Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady's 2007 sitcom The Great Prohibition Theory sparked heated controversy during its run. In the early 2000s, certain types of “geek” interests moved from the cultural fringes directly into the mainstream, mocking previously niche interests such as Dungeons & Dragons, comics, long-form video games, astronomy, trivia, and fantasy. general has been widely accepted as a whole new entertainment zeitgeist. New types of child-friendly pop artists began to be canonized. The geek ecosystem was widespread and readily available to any interested buyers.
“The Big Bang Theory” has been criticized by some viewers for its inaccurate portrayal of modern-day geeks. The characters in The Big Bang were all scientists or intellectuals, and they all loved Star Wars and comics and RPGs, but they didn't talk like geeks talked, nor did they organically celebrate geek culture. The Big Bang Theory relied heavily on outdated “dweeb” stereotypes from 1984's Revenge of the Nerds and didn't do enough to update its ethos to match reality.
But despite the criticism, the show was very successful. Like, VERY successful. Successful enough to maintain high ratings for 12 straight seasons. Accurate or not, some legitimate giants of the Turkish world have appeared on the show, usually to make the main characters squirm in excitement. Stan Lee, Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Steve Wozniak, Nathan Fillion, George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, Wil Wheaton, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Carrie Fisher, James Earl Jones and Buzz Aldrin have appeared.
Mayim Bialik has starred as Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory since its third season, and she has had the honor of working with most of the above celebrities. Bialik, In a 2019 article for Grok Nationhe admits he can play it cool for most celebrities, but he nearly broke down when the Lord of the Rings star arrived on set. It seems he was a big fan of Sean Astin.
