I never understood the vitriol BBT got.
It's just a shitty sitcom like many others, not even the worst of 'em.
Actually, this is super wrong in my experience.
BBT was the first show to start having laugh tracks for no reason, even in shows like King of Queens (where it’s heavy) BBT theory will literally play laugh tracks at random moments in conversations.
On the extremely rare occasion I’ve watched TV with my brother, we’ll switch by BBT while it’s on and point out shit like how sometimes a character will just mundanely be doing something and there’s this rolling laugh track that just has to play every 3-4 seconds from low to high throughout.
Also the humor is shit where they’ll extend obvious gags with catchphrases, it’s a nerd comedy show that gets as deep into Science as the Comicbook Brand section of an Old Navy etc.
I’ll admit to liking sitcoms as low as King of Queens, but BBT is actively repulsive
I watched several TV shows that went on during lunch time here back in the day, because of circumstance more than interest, but BBT was one of them, along with other subpar sit-coms such as According to Jim, My Wife and Kids (this one was decent), Two and a Half Men, Two Broke Girls, and such fluff.
There was nothing peculiar at all in the laugh tracks BBT used, from all the episodes i saw (at least 2 or 3 seasons worth).
It was either after a punchline, or after a character did something obviously meant to be inappropriate or funny.
The fact that the laugh track feels unearned, because the jokes are cheap, is another matter altogether, and something all the ones i mentioned share.
They were (more or less) all the same level of formulaic humor and plotlines, on top of a stereotypical premise.
The only thing setting BBT apart was the nerd culture setting, instead of the blue collar moron or the sassy waitress themes, but it still had your regular jokes and punchlines, with relatively defined character arcs.
It was mediocre, but not worse than any of the other shows.
Even the infamous "geek references" some nerds got bent out of shape about, were generally used within the context of jokes set ups, or to highlight a character being a fish out of water (which was the equivalent of showing how out of place Jim Belushi was at the opera with his "sophisticated" wife).
