I have to agree with the part of this about Sheldon and his being scripted as behaving like someone with a disorder on the PDD spectrum such as Aspergers and this being seen as something to laugh at.
This acceptance of laughing at those with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders - the popularization of using the term "RETARD" as an insult - pervades American society.
Yet when people do this they normalize the abuse and victimization of people who do fit clinical descriptions of retarded, or who do have disabilities that lead to them riding the short bus to school.
As someone with an autistic 9 year old I can tell you for a fact that mainstreaming is the hardest part of dealing with his disorder, and as his peers get older, they're increasingly aware that it's okay to use terms like retard, short bus, and the rest as forms of insult - just a joke, just humour - because they see adults and often parents and authority figures doing the same.
Getting back to the BBT. I studied Physics at university. I work in Silicon Valley. I'm now a 40 year old man and very comfortable with where I am in life and who I am. I liked the BBT when I first saw it for the same reasons. It was well observed in places and I enjoyed the playful stereotypes. But I just drifted away from watching it for similar reasons to the OP. It is really just laughing at nerds with lazy humour and makes it safe for dumbed-down mainstream America to continue its anti-intellectual bent, and remain comfortable in ignorance. This plays well for advertisers and those who want us to not take science too seriously when it goes against the desires of political or economic power-brokers, and people who want to stay tuned to TMZ while their lives meander past them without them even noticing.
The problem with TBBT is that the writing of the last season(s) is so bad and lazy, that you are wondering why you liked it in the first place. Same thing happened with Two and a Half men. The decline in the writing of both shows coincidences with the introduction of their 3rd show, Mike and Molly.
It's a comedy show, you are supposed to laugh at the characters. None of them should be taken seriously, they consist mostly out of randomly selected quirks that change with each episode. The 'normal' people are just as silly as the nerds. If we were meant to relate to someone, it isn't Penny, but Leonard.
This happens with most sitcoms when they get big. They swap out the original writers, who move on to more creative things, and bring in the stable career sitcom writers who know how to run things in bland continuity for ten years.
I think you are going the wrong way with this. I mean who cares, right? It's just a television program that viewers happen to enjoy. In fact, that's how ALL tv shows are nowadays, including Community.
This acceptance of laughing at those with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders - the popularization of using the term "RETARD" as an insult - pervades American society.
Yet when people do this they normalize the abuse and victimization of people who do fit clinical descriptions of retarded, or who do have disabilities that lead to them riding the short bus to school.
As someone with an autistic 9 year old I can tell you for a fact that mainstreaming is the hardest part of dealing with his disorder, and as his peers get older, they're increasingly aware that it's okay to use terms like retard, short bus, and the rest as forms of insult - just a joke, just humour - because they see adults and often parents and authority figures doing the same.
Getting back to the BBT. I studied Physics at university. I work in Silicon Valley. I'm now a 40 year old man and very comfortable with where I am in life and who I am. I liked the BBT when I first saw it for the same reasons. It was well observed in places and I enjoyed the playful stereotypes. But I just drifted away from watching it for similar reasons to the OP. It is really just laughing at nerds with lazy humour and makes it safe for dumbed-down mainstream America to continue its anti-intellectual bent, and remain comfortable in ignorance. This plays well for advertisers and those who want us to not take science too seriously when it goes against the desires of political or economic power-brokers, and people who want to stay tuned to TMZ while their lives meander past them without them even noticing.