A more specific framework for ana-lyzing female scientists emerges when drawing on studies across fiction genres.

While previous scholarship gener-ally considers audiences’ reactions to the representations of scientists and ex-perts within non-fiction programming, the scholarship on their representations in fiction programming garners a little more depth of inquiry.

Scientists of all types—doctors, fo-rensics experts, chemists, biologists, physicists, and others—appear regularly throughout television programming.

The Big Bang Theory offers a unique moment to explore the representations of female scientists within the situa-tion comedy

Starting with the third and fourth sea-sons, The Big Bang Theory introduced more regular female characters as love interests for the main characters.

UNLIKE SCIENCE FICTION AND POLICE PROCEDURALS,the situation comedy genre historically has offered few, if any, represen-tations of female scientists.

Bernadette’s and Amy’s scientific careers set them up as suitable partners for their accomplished boyfriends, but these careers become fodder for the developments of their relationships.

While both Bernadette and Amy pos-sess achievements as scientists as part of their characters, sharp contrasts appear in those representations.

Both Bernadette and Amy earn rec-ognition for their achievements in their fields.

While discussions of work become one way to show their professional roles, another way lies in showing these characters performing their professional roles in a work setting.

Amy’s discussions of her expertise and her work appear more frequently throughout the show.

Because Bernadette and Amy work as scientists, they both have the potential to contribute to the discussions among the friends about their own work and to share their own observations based on scientific inquiry.

The professional aspirations for fe-male characters thus become an oppor-tunity for ridicule within situation com-edies.

A professional role refers to a char-acter’s job or occupation outside the home.

Unlike other television genres, the situation comedy offers the opportunity to push the boundaries of these repre-sentations in terms of female scientists through their professional roles, their gender roles, and their intelligence.

A hegemonic tension operates throughout situation comedies and pro-vides a flexible boundary along which these tensions humorously play out.

Among all these studies, few focus on scientists generally and female scien-tists specifically in situation comedies.

A third theme centers on work-life balance, in that female scientists strug-gle to find equilibrium (Long et al. 359).