TMC
10-07-2025, 02:51 AM
https://jacksonupperco.com/2025/10/07/the-seven-best-the-big-bang-theory-episodes-of-season-one/
The Big Bang Theory is the most-popular sitcom of the 2010s based on regular viewership on average. It’s a vital artifact from that decade. However, its role in the story of the sitcom in the 2010s is not as dominating, for during its twelve-season run, the entire media landscape was changing. TV was expanding out beyond the broadcast networks and even cable, with streaming platforms dramatically increasing the amount of content and thus fragmenting the marketplace in the process. This ensured that, while a show like Big Bang might be able to claim “most popular” due to its sheer accessibility, it would never be as much of a consensus hit as the top sitcoms of yore. Also, as a multi-camera show at a time when the best comedies were now single-cams, it certainly was not setting itself up to look like the freshest, most inspired, most exciting prospect either, or, frankly, an entity that could represent the state of the genre holistically. You know, the way most #1 sitcoms from previous eras could. Yes, Big Bang’s success naturally encouraged networks to keep up multi-cam production, particularly amidst the nostalgia-driven “reboot” craze of the late 2010s, but the great irony of this decade is that, despite having a multi-cam as its most-viewed sitcom, the single-cam was king now. This genre, like the television industry in its entirety, was embracing a more cinematic sensibility — deliberately rejecting the “old-fashioned” theatricality of Big Bang and the lineage from which it came. And as the leading ambassador of the multi-cam in the 2010s — not always showcasing the format at its best — Big Bang egged on this discrepancy.
The Big Bang Theory is the most-popular sitcom of the 2010s based on regular viewership on average. It’s a vital artifact from that decade. However, its role in the story of the sitcom in the 2010s is not as dominating, for during its twelve-season run, the entire media landscape was changing. TV was expanding out beyond the broadcast networks and even cable, with streaming platforms dramatically increasing the amount of content and thus fragmenting the marketplace in the process. This ensured that, while a show like Big Bang might be able to claim “most popular” due to its sheer accessibility, it would never be as much of a consensus hit as the top sitcoms of yore. Also, as a multi-camera show at a time when the best comedies were now single-cams, it certainly was not setting itself up to look like the freshest, most inspired, most exciting prospect either, or, frankly, an entity that could represent the state of the genre holistically. You know, the way most #1 sitcoms from previous eras could. Yes, Big Bang’s success naturally encouraged networks to keep up multi-cam production, particularly amidst the nostalgia-driven “reboot” craze of the late 2010s, but the great irony of this decade is that, despite having a multi-cam as its most-viewed sitcom, the single-cam was king now. This genre, like the television industry in its entirety, was embracing a more cinematic sensibility — deliberately rejecting the “old-fashioned” theatricality of Big Bang and the lineage from which it came. And as the leading ambassador of the multi-cam in the 2010s — not always showcasing the format at its best — Big Bang egged on this discrepancy.