“I did really enjoy the episode where Amy was sick. Her lassoing Sheldon into taking care of her goes to my point of Sheldon doing almost anything that is justified in the name of science or reason. In that case, she was sick enough that she needed to be bathed; she needed to have something rubbed on her bare chest; and by the end, she’d done so wrong that when Sheldon found out that she’d lied that she needed to be spanked. The young lady gets exactly what she wants by a young man who’s doing it for different reasons. It’s really brilliant.”
MAYIM BIALIK (Amy)
“The spanking episode. That was fun largely because it was supposed to be off-camera, and at the last minute, Chuck Lorre decided to film it. That was really fun and awkward, right in front of the audience letting it come alive.”
JOHNNY GALECKI (Leonard)
“Penny telling Leonard she loves him is pretty big. We didn’t play it as a watershed moment. It was played as if she’s always known this. It was touching. I also love the moment when Leonard says, ‘I know I propose a lot,’ and then promises that he won’t. It’s one of my favorite Leonard lines to say. To put his own desire aside and say, ‘You tell me when you’re ready, despite what I want in my life right now and with you right now.’ That’s unconditional, selfless love.”
KALEY CUOCO(Penny)
“When Penny said, ‘I love you’ to Leonard. It took her more than five years to say it. That’s why now you know with Penny that whatever she does is real. You know when she said it she truly meant it. That’s why now Leonard is OK with going away and knowing that they’re going to be OK. We did that in one take. Steve came out and said, ‘We’re really happy with that. Do you want to do it again?’ We didn’t want to; it felt perfectly right. I told Johnny: ‘It was so weird — I became Penny in that moment.’ There was no audience, just Leonard and Penny. It was a moment I’ll definitely never forget.”
KUNAL NAYYAR (Raj)
“I’ll always remember this season. This is the season where these guys are getting to the point in their lives now where their priorities are not, ‘Let’s have video game night.’ It’s, ‘I want love. I want a family. I want a relationship. I need a partner in my life.’ That is the season for me; watching them shift from, ‘Let’s buy a time machine,’ to, ‘Am I going to get married to this girl? Am I going to ever find love? Am I ever going to find a partner?'”
SIMON HELBERG (Howard)
“Sheldon and Amy deciding to get physical — but in the context of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s a really brilliantly constructed scene where they’re rolling the dice to figure out which article of armor, or clothing, comes off. It’s really an amazing moment and a microcosm of the show. It is the reality of these characters, yet it’s very universal. It’s real to them and what maybe is a small step to other people, is as big of a step to these characters as you can find.”
MELISSA RAUCH (Bernadette)
“The letter episode was so special. I really loved how they showed that aspect of Howard and Bernadette’s marriage. It showed the emotional component of marriage and how Howard was going through this really traumatic event, and they did it together. They’ve always done a good job of showing the love between Howard and Bernadette — even though they bicker and they don’t always see eye to eye at exactly the same time. I just loved how that was a dual effort of helping them come to Howard’s resolution and him talking it out with her.”
STEVE MOLARO “I can’t pick one.
Leonard and Penny saying, ‘I love you’
Raj’s speech in the comic book store about how they’re all a community, if they have each other
Sheldon making Amy his emergency contact
Howard coming back from space. Every character has had these incredible moments this season.
Raj standing in the hall convincing Lucy to go out with him because he swears he’s messed up in the head.
The end of the closet episode when they all tell Howard what might be in the letter and one of them is true.”
The Big Bang Theory and American Horror Story: Asylum are Most Nominated Programs.
BEST COMEDY SERIES • The Big Bang Theory – CBS
• Louie – FX
• The Middle – ABC
• New Girl – FOX
• Parks and Recreation – NBC
• Veep – HBO
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
• Don Cheadle (House of Lies) – Showtime
• Louis C.K. (Louie) – FX
• Jake Johnson (New Girl) – FOX • Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) – CBS
• Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) – NBC
• Jeremy Sisto (Suburgatory) – ABC
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
• Max Greenfield (New Girl) – FOX • Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) – CBS
• Alex Karpovsky (Girls) – HBO
• Adam Pally (Happy Endings) – ABC
• Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) – NBC
• Danny Pudi (Community) – NBC
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
• Carly Chaikin (Suburgatory) – ABC
• Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory) – CBS
• Sarah Hyland (Modern Family) – ABC • Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory) – CBS
• Eden Sher (The Middle) – ABC
• Casey Wilson (Happy Endings) – ABC
BEST GUEST PERFORMER IN A COMEDY SERIES
• Melissa Leo (Louie) – FX
• David Lynch (Louie) – FX • Bob Newhart (The Big Bang Theory) – CBS
• Patton Oswalt (Parks and Recreation) – NBC
• Molly Shannon (Enlightened) – HBO
• Patrick Wilson (Girls) – HBO
A new success for Leonard makes Sheldon very jealous and throws Penny for a loop. Meanwhile, Koothrappali pushes Lucy too far in their relationship, on the sixth season finale of The Big Bang Theory airing Thursday at 8/7c. On CBS.
When the girls’ trip to Vegas falls through, the guys invite them to play Dungeons & Dragons, causing Sheldon and Amy’s relationship to take an unexpected turn, on THE BIG BANG THEORY, Thursday, May 9th on the CBS.
Sheldon is complaining about never knowing how the AlphaTV ended since it was cancelled. He calls of the writer and doesn’t like how he would have resolved the finale.Leonard tries to get Penny as excited about Buffy the Vampire Slayer as he is. She envies how he can show passion for something and wishes they could find something they were both passionate about. Later, she realizes that she has all these great friends and is passionate about them. Amy tries to get Sheldon to stop having to finish things by starting various things and not letting him finish them. As she leaves, he tells her that she is the greatest girlfriend. Once she leaves, he says “Sucker” and then proceeds to finish everything that was started. Raj finds Lucy ‘s blog mentioning that he is somewhat feminine. Later, she explains that she thinks feminine is a good thing as it means he is kind, funny and compassionate.
The Big Bang Theory wins TV Guide Magazine’s Fan Favorites Awards with for Favorite Comedy, Ensemble and Actor (Jim Parsons).
“Well, hot damn!” says Parsons, who has spent the past six seasons as theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper on the smash CBS comedy. “I’m really touched, and I’m just so happy people like watching it. One of the fun things about playing him is, he makes a lot of mistakes and says a lot of inappropriate things, but he is able to get away with it because he’s coming from such an honest place.”
“I feel like I stepped into a big, lucky pot with this show,” Rauch says. “They were just all so lovely, and each one of them went out of their way to make me feel at home.”
And there might be an addition to the current ensemble: The May 2 episode hints at the possibility of a baby for Howard and Bernadette when the couple dog-sits for Raj. “That experience makes her wonder if they could actually be a family someday,” executive producer Steven Molaro teases. The episode also features an appearance by TV legend Bob Newhart. “Besides being such a comic genius, he is just the most positive energy to be around,” Parsons says. “He is an easy laugher and a ray of sunshine.”
“They let the writers know if it’s up to par, they let us know if our performances are on pitch and they give the crew a shot in the arm after a long week of work,” Galecki says. “They really are a tangible character on the stage for us. We trust them implicitly and really, truly couldn’t do the show without their guidance.”
The cast and creators behind CBS’ The Big Bang Theory used their platform at PaleyFest on Wednesday night to offer a peek behind the curtain of the ratings behemoth, answering trivia about the geeky comedy and offering a window into what goes on behind the scenes.
Who came up with Sheldon’s feel-good tune “Soft Kitty,” the origins of Jim Parsons’ alter-ego’s catchphrase “bazinga!” and who had a major problem with the Smurf makeup? Plus how many takes didKaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki need to nail Penny and Leonard’s historic “I love you”? Here are the 15 things you may not know about the series.
1. It took only one take for Cuoco and Galecki to film Penny professing her love for Leonard. “Kaley said to Johnny, ‘I don’t know about you but when we started the scene, the cameras and the live audience all went away and it was just us,’ ” new showrunnerSteve Molaro recalled, noting he told both actors that the shot was beautiful and he knew they’d never get anything better.
2. Co-star Melissa Rauch, whose spot-on Mrs. Wolowitz voice was again present (as it is every year at Comic-Con) isn’t the only impression she does on the show. Turns out Bernadette’s actual voice is based on her mother. “Only without the Jersey! Tonally, it’s very similar,” she said.
3. Kunal Nayyar has his fingers crossed for Lucy (Kate Micucci) and Raj but no matter what happens, he’s glad to see his character evolve. “It’s lovely to see him get to explore that side to himself, which as been amiss for so long,” he said. “We can joke and laugh but ultimately for him he really wants this. It’s fun to see him vulnerable and to drop false sense of bravado. I don’t know if he’ll succeed but it’s really sweet.”
4. When Sheldon punishes Amy (Mayim Bialik) with a spanking for faking illness in order to enjoy the ointment rub, it wasn’t in the original script and was supposed to be off-screen. Parsons shared that there were three jokes — a hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil string of monkey scenes — that were ultimately trimmed from the script one by one. “It was one of the hardest things we ever had to do because I found it tremendously amusing!” Parsons confessed, revealing that he had issues containing his laughter during production. “All week I was slapping that ass!” he joked. The bashful Bialik revealed that yep, her dairy aire was, indeed, red at the end of the taping. “There was some redness!” she confessed. Added Parsons of his willing co-star: “You have no idea how game this one is for that!”
5. Sheldon’s trademark “Bazinga!” originated with Molaro, who would set up playful practical jokes around the writers’ room, including putting together a grapefruit with tape. “I’d open it up and Steve would say, ‘Bazinga,’ ” executive producer Bill Prady recalled. “It was Steve’s word for ‘gotcha.’ ”
6. After featuring Leonard Nimoy and Stephen Hawking, the producers joked that their next dream guest star may be a bit too busy to make time for the CBS hit. “We’ve done some episodes about religion and science and we thought Pope Francis might be good!” Prady joked of Wednesday’s newly elected pope. “He’s probably too busy now!”
7. The cast really is musically inclined. Bialik learned how to play the harp after it was decided that it was Amy’s instrument of choice; and Parsons learned how to play the theremin, so when scenes call for them to play, they actually are. As for their skill levels, Parsons joked his inability brought him to tears. For his part, Galecki also plays the piano. Chimed in Cuoco: “And when Penny drinks, she’s really drinking!”
8. Cuoco’s sister, Bri, choreographed the cast’s surprise flash mob to “Call Me Maybe” — and it earned her a job on two of co-creator Chuck Lorre’s shows. Bri Cuoco played the woman who earns a marriage proposal in the background of Big Bang’s recent Valentine’s Day episode and choreographed a scene with 50 dancers on Two and a Half Men.
9. Origins of “Soft Kitty” revealed! After struggling to find the perfect song for neurotic Sheldon’s healing ritual, it was Prady who came up with the ditty. “It’s from my daughter’s preschool in Sherman Oaks,” he revealed. “It was from Australia and one of the teachers heard it there.”
10. After going as Smurfs for Halloween, Rauch shared the lengthy, painful — and humiliating — experience of having the blue makeup removed. Her regular makeup artist and two assistants were helping to remove the Smurf from her body using hot towels. “It was getting late and I’m starting to fall asleep … and I lifted my legs up to get the rest of the makeup off and heard the guy laugh and thought, ‘Oh, they’re just telling jokes’ and I looked in the mirror and thought, ‘What’s that?! Dear lord Jesus, that’s my business!’ I had totally exposed myself! I put my legs down and just said to them, ‘Long night!’ ” she said to laughs from the sold-out Saban Theatre. “That is the tale of my Smurfette!”
11. Lorre is the brains behind evil Wil Wheaton, but it was Star Trek fan Prady who had to make the call and break the news to the actor. “I didn’t know this guy and I had to call him and say, ‘So you’re playing yourself … but you’re a real dick!’ ” he said. “Will loved it.”
12. That wasn’t the only embarrassing conversation Prady had to have with a Star Trekalum. During a scene when Howard (Simon Helberg) has a dream about Katee Sackhoff, producers toyed with the idea of having George Takai do some voice work. “We wrote line of Howard saying, ‘I’m so confused,’ and thought it’d be really funny if George Takei said, ‘Confused? Perhaps I can help.’ ” Prady revealed. “How do I say to this guy that he’s a possible homosexual fantasy? Finally I said, ‘So you know you’re gay, right?!’ and he said, ‘That’s news I’ll tell my husband!’ “
13. Sheldon’s Meemaw (his maternal grandmother) could show up. “We’ve talked about it and I certainly wouldn’t rule it out,” Molaro said. “I don’t know how she’d feel about Amy.”
14. What has Helberg learned from playing the lovable but style-challenged Howard? “I’ve learned the smallest pants size I can squeeze into!” he joked of Howard’s colorful skinny jeans. As for his favorite belt buckle, it’s anything that isn’t sharp in the southern section that won’t stab him when he sits down. “Sitting down is painful!” he joked.
15. When a nerdy fan in the audience asked the cast for dating advice, Cuoco spoke from Leonard and Penny’s experience. “Keep knocking on your neighbor’s door because eventually she’s going to open it,” she said to Parsons’ immediate disapproval. “That’s terrible advice!” he deadpanned.
Howard struggles with whether or not he should open a letter from his father, and Leonard and Penny throw a “grown-up” cocktail party at the apartment.
The couples are getting for Valentines’ Day. Leonard, Penny, Howard and Bernadette are going to dinner. Sheldon and Amy are trying to get the perfect gifts for each other. Raj and Stuart are planning a singles only party at The Comic Book Store.
The couples are getting for Valentines’ Day. Leonard, Penny, Howard and Bernadette are going to dinner. Sheldon and Amy are trying to get the perfect gifts for each other. Raj and Stuart are planning a singles only party at The Comic Book Store.
With an average of 18 million viewers tuning in every Thursday night, The Big Bang Theory has become ratings gold for CBS.
Despite six years of continued success, the cast of TV’s #1 comedy tell ET they’re still trying to wrap their heads around the extreme popularity of their show.
“When we hit 10 million a couple of years ago, Kaley [Cuoco] hunted me down at the gym to tell me,” remembers Johnny Galecki with glee. “I was so excited. We thought that was the end-all, be-all.”
What’s the sitcom’s secret? Star Jim Parsons has a theory.
“[Syndication] exposed us multiple times a day on a couple of different networks,” speculates Parsons. “[It] will make you love us.”
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that co-star Simon Helberg is Big Bang‘s personal cheerleader in his free time.
“I hand out flyers over the weekend,” Helberg jokes. “I dress up as Spider-Man…with the spinning sign.”
Howards’s nerd hobby gets him into money troubles. Sheldon is forced to work with Kripke while in competition with Kripke, ends up spreading rumors about his sexual relationship with Amy. Howard and Raj get action figures of themselves that cost 1000$.
Jim Parsons 