In the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory, Leonard, Howard and Raj are out on a camping trip so that they might view a rare meteor shower. At the beginning of the episode, we find the boys setting up all their equipment and preparing to conduct their scientific research. They comment that they miss Sheldon…and then crack up hysterically. Clearly, they are glad he couldn’t come.

In the next scene, we find Sheldon sitting at home by himself, equally as glad to be void of human company. Moments later, however, Sheldon’s peace and quiet is disrupted when Penny shrieks his name from across the hall. He makes his way over to find Penny in the bathtub, claiming she slipped and dislocated her shoulder. For the remainder of the episode, the two are caught up trying to get Penny to the hospital.

It begins with Sheldon trying to help Penny get dressed, while not looking at her naked or feeling her up. Sheldon fails at both. Once they get to the car, Sheldon comments that he has never actually operated a motor vehicle. They proceed to the hospital at 5 mph while the whole world goes around them. Finally, they make it to the hospital and Penny and Sheldon endure the ER waiting room.

Meanwhile, the boys have encountered a nice pair of older ladies at the campsite next to theirs…and Howard sees them as possible prospects for the evening. Leonard comments that they can’t be that hard up for sex…but both Howard and Raj confirm that they really are. Howard then shares a box of cookies that these two women gave him with the guys. Oh, and by the way, these “ladies” were in a VW Microbus and wearing Grateful Dead t-shirts.

In the next scene, all three of the boys are high on the “special” treats from the camp next door. They completely zonk out, are starving and searching for food in the same empty cooler again and again, and completely forget why they are there in the first place. The meteor show occurs behind them, but despite being totally oblivious to it, the boys still have a very wonderful time laughing and being boys around the old campfire.

Penny and Sheldon return home to Penny’s apartment, and just as Sheldon goes to say goodnight, Penny asks Sheldon to help her into bed…and then starts hysterically laughing. With her arm in a sling and her head in the clouds from painkillers, she asks Sheldon to sing the “Soft Kitty” song. Sheldon informs her that the “Soft Kitty” song is only for when you are sick, but Penny convinces him nonetheless. The episode ends with the two singing the song in a round on Penny’s bed, and the boys out high as a kite in the wilderness.

This episode was mostly a sitcom-style comedy to keep the audience satisfied until next week, and it sufficed. The comedic timing between Penny and Sheldon was excellent, even in scenes where the writing dragged on a bit. The boys obviously had a great time pretending to be high on the “special” treats, and the episode as a whole was an enjoyable bridge until next week.

The next episode of The Big Bang Theory will air on CBS next Monday, November 23, at 9:30 p.m. To check out videos, photos, and chat with other fans, visit www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory

In the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory, Leonard and Penny weather their very first fight. Penny tells Leonard that one of her ex-boyfriends is coming into town and needs a place to sleep. Kindly, Penny offered to pick up her guitar-playing, starving artist ex and agreed to let him sleep on her couch. When she shares this with Leonard, however, he is none too pleased.

The fight escalates and continues throughout the rest of the episode, bringing out some of Sheldon’s weird childhood psychoses. Apparently, Sheldon’s parents used to fight and argue all the time, so Sheldon is scarred by all the yelling that went on. When Leonard and Penny start yelling in the middle of his apartment, he freaks out and attempts to drown out the sound of their yelling with the blender. Leonard and Penny agree that their fight is most definitely over, although we realize that it is only just beginning.

Most of the episode is surrounded around the theme of couples fighting: Raj and Howard yell at each other in the middle of a comic book store about nothing of importance, Raj and his parents argue via internet video chat, Howard and his mother fight, and neither Leonard nor Penny will budge on the issue of Penny’s ex. Unfortunately, Sheldon always seems to wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time, as he is subjected to everyone of these fights at some point or another throughout the episode.

Sheldon attempts to get Penny to go and apologize to Leonard for not being considerate of his feelings, and Sheldon attempts to get Leonard to apologize to Penny for being too controlling. Both of these plans seem to backfire more than anything, as the fighting just continues. A final fight in Sheldon’s apartment between Leonard and Penny sends Sheldon running for the streets. After realizes that Sheldon has bolted, Leonard and Penny put aside their differences to go out and find their friend.

After searching the streets of the city, Leonard finally bets that Sheldon will be in his favorite comic book store (featured earlier in the episode). Sure enough, the pair find Sheldon sitting in a corner surrounded by comic books and toy robots. The two apologize and promise to not fight in front of him anymore, so as not to arouse his childhood neuroses. Sheldon only agrees to leave with the two of them if they buy him the robot and one of the comic books.

The final scene finds Leonard and Penny in bed, discussing how Penny’s ex surely found somewhere else to sleep. As Penny comments, “He’s a musician, he’ll sleep in his own vomit if he has to.”

Next scene: Guitarist asleep on Sheldon’s couch. “I should have asked for a lot more than the robot and the comic book,” Sheldon admits begrudgingly. End of episode.

This episode really just brought up the real-life conflicts that many people deal with all the time. Leonard and Penny went through their first fight as a couple. Raj and Howard fought (pettily) as friends, mostly to emphasize Sheldon’s problems with people fighting, however. Raj had a typical tiff with his parents, ending with him caving in to their demands. We gained a little insight into Sheldon’s childhood, and while it is sad that his parents fought constantly, the humorous spin on the whole scenario made it bearable.

The next new episode of The Big Bang Theory will air Monday, November 16 at 9:30 p.m. on CBS. To catch up on past episodes, browse through photos, and chat with other fans visit www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory.

Image courtesy of TV Guide

According to TV Guide, it is – this week’s episode, “Fight Club,” got 8.54 million viewers. It’s surprisingly stacking up pretty well with CBS’s other Monday Night Comedy line-up Read the rest of this entry »

On the latest new episode of The Big Bang Theory, Leonard gets insecure about his status with Penny and her friends. At the beginning of the episode, the boys are headed out to “kite fight” when they run into Penny. She tells them that she would come with them except that she invited her friends over to watch the Nebraska football game. All the boys are more than happy to miss the occasion, both because of Penny’s friends and how much they hate the sport of football, except for Leonard.

Sheldon tells Leonard that he wasn’t invited because Penny is embarrassed to have him around her friends. Hurt by what Sheldon said, Leonard obsesses about Penny’s view of him all throughout the kite-fighting match, much to Sheldon’s frustration. Despite Leonard’s lack of focus, Sheldon and Leonard are able to defeat Howard and Raj when Howard runs after a cute female jogger passing by in the park. Raj is furious with Howard because losing the fight means that Raj lost his most treasured fighting kite. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo courtesy of Daemon's TV.

Wil Wheaton, best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, guests starts as himself on this week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Wheaton brings up some strong emotions in Sheldon, who is bitter about the two’s last meeting in 1995, when Wheaton, Sheldon’s Trekkie hero, wouldn’t sign his mint condition action figure. The two meet when Sheldon and Raj take part in a magic card game tournament similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Read the rest of this entry »

Raj is being deported. Because his research has yielded no results in the last six months, he will no longer be employed by the university and will lose his work visa. Terrified at the prospect of having to return to India, where Raj says simply, “It’s hot and there’s people everywhere,” Raj desperately appeals to his friends.

Sitting in the living room of the apartment, minus Penny of course, due to Raj’s terrible fear of women, the boys try to scheme up a plan. Sheldon continuously brings up the idea that Raj could be a pirate, while the others try to come up with more realistic plans. After several minutes of Raj lamenting his inevitable return to his home country, Penny, from out in the hallway, suggests that Raj just find another job. Read the rest of this entry »

In Monday’s episode of The Big Bang Theory, Penny is forced to stay in the guys’ apartment overnight after she and Leonard…ahem…broke the bed in her apartment. Sheldon is peeved that Penny has upset the apartment status quo. Sheldon points out that not only does Penny have several annoying qualities: her high-pitched laugh, her noisy and long phone calls, but that she has disrupted Sheldon’s daily routine. Leonard tells Sheldon to curb his bad attitude toward Penny because he plans on having her stick around-for better or for worse. Read the rest of this entry »

Lewis Black guest-stars as the crazy (imagine that, Lewis Black playing someone crazy? Nah, never) professor/bug expert on this week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon, Howard, and Raj call in Black’s cooky professor character to help identify a rare species of cricket. The situation gets interesting when Sheldon and Howard bet their best stacks of comic books that each is right. When the species of cricket is finally identified, Sheldon must surrender his most treasured comic book, The Flas. It was hilarious to hear a CalTech physicist admit that, after losing, he was a “chicken’s bitch”. Read the rest of this entry »

The Season 3 Premiere of The Big Bang Theory may have brought the end of a North Pole journey for Sheldon, Howard, and Rajesh, but for Leonard and Penny, it was only the beginning. Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s print column — Enjoy.

A week ago today, Emmy voters announced their yearly slate of nominations that break my TV-loving heart on an annual basis. Though the Emmys are supposed to honor the best that television has to offer (and they do for the most part), too often great programs are glossed over for those with an Emmy pedigree (read: on HBO).

Nevertheless, I am not going to waste your time with another column complaining about something.

Instead, why don’t we take a look at the biggest categories and do some way-too-early prognosticating? The full list of nominees can be found on the here for your viewing pleasure, but here I’ll look at who should win and who will win in the most important categories. Read the rest of this entry »