by Vinayak Maheswaran

Created on: May 31, 2010   Last Updated: June 01, 2010

The Big Bang Theory is a hilarious comedy that portrays different personalities that share a common intellectual personality. Leonard Hofstadter is an experimental physicist with an IQ of 173 who received his Ph.D. when he was 24 years old. He shares an apartment with colleague and friend Sheldon Cooper. Sheldon Cooper is a child prodigy, starting college at the age of 11, right after completing the 5th grade. As a theoretical physicist, he possesses a master's degree, two Ph.D.s, and an IQ of 187. He exhibits a strict adherence to routine; a lack of understanding of irony, sarcasm and humor; and a complete lack of humility. Sheldon shares an apartment with Leonard Hofstadter.

The show follows the daily lives of smart people in their twenties living in the culturally driven city of Pasadena with its world famous university, the California Institute of Technology. On television, the four lead characters are all employed at Cal tech. They exemplify being young and ambitious which a strong part of what urban culture is. Moreover, the show really portrays an urban lifestyle with the performing and visual arts setting of Pasadena, California. Moreover, Sheldon and Leonard often eat out at Thai, Japanese or other types of restaurants that can only be found in an urban environment.

This show exemplified that being nerdy can be a rebellion against the cool white kids of the suburbs and their use of black culture found mostly in urban areas. It was a form of upheaval for geeks in the suburbs. When Sheldon appeared on David Letterman’s show, Letterman suggested that it was cool to be nerdy now after the success of the Big Bang Theory. Today, given our huge dependence on science and technology, the smart person is an all-favorite. After all, we owe it to the “techies” for everything that makes our lives easier – from the appliances in our homes to the internet.

Penny is the gorgeous, blonde neighbor who is a neighbor of Sheldon and Leonard. Penny works as a waitress for a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. She desires a career in show business. Penny appears to be portraying the archetypal dumb blonde. She is promiscuous, lacks intelligence and is clueless in many instances. Her character has an urban nature to it as women are seen in cities like Los Angeles and New York City chasing their dreams while working odd jobs.

The main cultural diversity of this show is the character Rajesh Koothrappali who is from New Delhi in India and works as a Particle

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