I avoided watching this show for a very long time. Why? I dunno know – it has the deliciously, blonde goodness in the form of Kaley Cuoco in it! Apart from her I didn’t know any of the other cast and wasn’t that interested in watching any more sitcoms as most have let me down plus I really get annoyed when the laughing track gets stuck for no apparent reason at times! After having watched and loved a couple of comedy shows with no laughing track to prompt me to laugh at their jokes, I wasn’t sure of following a show where the laughing track treats viewers like idiots! But finally I had to yield – I happened to catch 3 episodes on The Big Bang Theory on cable and it’s filled with Star Trek references, so how can I not embrace this show? Plus it’s really funny and they have a Barenaked Ladies song as their theme song!

So I started season 1 and completed the 17 episodes in just 2 days and loved every minute. How can you not love the awkward, gangly, nerdy, brilliant and totally & unabashedly arrogant genius that is Sheldon Cooper! And the awkward & geeky romantic at heart Leonard Hofstadter or the not at all a ladies man but thinks he is that it is so funny Howard Wolowitz? And ofcourse representing the Indian sub-continent Rajesh Koothrappali (is he supposed to be a Malayallee from Delhi?). They watch scifi series, discuss & argue scientific theories, are actual brainy scientists (all have their PHDs except for Howard), go to attend ComicCon, buy & read comic books, watch all Planet Of The Apes movies, have marathon Halo and other game sessions and yes, there’s lots of Star Trek, Star Wars and BSG references. And ofcourse that means that these are geeks & nerds and have very little luck with women and fail at social skills. But in the case of Sheldon, he doesn’t care, while the others try to excel.

And then there is Penny who moves to the apartment across the hall from Sheldon & Leonard. Leonard is smitten by her immediately and they do become friends even though she keeps dating other guys. One of the running gags is Raj’s inability to talk to Penny as he suffers from selective mutism in the presence of attractive women. Sheldon’s wanting to be babied when he catches the flu and wanting Penny to sing “Soft kitty, warm kitty, Little ball of fur, Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, Purr, purr, purr” – I almost died laughing! Penny becomes the 5th member of the group, often joining Sheldon, Leonard, Raj & Howard for lunch or dinner and in some of their activities. She invites them for her Halloween party where her ex confronts Leonard and Penny sides with Leonard. She also stays at their apartment when her promiscuous friend Christy hooked up with Howard and takes over her apartment. Raj is ordered by his parents to meet with Lalitha Gupta, a possible bride for him, but in the end she is more fascinated with Sheldon.

Sheldon goes his way and forms a new team consisting of the 3rd floor janitor, the lunch lady, and her son (or butcher) for the physics bowl contest and competes against his 3 friends and his arch-nemesis Leslie Winkle, who always belittles him and calls him ‘dumbass’. And how can you not love it when the four friends pool in money to buy a time machine from the 1960 film The Time Machine, and pretend to move fast in time when one of them uses the device. So funny! And Sheldon’s fraternal twin sister – zoinks what a hottie she is – also joins in for an episode as do their mother for another. The closeness of the friends are examined when they throw Leonard his first ever birthday party (he never had one in his life) which is a funny, funny episode. At the end of season 1, Leonard & Penny go out on their first date and kiss.

Looking forward to watching season 2.