I can't remember the last time I watched a network TV show the night it first aired. I want to say it was Family Ties (who didn't want to be Alex P. Keeton?) or maybe the Wonder Years (because I, too, had a crush on Winnie Cooper).
I missed the Friend's phenomena. I was in college, and students would pack the Rec Hall lobbies in the fall to watch to see if Ross kissed Rachel.
I caught 24 and Firefly on DVD.
I take that back; I remember trying to keep up with NBC's ED because I wanted to see if Ed, played by Tom Cavanaugh, got to kiss his high school sweetheart, Carol Vessy, played by the still stunning Julie Bowman. I think once they canceled Ed, I swore off TV forever.
It wasn't till streaming services like Netflix and Hulu did I finally get into network TV. Then, I finally caught Monk, White Collar (two of my favorite shows), and Chuck.
I did get into the Rookie because I'm a big Nathan Fillion fan. And of course, there's Sherlock.
And there are shows I watch with my wife that she's into, that I'll secretly get hooked on, like the Gilmore Girls and Grey's Anatomy.
She did introduce me to Game of Thrones and Yellowstone.
I introduced her to Reacher. I'm a big fan of the novels I've read.
All this to say is that it took me a while to find The Big Bang Theory, one of the best television shows I've watched in a long time.
The Big Bang Theory started popping up in my YouTube recommendations, and I would watch snippets here and there. Finally, it showed up on HBO Max, and I thought I'd give it a shot.
And I love it.
The Sheldon character is brilliantly written. His arch going from a selfish, neurotic genius to a caring, selfless man, is something else. He's truly a tragic character.
What gets me some of the more tender moments of the show.
Like when Howard Wolowitz is launching into space and all his friends are there watching and holding hands after wishing Howard well.
Sheldon's "boldly go Howard Walowitz" got my eyes a little glassy.
And then there was when Wolowitz's mother passed away. Yeah, it took me a while to get to the next episode.
Last night I happened onto a video essay about the pilot of the Big Bang Theory that never aired.
The pilot, it turns out, was terrible, but the writers knew that they had something good and, instead of abandoning it, went back to work on it.
That hit me last night because sometimes, I think everything is either make or break or this is my one chance. Like everything hinges on this application, this cover letter, this photo, or this video.
But, like this essay showed me last night, maybe what you have to do is step back, especially if you believe you have something good going on.