The Big Bang Theory is one of the best TV shows to hit the airwaves in the last couple seasons. More specifically, Jim Parsons portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Cooper is the best thing to happen to television in a very long time. While How I Met Your Mother is my favorite sitcom on TV, it doesn’t make me actually laugh out loud nearly as much as The Big Bang Theory.

“If I may speak again…Dr. Sheldon Cooper…FOR THE WIN.”

HOWEVER…

The brilliance in the video below showed why HIMYM is still one of the best.

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Two of my favorite shows on TV had their season finales last night, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. There will be some small spoilers in here, so don’t read further if you intend to watch the episodes.

The Big Bang Theory

As I’ve stated before, BBT is probably my favorite new show of this TV season. The writing is smart (overseen by David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California-Los Angeles, who checks scripts and provides dialogue, math equations and diagrams used as props), but not too smart to be inaccessible. It has its zany characters, not the least of which is Sheldon, the smartest of all the geniuses on the show and played brilliantly by Jim Parsons.

Last night’s finale, titled “The Tangerine Factor”, wasn’t my favorite of the season, but it certainly had its moments. I particularly liked how Sheldon wanted to learn Mandarin just to quibble with his local Chinese food shop about whether he was getting Tangerine or Orange chicken. The subtitles showed that he most certainly did not learn Mandarin.

The episode could have been called “Schrödinger’s Cat” because that really was the true theme of the episode - if Penny and Leonard date, will it ruin their friendship? After dancing around the issue all season, they managed to come at it in the same funny way they’ve approached much of the season.

I do kind of wish the episode would have been a little funnier, but at least it had some resolution to some of the conflict of the season and it gives us something to look forward to. Especially since, The Big Bang Theory was renewed for another season.

How I Met Your Mother

HIMYM is the new Friends.

That may be pushing it a little, considering that I loved Friends. However, since Friends went off the air, I’ve been looking for a sitcom that captures the same feelings of friendship and growing into adulthood that the folks at Central Perk did. I believe that it can be found in How I Met Your Mother.

The cast is terrific. Sure, it’s mostly carried by Neil Patrick Harris’ Barney, but all the characters are solid and each actor does a good job.

That being said, last night’s finale was just kind of whatever. I enjoyed Marshall’s miracle examples, but Ted, who is the one supposedly carrying the story, is just getting boring. I think that the twist at the end was really to try and bring some of the attention away from Ted’s story and put it more focused on Barney, but in doing so, at least they reconciled the beef between Ted and Barney because it was pretty lame.

I’m glad that both shows are coming back. Some people are going to point to the Britney Spears guest spot as the reason that HIMYM was renewed. I hope that it brought on enough new viewers that they don’t have to bring her back again. The first time she was OK, but the second time, she was lame. Just say ‘NO’ to Britney, Chuck Lorre. Just say ‘No.’

If you aren’t watching these shows, you should be. They’re well-written, funny, and they need more viewers. Don’t let them get cancelled.

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If you aren’t watching CBS’s Big Bang Theory, you should be.

I stumbled on to this show by accident. It was on after How I Met Your Mother and I thought the concept seemed pretty funny - 4 geeks, cute girl neighbor - formula for success. Johnny Galecki of Roseanne fame stars with newcomer-ish Jim Parsons as nuclear physicist roommates whose world is thrown into upheaval when the cute Penny (Kaley Cuoco of Eight Simple Rules) moves in next door.

Alli and I have been watching and loving this show since the pilot and it’s one of the shows that I most look forward to now and mostly because Parsons’ Sheldon is one of the funniest characters on TV right now. He’s like a guy with the crazy nuances of Cosmo Kramer, the witty asides of Chandler, and the absolute perfect timing of Barney.

If you are not watching this show, you should. It is awesome.

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