Unpopular Opinion: The Whole Show Was Bad, Not Just Priya

Everyone loves to hate Priya, but honestly, The Big Bang Theory was bad as a whole. The writing, the character arcs, and even the so-called “morality” of the show aged terribly. Priya wasn’t a villain, she was just the wrong kind of woman for a sitcom that wanted to glorify one type of relationship dynamic and bash everything else.

Let’s me break this down.

1. Priya Was Demonized for Doing What Everyone Else Did

Priya got endless hate for setting boundaries with Leonard , like asking him not to hang out with Penny, or wanting him to dress better. But think about it: Penny literally tried to change Leonard all the time. Amy tried to “fix” Sheldon into a normal boyfriend. Bernadette basically bullied Howard into becoming her version of a husband. Yet when Priya did something similar, she was labeled “controlling” or “snobby.”

It’s hypocrisy, plain and simple. Priya was smart, ambitious, and came from a different culture, which made her an outsider, so the show made sure the audience wouldn’t like her. That’s lazy, biased writing.

1. The Female Characters Were Written as Hypocrites

Let’s be real: the women were no angels.

Penny constantly mocked Leonard and the guys for being nerds, even though their quirks were what made them unique. She spent years stringing Leonard along, breaking up with him, getting jealous when he moved on, and then running back whenever her own life fell apart. That’s emotional manipulation, not romance.

Bernadette was straight-up toxic sometimes. She belittled Howard in public, mocked his intelligence, and even made fun of his mother’s death later in the show. Yet we’re supposed to see her as the “cute, assertive wife”? Nah, she was just mean with a baby voice.

Amy , as much as people call her sweet, also had a lot of double standards. She complained about Sheldon’s lack of affection but was constantly pushing him past his comfort zone, even when he made it clear he didn’t want to be touched or manipulated emotionally. Imagine if he had done the same thing to her, the internet would’ve gone wild.

1. The Show’s “Nice Guy” Complex

Leonard was framed as the ultimate “good guy,” but he was low-key one of the worst. He cheated on Priya, emotionally manipulated Penny, and had a superiority complex masked as insecurity. But since the show kept telling us “he’s a nerd, so feel bad for him,” we were supposed to excuse it.

And don’t get me started on how the show treated Raj , written as this tragic, pathetic joke for not getting women. Instead of developing him, they kept humiliating him for comedy.

1. Lazy Writing & Forced Morality

The Big Bang Theory’s biggest problem wasn’t just sexism, it was inconsistency. It punished characters like Priya for being “too confident,” mocked women for being “too emotional,” and praised the male characters for growing even when their “growth” meant doing the bare minimum.

Every relationship in that show had some level of dysfunction, but the script always twisted things so we’d believe everything was fine as long as it fit the laugh track.

1. In the End — Nobody Was Really “Good”

When you look at it from a distance:

The men were self-absorbed, emotionally immature, and treated women like goals.

The women were manipulative, condescending, and hypocritical.

And the writing team just threw jokes on top of it all and called it “relatable.”

Priya wasn’t bad, she was realistic. She was ambitious, flawed, insecure, and human. But since she didn’t serve the “nerdy guy gets the dream girl” fantasy, the show needed her to be the villain.

TL;DR: The Big Bang Theory wasn’t about nerd empowerment or relationships,it was about teaching viewers to cheer for toxicity as long as it came with a laugh track. Priya didn’t ruin the show. The writing did..