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Jonathan Storm | It's all geek to them when opposites attract

LH = 1/(v(lt) x n(pg)) x n(fj/t) - n(fc) Laughs at home equal one, divided by the volume of the laugh track (in decibels per second), times the number of phony guffaws in the laugh track, all multiplied by the number of flatulence jokes per sitcom unit of time, generally expressed as one-half hour, minus the number of funny commercials.

Just 21, Kaley Cuoco has had three years on"8 Simple Rules" to refine the art of the bimbo.
Just 21, Kaley Cuoco has had three years on"8 Simple Rules" to refine the art of the bimbo.Read moreROBERT VOETS / CBS ©2007

LH = 1/(v(lt) x n(pg)) x n(fj/t) - n(fc)

Laughs at home equal one, divided by the volume of the laugh track (in decibels per second), times the number of phony guffaws in the laugh track, all multiplied by the number of flatulence jokes per sitcom unit of time, generally expressed as one-half hour, minus the number of funny commercials.

This equation holds true even in elevators hurtling through space, but, following the theory of relativity, of course, will vary depending on the number of beers consumed by the observer.

And, as any scientist can see, it makes it very difficult for sitcoms with laugh tracks to get any real laughs at all.

The Big Bang Theory, premiering tonight at 8:30 on CBS, may revolutionize sitcom science. It may not be a creative breakthrough, but it's lots funnier than the universal equation would predict.

Given the premise - hot-bod Cheesecake Factory waitress moves in across from ultra-geek science geniuses - it's surprising that there's any humor at all. Though you might not know it from his Two and a Half Men, executive producer Chuck Lorre has a knack for humanizing life's outsiders. Remember Dharma and Greg?

She's just 21, but Kaley Cuoco had three years on 8 Simple Rules to refine the art of the bimbo. She's not down with Blossom's Mayim Bialik, who's finishing up her Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCLA, but she conveys a sweetness and normalcy that makes her character much more than a stick figure. Of course, she's much curvier than a stick figure, which is one reason she was hired for the job.

Neighbor Leonard (Roseanne's Johnny Galecki) takes notice and invites her over to lunch. Being as smart as Leonard (their combined IQ is 360), his roommate, Sheldon (little-known Jim Parsons) figures out what's going on, and cautions his friend against building up his expectations.

Leonard: "I'm a male, and she's a female."

Sheldon: "But not of the same species."

Sheldon and Leonard have two other geek friends who visit frequently, and regularly on Tuesdays, when they all play Klingon Boggle, which is just like the regular spelling game, but in the language of the scary Star Trek warriors.

There really is such a language, tlhIngan Hol, made up by a Berkeley linguist Ph.D. And all the crazy-looking and wacky-sounding science stuff in Big Bang Theory is vetted by an astrophysicist, the show's other executive producer, Bill Prady, swears.

"We know that the parody of the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation was a parody of the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation, and it made our consultant laugh," he told TV critics this summer at their annual L.A. convention.

Surprisingly, The Big Bang Theory may have the same effect on regular people, too.

Jonathan Storm |

Television

The Big Bang Theory

Tonight at 8:30, CBS3