Dumb Things In The Big Bang Theory That Everyone Ignores

Only a few shows have aired long enough to get their own studio named after them on the Burbank Warner Bros. lot, and "The Big Bang Theory" is one of them. Starring Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki, the series follows a group of socially-awkward friends whose lives change forever when they meet a beautiful and free-spirited woman. Largely set in the same apartment building, their friendships, romances, and squabbles are examined through scientific and geeky humor. The series gained so much popularity over its 12-year run that it eventually inspired the prequel spinoff series "Young Sheldon," which looks back at Sheldon's childhood.

Though the program was a big hit at the time, it's come under fire in recent years for derogatory content and questionable remarks. Fans still hotly debate whether "The Big Bang Theory" is overhyped or overly hated, with plenty of its humor still landing how it should. As the years have passed and more viewers have rewatched the show, some have noticed some pretty dumb things that everyone has managed to ignore. Here's a breakdown of those moments in "TBBT" that still have never been fully explained.

When "The Big Bang Theory" first started out, Penny was that girl. Across the show's earliest seasons, she had a noticeably healthy group of best friends who existed outside of the core regular characters. If nothing else, it was a great glimpse into Penny's life outside of the apartment walls, with fans often seeing her attend a football game or go out dancing. When Amy and Bernadette took over the role of Penny's best friends, the original group of girls was never seen again. What's even more strange is there was never an explanation for where they went.

Friends fight and make up all the time, so it would have been easy for "The Big Bang Theory" creators to have written Penny's friends out in a more considered way. Some fans have made it clear that this disappearance still bugs them, stating that it doesn't make sense for a girl like Penny not to have a bunch of friends. The fact the change happened so suddenly rather than a gradual phasing out certainly deserved an explanation.

Though the dynamics behind "The Big Bang Theory" are what make the show so special, the off-the-cuff comments sometimes went too far. For many of the show's earlier seasons, Penny was seen fending off Howard's unusual behavior. He's guilty of making plenty of misogynistic remarks and also went on to do some pretty creepy things. One episode sees Howard gift Penny a teddy bear that has a secret webcam in it, adding to behaviors that clearly make Penny uncomfortable. Though she has moments of sharing her disgust, Penny continues to tolerate his presence for the remainder of the show.

Because Penny likes spending so much time with Leonard, it makes a certain amount of sense that she'd put up with Howard. At the same time, because she spends such long periods around him, we might expect her to become less tolerant as the years went by. Not only is it something that Howard is never really held accountable for, it mostly just gets swept under the metaphorical carpet. Though he arguably dialed things down in later seasons, Howard's creepy behavior still acts as the comedic punchline.

Keeping track of superheroes is tough at the best of times, but it's something that shouldn't be a problem for the cast of "The Big Bang Theory." When Stuart hosts a themed costume party for New Year's Eve at his comic book store, Raj is visibly upset at the realization that he has to dress up as Aquaman. Given that the core gang are comic book aficionados, Raj should have known that he had far more options than just the man the in the sea. Though the script is written as if Aquaman was Raj's only choice, the Justice League has been comprised of different members over the course of time.

Any superhero fan knows that Raj could have easily been Cyborg, Hawkman, or Martian Manhunter, with his tantrum over Aquaman feeling like drama for drama's sake. It's a weird discrepancy that Raj's comic book knowledge would be that flawed, with none of the other characters ever commenting on it. If he was really unsure — or that unhappy — his costume could have been solved with the click of a button on the World Wide Web. How hard could it be?

Even if you have lived under a rock for the last two decades, you're bound to know at least something about the "Harry Potter" franchise. When Leonard begins to read the books, he's annoyed when Sheldon reveals to him that Dumbledore dies during "The Half-Blood Prince." Leonard's quite right to be annoyed, but given the overwhelming success of both the books and the films, but it's difficult to imagine that he wouldn't have known about this already. "The Big Bang Theory" has well established that its core cast is a group of proud nerds, while it's also well-known that "Harry Potter" is a franchise that's beloved by much of that community.

Dumbledore's death is considered to be a "spoiler" that is widely talked about, with theories concerning why he died still in frequent discussion. Not only does this make Leonard's lack of knowledge about the franchise inconceivable, but it also highlights how weird it is that neither Sheldon nor Amy has ever read the books. Given Sheldon's personality, it feels unlikely that the book series' plot points and characters wouldn't have been discussed at length, even if nothing will ever live up to the likes of "Star Trek."

Aw, cats. Who doesn't love them? According to Season 1 of "The Big Bang Theory," Sheldon definitely shouldn't. It's mentioned in passing by Leonard that Sheldon has an asthmatic allergy to cats in "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary" – yet it's a part of his character that's later challenged in Season 4. Sheldon is seen to adopt a large number of cats while enjoying their company in "The Zazzy Substitution," with no allergic reactions to be found. As Sheldon grew closer to the cats, he even entertained the idea of petting them and keeping them in his room. If Sheldon really did have an allergy, he definitely wouldn't have been sleeping through the night.

It could be a simple case of Leonard being incorrect about what's wrong with his friend, but it feels unlikely. With the two living in such close proximity, it's more likely that the pair know everything there is to know about each other, which is proved right over many points in the show's run. The combination of Leonard being forced to remember so much about Sheldon and needing to keep track of multiple conditions means that Sheldon's sudden tolerance for felines is left unexplained.

If one thing is for sure, Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard don't really know how to behave around women. The same can almost be said for the creators of "The Big Bang Theory," who have consistently treated their female characters badly, despite them appearing as confident and strong-minded. Even after Amy and Bernadette were introduced in later seasons, the playing field between the boys and girls wasn't exactly level. Penny spends much of the course of the show being told she's smart, while simultaneously being shown that she isn't. It stands to reason that the only worth that any of the female characters have is through offering character development for their boyfriends.

While some fans feel as though the women of "The Big Bang Theory," are the problem, others recognize that they might be being set up to fail. Not only are Penny, Amy, and Bernadette not that well supported, but their men are terrible romantic partners. Fights are typically not resolved, with the dynamic between Amy and Sheldon being particularly toxic. It's safe to say that if one of the guys has been a jerk to one of the girls, there's a laugh track right after.

In Season 9 of "The Big Bang Theory" — specifically, in an episode called "The Platonic Permutation" — Howard is effectively dragged to volunteer at a soup kitchen by his loved ones where he encounters a very familiar face: Elon Musk, who founded companies like Tesla and SpaceX. The two go on to work together at the soup kitchen preparing meals for hungry people on Thanksgiving, and Howard, who's already been to space at this point on "The Big Bang Theory," gets to talk to one of his idols about the merits of space exploration. In the Season 11 episode "The Comet Polarization," author Neil Gaiman, known for books like "American Gods and "The Sandman," appears after posting on social media about Stuart Bloom's (Kevin Sussman) comic book store. 

At face value, these things don't sound dumb, but let's just take a moment and consider all the things that have happened since Musk and Gaiman appeared on "The Big Bang Theory." In January of 2025, Lila Shapiro wrote a piece for Vulture detailing some truly harrowing sexual assault allegations at the hands of Gaiman (and his longtime partner Amanda Palmer). As for Musk, though he initially embraced openness and exclusivity — it's hard to remember this, but he used to post encouraging messages meant for the LGBTQ+ community — he's been trafficking in transphobic sentiment throughout recent years, and his work with the Trump administration's iffy agency DOGE has raised eyebrows. Presumably, nobody on the show is particularly thrilled about how these particular celebrity cameos have aged.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

According to the official website of the Selective Mutism Association, the disorder is defined like this: "Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder characterized by a person's inability to speak in certain social settings such as at school, work, or in the community. People with SM are typically able to speak comfortably and communicate well in other settings, such as at home with family." If this sounds familiar in the context of "The Big Bang Theory," it's because Raj has selective mutism, but the way the writers manipulate this real affliction and mine it for jokes on the show is ... not so great.

Raj's whole deal is that he's so shy around women that he can't talk, including Penny, so he's silent around her for early parts of the series. That's not really the bad part. The bad part is that in order to "solve" the issue of his selective mutism, Raj can get blackout drunk and he's suddenly able to speak to women — and not only that, but he gets sort of gross and sexist when he drinks. Here's an example: after a few cold ones, Raj asks Penny to "shoot another silver bullet [his] way," and when she tells him to get the beer himself, Raj responds, "Ooh, somebody's been taking b*tchy pills." What?! That's his response?! Raj does a ton of inappropriate things when he's emboldened to "overcome" his selective mutism with alcohol, and the fact that that's his solution is ... just unbelievably offensive, actually.

Laugh tracks probably should be a thing of the past — audiences don't really need to be told when to laugh if something's actually funny — but they still pop up from time to time in shows like "How I Met Your Father," even as their popularity seriously diminishes thanks to the advent of single-camera comedies. (Notably, the first major "Big Bang Theory" spin-off, "Young Sheldon," is a single-camera comedy and doesn't use a laugh track, but that show's first spin-off "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage" does use a laugh track.) 

Have you ever come across a YouTube video that explains what "The Big Bang Theory" sounds like without a laugh track? Sure, the show was legitimately filmed in front of a live studio audience — so at least it wasn't doing that horrifying thing where a show uses an older laugh track populated with, say, the laughter of long-dead people — but it's absolutely jarring to watch these undeniably talented actors stomp around on the set, hit their mark, and deliver their lines like trained dogs instead of being a little more natural about the whole thing. Laugh tracks will, hopefully, become even less common going forward, but when you watch "The Big Bang Theory," it's natural to be sort of irritated by the canned laughter that tells you whether or not the joke a character just made is funny or not.

Here's the thing about scenes where actors have to eat. It would be genuinely absurd to expect actors to actually eat everything they're being served on-screen, considering how many takes they endure for any given scene; most probably employ a spit bucket or something like that to dispose of food they're pretending to eat during said takes. That's not what most of the characters on "The Big Bang Theory" do while they're "eating," which is weird when you consider that a large portion of the show centers around this gang eating more or less constantly. Whether the guys are chowing down in the CalTech cafeteria or the whole gang is gathered around the coffee table in Sheldon and Leonard's apartment (which later becomes Leonard and Penny's apartment when they get married) eating Chinese food, the characters on "The Big Bang Theory" are basically always eating, and most of them do a terrible job faking it.

The worst offender by a mile is Leonard. Johnny Galecki has, presumably, eaten food off a fork at some point in his life, but you wouldn't know it from watching "The Big Bang Theory." Leonard's version of "eating" is that he holds his fork upside-down and kind of taps it on his food like he's sending a signal in Morse code, rarely — if ever — putting a morsel of food anywhere near his mouth. In contrast, the rest of the actors at least sort of pretend to take bites — Simon Helberg is also pretty bad at fake eating, but Kaley Cuoco gamely shoves huge bites into her mouth, so we can safely assume she was disposing of those off-camera — but it's still a big enough problem to be a total distraction when you rewatch "The Big Bang Theory."

In the Season 4 finale of "The Big Bang Theory," titled "The Roommate Transmogrification," something absolutely wild happens. As the episode begins, Raj is struggling with the fact that his sister Priya (Aarti Mann) is dating Leonard, especially when the two of them "spend time" together in ways that Raj can easily overhear. Because Priya doesn't have her own apartment and Sheldon doesn't like her, Raj ends up crashing in Leonard's room while Priya and Raj take his apartment, and while Raj is there with Sheldon, Penny comes by for some food and many, many drinks. After drunkenly confessing that she still loves Leonard and wishes that she hadn't ended their relationship — especially because she senses that things are moving sort of fast between Priya and Leonard — and the next thing you know, Penny and Raj are in bed together completely naked. Penny ends up going back to her apartment in just a duvet the next morning in full view of the entire gang, with a half-dressed Raj emerging from the bedroom after her in case the whole situation wasn't weird enough.

Even though the Season 5 premiere "The Skank Reflex Analysis" clears things up — Raj and Penny didn't go "all the way," as it were, because he got too "excited" too quickly — there's no denying that Raj even potentially sleeping with his friend's ex-girlfriend would break this friend group up for good. Leonard straight-up doesn't seem to care, and the issue never really comes up again, which is just bonkers!

Sheldon Cooper. Leonard Hofstadter. Howard Wolowitz. Raj Koothrappali. Amy Farrah Fowler. Bernadette Rostenkowski (turned Rostenkowski-Wolowitz). Penny. See the issue here?!

The fact that Penny doesn't get her own last name ever — because becoming Penny Hofstadter when she marries Leonard doesn't really count — is a pretty weird thing on "The Big Bang Theory." Sure, the show's creative team has hand-waved this problem away over the years by saying it was an active choice to not reveal her last name one way or the other, but doesn't that make the whole thing a little worse? When we first meet Penny, she's an aspiring actress; probably would have been cool to learn if she had a star-worthy last name or was saddled with something embarrassing she was hoping to change. Eventually, Penny marries Leonard and gets a last name in the process, but still.

Before Amy and Bernadette join the show, Penny is the only female main character, and not only do the guys treat her like she's an object, dumb, or both, but she doesn't even have a full identity. It feels like the showrunners and writers just forgot to give her a last name, never dealt with it, and then pretended like it was their plan all along. This isn't so much a plan as a clear and glaring oversight, and it feels gross that the original female lead of "The Big Bang Theory" only gets a first name until she marries a guy.

The whole "issue" with Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard on "The Big Bang Theory" is that they're a bunch of super-smart science nerds who like comic books and superhero movies — at least, if you ask them. We're led to believe, throughout the show, that the guys are off-putting and often ignored by women because of these things, and not due to literally any other factors. Here's the problem. "The Big Bang Theory" started its run in 2007, and guess what happened one year after that? "Iron Man" hit theaters, became a massive hit, and kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe in earnest, bringing all things "nerd" firmly into the mainstream.

Once the MCU started, what could have once been viewed as niche "dork" culture was just ... a massive part of pop culture, to say nothing of the "Star Wars" prequels or the massively popular shows set in a universe far, far away that have been streaming on Disney+ for quite some time now. The truth is this. The guys on "The Big Bang Theory" didn't have trouble meeting women because they loved comic books or wore superhero costumes at Halloween. They had trouble meeting women because they were sexist, rude, and off-putting most of the time.

Speaking of off-putting, Sheldon Cooper kinda sucks. Yes, he's definitely a fascinating character in his own right, but can you imagine actually being friends with the guy? Think about this for a second. Sheldon is, primarily, a deeply dismissive person with an outright mean streak. He doesn't think that a single one of his friends is actually worth very much, whether he's insulting Howard for being the only member of the gang to not have a PhD (who cares?!) or demeaning Penny for never going to college at all (seriously, who cares?!?!?). He's deeply resistant to change, unwilling to hear anyone else's point of view no matter what, and even though he's not wrong about his own brilliance, he sure doesn't ever shut up about it.

Sheldon's worst impulses are, unfortunately, always most obvious in his treatment of his girlfriend turned wife Amy Farrah Fowler. When the two first get together, it's clear that Amy really wants a physical relationship; instead of being sensitive to her needs while balancing his own fear of physical intimacy, Sheldon just sort of treats Amy like she's insane for even wanting that in the first place. He also frequently disparages her line of work, considering it beneath what he does as a theoretical physicist (Amy, to be clear, is a neuroscientist). It's sometimes hard to understand why anyone lets Sheldon run roughshod all over them, including and especially Amy, Penny, and Leonard, but there's no accounting for taste.

"The Big Bang Theory" is streaming on Max now.