Line #47 Trivia/TheBigBangTheory


1	* ActingForTwo: In-universe use. Creator/WilWheaton plays two roles in the (fictional) BMovie ''Serial Ape-ist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill''. One is a MadScientist who attempts to resurrect Penny's character from the original film by cloning her DNA. Bringing her back as a HalfHumanHybrid. The other is an orangutan that fights the Hybrid.
2	* ActorSharedBackground: A number of examples.
3	** Raj was originally going to be an American-born Indian until Nayyar (who was actually raised in UsefulNotes/{{India}}) was cast; the character became more "ethnic" in response.
4	** Creator/JimParsons is also from Texas like Sheldon is; although Parsons' accent doesn't come in very often with Sheldon, Sheldon's mother and sister have very thick drawls.
5	** Mayim Bialik, who plays neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler, has a [=PhD=] in neuroscience.
6	** Katie [=LeClerc=], who plays Raj's short-term deaf-mute girlfriend Emily, has Ménière's disease and is in fact hard of hearing.
7	* AdoredByTheNetwork:
8	** Given that it ran for twelve years, has syndication deals and concurrent cable syndication, you'd think it's required by law that some channel be running this show 24 hours a day.
9	** In Australia, the Creator/NineNetwork has this feeling toward the series; it usurped ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' as their go-to filler whenever there's a gap in the timetable, and between the main Nine channel and its spillover GO!, it's shown with incredible frequency.
10	** It's in constant looping on the UK's "E4" channel as well. Not just one loop either, but two. The loops are deliberately out of synch so that one might be in Season 3, while the other is still in Season 1.
11	** TNT Spain is also fond of the series, to the point it aired a marathon of each of the previous nine seasons right before the premiere of the tenth.
12	** In the U.S. it's replaced ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' as TBS's Tuesday night marathon show.
13	** Canada's CTV Comedy Channel has, as recently as 2020, broadcast marathons of The Big Bang Theory that have lasted for the entirety of the holiday season in December-early January, where the show is the only thing to be seen on the channel for as long as 17 straight days.
14	** The show VERY often plays on CTV despite it having ended, often used as filler for extra time after a movie or when they can't think of anything else to show.
15	* CareerResurrection: For Creator/MayimBialik. Bialik had been a fairly prominent child actress during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including playing the title character on the Creator/{{NBC}} sitcom ''Series/{{Blossom}}'' before largely retiring from on-screen acting for roughly a decade after ''Blossom'' was canceled to focus on her education - eventually earning a Ph.D in neuroscience - with her only significant credits in the interim being as a voice actress until appearing in an episode of ''Series/WhatNotToWear'' where Bialik would get a makeover and updated wardrobe. Bialik was then name-checked in an early episode of ''The Big Bang Theory'' before being cast as Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler, who eventually became the romantic interest of Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Bialik would parlay the success from her comeback role into playing the title character on Creator/{{FOX}} in the sitcom ''Series/CallMeKat'' as well as serving as one of the guest hosts of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' following the death of Creator/AlexTrebek[[note]]Bialik and the other guests would be passed over in favor of Mike Richards, who had recently taken over as executive producer, only for a series of controversies to lead to Richards resigning under pressure after taping just one week of shows[[/note]] while also being named the primary host of any future special episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' and[=/=]or any potential spinoffs[[note]]former Jeopardy record setting champion Ken Jennings - by this time a consulting producer and who had been the first guest host after Trebek died - would be named the alternate host in a rotation with Bialik[[/note]].
16	* CastTheExpert: When Amy Farrah Fowler was first introduced, the writers hadn't decided what her job was. It was finally decided that she would be a neurobiologist after the writers realized that Mayim Bialik actually held a Ph.D in neuroscience.
17	* CastTheRunnerUp: Bill Prady said that Kevin Sussman (Stuart) was a runner-up for the role of Howard.
18	* TheCastShowoff:
19	** Leonard has been shown playing the cello, Howard and Sheldon both play the piano. And they sing!
20	** Amy plays the harp and sings as well.
21	** Penny once gave Sheldon a drink that he didn't know was alcoholic, to give Jim Parsons an excuse to play the piano and sing in the Cheesecake Factory.
22	** Simon Helberg is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IGGKce81O0 brilliant impressionist]] and he's been given the opportunity to demonstrate it. Memorably, he does a Creator/StephenHawking impression in an episode where he later appeared AsHimself, with Helberg having to do the impression with Hawking on set watching him off camera, and "The Love Spell Potential" features Howard as the DM for a Dungeons & Dragons game, allowing him to show off excellent impressions of Creator/NicolasCage, Creator/AlPacino, and Creator/ChristopherWalken, along with other hilarious voices and sound effects (much to Sheldon's delight).
23	** Jim Parsons shows off his fantastic drumming skills on a pair of bongos in "The Werewolf Transformation".
24	* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: Carol Ann Susi, who played Debbie Wolowitz, died in November 2014. Her character died with her. In the episode "The Comic Book Store Regeneration", it is revealed that Mrs. Wolowitz died in her sleep while visiting relatives in Florida.
25	* ColbertBump: After [[Creator/GaryGygax Gary]] Con was brought up in "The Intimacy Acceleration", their website almost crashed, and there was a major surge in attendance.
26	* DawsonCasting:
27	** The four male protagonists of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' are all presumably meant to be around the same age, as at the start of the show they're all implied to be post-doctoral (or equivalent) researchers who are just beginning to get established in their careers. In one early episode Howard states that he's twenty-six, which seems about right, and was roughly the actor's age at the time. However, Johnny Galecki (Leonard) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon) are, respectively, six and eight years older than Simon Helberg (Howard) and Kunal Nayyar (Raj) despite being portrayed as Raj's contemporaries - and furthermore, Sheldon is revealed to have been accelerated through the education system from an early age, meaning that if anything he would probably be ''younger'' than other researchers at the same level, despite being played by the oldest actor. However, Howard is the only character whose exact age has ever been stated, so there is arguably some room for vagueness.
28	** In an inversion Penny was initially written to be a bit older, as she was with Kurt for 4 years, but by the second season was established to be Kaley's actual age of 22 at the time (she was actually 20 during half of season 1, and wasn't allowed to drink at the wrap parties).
29	** Sheldon was born around 1980 according to ''Series/YoungSheldon'' (season one takes place in 1989, when Sheldon was nine years old.) Creator/JimParsons was over 7 year older. In fact, Parsons would have been the same age as the high school students Sheldon went to high school with. It helped that Parsons [[OlderThanTheyLook looked a lot younger than his actual age]].
30	** Despite playing Sheldon's older brother George, Creator/JerryOConnell is actually a year ''younger'' than Jim Parsons.
31	* {{Defictionalization}}:
32	** The gang plays a card game called "Mystic Warlords of Ka'a". An actual card release is planned, and the game can currently be played on [[http://apps.facebook.com/mysticwarlords/?ref=ts Facebook]].
33	** The girls go to Disneyland and get Princess Makeovers, however while the service did exist it was only available for children as they did not want random adults to be mistaken as Disney employees in costume. Years later Disney World in Orlando would start offering "couture" Disney makeovers at the Ivy Trellis salon in the Grand Floridian hotel (so not quite in the park itself) offering makeovers based on Disney Princesses, villains, and even ''Star Wars'', ''Marvel'', and other Disney-owned movie characters.[[note]]That being said the makeovers are limited to hair and makeup, and adults would still not be allowed in the park if they attempted to enter in actual Disney Princess/Character cosplay[[/note]]
34	* DevelopmentGag: In the Season 3, special features the cast does a fortune cookie Q&A about their lives and favorite moments on the show, which looks to be ad libbed. Simon (Howard) makes a joke while reading a fortune cookie "Help, I'm trapped in a fortune cookie factory!" This same joke is referenced in the fourth season as a joke that Howard is always saying and trying to get a laugh from people.
35	* DiagnosisOfGod: Sheldon Cooper, a highly intelligent theoretical physicist who's also interested in typical geek stuff like comic books with his circle of friends, but he's socially unskilled and narcissistic to the point where he tends to annoy even them, has hypersensitive hearing (which he refers to as Vulcan hearing), eidetic memory, and has highly specific rules and tics he needs to follow, like certain hours for the bathroom or knocking three times. The creators have stated that Sheldon does not have any specific disorder; rather, they kept his disorder an Ambiguous Disorder due to the Rule of Funny, in that they can have him react any way they want him to in a given episode without being tied down to having to follow the behavior of a specific condition.
36	* DuelingShows:
37	** With Series/ModernFamily, as both are the most successful sitcoms of the 21st century. TBBT gets more viewers and a sizeable amount of critical fame, but is generally considered simpler and old-fashioned as a three camera show with a laugh track. ''Modern Family'', on the other hand, established a fresh take on the more modern {{mockumentary}} style and a critical darling regularly topping out the awards season.
38	** Also with ''Series/{{Community}}'' and ''Series/TheITCrowd'', due to the focus on geekdom.
39	* FakeNationality: Averted with Raj (Kunal Nayyar is British-born, but really was raised in India), but played straight with other members of the Koothrappali family who've appeared to date:
40	** British-Israeli Brian George and British actress Alice Amter play Indians.
41	** Aarti Mann (Raj's sister Priya) was born and raised in Pittsburgh.
42	* FocusGroupEnding: {{Inverted}}. The un-aired pilot features the character of Katie moving in with the main characters and taking the role of being Leonard's love interest. Test audiences hated Katie because she was [[UngratefulBastard thoughtlessly taking advantage of Leonard and Sheldon's hospitality]] [[note]]They first encountered her on the street crying after she'd been thrown out by her last boyfriend, and Leonard felt sorry for her and offered to buy her dinner. She asked if she could use their shower, invited them out for drinks and dancing, and then unilaterally declared she was moving in with them because they were nice guys who wouldn't treat her like her ex. The audience then wanted to defend the 'sweet, innocent nerds' from her wiles![[/note]], forcing the writers to completely retool the character into [[TheHeart Penny]], who as a neighbor would have a more natural means of interacting with the guys.
43	* HideYourPregnancy: Bernadette's second pregnancy was written into the show to accommodate Creator/MelissaRauch's own pregnancy. For {{flashback}}s in "The Bitcoin Entanglement" back to season three Bernadette was set behind the bar at the Cheesecake Factory as she was not supposed to be pregnant then (she was never shown working that station before, but amusingly a similar trick was used when Kaley broke her leg in the fourth season). It's a rather amusing example as the last two years of the show Rauch was fictionally pregnant and using a prop stomach, then after the character gave birth she got pregnant in real life and the character was written to have a second surprise pregnancy. Rauch would still use various prop stomachs to match the timeline of the show versus her actual progression, so even she isn't sure when she was using a prop or was just her.
44	* IronyAsSheIsCast: Larry Fowler is amazed by magic tricks to an almost childlike degree and can’t wrap is head around the illusion and sleight-of-hand. His actor is a famous stage magician.
45	* InMemoriam: The ninth episode in the eight series, ''The Septum Deviation'', incorporates homage to Carol Ann Susi (voice of Debbie Wolowitz) who sadly died during the screening of the new season. '''See [[http://www.ibtimes.com/big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-9-ends-touching-tribute-mrs-wolowitz-actress-carol-1723836 here]].'''
46	** Not in the episode itself, but a DeletedScene of "The Bow Tie Asymmetry" was released online the day after it aired, which dealt with Sheldon opening a wedding gift from Creator/StephenHawking, and after the scene paid tribute showing a cast/crew picture with Hawking when he visited the set.
47	* LifeImitatesArt: Johnny Galecki (Leonard) and Kaley Cuoco (Penny) actually did date for two years; they did so in secret and only revealed it after they had separated.
48	* MilestoneCelebration:
49	** The 100th episode, "The Recombination Hypothesis", in which Leonard decides he wants to get back together with Penny.
50	** The 200th episode, "The Celebration Experimentation", where Sheldon celebrates his birthday for the first time. Includes guest stars Creator/AdamWest and [[spoiler:Creator/StephenHawking]], and the return of Leslie Winkle after six seasons.
51	* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/MayimBialik's return to regular acting was partially motivated by the need for a steady paycheck and health insurance.
52	* TheOtherDarrin: Creator/KathyBates replaces Annie O'Donnell as Amy's mother for her daughter's wedding in "The Bow Tie Asymmetry".
53	* RealLifeRelative: In the 2013 Valentines Day episode Kaley Cuoco's sister [[Creator/BrianaCuoco Briana]] played an ex-friend of Penny's named Gretchen with whom an ex-boyfriend of cheated on her with.
54	* RealLifeWritesTheHairstyle:
55	** In Season 8, Penny has short hair because Creator/KaleyCuoco had cut hers short for the indie film ''Burning Bodhi''.
56	** Beforehand, Kaley was also getting annoyed at how long it took to do her hair before filming, which is why Penny wore hers up so many times in the previous two seasons, and she was happy to cut it thinking it would save time. Upon discovering that short hair required even more maintenance, she grew it out again.
57	* TheRedStapler: When Sheldon wears a T-shirt, people want it. The same goes for items like the periodic table shower curtain or the Cylon toaster.
58	* RomanceOnTheSet: Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco -- yes, Leonard and Penny. However, they kept it secret until after they broke up... which was around the time their characters first got together. (They kept it secret because of the work environment and remain friends.)
59	* ScullyBox: As is normal for exceptionally small actresses being paired against taller actors, Bernadette is almost never seen without some sort of lift in her shoes.
60	* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: When they decided to finally introduce Sheldon's brother George Jr., or "Georgie", in season eleven, they cast Creator/JerryOConnell, who looks much like an older Montana Jordan, who plays the character on ''Series/YoungSheldon.''
61	* SleeperHit: The show opened to mediocre reviews (some of which were very harsh) and this was after a highly disliked [[WhatCouldHaveBeen original pilot]]. But the show built up some steam and when it came back after the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2007 Writers Strike]] it managed to actually ''improve'' in quality, unlike a lot of other shows. The ratings gradually increased until they took a small hit moving from Mondays to Thursdays in the fourth season, but after a UsefulNotes/{{syndication}} deal they started breaking records as a scripted show, they are the first since ''Series/{{Friends}}'' to dethrone ratings giants like ''Series/AmericanIdol''.
62	* TechnicalAdvisor: Being a show about three extremely nerdy scientists (and an engineer), much attention was given to getting scientific jargon and such correct. All of the equations seen in the background are accurate and scientifically provable and written up by Dr. David Saltzberg, a professor of physics from UCLA, to make sure everything's scientifically accurate.
63	* ThoseTwoGuys: Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert pairing up for a while in Season 2; they played love interests and eventually husband and wife on ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' and dated in real-life (Gilbert admitted Galecki was her LastHetRomance).
64	* ThrowItIn:
65	** A noted aversion. The cast has said that they know almost as much about the nerd culture references as they do the {{technobabble}} -- AKA, nothing. Going off-script would be suicide.
66	** Melissa Rauch said that her vocal pitch for Bernadette was based on her mother's voice and thought it would fit the character, though she decided not to push it by including a New Jersey accent.
67	** In "The Boyfriend Complexity" Sheldon angrily tosses a large stack of loose papers in the air in frustration over hard work that was ultimately pointless. As the pages floated to the ground one managed to perch ''perfectly'' on his shoulder, and Parsons managed to stay in character long enough for that shot to remain in the final cut (trying to stare in anger at Galecki, he wasn't able to say his next lines without cracking up).
68	** The, somewhat infamous, spanking scene with Sheldon and Amy was not originally going to be on camera. The episode was supposed to have a RunningGag of hearing Sheldon taking care of Amy and having some InnocentInnuendo implied coming from the bathroom as the audience listens from the main room. As filming for the episode began the joke wasn't working the way they wanted it to and so they ended up actually showing the scene in front of the audience. The other cast members commented that they would emerge from their dressing rooms and were shocked.
69	** One episode featured the guys telling Penny about General Zod when Kunal ad-libbed "Good story," despite the fact that Raj can't talk to women. He immediately covered his mouth in shock, keeping the moment (roughly) in-character.
70	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
71	** The original (unaired) pilot for the series was quite different; Sheldon and Leonard were the only carry-overs.
72	*** The Penny role was a girl named Katie (played by Amanda Walsh), a {{hard drinking party girl}} who was recently homeless after being dumped by her married boyfriend. Leonard offered her a helping hand out of kindness, and she stayed with them mostly because she had nothing better on offer. She and the nerds would then have helped each other experience each other's lifestyles.
73	*** Leonard and Sheldon's only friend was a female co-worker named Gilda (Iris Bahr) who had a crush on Leonard, felt threatened by Katie's presence, and had once slept with Sheldon (who wasn't asexual). There was some ShipTease between Leonard and BOTH Katie and Gilda, with Gilda more overt in her plans for Leonard.
74	*** The set design was much darker with them living in a ''very'' run-down building, based more on the real-life grad student lifestyle they had researched.
75	*** Test audiences ''hated'' Katie but really liked Leonard and Sheldon, which gave them a rare opportunity to revise the concept with a second pilot. Many of the same jokes and lines of dialogue were reused in the first season, especially the introduction to the guys' white boards and their argument over the number of dimensions used. "In what universe does that work?" "All of them, that is the point."
76	** Creator/KaleyCuoco was considered for the original role of Katie, but was busy with other things at the time and it was felt the cynical character wasn't a good fit for her. When creating Penny they actually had Kaley in mind to reflect a much more bubbly and warm individual, to avoid the trappings of the Katie disaster.
77	** In 2019 Creator/NickKroll told ''New York'' magazine that he turned down the role of Howard because he'd have to move from New York to LA and the money didn't seem great.
78	** Raj was originally named Dave and was supposed to be American born, with the character being explored with a number of different Asian ethnicities, including Korean and Chinese.
79	** The show originated under two different concepts, one being Bill Prady's experience working with a group of eccentric computer programmers back in the [[TheEighties 1980s]] and another under the idea of a young woman entering the real world of finding a job and making new friends. Realizing the key to both shows was on the secondary cast providing some contrast they decided on their own JustForFun/XMeetsY and combined them. After that they decided to move the genius nerds away from computers and make them scientists instead, pushing them outside a comfort zone.
80	** Bill Prady originally stated that Penny's maiden name would eventually be revealed, but that never happened. The producers' original idea for her last name was Barrington, before they decided to never reveal it at all, so even that isn't canon.
81	** Creator/BrieLarson auditioned and screen-tested for an unspecified role, most likely Katie/Penny.
82	** The show was originally to be titled ''Lenny, Penny and Kenny''. Once it became ''The Big Bang Theory,'' Penny's name was (temporarily) changed to Katie because there was another Penny on the network at the time, Lenny would start going by his real name instead, Leonard, and Kenny would become Sheldon. When Katie was retooled, she got the name Penny back.
83	* WordOfSaintPaul: The conflict in "The Love Car Displacement" centered around Howard feeling inadequate after meeting Bernadette's ex-boyfriend Glenn, played by former basketball player Rick Fox. Humorously, Fox commented that, in his mind, Glenn was driven crazy seeing Bernadette with Howard and caused a lot of self-doubt along the lines of, "How am I losing to this guy?" The character was physically in one early scene and had a couple of offscreen lines towards the end, so there is really nothing to support or contradict it.
84	* WorkingTitle: ''Lenny, Penny, and Kenny''.
85	* WrittenInInfirmity: Averted. When Kaley Cuoco (Penny) fractured her leg at the beginning of season 4, Penny was absent for a few episodes and no reference was made to her not being around. Once she returned the writers decided that her character would have a new bartending assignment at the Cheesecake Factory and be shot from the waist up behind the bar. A VanityPlate was dedicated to new rules to ensure the safety of cast members, including any extreme activities (Kaley was injured while riding horses). This did result in Penny wearing fewer shorts and skirts, as Kaley got a fairly major scar from the whole thing. A scene in the first episode of season 5 shows Penny riding a horse, as an apparent in-joke.
86	** Mayim Bialik injured her hand in a car accident before filming for season 6. Similarly to Kaley, no mention was made and they simply filmed around the injury by hiding it via camera angles and scenery obstructions.
87	* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: The creators have commented that every season they started with simply the next page. Creator/ChuckLorre apparently has a motto that "This isn't ''Series/{{LOST}}''" and thus they keep everything at the moment and not holding out based on what they have planned. Although looking back it would be easy to believe they did plan out at least a season in advance, given the progression of Leonard and Penny's relationship in the first two seasons and how Howard started to mature in the second season which allows him to start a relationship with Bernadette in the third.
88	* YouLookFamiliar:
89	** Creator/LanceBarber played Jimmy Speckerman, a high school bully of Leonard's in season five. Barber was later cast as George Cooper Sr, Sheldon's dad, in ''Series/YoungSheldon'' and makes a couple cameo appearances in the parent show via videotapes (since George Sr is dead at this point).
90	** Molly Morgan played Bethany in "The Gothowitz Deviation" in season three, then later was the hostess for an escape room in "The Intimacy Acceleration." Since her name was not given in the later episode and the earlier episode may have been a pseudonym, it ''may'' be the same character.

Context Trivia / TheBigBangTheory