The Big Bang Theory: 10 Problems It Faces Moving Forward

3. The Repetition Recurrence

The Big Bang Theory has yet to reach the point of reusing its older scripts (thanks for that low bar, Bewitched) but after nearly ten years and 231 episodes, it’s starting to run out of steam and repeat itself. Which isn’t good for a show that’s still going.

As of the end of Season 10, the show has used the plot point of “A character goes on a long journey, affecting the others” to round off a season for the fifth time, and elsewhere the show has started to grow its own pool of reused storylines. Sheldon having some kind of mental block in his work or home life, with comedic shenanigans as a result is a particularly common one.

With 48 episodes still to go, the show’s writing staff need to come up with around a hundred new storylines over the next two years. Luckily, with the tail end of Season 10 setting up some new directions for the characters, there’s room for some original material. But since we’re likely to move onto the show’s third engagement story this year, we could still be treading over old ground. In fact, we calling it now: someone’s going to be pregnant by the end of Season 11.