the big bang poster child. and as usual i'm about 2 years late.

or,

part four of the occasional series in which Id points out the likelihood of a ASD diagnosis for a leading light of popular culture.

this weekend, whilst staving off a migraine and plundering my sky+ archives, i came across an episode of "the big bang theory" that my boyfriend recorded. i can't tell you how enthiusiastic he is about this programme, but it is usually part of his evening when i am taking one of my marathon baths with a margherita and a stephanie meyers book. i pressed play, with a limited throb of curiosity.

within five minutes, i was sitting bolt upright on the sofa, joyful tears of recognition streaming down my cheeks, made happier than i ever have been by a sitcom since rachel gave birth. if you haven't seen it, and god knows, as usual, i'm incredibly slow on the uptake, the show revolves around some physicists, at least 3 of which display aspergic behaviour, including sheldon. sheldon. oh my. sheldon. like at least three of my family members combined and covered in equation sprinkles, sheldon knocks all other spectral tv characterisation thus far into a cocked hat. spongebob? chloe off 24? watch and learn. he's like a definitive guide. i thought this was a given, but

Producer Chuck Lorre has denied that Sheldon is meant to be on the autism spectrum. But whether intended or not, the show's writers have been asked about Asperger's so often that they're clearly aware of its subtext when having a crowd of postdocs debate whether Superman jumps or flies.

"I just think of his actions as 'Sheldony.' Some things feel instinctively correct for his character," says Prady, who recalls one software colleague who couldn't go anywhere alone that he hadn't been to before. "He'd say, 'I can't go to 47th Street Photo by myself.' And it was maybe three blocks away. It was never questioned. Quirks were never challenged—they were simply accepted as a quality of the person."

"Are these things Asperger's?" he asks. "I don't know."

*splutters*

i can see a number of reasons why the show might want to distance themselves from the asperger's issue. issues to do with pr (not wanting to be seen "getting a laugh at the expense of someone with a disability" by the more reactionary media outlets, thereby potentially alienating a good section of the show's audience); but, maybe, more enlightenedly, a genuine empathy for the alternative "normal"s that enrich our communities and a reluctance to be part of the great big labelling machine. perhaps, though, unless the creator can truly plead ignorance, or rather naivety- and this is feasible given one of them has a computer programming background that he says informs much of the characterisation on the programme- the asperger's denial seems a little churlish.

however-

Asked point-blank in this video response on a Variety blog, though, actor Jim Parsons says that he was startled when fan questions led him to descriptions of Asperger's syndrome that perfectly matched the character he'd been hired to play. So does Sheldon have it?

"The writers say no, he doesn't. ..." Parson shrugs in his response, "[But] I can say that he couldn't display more facets of it."

*crushes*