TBBT Long Overstayed Its Welcome: Season 8 Is Where the Magic Died
The Big Bang Theory may have ended a little too late, as ratings show that viewers started to lose interest after the eighth season.
The beloved sitcom came to a close in 2019, twelve years after its pilot episode first aired. However, researchers at Broadband Choices, who analyzed IMDb ratings for the show, concluded that it could have (or maybe even should have) ended much earlier.
A significant portion of fans stopped watching the show as early as 2014, and there's a pretty clear explanation for that.
The love story between Penny and Leonard, which had been a central part of the show from the beginning, had its ups and downs. But in the eighth season, when the characters finally overcame all their differences and were preparing for their wedding, viewer interest in The Big Bang Theory took a noticeable dip. While Ross and Rachel from Friends dragged out their reunion until the series finale, Leonard and Penny seemed to have settled down a bit too early.
The Big Bang Theory always had a message about friendship and not judging a book by its cover, but apparently, the creators of the show didn't get the memo. They went ahead and made all the key characters couple up and have two of them be with each other. Instead of clever jokes about science, we got jokes about relationships and dating. Even Sheldon, who was supposed to be the epitome of an emotionless robot, was now in a relationship.
It's as if the writers thought that in order to make the characters more relatable, they had to completely change the core of the show and in the process, killed the golden goose.
By the eighth season, fans were probably ready for something new, and the constant focus on the central couple's relationship might have become a bit stale. While the show's comedic timing, geek culture references and cast chemistry kept audiences tuning in for many years, it seems that the "will-they-won't-they" dynamic between Penny and Leonard was no longer enough to keep fans invested.
To put it in simpler terms, The Big Bang Theory viewers fell out of love with the show's central couple, and it led to the downfall of the show. In general, it can be said, it's a love-hate relationship because the show did entertain a large number of audience for a long time and still hold a special place in many people's hearts. But at the same time, it's a prime example of how a show can overstay its welcome if it doesn't know when to call it quits.