The Best Director

At the moment, nearly 60 million viewers across America were tuned into six major broadcast television networks: ABC’s reality show “Extreme Makeover,” CBS’s “Survivor: Vanuatu,” FOX’s “The Orange County Boys,” UPN’s “WWE-SmackDown!,” WB’s “Blue-Collar-TV,” and NBC’s “The Big Bang Theory.” On the screen of the colorful NBC peacock logo, Leonard stared blankly at Penny across the apartment and asked dumbly.

The meeting of the male and female leads is always an exciting moment. The combination of a geeky dork and a blonde bombshell can stimulate this atmosphere even more. Graham Linehan and Bill Prady know this very well, just as Best Director once said. They pay tribute to the famous actor and producer “Sheldon Leonard,” as well as two Nobel Prize-winning physicists, “Leon Cooper (a co-founder of the BCS theory, 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics)” and “Robert Hofstadter (1961 Nobel Prize in Physics).” The two main characters, Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter, are not losers, or at least they’re only losers in social situations.

Still, they are geniuses, CIT professors, respected scientists in traditional views. Who would normally hate Einstein, Newton, or Stephen Hawking, even if they are unkempt, eccentric, and rely on computers to communicate? This is the biggest difference between “The Big Bang Theory” and “Freaks and Geeks.” Sheldon and the others, with their high IQs and prestigious status, are not detested or looked down upon by the audience, thus making them likable.

What we feel now is just amusement. The psychologist Patricia Keith-Spiegel (Patricia-Keith-Spiegel) has pointed out the importance of surprise and a sense of superiority in making humans laugh. This also explains why profoundly funny punchlines always come with an element of unexpectedness; and why the foolishness and misfortunes of others are amusing. Now, “The Big Bang Theory” thoroughly applies these two elements. “Scientific” humor brings a sense of novelty and unexpectedness, making even climbing the stairs seem interesting. There’s nothing remarkable or amusing about feeling superior to the typically forgotten weirdos and geeks in school, but feeling superior to genius scientists, a sense of closeness? That’s really interesting…

Therefore, Graham Linehan, Bill Prady, and others strongly agree with Wang Yang’s words. The distance between the characters and the audience is just right, wonderful, mysterious, cool. They know how funny “The Big Bang Theory” is!

“Or maybe a thief, we should be careful,” Sheldon’s mood-killing comment once again prompted a burst of light laughter from the audience. He leaned his head slightly down and stared at Penny across, like a bull ready to charge. Leonard ignored him and continued to daydream, “A significant improvement over the last one, that’s for sure.” Sheldon, puzzled, asked, “That 200-pound cross-dresser with skin problems?” He twisted his mouth disdainfully, “I don’t think so. He looks like he has a higher IQ than her, at least his T-shirt had some stars on it, not these flowers.”

“Hahaha!” Big laughs erupted both inside and outside the screen. In just a few minutes, the tall Sheldon made a lasting impression—his germophobia, rational arrogance, sharp-tongued but seemingly unable to grasp the simplest humor and sarcasm Leonard mentioned. Now there’s something else—he’s unaffected by women! Even has a traditional contempt for blondes as “dumb blondes.” On the other side of the screen, Penny just noticed them and turned her head to look over. Leonard continued with his mouth slightly open in a dumbfounded expression, while Sheldon was full of suspicion.

Looking at Sheldon’s comically endearing behavior, Wang Yang couldn’t help but chuckle. He was drawn into Sheldon’s world, where Jim Parsons’ acting talent was displayed to the fullest! The first four episodes of the 2007 version of “The Big Bang Theory,” especially the first episode, showcased some inconsistent traits of Sheldon’s character for the later series, including knocking on doors “normally,” being shy around Penny, and donating sperm; of course, not anymore. Sheldon has become a peak weirdo, the kind that wins awards.

“Hi, I’m Penny! Nice to meet you.” A close-up shot captures the youthful and unbeatable Kaley Cuoco flashing a radiant, sunlit smile, her enthusiastic, sweet voice, golden, silky hair, kind, pure gaze, delicate, pretty apple cheeks and a fine figure all instantly endearing her to the audience. If first impressions count for anything, her score just skyrocketed to an incredibly high mark.

“This girl is so cute!” Countless male viewers’ eyes lit up, geeky students from MIT, UCLA, and the like grew interested. Every woman has a Cinderella complex, and every man a Notting Hill complex, plus maybe a deep-seated Brokeback Mountain complex too. Regardless, Penny was like a ray of sunshine clearing the gloom, bringing color to life, and giving viewers a “Magical Yang style” of amazement. Evelyn exclaimed with a “wow,” and as one of the few fans of ‘The Eight Simple Rules,’ she knew all about “Bridget’s” transformation, laughing and praising effusively, “Wow! Magical Yang really stands out!”

Seeing herself on the screen, Kaley Cuoco, watching the premiere with her family, suddenly felt her heart racing. After ‘The Eight Simple Rules,’ this was another series! Although the scene had passed in one take during the live recording, she actually had to reshoot it many times after the audience had left. Magical Yang had been as meticulous as using a ruler to measure the angle of her smile and the height of her eyebrows… Now she suddenly didn’t envy Megan Fox’s potential rise to movie stardom any longer; she was tired of the pressure of unlimited prospects. She just hoped this series wouldn’t flop!

“Hahaha!” A burst of laughter exploded from the audience as Penny enthusiastically greeted them, but the two geeks showed no response whatsoever, continuing as they were, like two wax figures. Penny’s smile turned quizzical, “Hi?” Leonard, coming back to reality, hurriedly said, “Leonard, Leonard! I’m Leonard Hofstadter.” Sheldon reluctantly and rather haughtily added, “I’m Dr. Sheldon Cooper.” Leonard gave him a glance and then stupidly chuckled, “I’m also a doctor.”

“Oh!” Penny seemed to catch on as they approached the apartment door. Leonard explained, “We didn’t mean to intrude, we live right across from you.” The camera cut to Penny, who blinked and after a brief moment of surprise, couldn’t help but remark wistfully, “Oh, that’s nice!” Amid the audience’s laughter, Sheldon didn’t react, but Leonard knew she’d misunderstood and quickly clarified, “We’re not living together, I mean…” His words came out garbled as he gestured with his hands, “We do live together, but separately, in heterosexual bedrooms.” Sheldon looked puzzled, wondering why that needed to be said.

Unsurprisingly, this joke elicited more laughter, and even the homosexual viewers didn’t mind a bit, laughing heartily. Without mentioning that this was a sitcom, just considering Magical Yang’s attitude towards homosexuality and his investment in ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ he was “one of their own.” Jim Parsons was also beside himself with joy, as a gay man playing a heterosexual who is indifferent to women wasn’t hard for him at all. Watching his own performance on TV from the comfort of his home, and it being such a terrific role, was truly wonderful.

“Oh… okay.” Penny smiled, a bit dopily, unaffected by any awkwardness, she headed toward the door, “Then you guys are my new neighbors.” Leonard and Sheldon were stilled once more, uh, what to say? Leonard, as if struck by inspiration, smiled, “Welcome to being our neighbor!” Penny’s smile was amicable, “Oh, thank you, maybe we could have coffee sometime and get to know each other.” Leonard exclaimed with delight, “Great!” Penny laughed, “Great!” Leonard repeated, “Great!” Penny confused, “Great.” Sheldon gave his companion a strange look, “Leonard, you’ve never liked coffee.” Leonard, touching the strap of his messenger bag, looked down, “Great.” …

“Or maybe tea.” Penny laughed nonchalantly, and Leonard got excited, “Okay, then… goodbye.” Penny nodded and closed the door, “BYE!” Leonard echoed again, “BYE!” Walking towards their own apartment, Leonard asked in a daze, “Should we invite her to lunch?” Sheldon, without hesitation, “No! Once off the elevator, don’t engage with strangers, plus we’re about to start watching ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ Season 3.” Leonard puzzled, “We’ve already seen the DVD.” Sheldon, bursting with excitement, and turning back at the door, “But we haven’t seen the commentary track.”

“Hahaha!” The audience’s laughter continued in waves. Nancy Tellem’s face grew tenser and tenser, each line was filled with new ideas and humor! The character setup, the actors’ perfect body language, and the camera editing controlled by Wang Yang, everything seemed so perfect, giving the impression of a very mature series. Having created ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,’ Nancy Tellem certainly knows a gem when she sees one. She realized how terrifying it was, who knows what kind of energy that 24-year-old had!

Perhaps ‘TBBT’ was not as family-oriented as ‘Raymond’ or ‘Friends,’ but it was absolutely a “Cult show,” able to attract a lot of young viewers, with definitely significant 18-49 audience ratings; it was going to have a die-hard fanbase. It’s just that it was a series from their arch-rival NBC.

“But now, countless families sitting on the couch watching NBC were also laughing nonstop, not to mention the geeky bookworms who had watched with commentary tracks for series like ‘SW,’ ‘ST,’ ‘SG,’ etc. Amidst the laughter, they finally saw the living room of the genius scientist’s apartment and were immediately captivated by the dazzling array of props scattered around! There was a laptop, a desk lamp, miscellaneous items on the table, a television set beside it, a dark brown sofa behind, rows of bookshelves against the wall, and a whiteboard covered in cool-looking scientific formulas…

“”I think we should be good neighbors and invite her over to make her feel welcome,”” Leonard said as he walked into the apartment. Sheldon, who had just put down his backpack, hurried off to the kitchen to wash his hands, casually replying, “”We never had that guy named Louis or Louise over.”” Amidst the audience’s soft laughter, Leonard defended himself, “”That’s our bad, we need to expand our social circle…”” Sheldon, both surprised and spirited, retorted, “”My social circle is already quite large, I have 212 friends on my blog.”” Leonard was speechless, “”Great, but you haven’t met a single one of them.”” Sheldon as a matter of fact, “”That’s the beauty of it.”” Leonard, ignoring him, decided to go ahead and do the inviting, encouraging himself as he walked back, “”I’ll invite her over. We’ll have a nice meal and then chat…””

In the audience’s bursts of laughter, Leonard knocked on Penny’s apartment door and successfully made the invitation. Six minutes into the first episode, the incomplete 20-second theme song started somewhat belatedly, sung by Barenaked-Ladies, ‘The-history-of-everything’: “”Our-whole-universe-was-in-a-hot-dense-state, Then-nearly-fourteen-billion-years-ago-expansion-started.Wait…””

The lyrics, laden with scientific terms like the Great Wall, the Pyramids, and other wonders of the world, prehistoric creatures, cavemen, and more, were sung to a lively tune and at a super-fast pace. The screen’s frames flashed from slow to fast, covering everything from the cosmic big bang to significant milestones like the evolution of humans and national symbols, all the way to modern smartphones and computers, with a playful style that was refreshing and as novel as the characters and dialogue in the first 6 minutes: “”It all started with the big BANG!””

“”It’s so good!”” Evelyn shrieked from in front of the TV during her break, not in vain for a year’s expectation! ‘The Big Bang Theory’ naturally isn’t as tense and suspenseful as ‘Prison Break,’ but it is full of fun and even more enjoyable than a comedy show! Keep going like this! Taking over from ‘Friends’ shouldn’t be a problem! Rachel was still laughing nonstop from the previous joke. ‘Friends” Rachel, Jennifer Aniston, was also paying special attention to this series that evening; after all, she’d been on TV at this time for ten years, with ten seasons and 236 episodes of ‘Friends.’ She couldn’t remember how many comedic moments she’d seen or acted in, so much so that occasionally watching sitcoms didn’t do much for her, but to her surprise, she found herself able to laugh out loud today, no matter if Brad Pitt was home or not. She exclaimed, “”That young man is really impressive.””

“”I just need 18 million people, a 9 point rating within the 18-49 demographic, that’s all! I’m not greedy…”” Six minutes in! It was also time for the program department, filled with laughter, and Kevin Reilly took a deep breath and continued to silently pray.

“”If NBC cancels ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ I’m going to fight them!”” “”If anyone says ‘The Big Bang Theory’ isn’t funny or good, they’re either a stick-in-the-mud or a stubborn old mule!”” “”This show is incredible! Unbelievably good!”” “”I love the marvelous Wang Yang! Only he truly knows what we need!””… Like children expecting tons of candy on Halloween, geeks all over America were excitedly shouting their heads off, almost everyone sharing the same thought that nearly a year’s anticipation was not wasted!

“”SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!”” Lambert couldn’t help but curse, not because he hated the show, but as a self-proclaimed “”geek”” and a UCLA student, he had been eagerly awaiting when the screen would no longer be dominated by nonsense like ‘One Tree Hill,’ ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ‘Beverly Hills 90210,’ ‘The Orange County Boys,’ and instead feature geeky protagonists who loved ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Star Trek,’ and who were a bit scientific, a bit surprising, and inept with girls… and the wait was finally over!!!

“”Wang Yang’s new series ‘The Big Bang Theory’ will air two episodes on NBC today. Be ready to compete for resources and subtitles!”” The Chinese online community, having followed this show closely, was in a frenzy. Since ‘Prison Break’ ignited netizens’ passion for American TV series, the competition has become fiercer! Whether they could release the first episode ahead of others and create good subtitles would directly affect which version netizens followed for the rest of the season, and it could even affect other series. No one wanted to lose!

On NBC, Penny, who had walked into the men’s apartment, was surprised to discover the whiteboards filled with formulas everywhere. She exclaimed with an “”Oh!”” “”You guys are doctors (Doctor)? I thought you were like dentists (Dentist) or something…”” Laughter from the audience rose, obviously misunderstanding earlier when the two men said they were Doctors, assuming they meant medical doctors. Sheldon laughed out loud, “”Dentist, don’t joke, have you ever seen a dentist with an IQ of 187? And there’s 173.”” He looked proudly at Leonard, and laughter filled the air again.”

“”

“Wow! You guys are so young.” Penny walked over to the whiteboard in astonishment, while Sheldon, basking in the praise, was all excited, “It’s nothing, just became the youngest recipient of the Stevenson Award at ‘fourteen and a half,’ got my first PhD at 15, and am working on my second one. Besides, the average age for dental graduates in America is 28; and from 1901 to 2003, the 151 PhD Nobel laureates received their PhD at an average age of 25.9 years.” Sheldon hadn’t finished speaking when the camera cut to a daydreaming Leonard, who still added, “I got mine at 24.” Sheldon then said, “A PhD in Philosophy.”

“Oh… the Stevenson Award, COOL…” Penny had already been stunned with her mouth agape and suddenly blurted out, “Who is Stevenson?” She sounded as if she was saying, “I only know Wang Yang became the youngest Best Director at 23 at the Oscars.” It also meant she hadn’t listened to anything after the first sentence. She then pointed at the whiteboard with interest and laughed, “All this stuff looks really profound! Did you guys write this?”

Sheldon immediately forgot to explain the Stevenson Award and proudly walked up, “No, this is mine.” He gloated as he introduced, “Just some quantum mechanics, and scribbled a bit of string theory on the side.”

It wasn’t the kind of showing off to a pretty girl to please her, it was pure “look how smart and impressive I am”! Engineering and science students felt a familiar affection seeing this familiar thing; Physics students from MIT, CIT, and others widened their eyes to briefly scan the highly technical formulas, not looking like something written off the cuff; many UCLA students knew, of course, these were the handiwork of their very own Professor David Saltzberg, including content about science. At that moment, at home, David Saltzberg saw the whiteboard and couldn’t help but chuckle happily, feeling even more fond of his part-time job, and hoping for a second season, right?

“Wow! So, you’re like the genius in ‘A Beautiful Mind’.” Penny asked seriously. The audience, like her, were filled with novelty; scientists always seemed so cool. Sheldon cocked his head and raised his chin disdainfully, “That’s trivial.” Penny exclaimed with a laugh, “That’s truly amazing.”

“I have a board too, if you like boards, this one’s mine.” With a switch of the camera, amidst the audience’s laughter, Leonard tapped on his own equation-filled whiteboard, of course showing off to the pretty girl. Penny again exclaimed, “Oh my God!” Sheldon quickly burst her bubble again, “If you’re saying ‘Oh my God’ because you can find those doodles on any MIT guy’s dorm room wall, you are absolutely right.” Laughter filled both the show and the audience, especially the MIT guys, who enjoyed the mention although they didn’t have such exaggerated abilities, but it seemed that Wang Yang liked to advertise for MIT.

Leonard, looking flabbergasted on the TV screen, “What!” Sheldon pointed at the whiteboard irritably, “Come on! Who didn’t see the differential written with ‘I stopped here, heartbroken’?” Leonard immediately struck back with the line translated by David Saltzberg, “At least I wouldn’t invent a 26-dimensional space to solve a math problem.” Sheldon retorted, “I didn’t create or invent them, they already existed.” Leonard asked helplessly, “Which universe has them?” Sheldon asserted, “All of them! That’s the key point I’m making.”

In contemporary physics, string theory posits that space is either 10 or 26 dimensions, with the dimensions beyond the known three being curled up at quantum scales (10 to the negative teen power). However, this theory is still hypothetical, with solid theoretical backing but no experimental proof yet. Sheldon is a theoretical physicist researching string theory, while Leonard is an experimental physicist researching subjects including Bose-Einstein condensates, the foundations of quantum mechanics, high-energy cosmic rays from sea level, and new rocket fuels. This segment highlighted the mutual mockery between theoretical and experimental physics.

“Hahaha!” The audience who studied or worked in physics couldn’t help but laugh out loud; those who didn’t understand physics laughed just as hard, too. Two nerds! Who knew that bookworms could be this adorable and interesting! (