Channel Surfing—The Big Bang Theory

I’m a big fan of sitcoms—always have been—so I'm glad to see The Big Bang Theory is back for another season. 30 Rock might have cleaned up at the Emmy’s but in my opinion, The Big Bang Theory and The Office are the best-written and best-acted comedy series on television right now.

I’ll confess, though, that I’m a sucker for a show that promises an engaging love story, which may be why 30 Rock has less appeal to me. The Office has several love interests—Jim and Pam finally engaged! The Dwight-Angela-Andy triangle.

And of course The Big Bang Theory has Leonard and Penny. In spite of opening the box to discover Schrödinger's cat survived the experiment, their relationship was short lived. Poor Leonard. Lovable? Totally. Brainy? Yes. Socially inept? Oh, yeah. Pointing out that Penny didn’t even graduate from community college? At least he didn’t mention her weight.

In this week’s episode, enter Leslie Winkler, whose biological clock is wound tighter than the DNA she wants to replicate. She’ll even risk passing on Leonard’s short stature and lactose intolerance to her progeny if it means said progeny will inherit his brains.

The deal breaker?

No way will she take a chance that her child will favor string theory over loop quantum gravity.

Seriously. A girl has to draw the line somewhere.

So have we seen the last of Leslie? My instincts are saying no. There’s been some biology but definitely no chemistry between Leonard and Leslie. But there could be something between Leslie and Sheldon. Don’t you think? Is their constant sniping and animosity just a hint of what’s to come?

Leslie and Sheldon are identical character archetypes. He’s a Chief, she’s a Boss. Both highly competitive, both with an intense need to be right, all the time. So the big question is, will they be able to overlook theories of relativity long enough to let the laws of attraction take effect?

If I was one of the writers for this show, that’s the direction I’d take. It means Leonard would need a certain amount of consoling, and who better to do it than Penny?

Until next time,
Lee