amy for writing the lead article of a prestigious science journal (and, in fact, belittles her accomplishment), it seems like it might be the last straw for Amy. That is, until Sheldon reveals that he knows enough about his girl to give her a gift with truly special meaning -- making for one of the most hilarious, and touching, scenes in the show's run.
-- "The Bakersfield Expedition" (Season Six)
I expected to enjoy this one thanks to its references to one of my other favorite shows -- Star Trek: The Next Generation-- but what I didn't expect was the episode's unexpected heart. The four guys dress up as Worf, Data, Captain Picard, and a Borg alien for the Bakersfield Comic Con costume competition. They're so pleased with the results that they stop at Vasquez Rocks Park (where the original Star Trekfilmed) for a few "landing party" photos. It's while they're snapping pictures that their car is stolen -- forcing them to walk their way through the dirt and heat to the nearest roadside diner for help. Humiliated by passing motorists, the diner customers, and the police officer they call for help, even Sheldon is left discouraged. Struck by self-doubt, the guys return home -- only to receive reaffirmation from the most unlikely of sources, making this my all-time favorite episode of TBBT.
