‘The Big Bang Theory' just did what no TV show has ever done before

[cyberswede]

And people say TV will rot your brain: Yesterday, CBS’ The Big Bang Theory made waves—and history—when showrunner Chuck Lorre (Mom, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly) revealed that he plans on taking the award-winning program’s scientific slant from fiction to reality. Starting this week, Big Bang Theory and The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation have established The Big Bang Theory Scholarship Endowment—valued at $4 million dollars.

The endowment will go directly to 20 low-income students entering the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at UCLA this year and then benefit five new students each academic year in perpetuity. The inaugural class will be announced this fall at the show’s set in Burbank, CA with cast and crew in attendance.

http://hellogiggles.com/big-bang-theory-scholarship/

Well, this is cool!

[irisblue]

1. Bazinga!

brilliant of them

[yeoman6987]

3. Not bad for a show in its like 8 th year and pulls in a cool

100 million a year. It is a successful show that's for sure.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

52. I love it...may the show live long and prosper.

[Omaha Steve]

18. X2

[beam me up scottie]

2. Awesome.

[SoapBox]

4. This is indeed cool!

[xocet]

5. Cool. n/t

[Binkie The Clown]

6. Chuck Lorre is not crazy.

His mother had him tested.

What a great contribution!

[tclambert]

34. She should have gotten a second opinion.

[7962]

47. It is amazing how many shows he has created that were hugely successful!

If I were an actor and got signed on to a Lorrie pilot, I'd think I hit the lottery

[Number23]

7. Oh this is wonderful!

Maybe I'll start watching again

K&R

[Violet_Crumble]

8. I've never watched an episode of the show, but that's pretty good news n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. FWIW, Violet.....

I love the show, I think it is brilliant.
Back in the day we had shows like M*A*S*H* and Taxi and Night Court and MTM....

BBT is in that same august company, IMHO.


3 cheers for Lorre's decision.

And for the news that the show has been renewed for 2 more seasons already.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. I might grab the first series and give it a try...

If I don't like it you'll be hearing from me!!

[asjr]

13. You will like it. It is one of the funniest

programs I have seen in ages. And I date back to Lucille Ball!

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. the ping pong match a couple of weeks ago

had me in tears, I was laughing so hard.

[KittyWampus]

19. I liked the one where the girlfriends debated Thor's Hammer.

The Bakersfield Expedition

[randome]

35. Completely agree with you.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[MinM]

24. You're not missing much ..

It's brain addling pap, like most television programmes, but probably more innocuous than most. So there's that. Which makes it nice to see Chuck Lorre do something positive with the profits from some of his mind numbing shows.

[Bette Noir]

26. Maybe, but it's "brain addling pap" about MY PEOPLE.

Nerds. Science fiction fans. Comic book geeks. Engineers. People who are too smart for the room, and don't care.

[7962]

50. "Brain addling pulp" that actually teaches people real science, if you watched.

All the theories and equations they have are real and accurate, as well as the scientific references they use, i.e. "Schrodingers Cat"

[gregcrawford]

28. How did the operation go...

... when you had your sense of humor surgically removed?

[dlwickham]

43. you're assuming s/he had one to begin with

[gregcrawford]

48. True...

... trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[dlwickham]

56. you're a much better person than me

I'd just say f you and put them on ignore

[7962]

49. Boom!

[MinM]

51. Aurora shooter James Holmes is a big Big Bang fan

‏@NYDailyNews: Aurora shooter James Holmes loved comedies like "Arrested Development" and "Big Bang Theory." http://nydn.us/1EIuA1A

So you guys have that going for you.

Actually my wife is a big fan too. I'm not sure if it's the laugh track or what but I just never got into it.

[gregcrawford]

55. "The Big Bang Theory" is taped in front of a live audience. There is no laugh track.

[myrna minx]

9. K&R!

[Snobblevitch]

11. This is good news,

but does it make up for bringing Two and Half Men to the American public and Charlie Sheen with it?

[SusanCalvin]

14. Good point.

I liked that show, actually, until it pegged my smut-o-meter.

And even BBT, much as I adore it, has way too much gratuitous smut for the family hours of the evening, if you ask this old lady.

[KingCharlemagne]

17. I prefer my smut be non-gratuitous, if possible! - nt

[SusanCalvin]

20. Exactly! nt

[Snobblevitch]

21. I tend to agree with you about

the constant references to sex that early in the evening.

My oldest brother's wife would not let their young kids watch The Simpson's, mostly necause of the disrespectful behavior aimed at adults. However, she comepletely let up when she went back to work full-time. By the time their youngest boy was about 12 he had seen more R rated DVDs than I have in my lifetime. (I used to say they had more DVDs than Blockbuster. I never saw a reason to invest thousands of dollars in movies I don't really need to watch more than once, maybe twice.)

[gratuitous]

22. Hmph

I'll have you know that gratuitous smut is smut of the highest quality! Accept no substitutes. If your grocer tries to sell you smut that isn't genuine gratuitous brand smut, kick him in the nads and run.

[SusanCalvin]

25. I bow to your superior wisdom.

[niyad]

16. welcome to du. I am not certain that anything can make up for two and

a half men.

[Snobblevitch]

23. Thanks for the welcome.

I can honestly say I only watched a couple of the early episodes and only one after Sheen left.

Then again, when I sometimes run across shows from my youth, I sometimes cringe.

[DFW]

27. As long as we don't produce a real-life Sheldon Cooper!

And BBT once had a 90 year old friend of mine on there for a cameo appearance once. Fun show!

[Turk 182]

38. sorry to disappoint

Sorry to disappoint you, but there are thousands of "real-life Sheldon Coopers" out there. Judging from Sheldon's behavior and interactions with others he has Asperger's Syndrome. The boy who lives across the street from me is very much like Sheldon. He has gone to college and is a computer geek, but cannot hold a regular conversation and has few if any friends. He was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder as a child.
It is not unusual for people with Asperger's to be very high functioning, especially in music and math.
For more info, just Google "Autism Spectrum Disorders" or "Asperger's Syndrome".

[DFW]

39. You're telling me that Parsons' chatacter was created to glorify Asperger's?

I know people with it, you don't have to play professor for me. But I don't think that the "Sheldon Cooper" character was created to glorify or celebrate Asperger's, or make it welcome in the living room of every Cleaver family in the country, but rather to be a comic foil for the other three in the dorm room. If there was any higher grand design behind the creation of his character, then bravo, but I haven't heard of it.

[arcane1]

42. I don't think it was a deliberate design, but rather character traits to draw from over time.

The character changed a bit during that first year. Heck, in the first episode, he had a sex drive and masturbated too much! But some of his later behaviors were definitely drawn from Asperger's, though it's never been officially or explicitly mentioned.

[mainer]

44. The show made people with Aspergers lovable. Good.

I know plenty of real-life Sheldon Coopers who would otherwise be considered unbearably annoying. Big Bang Theory really helped us to understand their way of thinking, and increased tolerance for their quirks. I think it's been a huge boon to those with Aspergers in making us all a little more understanding.

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. Sheldon is probably the most popular character

and it is clear the viewing audience has a lot of empathy for him.
I know people like Sheldon, indeed I do.

[DFW]

41. I would suspect

That most of us who made it past the eighth grade do, too.

[toddwv]

29. Good for them, and to be clear, this is a group effort by the actors and producers.

"Contributors to the scholarship include stars Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting (Penny), Simon Helberg (Howard), Kunal Nayyar (Raj), Mayim Bialik (Amy), and Melissa Rauch (Bernadette). They’re joined by executive producers Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, and Steven Molaro as well as crew members and other generous folks in the entertainment industry."

[MADem]

30. Rec. No. 200! It deserves a few hundred more!

This is important--it's the right scholarship(s) targeted at the right people.

[Exilednight]

31. I love the show and applaud this action.

[Unrepentant Fenian]

32. One more reason to love that show! nt

[F4lconF16]

33. I can't stand the show anymore.

But this is cool. Good luck to whoever can get it.

[krispos42]

36. That's a wonderful start.

But let's not forget that $4 million is probably what the core cast gets paid per episode.

[Cleita]

37. Weird they would fund UCLA students when the show's university is Cal-Tech.

But I guess helping students no matter where is what counts.

[jmondine]

45. Four million dollars dollars?

Isn't that redundant?

[cyberswede]

46. Yes, Sheldon.

[Ghost in the Machine]

53. I LOVE "The Big Bang Theory"! I have the first 6 seasons on DVD. It's fun to see Johnny Galecki

grown up (he was on the "Roseanne" show as "Darla's" boyfriend) and seeing him interact with Sara Gilbert in some of the episodes.

Does anyone remember that Simon Helberg played a computer geek/nerd on "Van Wilder" when he was younger?

I think the show is very entertaining, and educational. As someone mentioned above, they have real engineers and physicists who do the equations on the white boards.

Among some of the guest stars have been Stephen Hawking, Stan Lee, Will Wheaton, Katee Sackhoff and Steve Wozniak, to mention a few..

Peace,

Ghost

[cyberswede]

54. And Leonard Nimoy!

Well, his voice, anyway.

...oh, and his napkin.