Sheldon Cooper. Aspie, or offensive parody?

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My first impression was also that all the guys were aspies, with Sheldon being more severe. But I don't think so anymore, having watched more of the show. Raj, Howard and Leonard are just nerds, not aspies.

Those with historical knowledge of Hollywood might remember the concept of comical genius-nerds in Big-Bang is a 21st century TV rendition of the 80s movies "Revenge of the Nerds" but fast forwarded to move from when they were nerds in the school physics club to becoming Caltech and MIT professors.

Revenge of the Nerds was a gratuitous parody of young intellectuals caricatured with tight uncool clothes, buck teeth and braces. In Big Bang aside from Sheldon, the other three big bang nerds are relatively successful but just unlucky in love (except in later series when Leonard snares Penny). Sheldon seems happy with his life with or without female company but ends up with Amy from Caltech.

I asked a group of people I know (as a type of informal survey) if they associated any of the characters as Aspies. It's curious not one thought so. And come to think of it neither do I. I think this is just an exercise in confirmation bias, if you search these characters hard enough you will find odd behaviors that may resonate and the high intelligence bit is just an example of guilty by association not causation.

Raj and Howard come across as NT-geeks. Sheldon is an extreme OCD type. Leornard is probably the most NT of the four.

I have never watched this show, nor has it ever looked the slightest bit interesting to me, but I've just watched a "best of Sheldon" video on YT as a crash course. And...

So far I'm just seeing an eccentric science and comics buff. Where does the Aspie part come in? There are some surface differences but basically he talks and behaves like any old sitcom character. Do they actually refer to him as an Aspie? He's sort of an interesting character but I don't relate to him all that much.

These clips also remind me why I don't watch any current sitcoms: for lack of a better phrase, everyone is acting too hard, to the point that it's painfully obvious they are just actors who are standing around trying to out-quirk each other. It sets my teeth on edge.

I've only recently started watching that show but I have to say Sheldon Cooper acts EXACTLY like I did as a teenager/young adult. It's almost scary how similar he is to my younger self, even down to the hair! Only difference is that I wouldn't have such a large group of friends wanting to hang around me.

I'm not forgetting Amy, but I'm hesitant to call her autistic precisely because she's written as the "female Sheldon". She suffers from a lot of the same stereotyping Sheldon does.

When I say Bernadette comes across as the most autistic, I mean it's the most accurate portrayal, even if it's accidental.

Jumping in here. I have seen every episode of Big Bang and love the show. I personally didn't catch the AS undertones as much at the start of the series, but as it goes on they have some really emotional moment related to AS-like issues. For instance at the end of last season when (spoiler ahead) Penny and Leonard get engaged and several other things are going on as well, Sheldon has a moment of explaining why the changes are hard and that he just needs to go away for a while. Leonard wants to protect him to some degree and Penny encourages Sheldon to go because it is what he needs.

Honestly the social dynamics of the group are really complex behind the comedy. Very endearing under all the laughs.

As a side note, my father (who is very AS-ish himself) worked as an engineer for years in aerospace. He said that the relationships and conversations in that "nerdy" environment were very similar to the show. He said a lot of the engineers were of the same personality type as the men on the show. So at least in that respect it seems true to life.

We can not be watching the same show. It's a funny show but I see absolutely nothing endearing there.