Season Pass

It's official. The hypothesis offered by all the Season Pass contributors who gave two thumbs up to "The Big Bang Theory" has been upheld by America. Show's a hit.

It's not a "Friends" or "Everybody Loves Raymond"-size hit, at least not out of the box. But it has held up solidly in its six airings to date (last night averaging 8.9 million viewers and 3.6 rating/9 share in adults 18-49) and is ranking No. 2 in its time slot behind ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." "Big Bang" builds on its "How I Met Your Mother" lead-in -- probably not as much as CBS would like to see, but for a new show, anytime the numbers are going up rather than down, it's a victory.

Most of all, "Big Bang" is funny, with an ensemble (Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar) that is getting better by the episode. Gee, maybe there's hope for the multi-camera comedy format after all. Kudos to series co-creators and showrunners Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady and all the other hard-worker staffers on the Warner Bros. TV skein. Here's hoping that the course of human events and WGA-AMPTP negotiations don't conspire to shut them down any time soon.

--Cynthia Littleton

Theoretically, writers have plenty of time to put together a script for their pilot. They can tinker all they want, right up to the taping, so it should be a grand effort. There's no excuse for a lazy or poorly executed finished product.

It's episode No. 2 that often gives viewers a more accurate sense of the quality of the series, of what they're going to see for the next 21 episodes. And that's why I was so excited to see "The Big Bang Theory" hold up incredibly well creatively.

While the pilot made me laugh, there was little, if any, letdown last night. With the story by exec producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, and the teleplay by Robert Cohen and Dave Goetsch, the characters were delivering one zinger after another, and not necessarily the kind where you could see the jokes coming from a mile away.

Maybe more than any other new show, the casting is spot on. Johnny Galecki has been a pro since his "Roseanne" days but relative newcomer Jim Parsons has comedic timing that would seem virtually impossible to teach. Either you have it or you don't, and he's got it. Big time.

Their buddies — Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar — add just the right notes as well and 21-year-old Kaley Cuoco, who feels like a TV vet at this point after turns on "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" and "Charmed," plays ditzy with more charm than most actresses would.

Ratings held on strong in week two as well (read Rick Kissell's story here), which is a good sign this one will be here for awhile.

And don't forget to pause the Tivo and read Lorre's rants on the title cards at the very end of the show. Hilarious.

If these geeks are around for years to come, that's fine by me.

— Stuart Levine