The One Big Bang Theory Moment That Made Everyone Cringe

Summary

• According to fans, the most cringe-worthy moment in TBBT history had to do with Howard.
• His actions could easily be considered illegal.

The Big Bang Theory remains one of the most iconic sitcoms ever created for television. Over the course of its twelve seasons, we have had the great joy to follow the private and sometimes professional lives of the geeky CalTech scientists and their friends from Pasadena, California. The show has become so embedded in the collective memory that many fans associate the term 'Big Bang' with the show instead of the physical theory on how the universe expanded.

During that time, Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland experimented not only with the format of the show, but also with the jokes. So the sense of humor, the nature of the jokes, and what was appropriate to joke about and what was not, actively changed over the course of 12 years. And unfortunately, when you look back at the early seasons of the show, there are times when you just want to erase your memory because of how cringe-worthy some of the scenes were.

But fans seem to agree on which moment in Big Bang's history was the most atrocious. Don't be surprised if you've forgotten it — maybe it's for the best.

Fans Regard This Scene as the Most Cringe-Worthy in TBBT History

Throughout the history of The Big Bang Theory, there have been a number of bad jokes or scenes that the show would have benefited from not having. However, there is one moment that fans unanimously agree the writers went too far with.

As we know, Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) was an unbelievable creep before he met Bernadette (Melissa Rauch). All of his conversations and jokes revolved around hookups and sex. Unfortunately, it wasn't all problematic and frankly inappropriate banter, as some behavior could easily be considered not only unethical, but even illegal.

For example, in the fourth episode of Season 4, titled 'The Hot Troll Deviation', Bernadette catches Howard having virtual sex with another World of Warcraft player. Howard then goes to Penny (Kaley Cuoco) to find out if Bernadette said anything about him.

However, Penny is very pissed off that Howard came to her. She reminds him of a time when he actively tried to seduce her and, most importantly, once gave her a teddy bear. What was wrong with that, you might ask? The fact that the toy had a webcam, which Howard used to stalk Penny in her apartment.

Although it was a split-second moment played as a simple joke, it was undoubtedly one of the most cringe-worthy and even disturbing moments in TBBT history. Howard committed an invasion of privacy and could easily have gone to jail if Penny had wanted to sue him.

However, The Show Had Many Other Horrible Moments

Alas, this is far from being the only moment that fans of the series mention as one of the most cringe-worthy.

For example, we can recall other events of Season 4 (yes, the writers really went for the crass humor back then). For example, in the episode 'Boyfriend Complexity', Leonard (Johnny Galecki) forces Penny to kiss him in front of her father and then makes her say 'I love you' even though they had already broken up. Or we could mention the episode 'The Roommate Transmogrification', in which the writers quite unnecessarily decided it would be funny if Raj (Kunal Nayyar) and Penny slept together.

And that's not to mention the many overtly racist and even ableist jokes. Luckily, even though there were enough ridiculous moments by the end of The Big Bang Theory, the writers did not try to rely on edgy humor anymore.