Big Bang Theory

Washington PostTom Shales

Big Bang is the funniest new sitcom of the season.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

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.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

It may not be a creative breakthrough, but it's lots funnier than the universal equation would predict.

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

A nice combination of brains and belly laughs and a solid addition to the CBS comedy block on Monday nights.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

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.

New York PostAdam Buckman

An otherwise promising CBS comedy series.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

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.

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

As far as junk like this goes, it's not heinous and has moments of OK-ness.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

"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.

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

The sporadically amusing Big Bang Theory needs some fancier moves.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

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.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

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.

VarietyBrian Lowry

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.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

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.

LA WeeklyRobert Abele

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.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

Standard setup? Sure. Standard execution? For the most part.

Entertainment WeeklyHenry Goldblatt

To call this a one-joke sitcom would be a stretch.

PopMattersTodd R. Ramlow

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.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

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."

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

A lame new sitcom.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

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.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

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.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

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.