Ranking The Big Bang Theory's Main Characters

Hands down the worst written character in the series. Early seasons, he was a shy but loveable guy who is a nervous, mute wreck when women are around him and just wants to be loved, which made him the funniest character in the early seasons next to Sheldon. After he finally manages to overcome his muteness, he became an irritating, selfish, needy, and obnoxious creep with little to no redeeming qualities. The moment that completely crossed the line for me is when he became obsessed with Howard's girlfriend Bernadette and he was hoping that Howard would be rejected if he proposes to her. I mean, Howard is supposed to be Raj's best friend but it is an incredibly scummy thing to even think of. And his dating escapades after he got over his women problem, I always scrub through in each episode as they're not only annoying but boring.

Written as the straight-man of the group, Leonard in the earlier seasons played off as the most social and empathetic out of the group of nerds. As the show continues, the straight-man role slowly started to go to Howard while Leonard felt more and more side-tracked. His most prominent story line is his romance with Penny, which is in my opinion my least favourite romance out of the group. His attempts at wooing Penny comes across two things to me - borderline creepy and absolute douchebag, which is irritating because Penny is such an angel putting up with his shit. After his marriage to her, he does become mellower and his second storyline with his abusive mother has an incredibly satisfying payoff but going back to the first point, he pretty much gets drowned by Howard as the straight-man of the group

A recurring character in season 3 and a regular by season 4, Bernadette is the foil to Howard and the biggest catalyst in his overall character development. She ranks lowest out of the women for me as I feel she is the least interesting out of the three. While she is the most colourful with her high-pitch voice and chihuahua-like temperament (short but sweet and scary at the same time) and she and Howard are great together in a comedic and romantic sense, she only seems to have chemistry with Howard and her interactions with the other main characters isn't so memorable to me. On the other hand, when she is competitive or in a bad mood, it is one of the better comedies of the show.

Introduced at the end of season 3 and a regular beginning season 4, Amy is or was supposedly the female version of Sheldon, minus the love of nerd culture, with a fact-based, robotic speaking style and lack of social skills early on. With each season passing, she becomes much more sociable and eventually sheds the female Sheldon image as she hangs out more with the gang but still retains her awkward demeanour. In my opinion, along with Penny, she is probably the most down-to-earth and relatable character from the group and her romance with Sheldon is the most well-written in the series, with her putting up with Sheldon's antics while being on equal footing with him being one of the highlights of the series.

Depicted in the early seasons as an overconfident but creepy, perverted nerd, Howard is the definition of a character going 180 throughout the show. At first, he was my least favourite main character for just how misogynistic and down-right irritating he is but after meeting Bernadette, he drops all that immaturity, albeit slow and gradual, becomes a well-adjusted and downright loveable individual who, to me, pretty much took over the straight-man role from Leonard, and along with Penny and Sheldon, delivers the best jokes in the show. While he still retains his childish tendency and still does off-handed flirty jokes but towards his wife, he is a far-cry from how he started and it is a welcome development.

The "most normal" and "least intelligent" of the group, Penny is the most perfect foil you can have for a bunch of socially awkward nerds and in my opinion, the most likeable character in the group. While she lacks the educational smarts that the other characters have, her emotional intelligence and apt social skills make her a great counter to the group, especially Sheldon, and always deliver great jokes and snap backs. Even if she is self-centered at times, she is always caring towards her new nerd friends and is willing to assimilate herself into what they love, from Star Trek to video games. Although her romance with Leonard is the main focal point of her story - which I have mentioned previously that it is my least favourite romance - her friendship and sibling-like relationship with Sheldon is the absolute highlight of the show and their interaction is always the best plot in an episode as their two very polar opposite personalities blend perfectly with each other, and she also has great chemistry with the other main characters.

Well duh, of course Sheldon is number one. The character himself is just hilarious and he delivers the best jokes and one-liners in the entire series. He's not the breakout character for nothing. Depicted as the most intelligent of the group, he's also stubborn, egotistical, narcissistic, and incredibly childish with an almost endless vocabulary of factual-based insults and extreme quirks that never fails to push the group into near insanity but he does it in a way that it stems from his difficulty understanding social cues and lacking empathy, consistent traits of Asperger, which the showrunners and the cast don't fully acknowledge themselves. Even though he is hilariously irritating, there are numerous instances where he does care for his friends, especially Leonard, Penny and Amy, and it comes full circle in the series finale. Out of all the characters, it feels like Sheldon always has chemistry with the main cast, and his interactions with Amy and especially Penny are my favourite things about The Big Bang Theory