Into its fifth season, it's hardly a dark horse choice, but with as many changes it has undergone, The Big Bang Theory is now much more than it ever intended to be. Is that a good thing?

When it started, Big Bang was centered around four nerds: the primary Leonard and Sheldon, plus their friends Raj and Howard. They hang out at Leonard and Sheldon's to watch movies, play video games, and perform science experiments. All is nerdy until a hot girl moves in across the hall. As Penny the waitress and would-be actress is the outsider to this strange world and under normal circumstances, she would be the surrogate. In a twist that defies most story telling and popular TV trends, Sheldon explicitly tells her the truth that we all realize: Even though she's the outsider, the guys are the normal ones and she's the strange one. Of course, that's just subjective perspective, but let's follow the course of events as they are now.

The show has now become more broad in its scope, following the women in their events that do not include the men. The figurative straw comes in the form of Amy Farah Fowler, played by TV's Blossom (I only call her that because no one would recognize the name Dr. Mayim Bialik). While intended as a "mate" for Sheldon, she seeks female companionship through Penny and Bernadette, her first girlfriends ever. She definitely can be funny, with her research into simian neurology and academic trivia. But her prescence has given momentum to a devolving syndrome in TV I like to call "I don't care about any of this".

Now before I get accused of being a chauvinistic pig who is condemning the show for adding gender balance, it has nothing to do with women being on the show - it has to do with them taking away what is good about the show. The originality behind Big Bang is its science humor. Between Schrödinger's cat references and experiments gone wrong, the show's target audience likes it not because it's men doing science things, it's because there are science things. Big Bang's audience grew up watching Bill Nye the Science Guy make science fun and enjoyable, while teaching us complex concepts. While Big Bang is far from educational, it does offer some practical examples that you can do at home. I'm not against girls joining in on the science fun and I don't think anyone really is. But I draw the line at girls going, "Well, this is boring, let's go shop for pretty dresses." Maybe I lack the background that would make jokes about them being the "Three Menstruteers" funny, but it doesn't have the same comical effect as the slapstick (I could have chosen a better word) humor of phallic comedy. Howard getting his junk caught in a robot hand and double entendres about floppy drives are humor at the expense of male pride (or shame, may vary) and a part of our culture, peaking with America's Funniest Home Videos. Maybe that in itself is a double standard that women want equality with, but I'll go out on a limb and say it would be less funny.

If anyone wants to call me out for being anti-feminist/equality, let me blow your minds. What is Penny's last name? Five years into the show, we've added central female characters, and the first one still doesn't have a last name. Why? It's not my fault, and I want her to have last name because her having a last name is less controversial than not having one. Aside from the feminist consequences, the question frequently arises about Howard and Raj's supposed latent homosexual relationship. They regularly embrace each other intimately against their better judgment and characters call them out on it. Raj is overly effeminate and cannot talk to attractive women, while Howard allegedly overcompensates with machismo chauvinism. With Howard on deck to get married now, Raj has become the spinster and only character to not have anyone in their lives. His only way to combat his pathological shyness is to get drunk (or think he is), which is making him an alcoholic. Sheldon's mom recently pointed out what we're all thinking - it's usually the "other kind of Indians" that have a drinking problem. Of course, that's insensitive to Native Americans, but your single ethnic character on the show is an outcast with a chemical dependence. With a diminishing role of "nerd is th new cool", we're seeing more Friends-esque commentary and socially awkward situations.

Above all else, this is supposed to be a shipper series. We know Penny and Leonard are meant to be together and the world is just trying to keep them apart. Rather than completely review The Big Bang Theory as a whole, which would obviously be a project, I somehow focused on gender studies and character pollution. We literally have characters sitting on milk crates just to be in the same room together because they're in relationships. Obviously, they never intended to be in relationships (at least at the same time). Why have they not changed their lifestyle to accommodate more people? CBS has had so much success with this series that they bought a 3 season extension, guaranteed it will see its 7th season. By then, will Penny finally confess her undying love for Leonard? Will Sheldon and Amy grow a baby in a test tube? Will Howard kill himself from the pressure of marriage? Will Raj run for public office?

Big Bang Theory fans: To fit the show into literary tropes, Penny (the waitress) enters a culture foreign to her (the nerds). Because our culture would consider her "the normal one" and she is the outsider learning how to adapt, she is the audience surrogate. But as Sheldon points out, in a confirmation of the target audience, the nerds are "the normal" ones and she is the odd one. While Penny (with no last name) intermittently adapts to their way of life, the series demonstrates the nerds evolution to become more like her. Who is the surrogate in this case?