avrilkiki

But is the laughter at those properties that MAKE them normals, or is it at those everyday abnormal things that particular normals have?

Honest question... i'm not sure

The nerds on TBBT really are real nerds. All of them. They are different flavors of nerd. Sheldon is the aspie pervert creep. Raj and Howard are creepy manchildren. Leonard is the low self-esteem self-conscious self-hating type.

The purpose of TBBT is not to entertain nerds, it's to acclimatize everyone else to the new normal where nerds hold a form of status. In 2013 nerds can be very rich, their fields can be very influential, and their intelligence can be useful to normals.

Normals, however, don't understand how to relate to nerds in a post-high school environment. Their previous social training has been to simply ostracize and bully. TBBT teaches normals a new way of relating to nerds: tolerate them, make friends with them, turn a blind eye to their social awkwardness and weirdness, and trade your cultural capital for the nerd's intellectual and financial capital.

Nerds can be useful to normals. Nerds can be good friends if you understand how to handle and bracket their awkwardness. They can even be good boyfriends if you understand how to handle them--Leonard can benefit Penny with his intelligence, devotion, and wealth even if he isn't cool.

TBBT isn't aimed at nerds, it's a primetime mainstream TV show.

The author is right that the public is laughing at the nerds not with them. However TBBT still represents a sea change in the public representation of nerds--now nerds are not to be ostracized, rather they are to be tolerated.