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Comment by wmil | Hacker News Reader

It's a warm show about people who care about each other where the drama comes from social misunderstandings.

The initial pilot featured a more conniving Penny played by a different actress. The focus group feedback was "Someone keep that mean girl away from those sweet boys".

Think of it as a show for moms / grandmothers / aunts of nerdy men. They want to see them get up so some shenanigans but generally be OK.

It's also a low effort show to watch so you can throw it on in the background while you're doing other things.

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Warm show? I admittedly haven’t watched many episodes, but they all seem somewhat casually cruel to one another, and not in a loving way you may tease a friend.

I always felt the stereotypes were truly making fun of geek/nerds, and somehow fooled folks into thinking they were in on the joke.

Warm is a word I have a hard time using.

> they all seem somewhat casually cruel to one another

So you're saying it's the same as just about any other sitcom?

Besides joking at one another's expense, a super common trope in US sitcoms is the lie to avoid embarrassment which builds up tension throughout the show, inevitably leads to exposure/confrontation and then resolution (forgiveness) near the end.

So many situations would be resolved quickly if the characters just 'fessed up immediately instead of trying to deceive the others to save face.

But then, there'd be no show with cheap laughs.

The first and only episode I watched revolved around one of the male leads training the female lead like a dog, by giving her food treats when she completed tasks for him.

I don't know if that was representative but I decided it was not for me.

Pop Culture Detective did a short set of videos on it that matched my first impressions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3-hOigoxHs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L7NRONADJ4

I don't know how to mesh that with Wil Wheaton speaking so fondly of his time on the show in his book. Even the updated one where he talks about his past views and behavior with exceptional self-awareness.

> you can throw it on in the background while you're doing other things.

Nobody asked, but my thing to watch like this is everything-Star-Trek (TOS, TNG, V, Ent, etc. including the movies)

The problem is Star Trek is actually intellectually stimulating so if I throw in on in the background I end up just watching it, unfortunately.

It's easier when you have seen all the series a few times over.

Dude. It blows my mind there are over 25 episodes per season of most of the older series. I know most of the series had rough starts, but they really get good in the later seasons. I tried to tell someone to just watch it, and tell them how in Season 3 or 4 it gets really good. That means, you just gotta watch 50-75 episodes to get to the good stuff. LOL. That doesn't seem to convince anybody.

I mean, personally I love the early episodes just as much. But trying to get other people into it hasn't been successful for me.

Also I love starting on a long binge. There are hundreds and hundreds of episodes to watch! Peak Star Trek for me is DS9 when they start to get heavy into the Dominion war. Sisko is such a badass. He's my favorite Captain.

Dude. You realize you can skip the earlier seasons, right? Like just jump to season 3 or 4. So don't watch the first three or four seasons of MAS*H. Just jump to the seasons when Sherman Potter is ther.e

What a rude reply. I was just sharing something I thought was funny, since most shows today only have like 8-10 episodes per season. To get through 2 seasons of TNG is like going through 10 seasons of a modern show.

> It's a warm show about people who care about each other

I like that show, but no, it is not warm show about caring. It is fun show about mutual abuse. Like I said, fun and all, but in kinda cruel way.

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