The Big Bang Theory

I'm thinking of the TV show now, not the actual theory.

One snippet of dialogue from an early episode sticks in my mind as a fine example of concise writing and character development.

In the character's world, they are fans of a reality teevee show about aspiring supermodels, and the various beautiful young women aspiring to that status all live together, "Big Brother" style, in a house in southern California.

One character, Howard, is determined that he will find the location of that house and visit the supermodels within the week.

The dialogue (I'm working from memory) goes something like this:

LEONARD: You'll never be able to get in there, Howard.

HOWARD: That's what they said to Neil Armstrong about getting on the moon.

SHELDON: No one said anything of the sort to Neil Armstrong. An entire nation spent a decade getting him there.

HOWARD: [Affecting a Kennedy accent]: Well, my fellow Americans, before this week is out, we will put a Wolowitz on one of America's supermodels.

RAJ: And thousands of people will believe it never happened.

By the way, I've since checked. IMDB has the exact transcript. And my memory was pretty good.

Click here

This snippet displays nicely the essence of each of the four central characters. Leonard is the skeptic of the group. Howard (until they remade him as a happily married man, and to some extent even after that) the combination of nerd and sleaze. Sheldon takes Howard's statement literally and, given that way of taking it, responds logically. Raj is a man of few words, but he makes them count when he does deliver them.

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