Sheldon, whose intelligence frequently becomes his excuse for his social awkwardness

Howard con-sistently expects her during their court-ship and engagement to take over roles his mother performed for him

Still, this bringing forward of intel-ligence as a character type into fiction television makes for an interesting break with cultural attitudes toward intelli-gence in the United States

Since Amy becomes a mirror to Sheldon, she must be intelligent, but her showings of this intelligence can be awkward. F

Intelligent charac-ters exhibit similar characteristics, such as possessing multiple degrees, spout-ing obscure facts, announcing their intellects, exhibiting social awkward-ness or aversion, and even overusing logic