@Knixon said:

All that other stuff and...
Yes, for the way they went with the show, Parsons is a great fit. But that's because they've been writing it around how he is. If they had someone else instead, it would have been written differently all along. And we can't really know if that would have been so much worse, or so much better.

I ain't talkin' about had they hired a different actor. I'm talkin' about the show as it is, and you know that good and well. On this show as it is, the show we're talkin' about in this thread, Sheldon is the stand out character without whom the show cannot survive for long.

@Lemons said:

@Knixon said:

All that other stuff and...
Yes, for the way they went with the show, Parsons is a great fit. But that's because they've been writing it around how he is. If they had someone else instead, it would have been written differently all along. And we can't really know if that would have been so much worse, or so much better.

I ain't talkin' about had they hired a different actor. I'm talkin' about the show as it is, and you know that good and well. On this show as it is, the show we're talkin' about in this thread, Sheldon is the stand out character without whom the show cannot survive for long.

I understood what you meant, although I gave other reasons too, and I still disagree. It's not like they would pull a "Poochie" from The Simpsons, and once Sheldon left everyone just stands around asking "Where's Sheldon?" Maybe it would take the writers some time to figure out how to use Bert or Kripke or others instead, but unless they have some kind of blinders so that they can only write for a Sheldon, I expect they'd figure something out. Remember, Sheldon wasn't exactly Sheldon right from the start, either.

@Knixon said:

I understood what you meant, although I gave other reasons too, and I still disagree. It's not like they would pull a "Poochie" from The Simpsons, and once Sheldon left everyone just stands around asking "Where's Sheldon?" Maybe it would take the writers some time to figure out how to use Bert or Kripke or others instead, but unless they have some kind of blinders so that they can only write for a Sheldon, I expect they'd figure something out. Remember, Sheldon wasn't exactly Sheldon right from the start, either.

Kerknixon, you know Kripke and Bert could not fill Sheldon's shoes. That's just silly.

They haven't had nearly as much screen time to prove much, so who really knows? If the show had started out with Kripke in the main cast and Sheldon just popped up occasionally, you might very well be saying the exact opposite now.

@Knixon said:

They haven't had nearly as much screen time to prove much, so who really knows? If the show had started out with Kripke in the main cast and Sheldon just popped up occasionally, you might very well be saying the exact opposite now.

No, people would be saying, "Who's that Sheldon guy? Give him more screen time!"

Possible, but I doubt it. There's again really no way to know for sure. But I suspect that if they had Sheldon just pop up occasionally being as annoying as he can be, but without extended time showing the other people putting up with him anyway, he would just come across as an annoying distraction. The amounts of screen time the characters get, counts for so much. That's why we can say that Kripke doesn't have any endearing qualities: they just haven't taken enough time or given him enough time to SHOW any. But if their roles were reversed it would be just as easy - or even easier, I might think - to say the same thing about Sheldon.

@Knixon said:

Possible, but I doubt it. There's again really no way to know for sure. But I suspect that if they had Sheldon just pop up occasionally being as annoying as he can be, but without extended time showing the other people putting up with him anyway, he would just come across as an annoying distraction. The amounts of screen time the characters get, counts for so much. That's why we can say that Kripke doesn't have any endearing qualities: they just haven't taken enough time or given him enough time to SHOW any. But if their roles were reversed it would be just as easy - or even easier, I might think - to say the same thing about Sheldon.

I suspect if we saw even more of Kripke than we do now, we'd think he's an even bigger jerk than we already do. And if Sheldon was a character who only popped up occasionally, we'd think to ourselves that he is a very unique and quirky character and we'd like to see more of him.

Imagine it in terms of a filet mignon served with peas and rolled potatoes. The filet mignon is the best thing on the plate regardless of the amount of each item on the plate.

Well, if they had Kripke being on more, once again, he'd be written at least somewhat differently. And the other characters would likely interact differently with him too.

And if you're a vegetarian, for example, filet mignon is not the star of anything. Or if you're an athlete who needs to carb-load.

@Knixon said:

Well, if they had Kripke being on more, once again, he'd be written at least somewhat differently. And the other characters would likely interact differently with him too.

And if you're a vegetarian, for example, filet mignon is not the star of anything. Or if you're an athlete who needs to carb-load.

You don't know that he'd be written differently. And I knew you'd say something about vegetarians, but that's just a small sub-set of a much larger group.

Gracious this is exhausting. Can't you just agree that I'm right? I'll mail you a filet mignon.

What reason is there to believe he'd be written the same, if he was getting the Sheldon amount of screen time or anywhere close to it? Characters with a lot of screen time and more interaction with other characters, are naturally going to be developed more by the writers. Seems pretty unavoidable, really.

And for myself, I love a good burger, but for some reason just slabs of beef hold very little appeal. They never seem to have much flavor, for some reason. My oldest brother always talks about how much he loves prime rib, but I tried it when we went to a fancy restaurant on his most recent visit, and I was totally unimpressed. But I do love a good baked or mashed potato with butter or certain types of gravy. Or a pork chop, or most forms of chicken... On the other hand, I absolutely detest any kind of seafood. Or river-food, or lake-food, or you name it.

@Knixon said:

What reason is there to believe he'd be written the same, if he was getting the Sheldon amount of screen time or anywhere close to it? Characters with a lot of screen time and more interaction with other characters, are naturally going to be developed more by the writers. Seems pretty unavoidable, really.

And for myself, I love a good burger, but for some reason just slabs of beef hold very little appeal. They never seem to have much flavor, for some reason. My oldest brother always talks about how much he loves prime rib, but I tried it when we went to a fancy restaurant on his most recent visit, and I was totally unimpressed. But I do love a good baked or mashed potato with butter or certain types of gravy. Or a pork chop, or most forms of chicken... On the other hand, I absolutely detest any kind of seafood. Or river-food, or lake-food, or you name it.

I bet if I had told you I was going to mail you a pork chop you would have said you loved filet mignon.

It's a good thing you didn't bet, cuz you would have lost.

@Knixon said:

It's a good thing you didn't bet, cuz you would have lost.

Well, you can't blame me for assuming you'd prefer bull.

Now enough. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

@Knixon said:

Maybe. But that seems like something of an assumption that Jim was a star before TBBT, and it was his "star power" that made TBBT popular to start with.

To me what made the show and what kept me interested in the show was the whole cast. That it was an ensemble show and each character contributed something. Now what if Mayim left ? That might be more problematic than losing Jim. No Shamy ?! Of course it can go on and on. look at The Simpsons and yes I know it is animated but still.

Oh Kernixon don't let the haters get you down, not that you are. I feel you are a reincarnated BLT, causing kerfluction no matter what you say. The krypton of the board. I will always be here to kerchhuckle at the kerchaos you kercause.

Oh I'm used to it, and it doesn't bother me. Many times it ends up being like how I was 'wrong' about Sheldon discovering the new element, and lots of people told me so. People who, it turned out, HAVEN'T watched every episode since the start, like I have. They didn't see the episode where they explain how Sheldon DIDN'T really discover a new element. But up until then, boy, I WAS SOOOOO WRONG!!! Just ask them. And not just Wrong, but Wrong AGAIN. As if they hadn't been disproven the previous times too.