When a series runs for 12 seasons like The Big Bang Theory, it gains millions of viewers who love the show. There might be ups and downs with some of the character arcs or particular episodes, but it is nearly impossible for a show to run that long and not have consistent quality. Even the worst parts of the show can still be considered great by many critics and audience members.
While The Big Bang Theory began its run with a focus on the trio of Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Sheldon (Jim Parsons), and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) as their friendship developed, the show’s run expanded to include several more series regulars and recurring characters who all helped to expand the world of the main characters. The series also expanded beyond the premise of an aspiring actress with nothing in common with a pair of scientists becoming friends with them. Some of those expansions were well-received, while others were not, leading to some seasons being better than others.
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Average numbers of live viewers for The Big Bang Theory seasons are from The Nielsen Company’s gathered data.
Season 11 (2017-2018)
The Big Bang Theory Season 11 Averaged 18.63 Million Viewers
It’s important to understand that just because Season 11 is considered one of the worst seasons of The Big Bang Theory, it is not a bad season of television. The season averages some of the most live viewers the show has during its entire run. It was also nominated for three Emmys. Even shows that have strong critical acclaim, however, can have rough spots, and the season has the lowest-rated IMDb average, which is provided by audience rankings of the show.
The Big Bang Theory is at the peak of its popularity during the season, but it also appears to fall victim to something that happens with a lot of long-running television shows – spinning its story wheels to prolong the show’s story arcs. Much of Season 11 is devoted to planning the wedding between Sheldon and Amy (Mayim Bialik). While that provides plenty of fodder for comedy due to conflicts about the plan and planning fatigue for the couple, it also gets old to watch as it feels like the same story beats play out over and over again.
Season 8 (2014-2015)
The Big Bang Theory Season 8 Averaged 19.3 Million Viewers
When fans on Reddit discuss The Big Bang Theory, there is rarely consistent agreement on which season is the best or the worst. Season 8, however, is consistently ranked among the bottom half of the seasons for fans on social media. Like Season 11, it is not bad TV, but it does take a few missteps.
Season 8 has the bright spot of Sheldon and Amy exchanging “I love yous” for the first time in the show and demonstrates how a comedy can effectively deal with grief in the loss of Mrs. Wolowitz (Carol Ann Susi) It also, however, functions as less of an ensemble piece as so many of the characters end up with stories that are starkly separate from one another. Part of the appeal of the show is the chemistry among its ensemble, so separating them makes the show much less fun.
Season 8 of The Big Bang Theory also marks a turning point in the show, with a heavy focus on the careers of all the characters. While the careers have always been part of the show, thanks to the disparate nature of Penny auditioning for acting jobs and the other characters being in academia, placing so much focus on the career paths of seven different characters all at once helps to pull the show in too many directions. It’s a bit too scattered of a season.
Season 8 was nominated for six Emmys, winning one.
Season 9 (2015-2016)
The Big Bang Theory Season 9 Averaged 20.37 Million Viewers
Season 9 is actually the second most-watched season of the show. With so many more eyeballs on the show, however, also comes an increasing amount of scrutiny. Season 9 is one of the lowest-ranked seasons by critical and audience scores on various review aggregator sites like Rotten Tomatoes.
The biggest concern for Season 9, however, is its uneven tone. Though Season 8 had started incorporating more serious storylines into the show, Season 9 continues to pursue them. When it does, the tone of the season becomes a bit uneven as the writers struggle to balance their comedy with their drama. That balance is also marred by “the same tired jokes go\[ing] around in circles, according to the review from Globe And Mail.
While running gags can work in a sitcom, like new characters learning about Sheldon’s spot on the sofa or complaining about the broken elevator, the exact same set-ups and jokes get stale for fans. Season 9 did find some new life, however, in shifting focus from Leonard and Penny’s relationship to Sheldon and Amy’s and in allowing Raj to get more of a spotlight, which helps it to edge out Season 8.
Like Season 8, Season 9 was nominated for six Emmys, winning one.
Season 10 (2016-2017)
The Big Bang Theory Season 10 Averaged 18.99 Million
After Seasons 8 and 9 implemented more serious subjects and even darker moments for an uneven tone, Season 10 re-embraces the comedy roots of the show. It also works because it takes a few story risks that help the season to feel fresh again, even if it begins to move on from the earliest format of the show and leave some of us more nostalgic for the original seasons of the show.
In Season 10, Leonard and Sheldon no longer live together, which is a big break from what makes the show work so well in the early episodes. Despite it shaking up the dynamics a bit, the core ensemble remains intact, which is why it works. It provides the writers with new ways to introduce conflict to the group, with Leonard and Penny having a second marriage ceremony and Sheldon and Amy having a long-distance relationship for much of the season.
While the season does not offer a ton of progress on the other relationships (romantic or platonic), it does allow Amy and Sheldon to take a big leap forward. The two are easily the fan-favorites of the season, even if the season is not a fan-favorite as a whole. Sheldon realizing he wants to spend the rest of his life with Amy and proposing is able to work as both an emotional and comedic sequence in the show.
Critical reception to the season was much kinder while it was airing, and the show found new life, winning another Emmy as well.
Season 12 (2018-2019)
The Big Bang Theory Season 12 Averaged 17.44 Million Viewers
Viewership dropped marginally in the final season of The Big Bang Theory compared to the four seasons preceding it, but overall quality of the season improved. That’s likely because it’s made clear that the series is heading toward a conclusion for the story arcs in place. The season was officially announced as the series’ last a month before the season premiere, so the cast, writers, and fans knew ahead of time to expect closure for the characters.
The season very much gives us that as all of the relationships feel settled, and the comedy is sharp alongside the nostalgia. These elements combine to create a great overall feel for the final season, but there are a few sticking points in the show that do not sit well with viewers.
One of those sticking points is Penny fully embracing her role for a pharmaceutical company instead of following her acting dreams. Even with Season 11 seeing Penny offer to give Sheldon acting lessons at one point, the final season of the show sees Penny completely abandoning the dream she had her entire life. It also sees Penny announce her pregnancy, despite the character spending the entire series saying she does not want to be a parent.
The final season really seems to give Penny the short end of the stick even as it allows all of the relationships to end in good places.
The final season of The Big Bang Theory received three Emmy nominations.
Season 4 (2010-2011)
The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Averaged 13.4 Million Viewers
…the earlier seasons of The Big Bang Theory are the show’s best.
During the first few seasons of The Big Bang Theory’s run, the show slowly built up its audience. That means the show was averaging about four million viewers less than the final season in season 4, but that does not mean that the show was not as good. In fact, the earlier seasons of The Big Bang Theory are the show’s best. Part of that is a result of the comedy feeling new, the jokes not getting stale yet, and the dynamics between the characters being fun.
Season 4 sees the core dynamic between Leonard, Penny, and Sheldon established, but it also throws some wrenches into the storyline. The reason this season ranks lower than the first three seasons of the show is largely because of Priya (Aarti Mann), Raj’s sister, who begins dating Leonard this season. While it’s no fault of the actress, and it makes sense that the writers wanted to introduce new characters to widen the scope of the show, Priya does not feel like a good fit.
She could have better fleshed out Raj (Kunal Nayyar) as a character, but all the season gives Raj is how uncomfortable he is with his friend dating his sister – and the reveal of his crush on Bernadette (Melissa Rauch), which actually works better to flesh out new character dynamics.
In fact, Bernadette’s addition as a friend of Penny’s is one of the aspects that work best this season, as her character is better utilized. Bernadette adds a new dynamic to the group because of the closeness she develops with both Penny and Amy, and how her relationship with Howard (Simon Helberg) develops.
Season 4 was nominated for five Emmys, winning one for Jim Parsons as Sheldon.
Season 6 (2012-2013)
The Big Bang Theory Season 6 Averaged 19 Million Viewers
Season 6 struggled a little bit in terms of critical response and engaging long-time viewers. Despite that, it’s still one of the most-watched seasons of the show while it tried to find ways to keep the storylines fresh and entertaining for the audience.
Season 6 helped to bring in some of the best guest stars, like Bob Newhart as Professor Proton, and helped to flesh out some of the recurring characters in the show, like Stuart (Kevin Sussman). Stuart has become such a fan-favorite that he is set to get his own spinoff series called Stuart Fails To Save The Universe. Those expansions of the world are great to help provide more backstory and interesting character dynamics for the show.
Unfortunately, where the show falls flat is on the romantic relationships that are firmly established by this point in the show. Leonard and Penny, Howard and Bernadette, and even Sheldon and Amy all feel like they are repeating story beats in this season. Luckily, Raj and Stewart exploring single life helps to balance that out, and still keeps the energy up.
Season 6 was nominated for eight Emmys, winning three, including ones for both Jim Parsons and Bob Newhart.
Season 1 (2007-2008)
The Big Bang Theory Season 1 Averaged 8.4 Million Viewers
When fans look back at sitcoms, there is a tendency to have rose-colored glasses about the freshman season of a beloved series because that is their first experience with the characters, the running jokes, and the dynamics that will be present in the show. Not all sitcoms offer a great start. In fact, a lot of TV shows struggle to find their rhythm in the first season and improve with time. The Big Bang Theory did not so much struggle, as it had some growing pains in the first season.
The first season of the show establishes Penny, Leonard, and Sheldon as the leads of the series before the show grows into a larger ensemble format. Their dynamic provides the foundation for the conflicts between Penny as an aspiring actress who is not book-smart and a group of scientists who always think they know better than her. That is especially true of the dynamic between Penny and Sheldon, who would eventually grow to become one of the best friendships in the show.
The pacing of the show, and very quickly pushing Leonard and Penny toward one another, is what is most predominantly criticized about the first season. That is likely, however, down to the season being truncated at 17 episodes, a product of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. The show is able to correct that pacing and flesh out the story better in Seasons 2 and 3, proving it just needed a little room to grow.
Season 5 (2011-2012)
The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Averaged 15.9 Million Viewers
Season 5 is one of the few seasons to have a 100% rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics. It’s true that this season marks some of the best elements of the show as the new characters have helped to bring fresh dynamics and storylines to the show while still having the same fun and comedy of the first few seasons.
In Season 5, not only does Sheldon admit that he wants to try a relationship with Amy, but Penny and Leonard get back together, and Howard and Bernadette marry. At this point in the show, the different stages of these relationships help to keep the storytelling varied. The stories of Season 5 also bring some much-needed depth to many of the characters.
The friendship among Penny, Amy, and Bernadette gets more of a focus, allowing the three of them to have group stories outside of their love interests. It helps to flesh out each of the characters, and make Penny more than just the pretty girl across the hall who becomes Leonard’s love interest. Howard also becomes more than the sum of his quirks as his career takes him to space, providing some balance to the relationship storylines of the series.
Everything in the season works, but there are still a few seasons that are even better.
Season 5 was nominated for five Emmys.
Season 7 (2013-2014)
The Big Bang Theory Season 7 Averaged 20.4 Million Viewers
…it strikes the perfect balance of old and new\…
Season 7 is the most-watched season of The Big Bang Theory. It also holds a rare 100% from Rotten Tomatoes critics, though long-time fans of the show were a bit harder on it. Season 7, however is one of the best seasons of the show because, right in the middle of the series, it strikes the perfect balance of old and new, and allows the characters in the show to freak out about the changes in their lives just as the audience is wading through the changes to the show.
Of the storylines in the show, Season 7 feels the closest to the first three seasons. There is a better ensemble balance of those storylines, but there is also more of an allowance for actual situational comedy and hijinks instead of just zingy one-liners. Season seven also offers forward momentum for all of the couples in the show, including Raj’s romantic efforts, as he finally finds some happiness.
One of the highlights of the season is Sheldon having to adjust to all of the changes going on in his friends’ lives and his own relationship with Amy. He struggles with deviations from his own patterns and intimate connections, so he and Amy having their first kiss on a train during a date he has been making horrible for her is a huge step forward for his character and a welcome one for their relationship.
Season 7 earned seven Emmy nominations, which resulted in two wins, including one for Parsons.
