**What this review might have sounded like had I written it 7 years ago.** The first few seasons are, for the most part, extremely fantastic, focused, funny, fresh, intelligent and even at times, brilliant. Most importantly, it offers something that separates it from the pack...Must see TV! **What this review sounds like now nearing the end of the shows run.** A once great show which slowly starts to diminish around season 4, unfortunately. By the 9th season it seems as though the pen and paper have been handed over to teenage fans of the show...Decent background noise. **To conclude.** This show was once incredible, and something fresh, even at times brilliant. I couldn't wait for each new episode. Now, I watch it when it becomes available on a streaming service, and, on rare occasion you get a great episode, but it's not worth devoting a weekly schedule and sitting through all the fan-fiction episodes and story lines to get to the good stuff. The show can still be enjoyable, without question, though I find it better suited as background noise while doing work instead of must see TV that you're excited to tune in as it airs each week. It's now just another average sitcom which has been dumbed down for the masses quite considerably. At this rate, the show will probably end with Penny having Sheldon's child to fulfill the most commonly seen teenage fan-fiction.

I did not start watching this sitcom until the show end3d, but I had the good fortune to watch the episodes of all 12 seasons in order. I don’t agree with another review I saw that said the show had slipped over time. Rather, it is a consistently great show, as all of Chuck Lorre’s efforts seem to be, sort of comedy’s answer to Aaron Sorkin’s dramas. Mind you, I had some minor issues with it. I really got tired of Sheldon’s attitude and antics, but that 2as counterbalanced by the slow and careful ways he also showed character growth. Similarly, all of the characters exhibited realistic growth in their attitudes and behavior. The writing was usually strong, even during the few shows that I would classify as clunkers— plots that didn’t work for me. I am impressed that the show never jumped the shark, but rather stayed true to itself. Some long running shows can’t resist doing it, such as when Happy Days changed the Fonz from a cool dude to a combo superhero/cartoon character who could do almost anything, it seemed. Funny, I have a friend who told me she couldn’t watch it due to the canned laugh track, so I was amused to learn there was no laugh track as the show was filmed in front of a live audience. Imagine that!

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