The Big Bang Theory review: brilliant company, terrible flatmates

Sheldon has a system

Jim Parsons makes Sheldon's absolute certainty very funny. The slightest change to his routine requires an explanation, preferably one he has approved in advance. His spot on the sofa isn't just somewhere he likes sitting. There are reasons. You will be hearing them.

Parsons is so precise with the long explanations that the language becomes part of the joke. Sheldon can be extraordinarily articulate while completely missing what the other person is trying to tell him. Then there's the little pause when a conversation refuses to go where he expected. Everyone else has understood the problem; he is still waiting for reality to correct itself.

He could easily become exhausting. Some of the pleasure comes from watching the others lose patience with him, but his delight in the things he loves matters too. Science, trains, games, a plan coming together exactly as intended: Parsons gives him a child's enthusiasm alongside that formidable intellect. There is someone to be fond of underneath the regulations.

The best science jokes work even if the technical detail passes you by. You don't need a physics degree to understand a bruised ego or an argument about who deserves the credit. Knowing the reference adds something; recognising the person doing the arguing is what makes it funny.

The people across the sofa

Johnny Galecki's Leonard has the unenviable job of negotiating with Sheldon while also trying to have a life. He's more approachable, but that doesn't make him entirely sensible. His eagerness to be liked can turn an ordinary conversation into an anxious little performance. Galecki catches that awkwardness without making Leonard impossible to root for.

Kaley Cuoco is just as important. Penny can puncture a grand scientific argument with a look, and Cuoco has excellent timing when she lets the others carry on just long enough to make fools of themselves. She doesn't have their qualifications, but she often understands the situation far better than they do.

I particularly like how much comedy the show gets from Penny and Sheldon together. She won't accept that every preference needs a supporting paper; he can't understand why she regards a perfectly clear rule as optional. Neither has to become the other for their scenes to work. Underneath the irritation, there's a warmth that stops it feeling like two people simply taking turns being unpleasant.

The flat and the landing become familiar territory surprisingly quickly. A takeaway, a knock at the door and the wrong person in the wrong chair can be enough. The cast make those small encounters feel busy.

Howard and Raj, a very small committee

Simon Helberg gives Howard a magnificent excess of confidence for a man with so little evidence that his approach is working. The clothes, the attempted charm and the elaborate self-presentation are funny before anybody answers him. Helberg can then undo the whole performance with a wounded expression.

Howard's an engineer among physicists, and the professional snobbery gives their arguments an extra edge. These are clever people who can behave like children over qualifications. Sheldon in particular has no intention of letting a distinction go unmentioned.

Kunal Nayyar's Raj brings a different kind of insecurity. His early difficulty speaking to women is the obvious running joke, but he's much more entertaining when his romantic hopes and his tendency to get carried away have room to emerge. There is a lot going on behind the silence.

Together, Howard and Raj can encourage each other's worst ideas with the solemnity of an expert panel. They squabble, compete and take offence at things that would barely register with anyone else. I enjoy how completely they can disappear into their own conversation while the rest of the room looks on. It feels like a friendship with its own slightly ridiculous language.

Amy and Bernadette make themselves at home

The group gets better with Amy and Bernadette in it. Neither is just another person standing nearby while the original cast deliver the jokes.

Mayim Bialik's Amy Farrah Fowler shares enough of Sheldon's seriousness to hold her own with him, but her eagerness for friendship takes her in a different direction. Bialik is very good at letting an extremely formal sentence betray a thoroughly ordinary wish to be included. Amy's enthusiasm for Penny can be wonderfully disproportionate.

Melissa Rauch gets a terrific contrast out of Bernadette Rostenkowski's sweet voice and formidable will. People underestimate her at their own risk. Rauch can make a perfectly pleasant delivery sound like the end of the discussion.

With Penny, Amy and Bernadette together, the show has another set of friendships to draw on. The conversations no longer have to start and finish with whatever the men are worrying about. Ambition, jealousy and the small irritations of spending too much time with other people give everyone something to do.

I like the affection between this cast. The teasing has a history behind it, and the quieter moments don't feel as though a different programme has briefly taken over. You can believe these people would choose to spend another evening together, despite having ample grounds to complain.

A dangerous time for visitors

The recurring cast can cause a remarkable amount of trouble in a short visit. Laurie Metcalf, as Sheldon's mother Mary, has the brisk authority of someone who has dealt with him for considerably longer than his friends have. Christine Baranski's Beverly Hofstadter brings a much chillier kind of parental attention to Leonard. Baranski can make a simple observation sound like the conclusion of an uncomfortable examination.

Then there's Kevin Sussman's Stuart, whose comic-book shop ought to make him a natural host for this crowd, if only hosting came a little more easily to him. Sussman gives his awkward exchanges a lovely defeated rhythm. At the opposite end of the confidence scale, John Ross Bowie's Barry Kripke is a colleague who knows how to get under Sheldon's skin and enjoys doing it.

Wil Wheaton, playing a fictionalised version of himself, fits this world particularly well. Sheldon's response to him has far more energy than the situation warrants, which is usually a promising start.

Not every joke is a winner. Some lean too heavily on a technical term or a familiar bit of awkwardness, and the pauses for audience laughter are conspicuous if this style of sitcom isn't your thing. I prefer the everyday clashes to the occasions when a famous guest becomes the main attraction. But the cast have such a good rhythm together that even a simple exchange can land beautifully. A look from Penny or the smallest change in Howard's expression will often do more than another line.