“But Sheldon Cooper just said Bazinga. That’s so funny.”

“But…”

“And nerds are socially awkward and they read comics. That’s so relatable. LOL.”

This is how a generic conversation with a typical The Big Bang Theory  fan generally feels like. The extremely popular sitcom has been running for years now and is widely considered as one of the most popular shows worldwide. From a show that revolves around the socially anxious bunch of scientists to a show that revolves around the relationships of these characters, TBBT has come a long way. And it has gradually become tedious and unfunny.

One of the biggest things that capture the imagination of the audiences was the fact that it was the first time when ‘nerds’ were the central figures of a sitcom. We were hyped to see how they would represent the nerd community. They tried, and failed – massively. Here are the moments from the show that’ll prove how far from reality the show is when it comes to being real nerds:

1. Aquaman is a really cool superhero unlike what the ‘nerds’ in the show think. 

If you’ve ever read a single comic book in your life, you know how Aquaman is anything but what they tell you in the famous show. Leonard, Raj, Howard and Sheldon seem to berate the King of Atlantis at every opportunity available to them and we have scores of wannabe internet comic book fans  going hysterical over a joke that isn’t even there.

2. The show tells you that nerds are socially awkward and women turn them into apes. That’s definitely not the case.

That’s the stereotype the show is based on and my word are they wrong about it. Not even a single nerd on the show behaves normally around women. Maybe some guys find it funny but for us, the real nerds, it seems a little off. We don’t get this weird around women, guys. This stereotype is just plain stupid.

3. Real nerds don’t keep bragging about their educational qualifications or institutes.

The characters on Big Bang Theory  seem to have a neurotic obsession with where characters went to college and who does or doesn’t have a PhD. That’s a running joke. One would imagine that it’s a one time thing but apparently the show-runners rely on this for every time the show needs a punch – every episode.

4. Sheldon is a douchebag, not a nerd.

There’s a massive difference between a character being unable to process their own emotions and thereby struggling to acknowledge anyone else’s, and a character deliberately ignoring other people’s feelings. Dr. Sheldon Cooper is being represented as someone who has ‘charming’ quirks but he’s actually a total douchebag who brings nothing but misery to his friends’ lives. This is not how a nerd behaves, this is how assholes do.

5. They portray Leonard as a ‘nerd’ who is devoid of any sort of personality.

Leonard possesses as much personality as a wet box of cardboard. If you were to describe Leonard using 8 words, what would the words be? Nerd, glasses, flatulent, awkward, short,…. errm. That’s about it. He hasn’t been given any sort of personality by the writers of the show because apparently nerds can’t have more than just one facet to their personalities.

6. They stereotype Raj’s effeminate personality and those misogynist jokes haven’t stopped since.

Homophobia has always been funny for the audiences. Be it FRIENDS or Big Bang Theory, people always love laughing at a section of society because there’s nothing funnier than years of oppression, right? Good job, Chuck Lorre.

7. Amy is made fun of because her dressing sense isn’t exactly the ‘in-thing’.

The plainness of Amy’s appearance is played for laughs much more frequently than it should be. She is a scientist for god’s sake. We guess the writers were too busy writing Bazinga over and over in the script and they missed out on real jokes they could have cracked.

8. The canned laughter instructs you when to laugh. The ‘comedy’ of the show itself doesn’t.

The studio audience laughs at almost anything. Oh yeah, so Sheldon just said the name of a show I loved but what’s up with the whole cheering thing? What do they even find funny in the show? In a show with little to no jokes, it isn’t a surprise that the gullible audiences love it.

With social media changing the world and how we see it, there’s a lot of pressure on people to seem cool to their friends. Being a nerd is the new in thing and BBT helps people feel that way. You might like the show but that’s because you’re far from what a nerd really is.