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>Isn't that true of TBBT?

No.

>Most viewers probably haven't even heard of loop quantum gravity, and yet for the joke to be funny you have to understand Sheldon's occupation as a "classical" string theorist, and that loop quantum gravity is a competing theory that is supposed to supplant string theory, and around that time was being touted as the hot new thing.

Most people who watch the show do not understand that. They still laugh at the "joke". You don't need that understanding, the joke to most people is simply "haha, the nerd won't date a girl because of some nerd thing she likes". There is a difference between making a joke based on something "nerdy" and merely making a reference to something "nerdy". TBBT does the latter.




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>Please explain how the original statement that you responded to above is incorrect.

I quoted it in my response, it is easy to see: "yet for the joke to be funny you have to understand". That is false. The vast majority of the audience do not understand that at all, and yet find it to be funny. The fact that one of the writers slipped in a deeper meaning does not mean the joke requires that understanding, and thus does not support the notion that the show is targeted to people who possess that understanding.




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