Principal Cast
A sweet, attractive young blond woman named Penny moves in across the hall from Drs. Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper. Leonard, seeking to impress her, volunteers to retrieve her television from her ex-boyfriend’s apartment, but returns empty-handed.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
The difference between the 2006 and 2007 pilots is night versus day. Whereas the former was permeated by darkness—in tone and appearance—the latter was suffused with optimism and light.
The principal difference is the transformation of the female lead, from bad girl to good: the bitchy Katie was replaced by Kaley’s Penny, who is easy on the eyes and, even more important, likable. Literally the girl next door, Penny is optimistic, good-hearted, and achingly vulnerable—a stark contrast to the street-smart and cynical Katie, who had a veneer of toughness to mask her vulnerabilities.
Penny, who is anxious to turn over a new leaf, is on her own, living in her own apartment, working a full-time job, and able to get by with a little help from her new friends. She is winsome and approachable, and it’s easy to see how Leonard is so easily smitten.
But the transformation of the female lead was not sufficient to substantially change the pilot from unsuccessful to successful; that required the transformation of another main character: Sheldon.
Sheldon undergoes two dramatic changes. First, though it’s not stated, it’s clear that he is not attracted to Penny, though we don’t yet know why; as the series unfolds, we learn that Sheldon is asexual; he’s simply disinterested in women. Second, Sheldon’s speech patterns subtly change. His diction is more controlled, finessed, replete with dramatic pauses and emphases. This suggests that, as with every other aspect of his life, Sheldon’s speech puts him apart from and above his peers. By thus distancing himself, Sheldon’s alien nature dramatizes his “stranger in a strange land” posture: he is of us, but he’s clearly not one of us.
The final significant change between the two pilots is discarding Gilda and adding two more male geeks, Howard Wolowitz and Rajesh Koothrappali. Howard is Jewish, lives with his mother, and has only a master’s from MIT, a fact that Sheldon enjoys pointing out repeatedly; Rajesh is an Indian American, lives alone, and has a doctorate.
These welcome changes—reinventing the female lead, fine-tuning Sheldon, and adding two more boys to the geek squad— struck all the right notes with the audience. The Big Bang Theory was now ready for prime time. But although the reactions from critics and fans were positive, not everyone agreed.
Perspectives
NPR’s Linda Holmes, on March 9, 2009: CBS’s The Big Bang Theory is an odd little show. The Fall 2007 pilot was so atrocious that I couldn’t wait for it to be over, but since then, I’ve gradually seen friends give in to it, to the point where it has many followers in common with How I Met Your Mother. There are two good comedic performances at its center from Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons as roommates and nerds Leonard and Sheldon—I am not a fan of Kaley Cuoco, who plays their obligatory hot neighbor, but two out of three really isn’t bad for a show that airs on the same night as Two and a Half Men.
On January 6, 2010: As I’ve mentioned, I truly despised the pilot of CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, which aired in the fall of 2007. I found it unfunny, obnoxious, stilted, and tired. But now, having been persuaded to try it again this fall—and intrigued by the fact that its audience was steadily growing, which very rarely happened—I’ve really come to love it. . . . Making Penny real has opened up all kinds of comedic possibilities that haven’t transformed it into life-changing art, but have made it into a very good half-hour sitcom, which is an enormous change from the pilot—which is still just as excruciating as it was the first time I saw it.
IGN.TV: The writing in this episode was some of the best we’ve seen in a standard sitcom in some time—it’s very smart. We’ll be the first to admit, however, that not everyone will love the show. Let’s face it, not everyone wants to see a sitcom about nerds playing World of Warcraft and Klingon Boggle. That being said, the pilot was a great start for the series. If the writing remains at the level seen in the pilot, we’re certain the show will continue to be worth watching. (Sept. 28, 2007)
FOURTEEN REASONS WE’RE MAD FOR THE BIG BANG THEORY
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
1. Jim Parsons’ body language and exquisitely delivered dialogue.
2. Simon Helberg’s comic delivery. Ka-pow!
3. Science advisor Dr. David Saltzberg getting the science right.
4. Sheldon’s colorful pop culture T-shirts. Go, Flash! Go, Justice League of America!
5. Howard’s idiosyncratic wardrobe and the alien pin he wears on the collar of his turtlenecks.
6. An inebriated Sheldon, who lets it all hang out. Literally.
7. The galaxy of guest stars: Summer Glau, Katee Sackhoff, George Smoot, Neil deGrasse Tyson, LeVar Burton, Bob Newhart, Bill Nye, Stephen Hawking, Ira Flatow, Stan Lee . . .
8. Wil Wheaton! First foe, then friend!
9. Penny’s great gal pals: Bernadette Rostenkowski and Amy Farrah Fowler.
10. Real-world astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael J. Massimino. They’re out of this world.
11. Star Trek over Star Wars. Intelligent science fiction over space fantasy. It’s a no-brainer.
12. Costumes. They’re never a drag.
13. Episode titles: Baffling brainteasers, conundrums for cogitation.
14. The superb supporting cast. As Kripke might ask, “Wheally?”