Reddit's Unpopular Opinion on Sheldon Will Make You Miss TBBT's First Season
After twelve years of the nerd-centric comedy The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper has become a household name among sitcom fans. Actor Jim Parsons even won four Emmys for the role.
But on an unpopular opinions Reddit thread, some users suggested that the earliest version of the character was actually the best.
The first season of the now-famous show started slowly in the U.S. television ratings, not even reaching the top 50. By the fourth season in 2010, it became the most popular comedy on television. Despite the lower ratings, some fans still feel nostalgic for those early seasons.
Fans on the thread said that they liked the way Sheldon merged his jokes with science in the earlier seasons. He was able to mock people in a subtle way that only his three scientist buddies would understand. Redditors said they liked that concept, as it was something they hadn't before seen.
More importantly, Sheldon truly seemed friendly toward his roommate and best friend, Leonard. In one of the earliest episodes, Sheldon casually mentioned that Leonard had made several important contributions to the field of physics. This unprompted compliment would never happen in the later seasons.
The chemistry between the two felt more genuine to fans in the early seasons compared to when Sheldon was outright mean and cruel to his friend group, which became the norm as the show went on.
Redditors cited his meanness in one later-season scene in particular. Stewart mentions that Sheldon doesn't curse, to which Sheldon retorts, It turns out you can hurt someone's feelings without them. Fans wondered when Sheldon became so prone to intentionally hurting people's feelings; in the early seasons, all he cared about was the science.
From the start, the character showed signs of Asperger's syndrome, something that was never outright confirmed in the series. However, users felt that the way his autism manifested changed for the worse. He devolved from an eccentric genius who struggled with social etiquette to a bully who mocked those he deemed dumber than himself.
To be fair, this is not a new concept in sitcoms. One user pointed out that it's common for showrunners to hone in on one or two character traits that the audience finds funny and play it out further. They took the sarcastic burns Sheldon had on rare occasions in the first few seasons and simply made it part of his makeup.
Despite the characterization shift in the later seasons, Sheldon has been one of the most bankable characters on one of the most profitable shows in history. Parsons, along with the other five members of the main cast, had a healthy $1 million per episode salary in the final season. Sheldon Cooper continues to live on with Young Sheldon, in which Parsons narrates Sheldon's childhood.
Few fans argued against the so-called unpopular opinion. But despite Redditors almost unanimously thinking Sheldon devolved as a character, The Big Bang Theory has continued to be one of the most important and beloved sitcoms years after its finale.