The Big Bang Theory
CBS | Release Date: September 24, 2007
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyKate Ward
Season 4 Review: Bialik manages to steal scenes from Parsons as if she's been with the crew since, well, the big bang. Read full review
90
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: Big Bang is the funniest new sitcom of the season. Read full review
88
USA TodayRobert BiancoOct 21, 2010
Season 4 Review: As wonderful as Parsons and Sheldon certainly are, and as terrific as a Sheldon-centric episode like last week's can be, too much Sheldon would quickly become too much. We're not there yet, but it is one of those lines the writers should be careful not to cross. Read full review
80
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: It may not be a creative breakthrough, but it's lots funnier than the universal equation would predict. Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Season 1 Review: Half the fun in this outlandishly funny sitcom is that Penny is so spacey that she doesn't appear to recognize what hard-core nerds Leonard and Sheldon really are--even the presence in their bathroom of Luke Skywalker No-More-Tears Shampoo doesn't tip her off. Read full review
80
PopMattersLeigh H. Edwards
Season 4 Review: The comic commentary may be poking gentle fun at nerds, but the real target of the show's sharp satire is the arbitrary, self-serving stupidity of mainstream culture. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: A nice combination of brains and belly laughs and a solid addition to the CBS comedy block on Monday nights. Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: With so few traditional sitcoms on the air this year, the new ones had better be good. Happily for viewers, Fox's "Back to You" and CBS's Big Bang Theory qualify as generally welcome newcomers. Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoDec 2, 2011
Season 5 Review: It's bright and obvious as a cartoon yet written with a clean, precise patter of jokes. It's also very well cast. [12 Dec 2011, p.45]
75
New York PostAdam Buckman
Season 1 Review: An otherwise promising CBS comedy series. Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: This may not be the sitcom breakthrough for which we've all been hoping, but Lorre has produced a first episode that leaves you eager to try the second. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman
Season 1 Review: As far as junk like this goes, it's not heinous and has moments of OK-ness. Read full review
60
Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland
Season 1 Review: This is a comedy that does what it's supposed to do, which is to make you smile and giggle at the appropriate points. Be that as it may, the pilot never ascends beyond the level of being cute and nice. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: That said, there are some qualms surrounding how long the producers can mine the Leonard-Penny aspect of the show, a shallow vein if there ever was one. More promising is the interaction among the key duo and their Mensa-worthy friends. Read full review
60
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: The sporadically amusing Big Bang Theory needs some fancier moves. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: It's just the same joke endlessly repeated--the everyday translated into geek-speak, and the obscure and difficult treated as if it were common knowledge.... These are perilous times for sitcoms, and Lorre & Co. may want to think up another. Read full review
60
Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Season 1 Review: I didn't get much of a sense where this show was going from the pilot, though there was nothing to hate about Big Bang Theory, and the writing’s every bit as sharp as "Two and a Half Men" and "Dharma & Greg," comedies overseen by Big Bang producer Chuck Lorre. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: "Chuck" has interests similar to those of the heroes of Big Bang, including a lack of interest in chasing women, but his comedy is more inventive--the better bet in a new era in which the nerd no longer loses, but the best nerd show wins. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Standard setup? Sure. Standard execution? For the most part. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
Season 1 Review: While it's got that professional Burrows sheen of unerrant joke delivery--especially from the talented Galecki, who can do this in his sleep--you have to assume the pile of scripts on his desk in this hurting age for the three-camera studio-audience format isn’t what it once was. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyHenry Goldblatt
Season 1 Review: To call this a one-joke sitcom would be a stretch. Read full review
40
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: The show might even have been engaging, if the one-liners came less frequently and the characters had a little more dimension. As it is, Sheldon and Leonard are merely laughable, if sweet, and they are even less fleshed out than the characters on "Two and a Half Men." Read full review
40
PopMattersTodd R. Ramlow
Season 1 Review: Other shows do complicate and elaborate the geek mystique ("CSI" and "Bones" come to mind), but all we’re likely to get from The Big Bang Theory are missed communications, fumbled opportunities, and general yuckety-yucks. Read full review
30
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: A lame new sitcom. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 1 Review: Luckily, the writing here is so moronic and the situations so forced and mundane, it's easier to dismiss what is, all told, pretty fantastic work on behalf of Galecki and Parsons. Read full review
25
Detroit Free PressMike Duffy
Season 1 Review: This is by far the least charming--the lame, leering sitcom tales of two brainiac losers (Johnny Galecki, above, and Jim Parsons) goofily smitten by the babelicious girl next door (Kaley Cuoco). It's about as witty as a pocket protector. Read full review
20
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: Even if the jokes on this show weren’t tired and mean-spirited, it would be hard to care about any comedy that hates its own lead characters so much. Read full review
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