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Old 03-22-2008, 12:11 PM   #8 (permalink)
Martian
Young Crumudgeon
 
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Location: Canada
I've watched the first couple of episodes. Thoughts:

The laugh track irritates me. Granted this is a beef with sitcoms in general and not just this one show. Nonetheless, if you feel that your audience needs a cue to know when to laugh, you must either think your audience consists entirely of drooling idiots or that your jokes aren't strong enough to stand on their own.

The characters are painfully one-dimensional. I'm willing to chalk this up to 'new show syndrome' and give the writers a chance to develop individual personalities for each character, but if it hasn't happened by the end of the first season it's probably not going to.

The show's premise itself seems somewhat limited. There's only so many 'nerds are socially inept' jokes you can do before it becomes stale.

I like that the writers aren't afraid to use nerd humour. I was partcularly amused by the comparison of the female lead's apartment with a fractal. I worry about the lifespan of the show, though; are physics and math jokes too obscure to be grasped by the wider audience? Will the writers continue with this type of humour at the risk of alienating a large percentage of the viewer base?

The interaction between the female lead and the male lead strikes me as formulaic. Once the writers run out of jokes to make about how awkward nerds are around girls they'll hook up (probably at the end of the second season, although they may be able to stretch it to the third; assuming, of course, the show lasts that long) which will lead to a reversal as the female lead finds herself lost within nerd culture. I do hope I'm proven wrong on this. I'd love to see a show where the main character doesn't get the highly attractive but slightly ditzy girl.

The show does seem to pigeonhole nerds. As much as I'd like to take issue with this, though, I'm not sure I can. I think anyone who's made the acquaintance of a few nerds probably realizes these portrayals, while slightly exaggerated, are essentially true-to-life.

The theme song is catchy. Bonus points to anyone who can explain the scientific inaccuracies of it to me.

Overall impression is favourable, but marginally so. I'd like it a lot better if they'd boot the laugh track and find a way to expand on the Friends-esque '90% of the action takes place in one apartment' feel of it.
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