It looks like producers of television's geekiest show (after 'Face the Nation,' I mean), 'The Big Bang Theory,' were happy with Wil Wheaton's guest appearance a while back because they have invited him to do the show once again. The show got a big ratings boost when our old friend played Sheldon's enemy on the show earlier this season, which was funny because he was playing himself.
He calls himself "evil Wil Wheaton." He got the official word this morning that the episode is a go and he'll tape it on March 2. If this turns into a semi-regular thing, where he returns to the show every once in a great while to torment Sheldon, they should have a surprise other cast member from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' to come on and challenge Wheaton or get in the middle of things. I can picture Jonathan Frakes or Brent Spiner doing that.
As his 'Star Trek' hero Mr. Spock might say, this is 'fascinating.' When Chuck Lorre was asked to define Sheldon Cooper's sexual orientation on 'The Big Bang Theory,' his answer wasn't gay. It wasn't straight. Not even asexual or nonsexual or unsexual. Lorre settled on the term 'other,' for Sheldon.
Lorre told Michael Ausiello in Entertainment Weekly that Sheldon's focus is not on the physical; it's on physics. And when Ausiello asked 'Big Bang Theory' star Jim Parsons what he thought, Parsons said that the object of Sheldon's affection would be the Nobel Prize, not another human being. Hearing the word that Dr. Sheldon Cooper has been awarded the Nobel Prize in theoretical physics would be Sheldon's turn on. "That's the warm embrace that he longs for," said Jim.
(S03E15) I'm pinch-hitting for Kona this week due to technical difficulties at the Gallagher homestead. Not sure if I can be the quote machine she is, but you can always add your favorite quotes from the episode into the comments.
You know, I've never been one to take Sheldon's side a lot of the time. As much as I love the character and how Jim Parsons plays him, the fact that a guy who's such a pill can have four people in his life who like him and tolerate his weird, Aspberger-like selfishness should be enough for me to connect to as a viewer. Most of the time, when Sheldon is wreaking havoc over his friends' lives, I'm usually feeling bad for whoever it is -- usually Leonard -- that's getting the brunt of Sheldon's utter Sheldonness.
But this week, I was on Team Sheldon. Why? Because Leonard knows Sheldon would appreciate a trip to the CERN super collider a whole lot more than Penny would, even if the lure of Penny in a snow bunny outfit is a strong one to resist.
As Dr. Sheldon Cooper on 'The Big Bang Theory,' Jim Parsons is a big bang of funny week in and week out. Oh, yes, he's not working alone. He has a wonderful group of actors around him and they're also very funny characters. But the breakout star on that show from the very start has been Jim.
I love seeing TV shows and movies with something taken away from them. Even comic strips, as 'Garfield Minus Garfield' shows, can become completely different when seen in a different context.
This video is a scene from 'The Big Bang Theory' with the laugh track taken out. It gives you a little hint as to what a show with a big laugh track is like with the laughs taken out. Without the laughs (and the build up to them), the lines suddenly seem more...intense and weighty (I guess it doesn't help that you don't know what came before this scene if you haven't seen it before).
[via Pop Candy]
(S03E14) Look, I'm just going to put this out there. It may be weird, but confused, bedraggled Sheldon is a little bit hot. I've been watching this show for three seasons, and this is the first episode where I was all, "well helloooo, Jim Parsons." It's amazing what a little stubble will do for a dude. Anyhoo, I love the fact that Sheldon got a job this episode. Putting Sheldon in any situation is fantastic, but finding a fairly legitimate reason to make Sheldon a busboy is absolutely golden.
Here's my main problem: Raj. I love Bernadette, and the fact that she and Wolowitz have had a multi-episode relationship, but it kind of leaves Raj out in the cold -- much as he was when his idea to go roller skating turned into a double-date that did not include him. He doesn't necessarily need a girlfriend (although I would like to see that), but they really need to find something to do with him, so he can do more than just show up at the beginning and the end of any given episode.
More of our best of the decade coverage, which started on Tuesday. You can read the other posts at the link above. Here, we talk about the best comedy shows of the decade.
Life is depressing. Wake up. Maybe eat some breakfast. Take a shower. Go to work. Eat dinner. Go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Fortunately for us slobs, the glory of television has afforded us numerous opportunities over the years to break up the monotony, kick back, relax, and most importantly, laugh.
Clichéd as it sounds, it really is the best medicine, because even though you overslept your alarm, your boss was a jerk, and you stepped in gum while waiting for the subway, going home and seeing Peter Griffin fart, Michael Scott talk like a fool, and Barney Stinson hit on some broad always makes it all better.
So take a load off, kick off your shoes, and undo your belt to allow for maximum belly jiggling while chortling -- here are TV Squad's picks for the best comedies of the past decade.
On the eighth day of Festivus, TV gave to me ... eight stars a shinin'!
There are a lot more than eight wonderful stars shining in the TV pantheon for 2009, but these eight are a remarkable bunch who have been exemplary this past year. They've left us with memories that'll last long after this Festivus has ended. So, in no special order, here are the eight stars a shining from the year gone by. 1. Jane Lynch. If the Emmy doesn't already have Jane Lynch's name engraved in a statuette for Glee, it will by the time the awards are handed out. Lynch has been the perfect villain, the villain you love to hate. But if she were just a one-note nasty, it wouldn't work. Lynch has shown the other side of Sue Sylvester. Her "swing" date showed Sue in love, and her visit to her sister Jean was a soft earthquake emotion. Jane delivers week in and week out. Her star is glowing.
(S03E06) So Sheldon knows football. That is amazing. I have no idea if the character of Sheldon was originally conceived as being from Texas, or they just wrote him that way because Jim Parsons was raised in Houston, but I absolutely love when his Texas comes out. The entire sequence of Sheldon teaching Leonard about football and recounting the time he spent with his father watching games was absolutely the highlight of the episode for me.
As much as I adore the cast, sometimes you just have episodes that are about Sheldon and Jim Parson's performance. If you take that out of this one, nothing really stands out to me too much. I wasn't particularly fond of the Wolowitz/Raj storyline, and Leonard meeting Penny's friends was just bizarre.
In a recent interview, Jim was asked about his favorite current show -- other than his own -- and he said it was Friday Night Lights. That's right, the NBC drama series about high school football deep in the heart of Texas! Somehow it's hard to imagine Sheldon in pads and a helmet. Maybe he could be the water boy? Or the genius offensive coordinator.
I know what many of you are thinking. Alec Baldwin is probably gonna win for 30 Rock again so what does it even matter? Hollywood is in love with that show. Which is true, but not entirely undeserved. Baldwin still commands a scene like almost no one on television. But I don't think he was as dominating a comedic force as last year, and he was part of a 30 Rock sweep, so I don't think Emmy intends to repeat that.
Pushing Daisies was still sweet in its last year, but I'm going to have to snub Lee Pace and replace him with Chuck's Zachary Levi on the ballot. He balances comedy and drama so convincingly you can't help but root for him.
But there was a looming shadow in comedy this year that no one could escape. I don't see how Emmy could ignore the work of Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. He's so convincing in the role that when you see him in interviews you fully expect him to demand his spot on the couch and condescend the host at every turn.
CBS has given renewals to both The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. Anybody tracking the ratings of either show shouldn't be surprised at this news. In fact, Two and a Half Men was picked up for three more years and The Big Bang Theory for two. I guess CBS' Monday nights are taken care of for the next couple of years.
While I haven't been following Two and a Half Men (I don't think I'm the target demographic), I do catch an episode of The Big Bang Theory time to time and get a good chuckle out of it. A recent favorite of the show involved the guest appearance of the delicious and shiny Summer Glau as herself (video follows after the jump).
So what's a second banana? Well they're certainly not second best. No, in fact they're often the main reason to tune into a particular show. Not because the show's major plotlines revolve around them, in fact they generally don't, but because they liven up every scene they're in. Virtual show-stealers, a good second banana can turn a generic sitcom or drama into television gold. The ultimate wingman on television, there was no greater second banana than my man Barney Fife, brilliantly played by Don Knotts on The Andy Griffith Show, and later Mayberry R.F.D.
When it came time to put together this list, I wondered if I'd be able to find ten viable and qualified bananas on the airwaves today. But I guess I needn't have worried. It looks like Barney was an inspiration (in more ways than one) to the current crop of second bananas. They litter their peels all over the television landscape, leaving us to trip over in laughter time and time again at their antics. But how do they stack up? Who's the biggest fruit in the tree? There's only one way to find out!
One of last week's most entertaining web reads was an article in Slate about The Big Bang Theory. In it, writer Paul Collins expends about 1500 words wondering if Sheldon, the genius / social misfit played so ably by Jim Parsons, has Asperger's syndrome.
I can just sense thousands of readers right now smacking their heads with their palms and going, "I knew it!" right now. And I bet right now you're also scrambling to Google the condition and see what the characteristics are. No need; they're right here. Just in that website's brief description, you can see a lot that goes into the character of Sheldon: affected speech patterns, a small and unexpandable circle of interest, and -- most of all -- difficult two-way social interaction. Seems like Sheldon to a T.
Yes, I am the odd duck. Well, wait. Perhaps it's not all just me. I mean, I'm talking some really odd duck television crushes I have. Some are odd because other folks might not understand such a crush. Others are odd when considered in correlation with me, in particular. And some are odd just because I'm odd and so are they.
Of course, the duck in the image isn't so odd. I looked for an odd duck and kept thinking I didn't want my own image plastered here on the main page. So, we'll suffice with your basic common duck from New Jersey. He could be mob-related, so he could be a tad odd. Read on!
As his 
(S03E15) I'm pinch-hitting for Kona this week due to technical difficulties at the Gallagher homestead. Not sure if I can be the quote machine she is, but you can always add your favorite quotes from the episode into the comments.
As Dr. Sheldon Cooper on 
More of our 
On the eighth day of Festivus, TV gave to me ... eight stars a shinin'!
If 
I know what many of you are thinking. Alec Baldwin is probably gonna win for 
CBS 
So what's a second banana? Well they're certainly not second best. No, in fact they're often the main reason to tune into a particular show. Not because the show's major plotlines revolve around them, in fact they generally don't, but because they liven up every scene they're in. Virtual show-stealers, a good second banana can turn a generic sitcom or drama into television gold. The ultimate wingman on television, there was no greater second banana than my man Barney Fife, brilliantly played by Don Knotts on The Andy Griffith Show, and later Mayberry R.F.D.
One of last week's most entertaining web reads was an article in Slate about The Big Bang Theory. In it, writer Paul Collins expends about 1500 words wondering if Sheldon, the genius / social misfit played so ably by Jim Parsons, 
Yes, I am the odd duck. Well, wait. Perhaps it's not all just me. I mean, I'm talking some really odd duck television crushes I have. Some are odd because other folks might not understand such a crush. Others are odd when considered in correlation with me, in particular. And some are odd just because I'm odd and so are they.
Andy Cohen on Jersey Housewives, 'Top Chef,' and Being the Face of Bravo
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TV 101: Goofus And Gallant, TV-Style
