The Big Bang Theory Review: "The Irish Pub Formulation"
For the second week of Kaley Cuoco's absence from The Big Bang Theory, Leonard continued to take the leading role reins from the normally dominate Sheldon.
This week, TBBT took a page straight out of the generic sitcom book and had Leonard sleep with Raj's sister, Priya (Aarti Moon), behind Raj's back. However, rather than lead to a possibly hilarious episode between the two rarely paired characters, it instead became a Leonard-Sheldon adventure.
It's as if TBBT is playing it too safe on its new Thursday 8:00 pm timeslot and has to keep going to their go-to guy, Sheldon. This time, Sheldon couldn't keep a secret unless he came up with a good alibi in the form of "The Irish Pub Formulation."
We're all about Parsons and he certainly brought plenty of humor to the episode, but we just can't help but feel like this show always has more potential. This episode didn't take advantage of the truly nerdy aspect of the character, and like we said earlier, didn't take advantage of Raj in the story.
All that said, the scene where the guys all were apologizing for various pranks they pulled was one of the funniest in the show's history. Just goes to show, even when they play it safe, we can sit around and watch these guys spit out The Big Bang Theory quotes and have us laughing.
Kaley should be back next week and we can't wait to have our Penny return. Sometimes, you don't realize what you had until it's gone. Turns out she was a vital element to the show.
So what do you think? Has the show been living up to its potential of previous seasons? Are we expecting too much from a sitcom?
Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.
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Rank: Recurring Character
November 29th, 2010 8:21 PM
I didn't care for the plot of this episode at all, it was too typically sitcom for the show
November 9th, 2010 10:58 PM
WE'RE ALL HAPPY THAT KALEY CUOCO's LEG IS HEALING UP!!!!
Rank: Recurring Character
October 29th, 2010 11:45 PM
They are in danger of turning a brilliant repertory group show into a one trick pony show. That will kill it. Nothing against Parsons, but the rest of them need lines, too.
Rank: New User
October 29th, 2010 6:53 PM
I love Penny, but I still enjoyed the show without her. I think they all interact really well. Yes, they all should have a chance to shine and I really enjoy when other character are interjected into the story line.
October 29th, 2010 5:25 PM
I agree that this show should have focussed on Raj. Parsons became the Christine Baranski of this show, and now the creators feel he should carry every story. The other players are just as funny and inhabit their characters just as well. They should give them a chance to shine through. Otherwise this show becomes a one note story: Real Life Happens, Sheldon Makes It An Equation. That just gets old.
Rank: Extra
October 29th, 2010 3:10 PM
Penny needs to come back! She provides a balance to the guys, and she is such a cool character.
October 29th, 2010 1:20 PM
Hi
You are absolutely right, I was sure this episode was a Leonard/Raj showdown... but no.
And the Sheldon character began to be foreseeable now.
But still on of the funniest show on TV!