CBS
The last few episodes of The Big Bang Theory have been teasing out the storyline of Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik), specifically Amy’s increasing impatience with her asexual boyfriend. While I realize that it’s pointless to expect anything like reality from a sitcom in which a guy who looks like Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) can land a full-tilt babe like Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch), it’s time to move this along: Sheldon and Amy should just have sex already.
To be fair, there’s something to be said for the general idea of a TV character who is in fact completely asexual; that’s not often discussed, either on television or in popular culture as a whole. (The comedian Paula Poundstone is the only pop culture figure I can think of who has publically self-identified as asexual.) But having given Sheldon Cooper the foil of Amy Farrah Fowler, the writing staff now needs to let that relationship grow. And further, having made Amy’s frustrated sexuality a major part of her character — including that phase where her same-sex crush on Penny (Kaley Cuoco) was bordering on stalkery sexual harrassment — that relationship needs to turn physical. There’s certainly humor to be found in that realm: what if, given Sheldon’s innate competitiveness, he embarks on a quest to become the greatest lover in the world?
Admittedly, part of this is generational: I’m at exactly the right age to think, “Dude, she’s Blossom. How could you not be into Blossom?”
