In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on September 9th, Jim Parsons discussed the characters making up the show, explaining, "Everyone is very sincere. There are not any hidden motives or agendas, nothing nefarious; everyone is just open to each other. They let Sheldon say some of the most off things in that openness that someone with a knowledge of how you should talk in social situations should not let themselves say... It's a pleasure to see someone put themselves out there and make a huge social gaffe. It's endearing, maybe not for the person doing it, but to observe." Added co-creator Chuck Lorre, "The comedy is in their inability to deal with everything that we take for granted," which co-creator Bill Prady used as an opportunity to compare those characters to real-life people he knows, including his father-in-law, a pediatric rheumatologist who wrote "the protocol for treating lupus in adolescents." Said Prady, "He has an unbelievable mind, but doesn't understand that discussing my wife's cycle at the Thanksgiving table is socially incorrect. I'll say, 'Graham, maybe that's not the kind of thing that's appropriate,' and he'll say, 'But it's a natural human function, just like eating, which we're doing here at this table.'"
On the 20th, Daily Variety reviewed the show: "The Big Bang Theory doesn't conjure up many big laughs, but its collidng elements do generat enough little ones to become another promising addition to CBS' Monday sitcome linup. Less Revenge of the Nerds than a grown-up Malcolm in the Middle, the series boasts appealing leads in Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons and actually builds jokes around the notion of being smart, albeit socially backward....As directed by James Burrows, there's a sweetness to Sheldon and Leonard's awkwardness, and given a samping of their friends, they might be the cool ones in the group. That said, there are some qualms surrounding how long the producers can mine the Leonard-Penny aspect of the show, a shallow vein if there ever was one. More promising is the interaction among the key duo and their Mensa-worth friends." We're happy to say that Variety was wrong about the former, and correct regarding the latter.
In USA Today's September 24th review, the paper opined, "The solid if well-worn setup is that of the 
beauty among the beasts, or in this case, geeks...Penny moves in next door and Leonard invites her over for lunch -- and the equation of their lives changes. If Bang is going to win you over, it will happen soon after that invitation, when Penny plots onto Sheldon's favorite spot on the couch. Everything that works best in Bang is right there: Cuocco's slighly confused, sweetly bemused response; Galecki's mix of longing and exasperation; and Parsons' fresh, show-stopping take on socially out-of-whack brilliance. As you'd hope for a show about smart people, Bang makes a host of smart decisions, including the introduction of two other characters who make Leonard seem suave in comparsion. It's also wise enough to turn much of the half-hour over to Parsons, who gets most of the best lines and makes them even better..."