The first season was kind of muddled and not particularly good. The writers never gave Penny (Kaley Cuoco) that much to do and concentrated more on giving Sheldon the spotlight as the season progressed. Even Leonard and the rest of the geeks didn't seem that important anymore and I was surprised the powers that be gave this show another season.
But after watching the first three episodes of the second season, I'm glad they did. You can see how balanced the show now is between the Geeks and the Girl and some of the jokes, including the insular ones, are actually funny now. It's a great lead in to How I Met Your Mother.
Still bothers me that the laugh track bursts every 5 seconds when it doesn't need to be. American audiences, what can I say?