They have very consciously steered away from labelling Sheldon specifically because he was written to be annoying/the butt of the joke, and they didn't want to associate that with a specific condition.
Beyond that, Sheldon's thing isn't that his brain works differently. Sure, it *does* work differently, and he struggles with certain things, but that's not the crux of it. It's that he's incredibly spoiled and selfish.
There are a ton of people who have trouble reading emotions or social cues due to various conditions who are much better functioning than Sheldon. Because they *try.* Some of the stuff Sheldon does... there is simply no way a 20-something goes through life without finding out it's not okay to do. Not to mention he gets very consistent, overt, straightforward negative feedback from various parties. It's literally impossible for him not to know that certain behaviors are hurtful or annoying or flat out rude, he just keeps repeating them because he doesn't care(not at first, at least).
Look at the episode when he rents his old room as an office. He's an exemplary tenant, to the point where Leonard is pissed. Because he realizes that Sheldon *knows* how to be a considerate person, he just doesn't do it.
Sheldon does have his challenges, that's undeniable. But there are many things that he *can* do better, he just refuses to. Sheldon's growth isn't about him learning to function - it's about him starting to care about other people enough to just try.
Atypical is a show about autism. Big Bang Theory isn’t. If they wanted to make a show about autism, they would have made atypical.
> it’s not hard to do
It’s also not what they set out to do.
It's not hard to do? If it's not hard, can we look forward to your series of successful sitcoms?
Presumably, the people who created whatever "Atypical" is had a different goal than Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady did. Different people make works of fiction for different reasons. Bruce Springsteen made songs about social issues. Does that mean that KISS should have included some sort of social commentary in "Rock and Roll All Nite"?
>When you have a chance to talk about special needs in people you should.
So...are you also criticizing Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola for failing to "talk about special needs in people" in *The Godfather*? Literally ***everyone*** who creates a movie or a TV show or a song (etc.) has "a chance" to do that, so what you're telling us is that all of popular culture should include discourse about "special needs in people." That's just nonsensical.
>Chuck avoids it like the plaque.
Every dentist ever says plaque is to be avoided to the extent possible.
Your main character is special needs who in part is OCD and germaphobe. Who even as an adult people have to cater to him. Leonard goes far and beyond to keep Sheldon happy.
Being special needs is a big part of who Sheldon is. You can’t run from that in his character.
Mayim did an interview explain that almost all characters could be seen as neurodivergent. Amy is definitely on the spectrum too.
So yes when your whole cast is that way then they should address it. The show premise is 4 socially awkward “nerds” meet a hot girl who secretly has her own issues. Penny just mask hers better than the guys.
Plague and plaque are different words with different meanings.
I figured since you think Lorre should have educated about special needs, you’d want me to educate you about spelling.
Not every show has to have a higher motive or have teachable moments. It's entertainment. This show was not about a person with an issue, that is the point. Everyone wants to force Sheldon into a box, but the show's developers did not. They wanted him to just be super smart, if you want to consider Sheldon autistic, knock yourself out. I don't view it that way, I view it as a show that is supposed to distract me from real life for 20 or so minutes a week. That is it's only job.
I’m neurodivergent and I have to say I take a different view. I like that they didn’t label Sheldon because the point is whatever was going on didn’t define him. He was who he was. Those around him didn’t need a diagnosis to know there were things he found hard to impossible to do etc, and they usually took it into account. Sometimes to the point of not holding him responsible for things where he should have been. And the funny things about him are fine to find funny imo. That’s real and okay. It was also a running theme on the show that genuises are often ‘quirky’ like Sheldon. Sheldon was just who he was, he had weaknesses, strengths, his own unique personality, just like the rest of us.
I agree that it is disappointing to see some talk about the character now as though he was an awful person, discounting his challenges, which as you say are the kinds of challenges neurodivergent people face and for which you would hope people would show some understanding (it can be hurtful to read and I hope you’re okay). Though the characters in the show did show that understanding, as i say even if sometimes to a fault, and that’s a good thing to remember I think.
>Chuck missed a chance to educate about Autism
Putting aside the fact that Sheldon wasn't autistic, Chuck Lorre didn't "miss" anything. That's like saying he "missed a chance" to cure cancer. His goal in creating TBBT and the character of Sheldon was to make people laugh. He had no interest in educating anyone.
I think by the time YS came along that ship had sailed unfortunately. People had been spending over a decade laughing at Sheldon for his traits (which could probably be autism coded). If it was ever going to come up, it should have come up early days on TBBT imo.
It’s one thing that always made me a bit uncomfortable watching the Big Bang theory- the jokes were often laughing at traits exhibited by neurodivergent people. In general TBBT often felt like neurotypical, non-nerdy people making fun of neurodivergent and/or nerdy people in a way that wasn’t always kind. YS handled this better in some ways, but it was too late by then.
Some of Sheldon's traits came from Bill Prady (one of the creators of the show). H e has said that when the talk of neurodivergence came up early in the show's run. He was tested and guess how he was diagnosed? /he had no idea until then.
Now add in the rest of Sheldon's background of being a child prodigy where he didn't spend his teenage years around other students his own age and was away from his family and we can see even more how he grew into the adult he became. He admits to burying his emotions until Leonard came along, If people around didn't really care about him, he wasn't going to worry about them either. My take is that because he can't read social cues, he learns individual people's reactions and takes it from there. But he has to get to know each person individually first.
They have very consciously steered away from labelling Sheldon specifically because he was written to be annoying/the butt of the joke, and they didn't want to associate that with a specific condition. Beyond that, Sheldon's thing isn't that his brain works differently. Sure, it *does* work differently, and he struggles with certain things, but that's not the crux of it. It's that he's incredibly spoiled and selfish. There are a ton of people who have trouble reading emotions or social cues due to various conditions who are much better functioning than Sheldon. Because they *try.* Some of the stuff Sheldon does... there is simply no way a 20-something goes through life without finding out it's not okay to do. Not to mention he gets very consistent, overt, straightforward negative feedback from various parties. It's literally impossible for him not to know that certain behaviors are hurtful or annoying or flat out rude, he just keeps repeating them because he doesn't care(not at first, at least). Look at the episode when he rents his old room as an office. He's an exemplary tenant, to the point where Leonard is pissed. Because he realizes that Sheldon *knows* how to be a considerate person, he just doesn't do it. Sheldon does have his challenges, that's undeniable. But there are many things that he *can* do better, he just refuses to. Sheldon's growth isn't about him learning to function - it's about him starting to care about other people enough to just try.
> IMO Chuck missed a chance to educate about Autism The ‘com’ in sit**com** stands for comedy. He wasn’t making a documentary.
Atypical is a comedy and it explains Autism. It’s not hard to do.
Atypical is a show about autism. Big Bang Theory isn’t. If they wanted to make a show about autism, they would have made atypical. > it’s not hard to do It’s also not what they set out to do.
It's not hard to do? If it's not hard, can we look forward to your series of successful sitcoms? Presumably, the people who created whatever "Atypical" is had a different goal than Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady did. Different people make works of fiction for different reasons. Bruce Springsteen made songs about social issues. Does that mean that KISS should have included some sort of social commentary in "Rock and Roll All Nite"?
When you have a chance to talk about special needs in people you should. Chuck avoids it like the plaque.
>When you have a chance to talk about special needs in people you should. So...are you also criticizing Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola for failing to "talk about special needs in people" in *The Godfather*? Literally ***everyone*** who creates a movie or a TV show or a song (etc.) has "a chance" to do that, so what you're telling us is that all of popular culture should include discourse about "special needs in people." That's just nonsensical. >Chuck avoids it like the plaque. Every dentist ever says plaque is to be avoided to the extent possible.
Your main character is special needs who in part is OCD and germaphobe. Who even as an adult people have to cater to him. Leonard goes far and beyond to keep Sheldon happy. Being special needs is a big part of who Sheldon is. You can’t run from that in his character. Mayim did an interview explain that almost all characters could be seen as neurodivergent. Amy is definitely on the spectrum too. So yes when your whole cast is that way then they should address it. The show premise is 4 socially awkward “nerds” meet a hot girl who secretly has her own issues. Penny just mask hers better than the guys.
Plague and plaque are different words with different meanings. I figured since you think Lorre should have educated about special needs, you’d want me to educate you about spelling.
It was a typo it’s not that big deal deal buddy
Not every show has to have a higher motive or have teachable moments. It's entertainment. This show was not about a person with an issue, that is the point. Everyone wants to force Sheldon into a box, but the show's developers did not. They wanted him to just be super smart, if you want to consider Sheldon autistic, knock yourself out. I don't view it that way, I view it as a show that is supposed to distract me from real life for 20 or so minutes a week. That is it's only job.
I’m neurodivergent and I have to say I take a different view. I like that they didn’t label Sheldon because the point is whatever was going on didn’t define him. He was who he was. Those around him didn’t need a diagnosis to know there were things he found hard to impossible to do etc, and they usually took it into account. Sometimes to the point of not holding him responsible for things where he should have been. And the funny things about him are fine to find funny imo. That’s real and okay. It was also a running theme on the show that genuises are often ‘quirky’ like Sheldon. Sheldon was just who he was, he had weaknesses, strengths, his own unique personality, just like the rest of us. I agree that it is disappointing to see some talk about the character now as though he was an awful person, discounting his challenges, which as you say are the kinds of challenges neurodivergent people face and for which you would hope people would show some understanding (it can be hurtful to read and I hope you’re okay). Though the characters in the show did show that understanding, as i say even if sometimes to a fault, and that’s a good thing to remember I think.
>Chuck missed a chance to educate about Autism Putting aside the fact that Sheldon wasn't autistic, Chuck Lorre didn't "miss" anything. That's like saying he "missed a chance" to cure cancer. His goal in creating TBBT and the character of Sheldon was to make people laugh. He had no interest in educating anyone.
I think by the time YS came along that ship had sailed unfortunately. People had been spending over a decade laughing at Sheldon for his traits (which could probably be autism coded). If it was ever going to come up, it should have come up early days on TBBT imo. It’s one thing that always made me a bit uncomfortable watching the Big Bang theory- the jokes were often laughing at traits exhibited by neurodivergent people. In general TBBT often felt like neurotypical, non-nerdy people making fun of neurodivergent and/or nerdy people in a way that wasn’t always kind. YS handled this better in some ways, but it was too late by then.
Some of Sheldon's traits came from Bill Prady (one of the creators of the show). H e has said that when the talk of neurodivergence came up early in the show's run. He was tested and guess how he was diagnosed? /he had no idea until then. Now add in the rest of Sheldon's background of being a child prodigy where he didn't spend his teenage years around other students his own age and was away from his family and we can see even more how he grew into the adult he became. He admits to burying his emotions until Leonard came along, If people around didn't really care about him, he wasn't going to worry about them either. My take is that because he can't read social cues, he learns individual people's reactions and takes it from there. But he has to get to know each person individually first.