TV Underdogs: Looking at ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and Stuart once more

It feels like once a year at around this time, we start to find ourselves a little antsy when it comes to “The Big Bang Theory” and one of our favorite characters in Stuart Bloom. It’s never a bad sort of antsy — we love the guy. The sentiment comes mostly out of the fact that this is the tenth season, and after all of this time, we do inherently want to know more about him. He’s a mystery wrapped inside of comic books and insecurities, he’s got limited backstory, and he’s probably the biggest proto-geek on the show. What we mean by that is it’s beneficial to have many different characters at various stages of their lives; that adds different layers to the story, and it could be one of the reasons why Amy Sheldon are not married yet or why Leonard and Penny are not thinking about children. It’s also why Raj is single but dating, and while Stuart’s romantic life is rarely ever a subject at all.

Even on a meta level with this show, there’s a certain degree of mystery surrounding how often we are to see the character and when we’re going to see it. It’s so confusing as to when Kevin Sussman is a series regular for the role and when he’s not, and at this point, he really should be full-time. He’s past that threshold now where if he doesn’t turn up, you wonder where he’s gone and you miss him. He’s an essential part of the series.

One of our favorite Stuart moments was actually the hot tub scene from earlier this season, mostly in that it represented something very specific about the character in his desperate need to be a part of something, but society’s continued rejection of that said attempt. It’s a running joke on the show that he’s not acknowledged, he’s often not viewed as significant, and that he’s often forgotten at various social functions. Right now his role seems to be as a foil to Howard and Bernadette as a foil and a surrogate parent to their child Halley — there is comedy to be had here, but when is Stuart going to get something more of his own?

How to use him more – Given that this is a show with 22-24 episodes a season, isn’t there room to use at least one a season on the character? Let us see his family, more of his life away from the rest of group, and give us a sense of his own ambition. Obviously, a love interest would be a great way to start to understand him more, and to put him in a position where his passion for living off of Howard and Bernadette will be superseded by some sort of alternative division. This is a character in need of a kick in the pants to get him to that next level.

We do think that there will be a season 11 announced by the time we get around to this season’s finale, so there should not be that much of a sense of urgency when it comes to resolving this character’s story. Yet, at the same exact time you do need to start thinking of what the next move could be to get to bring about the endgame. Given everything that Stuart’s been through (which is actually rather depressing when you stop for a moment and think about it), you do realize that this is a guy deserving of happiness, potentially more than anyone. Starting to think of how he gets from point A to point B could make for an interesting story behold.

Also, we continue to stand by the story we told last year regarding a Stuart spin-off — this still could be a fun idea!

How do you want to see the Stuart character explored and expounded on “The Big Bang Theory” moving forward? Let us know with a comment, and head over to the link here to get some other news when it comes to the show. (Photo: CBS.)