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The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers. The show premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007. The eighth season premiered on September 22, 2014.

The show is primarily centered on five characters living in Pasadena, California: Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, both physicists at Caltech, who share an apartment; Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who later becomes a pharmaceutical representative, and who lives across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon's equally geeky and socially awkward friends and co-workers, aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali. Geekiness and intellect of the four guys is contrasted for comic effect with Penny's social skills and common sense.

Over time, supporting characters have been promoted to starring roles: Bernadette Rostenkowski, Howard's girlfriend (later his wife), a microbiologist and former part-time waitress alongside Penny; neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler, who joins the group after being matched to Sheldon on a dating website (and later becomes Sheldon's girlfriend); and Stuart Bloom, the cash-strapped owner of the comic book store the characters often visit, who, in season 8, moves in with Howard's mother.

Production

The show's initial pilot, developed for the 2006–07 television season, was substantially different from its current form. The only characters from the initial pilot that were kept for the reshot pilot for the series were Leonard and Sheldon (portrayed by Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons, respectively, and named after Sheldon Leonard). Althea (Vernee Watson), a character featured in the first episode, was also featured in the initial pilot and brought to the reshot pilot. The cast was rounded off by two female leads: Canadian actress Amanda Walsh as Katie, "a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior" whom the boys meet after she breaks up with her boyfriend and invite to live in their apartment (Katie was replaced by Penny, portrayed by Kaley Cuoco, in the second pilot); and Iris Bahr as Gilda, a scientist colleague and friend of the boys who was threatened by Katie's presence. The initial pilot used Thomas Dolby's hit "She Blinded Me with Science" as theme music. The test audiences reacted negatively to Katie, but they liked Sheldon and Leonard.

The series was not picked up, but the creators were given an opportunity to retool the show and produce a second pilot. They brought in the remaining cast and retooled the show to its final format. The original unaired pilot has never been officially released, but it has circulated on the Internet. On the evolution of the show, Chuck Lorre said, "We did the 'Big Bang Pilot' about two and a half years ago, and it sucked... but there were two remarkable things that worked perfectly, and that was Johnny and Jim. We rewrote the thing entirely, and then we were blessed with Kaley and Simon and Kunal." As to whether the world will ever see that original pilot, maybe on a future DVD release, Lorre said, "Wow, that would be something, we will see. Show your failures..."

The first and second pilots of The Big Bang Theory were directed by James Burrows, who did not continue with the show. The reworked second pilot led to a 13-episode order by CBS on May 14, 2007. Prior to its airing on CBS, the pilot episode was distributed on iTunes free of charge. The show premiered on September 24, 2007, and was picked up for a full 22-episode season on October 19, 2007. The show is filmed in front of a live audience, and is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions. Production was halted on November 6, 2007, due to the Writers Guild of America strike. Nearly three months later, on February 4, 2008, the series was temporarily replaced by a short-lived sitcom, Welcome to the Captain. The series returned on March 17, 2008 in an earlier time slot and ultimately only 17 episodes were produced for the first season. After the strike ended, the show was picked up for a second season airing in the 2008–2009 season, premiering in the same time slot on September 22, 2008. With increasing ratings, the show received a two-year renewal through the 2010–11 season in 2009. In 2011, the show was picked up for three more seasons. In March 2014, the show was renewed again for three more years through the 2016–17 season. This marks the second time the series has gained a three-year renewal.

David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, checks scripts and provides dialogue, mathematics equations, and diagrams used as props. According to executive producer/co-creator Bill Prady, "We're working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he's going to be working on throughout the season so there's actual progress to the boards ... We worked hard to get all the science right."

Several of the actors in The Big Bang Theory previously worked together on Roseanne including Johnny Galecki, Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf (who plays Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper) and Meagen Fay (who plays Bernadette's mother). Additionally, Lorre was a writer on the series for several seasons.

Theme song

The Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies wrote and recorded the show's theme song, which describes the history and formation of the universe and the Earth. Ed Robertson, lead singer and guitarist in the band, was asked by Lorre and Prady to write a theme song for the show after the producers attended one of the band's concerts in Los Angeles. By coincidence, Robertson had recently read Simon Singh's book Big Bang, and at the concert, he improvised a freestyle rap about the origins of the universe. Lorre and Prady phoned Robertson shortly thereafter and asked him to write the theme song. Having been asked to write songs for other films and shows only to have them rejected in favor of other artists' songs, Robertson agreed to write the theme only after learning that Lorre and Prady had not asked anyone else.

On October 9, 2007, a full-length (1 minute and 45 seconds) version of the song was released commercially. Although some sources identify the song title as "History of Everything", the cover art for the single identifies the title as Big Bang Theory Theme. A music video was also released via special features on The Complete Fourth Season DVD and Blu-ray set. The theme was included on the band's greatest hits album, Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before, which was released on September 27, 2011.

Actors' salaries

For the first three seasons, Galecki, Parsons, and Cuoco, the three main stars of the show, received at most $60,000 per episode. The salary for the three went up to $200,000 per episode for the fourth season. Their per-episode pay went up an additional $50,000 in each of the following three seasons, culminating in $350,000 per episode in the seventh season. By season seven, the three were also receiving 0.25 point of the series' backend money. Before production began on the eighth season, the five main stars looked to renegotiate new contracts, with Galecki, Parsons, and Cuoco seeking around $1 million per episode, as well as more backend money. Contracts were signed at the beginning of August 2014, giving the three principal actors an estimated $1 million per episode for three years, with the possibility to extend for a fourth year. The deals also include larger pieces of the show, signing bonuses, production deals and advances towards the back-end.

In September 2013, Bialik and Rauch renegotiated the contracts they held since they were introduced to the series in 2010. On their old contracts, each was making $20,000–$30,000 per episode, while the new contracts doubled that, beginning at $60,000 per episode, increasing steadily to $100,000 per episode by the end of the contract, as well as adding another year for both.

In August 2014, Helberg and Nayyar renegotiated their contracts, giving them a per-episode pay in the "mid six-figure range", up from around $100,000 per episode they each received in years prior. The duo, who were looking to have salary parity with Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco, signed their contracts after the studio and producers threatened to write the characters out of the series if a deal could not be reached before the start of production on season 8.

Main cast

These actors are credited in all episodes of the series:

• Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, PhD – An experimental physicist with an IQ of 173, he received his PhD when he was 24 years old. His mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter (Christine Baranski), is a neuroscientist and psychiatrist who provided little, if any, nurturing when Leonard was growing up. Like all of the other major male characters, he is a nerd who loves video games, comic books and Dungeons & Dragons. Leonard is also lactose intolerant. The straight man of the series, he shares an apartment in Pasadena with Sheldon. Leonard is smitten with his neighbor Penny when they first meet. They briefly date at the end of season 1 and the start of season 2 and in season 3, they begin an on-again, off-again romantic relationship. Leonard also briefly dates Leslie and Dr. Stephanie Barnett (Sara Rue) in season 2, and in season 4, he becomes seriously involved with Raj's sister Priya (Aarti Mann), a successful lawyer, but she eventually returns to India and they break up in season 5 when she admits to cheating on him. In season 5, he and Penny get back together, and at the end of season 7, he proposes and she accepts.
• Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, M.A., M.S, Ph.D., Sc.D., B.S.  – Originally from Galveston, Texas, he was a child prodigy with an eidetic memory who began college at the age of 11 (after completing the fifth grade), started graduate studies at 14, and earned a PhD at 16. A theoretical physicist researching quantum mechanics and string theory, he has two master's degrees, a PhD, and an Sc.D. However, despite his IQ of 187, he finds many routine aspects of social situations and life in general difficult to understand and navigate. His father died when he was 14, and his mother, Mary (Laurie Metcalf) is a devout Christian. He also has a twin sister, Missy (Courtney Henggeler), who later has a baby in season 7. He has a poor grasp of other people's feelings and little or no understanding of nuances, often questioning others if a comment is intended as sarcasm. As a result, he is extremely tactless and acts wildly inappropriately much of the time. He is determined to have his own way, boasts of his superior intelligence and belittles the accomplishments of his friends, making him appear petty and childlike. Sheldon has an extremely ritualized way of living (e.g. sitting in the same spot on the sofa in the apartment or knocking on a door three times, each time saying the name of the person he's addressing) and a compulsion to complete things. He is also wary of germs and dislikes physical contact. Despite all these quirks, in season 4, he begins a relationship with Amy, who eventually becomes his girlfriend during season 5. In season 8, Sheldon tells Amy that he loves her.
• Kaley Cuoco as Penny – An aspiring actress from a town outside of Omaha, Nebraska, Penny lives across the hall from Sheldon and Leonard. She attends casting calls and auditions, but is not very successful. To pay the bills, she is a waitress and occasional bartender at The Cheesecake Factory. Penny quits her job in season 7 and at the start of season 8 becomes a pharmaceutical representative at Bernadette's company after having given up hope of becoming a successful actress; she appreciates the financial independence the new job gives her. Penny attended, but did not graduate from a community college (she goes back to school in season 6), but has far more common sense and social awareness than the other main characters. Penny is also very untidy and frequently drinks alcohol. To date, her surname has not been revealed. She dates Leonard at the end of season 1 and the start of season 2, and in season 3, they begin an on-again, off-again romantic relationship. At the end of season 7, she accepts Leonard's proposal of marriage (after having proposed to him earlier in the season while intoxicated). Aside from Leonard, Penny has dated various men over the course of the series, which is at times brought up by Sheldon. She briefly dated Stuart in season 2, and in seasons 3 and 4 dated Zack Johnson (Brian Thomas Smith), a handsome and friendly but dim-witted guy, who she married in Las Vegas (they didn't think weddings in Las Vegas were real). In season 4, Penny, Bernadette and Amy form their own group, where they hang out in each other's apartments or go out together. Penny also has a very close friendship with Sheldon, despite his quirks. Cuoco began being credited as Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting starting with the season 7 episode "The Convention Conundrum", following her marriage to tennis player Ryan Sweeting.
• Simon Helberg as Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. – An aerospace engineer, Howard is Jewish (although not religious) and lived with his mother Debbie (Carol Ann Susi) until her death. His father left both of them when he was 11 and has not heard from him since, with the exception of a letter on his eighteenth birthday, which he refused to open. Unlike Sheldon, Leonard and Raj, Howard lacks a PhD, earning him Sheldon's scorn. He defends this by pointing out that he has a master's degree in engineering from the elite MIT and that the apparatus he designs are launched into space, unlike the purely abstract work of his friends. He himself goes into space at the end of season 5, training as an astronaut and serving as a payload specialist on the International Space Station, although he often annoys his friends by constantly talking about space. He has a marked sense of humor, which Leonard and Raj occasionally appreciate. In the early seasons of the show, Howard fancies himself a ladies' man and devises outrageous pick-up lines (mainly with Penny), which have limited success with women. In season 3 he starts dating Bernadette, and although they later break up off-screen, they get back together and later get engaged in season 4 and get married at the end of season 5. In season 6, Howard finally moves out of his mother's house and into Bernadette's apartment. Howard also has a tendency to waste money on ridiculous things and often argues with Bernadette over money due to his oddly low income as an engineer and her high income, resulting in Bernadette often giving Howard allowances.
• Kunal Nayyar as Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, PhD – From New Delhi, India, he works as a particle astrophysicist at Caltech. His family is very wealthy (Sheldon describes them as "Richie Rich rich"). Over the course of the series he communicates with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. V.M. Koothrappali (Brian George and Alice Amter), via webcam (they later divorce in season 8). He is very shy around women and is unable to talk to them for the first six seasons (except for his mother and his sister), unless he drinks alcohol (or at least thinks he has drunk it) or takes an experimental medication. Unfortunately, the former gives him an outrageous, unpredictable personality, while the latter causes unforeseen side effects. Even so, he often has better luck with women than his overly confident best friend, Howard. Raj also has very feminine tastes and often takes on a stereotypical female role in his close friendship with Howard, but he insists that he is not gay. In season 4, his sister Priya stays with him and becomes Leonard's girlfriend (much to Raj's annoyance). In season 6, Raj meets Lucy (Kate Micucci), who also has social anxiety, and they begin a relationship. However, Lucy ends the relationship, as she feels too pressured when he wants her to meet his friends. Afterwards, a heartbroken Raj finally speaks to Penny without having consumed alcohol and overcomes his selective mutism. In season 7, he begins dating Emily Sweeney (Laura Spencer), a dermatologist, and their relationship later becomes exclusive. Raj also has a Yorkshire Terrier called Cinnamon, and the gang often joke about how unusually close he is with his dog.

These actors were first credited as guest stars and later promoted to main cast:

• Sara Gilbert as Leslie Winkle, PhD (recurring season 1, starring season 2, guest star season 3) – a physicist who works in the same lab as Leonard. In appearance, she is essentially Leonard's female counterpart, wearing black-framed glasses and sweat jackets. She is an enemy of Sheldon's, due to their conflicting scientific theories. Though each considers the other to be intellectually inferior, Leslie is much wittier than Sheldon, regularly calls him "dumbass", and usually bests him in their repartee. Leslie has casual sex with Leonard and later Howard. Gilbert and Galecki played the on-screen couple of Darlene Connor and David Healy in Roseanne. Gilbert was promoted to a main cast member during the second season, but was demoted back to guest star status because producers could not come up with enough material for the character. Gilbert left the series after season 3 to focus her efforts on The Talk, on which she serves as executive producer for CBS.
• Melissa Rauch as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, PhD (recurring season 3, starring since season 4) – a young woman with a very high-pitched voice who is initially a waitress co-worker of Penny's, paying her way through graduate school, studying microbiology. Bernadette is of Polish origin and was raised in a Catholic household. Her father Mike (Casey Sander) is a toughened retired police officer and she has four other siblings. Bernadette is introduced to Howard by Penny as a result of an agreement between Howard and Leonard that if either ever ended up with a hot girlfriend, he would get the girlfriend to introduce the other to "a hot chick". At first, they do not get along, apparently having nothing in common, until they find out that they both have overbearing mothers. During season 3, they date and then break up off-screen. They get back together and get engaged in season 4 and marry at the end of season 5. After successfully defending her doctoral thesis, she lands a high-paying research position at the end of season 4 (her high income becomes a source of conflict between her and Howard in later seasons). Although generally a sweet and good natured person, Bernadette has a very short temper and can be vindictive and lash out when provoked, often sounding like Howard's mother, and intimidating her colleagues. She is also shown to have a competitive streak.
• Mayim Bialik, PhD, as Amy Farrah Fowler, PhD (guest star season 3, starring since mid-season 4) – a woman selected by an online dating site as Sheldon's perfect mate after Raj and Howard secretly set up an account using Sheldon's information, prompting Raj to comment, "We finally have proof that aliens walk among us!" Amy is from Glendale and is a fan of Little House on the Prairie. She and Sheldon initially have many similar traits, though after befriending Penny and Bernadette, Amy eventually becomes more interested in social and romantic interaction and is more socially aware than Sheldon. Once she and Sheldon meet, she becomes, as Sheldon puts it, a girl who is his friend, but not his "girlfriend". Their relationship slowly progresses up to the point where Sheldon considers her his girlfriend and tells her that he loves her. Amy's sexual frustration in her relationship with Sheldon is a recurring topic in the series. Amy also believes she and Penny are best friends ("besties", as she puts it), a sentiment that Penny does not share. Penny eventually becomes a real friend, overlooking Amy's Sheldon-like qualities. Amy's admiration for Penny has at times bordered on physical attraction. Amy has a PhD in neurobiology, and frequently uses monkeys in her research and experiments. Bialik herself has a doctorate in neuroscience. In the season 1 episode "The Bat Jar Conjecture", Raj suggests recruiting "the girl who plays TV's Blossom" (whom Bialik played) for their Physics Bowl team.
• Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom (recurring seasons 2–5, & 7, starring season 6 & 8) – the mild-mannered, under-confident individual who runs the comic book store that the guys frequent. A brilliant artist, Stuart is a graduate of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design and though he is socially awkward, he possesses slightly better social skills than the rest of the guys. Unlike the others he is not a techno-geek. During Stuart's first appearance, the guys bring Penny along to the store, and he manages to ask her on a date. They go out a few times, until Penny mistakenly calls him "Leonard" while they are making out, leaving him devastated. In season 4, he implies he is in financial trouble and that the comic book store is now also his home. At Howard's bachelor party, Stuart uses his toast to tell Howard how lucky he is and compares it to his own situation of living in the back of his store. In season 6, he is invited to join the guys' group while Howard is in space. At the end of season 7, the comic book store burns down and he gets a new job caring for Howard's mother. The two become close and develop a strange relationship, much to the annoyance of Howard. He also briefly dates Howard's second cousin Jeanie (Kara Luiz), to whom Howard lost his virginity.

The American television sitcom franchise The Big Bang Theory, began with the multi-cam laugh track sitcom of the same name created and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, which premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007, and ended on May 16, 2019, followed by the single-camera spin-off prequel television series Young Sheldon, created and executive produced by Lorre alongside Jim Parsons and Steven Molaro, which premiered on CBS on September 25, 2017, and concluded on May 16, 2024, with the third series in the franchise, a multi-cam spin-off sequel to Young Sheldon entitled Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, premiering on October 17, 2024. A fourth series, a multi-cam spin-off sequel to The Big Bang Theory entitled Stuart, Denise & Bert, is slated to premiere in 2025.

The Big Bang Theory initially centers on five characters: Sheldon Lee Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter, two physicists and roommates; Penny, their neighbor who is a waitress and aspiring actress; Sheldon and Leonard's friends and coworkers aerospace engineer Howard Joel Wolowitz and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali.

Over time, several supporting characters have been introduced and promoted to starring roles, including physicist Leslie Winkle, neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler, microbiologist Bernadette Maryann Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, and comic book store proprietor and friend of the other characters Stuart Bloom. The series also features numerous supporting characters, each of whom plays a prominent role in a story arc. Included among them are parents of the main characters, their dates, and their coworkers. Celebrities such as Stephen Hawking appear in cameo roles as themselves.

Young Sheldon initially centers on Sheldon Cooper at the age of nine, going to high school and living with his family in the fictional town of Medford, East Texas, Sheldon's mother, Mary; his father and the head football coach at Medford High, George Sr.; his twin sister, Missy; his older brother, George Jr.; and his grandmother, Constance "Connie" Tucker, also known as "Meemaw". The series also features numerous supporting characters, each of whom plays a prominent role in a story arc. Included among them are Sheldon's present and former classmates, their dates and coworkers, and those of his family. Celebrities such as Elon Musk appear in cameo roles as themselves. Jim Parsons, who portrays the adult Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, narrates the series and serves as an executive producer.

Main characters

Cast table

This section includes characters who have appeared in The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, and Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage series with main role.

• An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the season.
•   indicates a voice-only role.

  = Main cast (credited)

  = Recurring cast (2+ episodes)

  = Guest cast (1 episode)

The Big Bang Theory main characters

Leonard Hofstadter

Leonard Leakey Hofstadter (portrayed by Johnny Galecki; seasons 1–12) is an experimental physicist with an IQ of 173. Originally from New Jersey, he received his PhD at age 24, spending at least some of his time at Princeton University. He shared an apartment in Pasadena with colleague and friend Dr. Sheldon Cooper for much of the series. Unlike his equally geeky friends, Leonard is interested and adept in building relationships with other people. Compared to his friends, he is relatively successful with women. Leonard comes from an accomplished family. His mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, is a neuroscientist and world-renowned psychiatrist with whom he has a strained relationship. His sister is a medical researcher, his father, Dr. Alfred Hofstadter, is an anthropologist, and his brother Michael is a Harvard law professor. He and Penny date on and off throughout the series, eventually marrying and finding out that Penny is pregnant in the series finale.

Leonard makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of Young Sheldon; he was portrayed by Isaac Harger as a child.

Sheldon Cooper

Sheldon Lee Cooper (portrayed by Jim Parsons; The Big Bang Theory seasons 1–12, Young Sheldon season 7; voiced by Parsons; narrator: Young Sheldon; and by Iain Armitage; guest: The Big Bang Theory season 7; main: Young Sheldon) is a theoretical physicist, possessing a B.S, M.S, M.A, Ph.D, Sc.D, I.Q. of 187, and eidetic memory. Born in East Texas, he was a child prodigy and received his PhD at age 16 from the California Institute of Technology. He is a cold, condescending, self-centered, and immature person but is rarely malicious. He is obsessed with routines and any disruptions distress him enormously. He shows signs of obsessive–compulsive personality disorder, often shown through his compulsive need to knock three times on a door while saying the name of the person behind the door three times too and the superiority complex. Despite his lack of social graces, he does care about his friends and family. In seasons 1–9, he shares an apartment in Pasadena with friend and fellow physicist Dr. Leonard Hofstadter. From then after, he moves in with his girlfriend and eventual wife, Amy. It is revealed in Young Sheldon that they have kids too.

His interest in science fiction and comic books borders on the extreme. He has a particular affinity for Spock from the Star Trek franchise. Although he has the tendency to take things literally, he is fond of occasionally telling a joke or playing a prank, which he typically punctuates with his trademark exclamation, "Bazinga!"

As portrayed in Young Sheldon, he is a child prodigy who finishes primary school before his twin sister, Missy, and joins the same high-school class as his older brother, Georgie, at the age of nine. He reads widely and possesses an eidetic memory. He prefers to learn topics that interest him on his own—such as Faraday's law of induction and gravitational lensing—than the standard curriculum of grade school. In this series, the origins of his interests in the sciences, engineering, computers, trains, comic books, and science fiction (especially the character Spock from Star Trek) are revealed. Sheldon moves on to college while Missy remains in middle school. Despite their rivalry, Sheldon and Missy are closer than they first appear.

Iain Armitage, who plays young Sheldon on the spin-off, briefly appears in a video tape during a final season episode of The Big Bang Theory; it is the only time Parsons and Armitage have appeared together so far.

Penny

Kindhearted and outgoing, Penny (portrayed by Kaley Cuoco) is Leonard and Sheldon's neighbor across the hallway from the inception of the series, replacing the apartment's former occupant, Louis/Louise, a "transvestite with a skin condition" according to Sheldon. Originally from a small town outside Omaha, Nebraska, she was a waitress and occasional bartender at the local Cheesecake Factory until season seven, and is an aspiring actress. Sheldon describes her as a "good-natured simpleton" and is critical of her dropping out of community college.

Initially, not much is known about Penny's family, but it is mentioned in the series that her father, Wyatt (portrayed by Keith Carradine,) raised her like a boy, her mother smoked marijuana while she was pregnant with her, her sister shot her husband while they were intoxicated, and her brother is a meth dealer. Her mother, Susan (Katey Sagal), and brother, Randall (Jack McBrayer), are finally seen in the first episode of season ten. Her last name is never revealed during the series. Leonard and Penny date on and off throughout the series which is a big plot point of the show, they eventually marry and find out they're pregnant in the series finale.

Penny makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of Young Sheldon, she was portrayed by Quinn Aune as a child. Cuoco additionally voices the pool water, part of one of young Sheldon's nightmares, in the spinoff.

Howard Wolowitz

Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. (portrayed by Simon Helberg; main: the Big Bang Theory seasons 1–12; guest: Young Sheldon season 5) is an aerospace engineer at Caltech's Department of Applied Physics who often hangs out at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. Unlike Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj, Howard does not have a doctorate and often gets disparaged as a result, especially by Sheldon. He defends this by pointing out that he has a master's degree in engineering from MIT and that the equipment he designs is launched into space, unlike the theoretical work of his friends. In the fifth-season finale, Howard goes to the International Space Station on Expedition 31.

Howard lives in Altadena with his domineering, belittling, and unseen mother, who treats him like a child. While he sometimes expresses irritation at this treatment, for the most part, he appears to prefer it. Howard and his mother often communicate with each other from different rooms by yelling, a habit which Bernadette also adopts in later episodes. Howard fancies himself a ladies' man and attempts pick-up lines whenever a woman is present, although he drops this habit once he starts going out with Bernadette. He is a non-observant Jew. Over the course of the series, he and Bernadette marry and have two children.

In the pilot episode, he speaks English, French, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and Persian, along with fictional languages like Klingon and Sindarin. Howard suffers from asthma, transient idiopathic arrhythmia, allergies to peanuts, almonds, and walnuts, and is prone to canker sores and pink eye.

Howard makes a brief non-speaking appearance in the Season 2 finale of Young Sheldon, in which he was portrayed by Ethan Stern as a child; he returns to reprise himself in a narration with Helberg's voiceover for a Season 5 episode.

Raj Koothrappali

Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali, PhD (portrayed by Kunal Nayyar) is Howard Wolowitz's best friend. Often called "Raj" by his friends, he is from New Delhi, India, and works in the physics department at Caltech, researching astroparticle physics. Raj comes from a very wealthy family in India, and often communicates with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Koothrappali, via webcam. He did at least part of his higher education at the University of Cambridge and like most of the scientists bar Howard he also has a PhD. He has a younger sister, Priya. He lives in an apartment in Pasadena. As with his friends, he is mutually involved with and obsessed with science fiction and comic books in general. He is also a fan of Harry Potter and Indian music, but appreciates the Indian lullabies his mother sang and the catchiness of Hindi phrases. Unlike his male friends, Raj has many feminine interests, such as reading Archie comics and Twilight and watching chick flicks such as Bridget Jones's Diary. It is speculated that Raj might be gay due to his feminine interests and his close friendship with Howard, with whom he has arguments similar to those of a married couple. However, Raj has always stated that he is straight, but metrosexual. He was infatuated with Penny, and secretly wrote love poems about Bernadette.

Raj is a Hindu and believes in karma (reincarnation), but eats beef. He is very shy around women outside of his family, and during the first six seasons of the show, found himself unable to speak to women while in their presence unless he drank alcoholic beverages, or believed he had done so. He eventually is able to get over this condition and starts to, unsuccessfully and for short periods, date women.

Raj makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of Young Sheldon, he was portrayed by Rishabh Prabhat as a child.

Leslie Winkle

Leslie Winkle, PhD (portrayed by Sara Gilbert; main: season 2; recurring: season 1; guest: seasons 3 and 9) is an experimental physicist who shares her lab with Leonard. In appearance, she is essentially Leonard's female counterpart, equipped with black-framed glasses and sweat jackets. She suffers from lazy eye. She is one of Sheldon's archenemies due to their conflicting scientific ideas and takes every opportunity to insult Sheldon for mistreating her.

The character is based on Gilda, a coworker to Leonard and Sheldon envisioned by creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady in the unaired original pilot.

Bernadette Rostenkowski

Bernadette Maryann Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, PhD (portrayed by Melissa Rauch; main: seasons 4–12; recurring: season 3) is originally a waitress and co-worker of Penny's at The Cheesecake Factory, using her wages to pay for her graduate studies in microbiology. She is a smart, short-tempered, ruthless, competitive young woman. Despite her short stature and squeaky voice, she is regarded as being intimidating, largely because of her sharp tongue, aggressive demeanor and tendency to be a bully. A recurring joke in the series references Bernadette and her lab team handling dangerous or infectious specimens, leading to accidental byproducts.

While initially not getting along with Howard's mother, she eventually becomes like her, domineering and passive aggressive, even adopting her signature yell.

She and Howard have two children, Halley and Neil Michael (who they call Michael), in seasons 10 and 11 respectively.

Bernadette is of Polish origin and Catholic upbringing, and was originally seen wearing a cross necklace.

Bernadette makes a brief non-speaking cameo as a child in the Season 2 finale of Young Sheldon, she was portrayed by A. J. Coggeshall as a child.

Amy Fowler

Amy Farrah Fowler, PhD (portrayed by Mayim Bialik; main The Big Bang Theory: seasons 4–12; guest: The Big Bang Theory season 3, Young Sheldon season 4, 7) is a neuroscientist with a research focus on addiction in primates and invertebrates, occasionally mentioning such experiments involving addiction. (Bialik herself has a PhD in neuroscience.) She is Sheldon's love interest in the series, and they marry at the end of season 11. They are revealed to have children in Young Sheldon.

Early on, Amy is essentially a female counterpart to Sheldon; as the series progresses, she begins a campaign to increase Sheldon's feelings for her by becoming more involved in his interests, including video games and Star Trek, and treating him as his mother did.

In 2020, a year after The Big Bang Theory went off the air, it was revealed that Kate Micucci, who ultimately got the role of Lucy, had auditioned for the role of Amy Farrah Fowler.

Amy makes two appearances in Young Sheldon. She makes an appearance as a child in the Season 2 finale where she is portrayed in a non-speaking role by Lily Sanfelippo. Bialik returns to play Amy in the narration of the season 4 premiere, and in a physical appearance in the series finale.

Stuart Bloom

Stuart David Bloom (portrayed by Kevin Sussman; main: seasons 6 and 8–12; recurring: seasons 2–5 and 7) runs the Comic Center in Pasadena, the comic book store that the characters often visit. Stuart is characterized by his low self-esteem and loneliness, which often result in pathetic attempts to engage with women and win favor with the gang. This is despite owning his own business and being a talented portraiture artist who attended the Rhode Island School of Design.

One of the running gags on the show is Stuart's medical situation. It is depicted as disastrous, so much so that he can be seen under various medical treatments. He is said to have depression and possible malnutrition, among other problems. In the last season, Stuart's life seems to be turning around. His comic store becomes successful and he gets a steady, long-term relationship.

Kevin Sussman was a recurring guest actor from seasons two to five, and was promoted to starring role for the sixth season onwards.

Emily Sweeney

Emily Sweeney, M.D., (portrayed by Laura Spencer; main: season 9; recurring: seasons 7–8; guest: season 10) is a dermatology resident at Huntington Hospital, whom Raj finds on an online dating site. Raj enlists Amy's help to be his "online wingman" and talk to Emily in his behalf. Amy tells Emily about this and it puts her off. Amy and Emily end up hitting it off, having both gone to Harvard and both being into quilting. While Amy and Emily are at lunch together, Raj crashes the lunch. This drives Emily away from both Raj and Amy this time. Later, Raj and Emily meet again, accidentally and hit it off. They eventually double date with Howard and Bernadette, which horrifies Howard. He and Emily had a horrible date, which ended because Howard had gas station sushi, got food poisoning and clogged and overflowed her toilet. Emily is not afraid to stand up for herself or to others when necessary. She is shown to have a slightly alarming personality trait: she delights in the macabre. Raj ends up breaking up with her before Valentine's Day so he could be with Claire (Alessandra Olivia Toreson). Unfortunately for Raj, Claire had just gotten back together with her boyfriend. So, he eventually lost them both. Emily attempted to get back into Raj's good graces and did manage to sleep with him one last time, but it didn't last.

Laura Spencer was a recurring guest actress on the series in seasons seven and eight. During production of season 9, she was promoted to a "fractional" starring role; the upgraded status ensured her availability on an as-needed basis, without requiring her in every episode. She returned as a guest in season 10.

Young Sheldon main characters

Sheldon Lee Cooper

Mary Cooper

Mary Cooper (née Tucker) (portrayed by Laurie Metcalf in The Big Bang Theory; recurring: seasons 7 and 9–12; guest: seasons 1 and 3–5 and by Zoe Perry in Young Sheldon) is Sheldon's short-tempered, but loving and deeply religious mother from Texas. She is able to control Sheldon, with Leonard once describing her to Penny as "Sheldon's kryptonite". A devout Southern Baptist, she also has two other children — Sheldon's twin sister, Missy, and brother, Georgie, who is five years older than the twins. Her husband, a rambunctious alcoholic, was also named George, but he later died in Sheldon's childhood. To Mary's relief, her other children do not share Sheldon's precociousness, even once commenting to Leonard, "I thank the good Lord my other kids are as dumb as soup". Mary herself is not intellectual but is quite wise, though she is prone to making outdated and insensitive remarks. She is nevertheless kind at heart and is tolerant of other faiths. Leonard wishes his mother were as loving as Sheldon's mother, although Sheldon himself appears at best ambivalent about her parenting. Sheldon mentions that Mary once hit him with a Bible because he refused to eat his Brussels sprouts. She apparently thought something was wrong with her son while he was growing up since Sheldon will often remark after someone calls him crazy, "I'm not crazy; my mother had me tested!" Mary confirms this, though she wishes that she had taken him to Houston for further testing.

A younger version of Mary, played by Zoe Perry, is a main character in the prequel series Young Sheldon. Perry is Metcalf's real life daughter.

George Cooper Sr.

George Cooper Sr. (portrayed by Lance Barber; main: Young Sheldon; guest The Big Bang Theory season 11) was the husband of Mary Cooper and father of Georgie, Sheldon, and Missy. He was the high school football coach for Medford High. In The Big Bang Theory, it is established that he died when Sheldon and Missy were fourteen years old due to an off-screen heart attack.

Barber previously portrayed Jimmy Speckerman in one episode of The Big Bang Theory (guest: season 5).

Georgie Cooper

George Marshall "Georgie" Cooper Jr. (portrayed by Jerry O'Connell as an adult; recurring: The Big Bang Theory seasons 11–12 and Montana Jordan as a youth; Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage) is Sheldon and Missy's older brother who resides in Texas and runs a car tire business. Often at odds while growing up, the Cooper brothers later reconcile their differences. George Jr. is a laid-back character who likes to make money and is a known womanizer. By season 12 of The Big Bang Theory, it is revealed that he has been twice married and divorced.

In Young Sheldon, he gets a woman 12 years his senior pregnant, Mandy McAllister, and then marries her. Their daughter is named Constance (nicknamed CeCe), after Meemaw.

Missy Cooper

Melissa "Missy" Cooper (Courtney Henggeler as an adult; guest: seasons 1 & 7 & 11 and Raegan Revord as a child, main: Young Sheldon) is not as academically accomplished as her twin brother but displays better social skills. As a child, she was obsessed with Alf. In season three of Young Sheldon, Missy joins the baseball team in the fictional town of Medford. While Sheldon finishes high school and matriculates at university, Missy navigates the ordinary challenges of adolescence. Despite their differences, the twins are pretty close; they are both atheists.

As an adult in The Big Bang Theory, Missy is a tall, attractive woman who promptly catches the attention of Leonard, Howard, and Raj. She occasionally visits Sheldon, whom she calls a "rocket scientist" to her friends, much to his annoyance. She's the only character besides Sheldon who appeared in all episodes of Young Sheldon. She later married and had children but separated from her husband in Season 11.

Constance "Connie" Tucker ("Meemaw")

Constance "Connie" Tucker (June Squibb in The Big Bang Theory; guest: season 9 and Annie Potts in Young Sheldon) is Mary's mother, George Sr.'s mother-in-law, and maternal grandmother to Georgie, Sheldon, and Missy, who call her "Meemaw". Like Sheldon's other family members, she is also native to Texas and is their neighbor in the town of Medford. Connie is depicted as free-spirited, adventurous and outspoken. Sheldon sees himself as her favorite grandchild, and Connie nicknames him "Moonpie". Sheldon, in turn, is very affectionate toward and protective of her. Meemaw is often mentioned by Sheldon but did not appear on the series until episode 14 of season nine, "The Meemaw Manifestation".

In Young Sheldon, recurring themes are her significant gambling habit and active dating life.

Pastor Jeff Difford

Pastor Jeff Difford (portrayed by Matt Hobby; main: Young Sheldon seasons 3–7; recurring: seasons 1–2) is the upbeat lead pastor of a local Baptist church in Medford that Sheldon's family attends in Young Sheldon. Like Mary, he, too, sometimes has friction with Sheldon's atheistic side but often encourages Sheldon to explore his own ideas logically.

Billy Sparks

Billy Sparks (portrayed by Wyatt McLure; main: Young Sheldon seasons 5–7; recurring: seasons 1–4) is a boy who lives with his parents and sister next to the Coopers and Meemaw. He has been mentioned in The Big Bang Theory as one of Sheldon's childhood bullies, although in Young Sheldon, he is rather good-natured and at times is friends with Sheldon but is shown to be extremely dim-witted.

Mandy McAllister

Amanda Elizabeth "Mandy" McAllister (portrayed by Emily Osment; main: Young Sheldon seasons 6–7 and Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage; recurring: Young Sheldon season 5) is Georgie's wife; by the time of The Big Bang Theory, Georgie and Mandy have divorced as Sheldon receives congratulations on his Nobel Prize from several ex-sisters-in-law.

Supporting characters

Cast table

This section includes characters who have appeared in The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon series with recurring role.

• An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the season.
•   indicates a voice-only role.

•   indicates a posthumous appearance using archived voice recording.

  = Recurring cast (2+ episodes)

  = Guest cast (1 episode)

The Big Bang Theory

Alex Jensen

Alex Jensen (Margo Harshman) is a Caltech graduate student who appears in season six. Sheldon hires her to review his kindergarten and elementary-school notebooks for any possible Nobel Prize–winning research and attend to the tasks that Sheldon perceives as a waste of his own valuable time, such as buying Amy a Valentine's Day gift.

Alex takes an interest in pursuing a relationship with Leonard (despite his involvement with Penny), though he is oblivious to her romantic overtures.

Althea Robinson

Althea Robinson (Vernee Watson) is a nurse and receptionist at the hospital. She operated the sperm clinic during the original (unaired) Pilot episode when Leonard and Sheldon were considering donating. She was also present when Howard needed assistance in buying time to keep Leonard from returning home to see his surprise party getting set up. In Season 4 when Howard had a 'mishap' with a robot arm, she freed him by shutting off the computer. In Season 10, she appears in "The Birthday Synchronicity", serving as the delivery room nurse when Bernadette was having her baby, and is confused by the presence of Stuart and Raj alongside Howard, wondering if it is a "Mamma Mia!" scenario. She is also the only character besides Leonard and Sheldon to be carried over from the original unaired pilot. Watson also portrays a younger version of Robinson in several episodes of Young Sheldon.

Anu

Anu (Rati Gupta) is the woman whom Raj's father wants him to marry. She first appears in season 12 and works at a hotel as a concierge.

Arthur Jeffries

Arthur Jeffries, or Professor Proton (Bob Newhart), is the star of a fictional in-universe science show that Sheldon and Leonard watched as children. The character is a homage to Mr. Wizard. After the show was canceled, Jeffries was not taken seriously as a scientist and resorted to doing children's parties as his persona. When Sheldon asks for his wisdom, Jeffries tells Sheldon to appreciate everything in life, including his friends, and never take it for granted. After passing away, Jeffries appears as a force ghost, akin to Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Sheldon in a dream, and throughout the season, provides him advice, such as comforting him over taking his relationship further with Amy, his misgivings over Wil Wheaton being cast in a Professor Proton reboot, and his first argument with Amy, as his wife. For his role as Jeffries, in 2013, Newhart won his first Primetime Emmy Award. Newhart played the same character on Young Sheldon.

Barry Kripke

Barry Kripke, PhD (John Ross Bowie) is a colleague working in plasma physics who frequently clashes with Sheldon. Kripke has a case of rhotacism in which he pronounces the letters "R" and "L" as "W" in much the same way as Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes, Jimmy Five from Monica's Gang and Gilda Radner in her "Baba Wawa" sketches. He first appears in the Season 2 episode "The Killer Robot Instability" pitting his robot, the Kripke Krippler against that of the main characters. He is a recurring rival of Sheldon.

Bert Kibbler

Professor Bertram Kibbler (Brian Posehn) is a geologist at Caltech, who meets Amy while she was working there in her own lab in the episode "The Occupation Recalibration"—where he attempts to ask her on a date, but is disheartened to learn that she is already in a relationship. In Season 10 ("The Geology Elevation"), he wins the $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship grant from Caltech, which makes Sheldon jealous. In Season 11, Bert asks Sheldon to collaborate with him. He joins Raj and Howard in their band, and sings a song from the point of view of the boulder seen near the beginning of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). In season 12, Bert asks for Raj's help in cutting open a meteorite, and in the series finale, looks after Cinnamon for Raj, intending to use her to help him get girls.

Beverly Hofstadter

Beverly Hofstadter (Christine Baranski) is Leonard's unloving, emotionally/psychologically abusive and overly analytical mother who works as a neuroscientist, as well as a psychiatrist. She is Sheldon's female equivalent regarding neurotically strict speech patterns, disregard for social conventions, and compulsive attention to detail. The lack of Beverly's maternal feelings and actions toward Leonard has led to him having an obsessive need to please. Mrs. Hofstadter and Mrs. Cooper do not get along. She first appears in Season 2 ("The Maternal Capacitance"), visiting her son. For her role as Beverly, in both 2009 and 2010, Baranski was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Claire

Claire (Alessandra Torresani) is a writer for a children's science fiction series whom Raj and Howard meet in the comic book store in season 9. Claire wants to collaborate with Raj on the science portions of a movie script.

Chen

Chen (James Hong) is an elderly waiter at the Golden Dragon in Season 1 until it was revealed to be shut down the following season. He is not too fond of Sheldon after he accuses the restaurant of passing off Orange Chicken as Mandarin and refers to Howard as the guy who thinks he can speak Chinese.

Dan

Dan (Stephen Root) is a senior member of staff at Zangen, who first appears in "The Locomotion Interruption" when he interviews Penny for a pharmaceutical sales representative position as a favor to Bernadette, and later bonds with her, upon learning that they are both terrified of Bernadette.

Dave Gibbs

Dave Gibbs (Stephen Merchant) is a tall British man who dates Amy after she breaks up with Sheldon. He is recently divorced, his wife having had an affair with a French chef, which he remains bitter over. To Amy's horror, he is an avid fan of Sheldon's work, constantly asking questions about him after learning that he and Amy dated. Gibbs uses Merchant's native Bristol accent, after Penny, Amy and Bernadette had raved over 'sexy' English accents.

Denise

Denise (Lauren Lapkus) is the assistant manager at Stuart's comic book store. She is quite a comic book geek. She first appears, in season 11. At first, Sheldon does not like the change that comes with her hiring but later changes his mind because of her comic book knowledge and her ability to figure out his preferences in comic books. In Season 12, she enters a relationship with Stuart.

Dr. Eric Gablehauser

Dr. Eric Gablehauser (Mark Harelik) is the head of the Department of Physics, making him the boss of the main characters. Gablehauser later hosts the Physics Bowl, and gives Raj attention when he is featured in a People article for discovering a planet. Dr. Gablehauser is well acquainted with Dr. Cooper, Dr. Hofstadter, Dr. Koothrappali and Mr. Wolowitz.

Dr. Greg Pemberton

Dr. Greg Pemberton (Sean Astin) is part of a team of physicists at Fermilab who accidentally confirmed the Super-Asymmetry paper published by Sheldon and Amy. He and Kevin Campbell plan on nominating themselves and Sheldon for the Nobel Prize, but Sheldon refuses.

Dr. V. M. Koothrappali

Doctor V. M. Koothrappali (Brian George) is Raj's father in India. He is a gynecologist and a wealthy man. His wife and he communicate with their son via Skype and constantly try to arrange dates for him. They want their son to marry a woman of Indian descent and give them grandchildren. V. M. and his wife later divorce, devastating Raj.

Dr. Kevin Campbell

Dr. Kevin Campbell (Kal Penn) is one of the physicists at Fermilab who accidentally confirmed the Super-Asymmetry paper published by Sheldon and Amy. He and Greg Pemberton plan on nominating themselves and Sheldon for the Nobel Prize, but Sheldon refuses.

Mrs. Fowler

Mrs. Fowler (Annie O'Donnell) (season 5); Kathy Bates (Seasons 11 and 12) is the mother of Amy Fowler. She is rather dominating of her husband, the mild mannered Mr. Fowler.

Mrs. Koothrappali

Mrs. Koothrappali (Alice Amter) is Raj's mother in India. Mrs. Koothrappali is especially worried that, despite Raj being old enough to marry, the closest they have to a daughter-in-law is "that little Jewish boy Howard". Mrs. Koothrappali later divorces her husband, devastating Raj.

Janine Davis

Janine Davis (Regina King) is a human-resources representative working at the university. She first appears in Season 6 after Sheldon offends his assistant Alex while trying to deal with her crush on Leonard, leaving Mrs. Davis to handle Alex's sexual harassment complaint against Sheldon.

Kurt

Kurt (Brian Patrick Wade) is a tall, intimidating bodybuilder and Penny's ex-boyfriend at the beginning of the series. He physically belittles both Leonard and Sheldon when they go to collect Penny's things.

Larry Fowler

Larry Fowler (Teller) is the mild mannered and silent father of Amy Fowler. He is terrified of his wife.

Lucy

Lucy (Kate Micucci) shows up at a party at the comic-book store on Valentine's Day at an event for people who had no dates. She has social anxiety issues, something she shares in common with Raj. Originally, Kate Micucci had been one of the actresses considered for the Amy Farrah Fowler character.

Mike Rostenkowski

Mike Rostenkowski (Casey Sander) is Bernadette's father and a retired police officer. Mike has a rough and rude personality and often bullies others, although he deeply loves his daughter, whom he calls his "little girl". Before he is first seen, Bernadette establishes his personality by telling Howard a long list of subjects he cannot discuss with Mike, including Jimmy Carter, foreigners, homosexuals, and even Howard's Jewish identity. When an earlier opportunity opens for his to travel to space, he supports Howard, although he later struggles to form a relationship with him. Mike oddly enough gets on very well with Sheldon, filling a role in his life vacated by the latter's deceased father, George.

President Siebert

President Siebert (Joshua Malina) is the president of the California Institute of Technology. He invites the guys to a get-together with the university's donors. He later supports Sheldon and Amy when they are nominated for a Nobel Prize. He approves of the term, "quirky" in order to describe them to the press.

Priya Koothrappali

Priya Koothrappali (Aarti Mann) is Raj's younger sister. Having graduated at the top of her class at the University of Cambridge, where, like Sheldon, she had roommate from Texas. She is one of the lead attorneys at India's biggest car company. Leonard and Priya date for much of season 4 and part of 5 when she moves to Los Angeles.

Ramona Nowitzki

Ramona Nowitzki, Ph.D. (Riki Lindhome) first appears in the season 2 episode "The Cooper–Nowitzki Theorem" as a graduate student at Caltech. She is a huge fan of Sheldon's work and develops a crush on him.

Ruchi

Ruchi (Swati Kapila) is a new colleague of Bernadette's at Zangen who first appears in season 11.

Stephanie Barnett

Stephanie Barnett, MD (Sara Rue) is a doctor and highly distinguished surgical resident at Fremont Memorial. She did her medical internship at Lawrence Memorial in Galveston, Texas, where Sheldon was born. Series co-creator Bill Prady described her role as "a chance for Leonard to learn that just because someone loves you, doesn't mean you'll love them back."

Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton plays a fictionalized version of himself, who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, a character that Sheldon idolized as a child. Wil Wheaton, LeVar Burton, Leonard Nimoy (in voice-over only), Brent Spiner, William Shatner and George Takei have all appeared on the show, making the Star Trek franchise the most represented franchise on the show in terms of guest appearances.

Marissa Johnson

Marissa Johnson (Lindsey Kraft) is married to Penny's ex-boyfriend, Zack Johnson.

Mrs. Wolowitz

Mrs Debbie Melvina Wolowitz (voiced by Carol Ann Susi) is Howard's over-protective, controlling, belittling, but loving and caring stereotypical Jewish mother. The character is not shown on-screen with only two exceptions: secondly in one episode in season six where her body but not her face is briefly shown, and firstly in the Season 5 finale where she can be seen, albeit barely, in the Google Earth satellite picture taken during Howard and Bernadette's wedding. Mrs. Wolowitz's raspy voice is heard usually in scenes at her house, where Howard also lives. She always talks to Howard always by yelling at him from another room, which results in awkward conversations with Howard having to respond by yelling back at her. She seems to be oblivious to Howard's work as an engineer and treats him as though he is still a child. She is a master at Wheel of Fortune and guessing answers at game shows. She frequently refers to Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj as Howard's "little friends" (as in, "I made some cookies and Hawaiian Punch for you and your little friends!") and often refers to Caltech as a "school". Due to the death of her actress, Mrs. Wolowitz character is retired with the fact that she died in her sleep while visiting family. Her death hit her son hard, though he is comforted by his friends. It is later revealed the gang were devastated too and paid tribute to her.

Wyatt

Wyatt (Keith Carradine) is Penny's father. He approves of Leonard as his daughter's boyfriend. Wyatt later attends Penny's wedding, and two years later, agrees to stand in her corner when she chooses to not have children. The first mention of Penny's father was in "The Maternal Capacitance", where she called him 'Bob'; however, his name was later changed to 'Wyatt'.

Zack Johnson

Zack Johnson (Brian Thomas Smith) is a dim-witted but friendly beefcake type whom Penny dates on and off after her second break-up with Leonard. He reveals that he has sold his menu company and become rich from the profits, and invites her and Leonard to dinner at his yacht with him and his new wife, Marissa Johnson.

Young Sheldon

Brenda Sparks

Brenda Sparks (Melissa Peterman) is Billy Sparks's mother who works at the bowling alley frequented by Meemaw. She frequently clashes with Mary due to her religious status.

Dale Ballard

Coach Dale Ballard (Craig T. Nelson) is the owner of a sporting goods store and a part-time baseball coach who lets Missy play after he declined but Meemaw intervened. He also ends up dating Meemaw after her breakup with Dr. Sturgis.

Dr. John Sturgis

Dr. John Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) is a physics professor at the university East Texas Tech, which Sheldon attends part-time. Dr. Sturgis is initially a pen pal of Sheldon Cooper before the child prodigy audits his course on quantum chromodynamics. Dr. Sturgis is instantly smitten with Sheldon's grandmother, and they begin dating. He also shows some childish behavior, such as going to bed at 7:30 and asking Meemaw's permission to do things as if she were his mother. They later split up but remain friends.

Herschel Sparks

Herschel Sparks (Billy Gardell) is a neighbor of the Cooper family and Meemaw, the husband of Brenda Sparks, and the father of Billy and Bobbi Sparks. He runs his own garage, where he offers Georgie a part-time job. Georgie turns out to be a wonderful employee, something that makes George and Herschel happy and stunned. Herschel is often bossed around by his wife, something that he and George bond over since George is often bossed around by Mary as well. In the fourth season, he and Brenda get a divorce.

Paige Swanson

Paige Swanson (Mckenna Grace) is a 10-year-old child prodigy whom Sheldon meets in one of his classes with Dr. Sturgis. As his rival, she teases him about differentiating under the integral sign. She has higher social skills than Sheldon and is capable of being friends with nonintellectuals. She reacts negatively to her parents' divorce. Dr. Sturgis advises Sheldon to listen to her problems. He does, which results in Sheldon learning to listen. He attempts to console her by making her a hot beverage.

Robin

Robin (Mary Grill) is a police officer and Pastor Jeff's second wife. Pastor Jeff meets Robin in "A Broken Heart and a Crock Monster" when she stops him for passing a red light. She takes an interest in him and because of that, refuses to give him a ticket.

Tam Nguyen

Tam Nguyen (Ryan Phuong – YS / Robert Wu – TBBT) is a Vietnamese-American Catholic boy who, in Young Sheldon, is Sheldon's classmate and only friend. His father Le Nguyen and mother Trang Nguyen run a store, Medford Mart. He has a troubled relationship with his parents, having been treated badly by both of them after moving to the United States. He has two sisters, Mai and Kim-Ly, with whom he has a good relationship. Tam laments his difficult childhood in war-torn Vietnam, which included his father being incarcerated in a re-education camp to "become a good communist", and his encounter with the Ku Klux Klan when he first arrived in America.

Veronica Duncan

Veronica Duncan (Isabel May) is Georgie Cooper's first love interest on Young Sheldon. Initially introduced as a popular and "easy" girl, Veronica becomes a devout Christian after going through a "Hell house" one Halloween. Georgie is obsessed with her and frequently takes every advantage he can to be close to her or impress her in any way.

Minor characters

• Dr. Alfred Hofstadter (Judd Hirsch): Leonard's father, an anthropologist who once worked with famed archaeologist Louis Leakey. (Leonard's middle name is Leakey in consequence.) He was miserable in his marriage to Leonard's mother Beverly. Alfred later attends his son's wedding to Penny, and takes an interest in Mary Cooper, Sheldon's mother.
• Captain Sweatpants (Ian Scott Rudolph) and Lonely Larry (Owen Thayer): sometimes seen at the guys' favorite comic-book store. Captain Sweatpants is a middle-aged bald man who wears grey sweatpants and a T-shirt with the "Statesman Star" logo from defunct MMORPG City of Heroes. Lonely Larry wears a brown suit and is extremely thin. They are also friends with Wil Wheaton. Both attend Howard's bachelor party.
• Cheryl (Erin Allin O'Reilly), an attendee at Penny's Halloween party in season one, episode six, "The Middle-Earth Paradigm". Cheryl is the very talkative, short-haired brunette dressed as a ladybug, who shows interest in Raj. She is not identified within the episode, but her name is listed in the credits. She appears again as a Cheesecake Factory waitress in "The Pancake Batter Anomaly".
• Dale (Josh Brener), a replacement for Stuart at the comic-book store when Stuart goes on a date with Amy in "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition". Also appears in "The Tangible Affection Proof" at Stuart's Valentine's Day party.
• Dimitri Rezinov (Pasha Lychnikoff), a Russian cosmonaut who is Howard's colleague on his Soyuz mission to the International Space Station.
• Dr. David Underhill (Michael Trucco), a MacArthur Grant recipient and a successful physicist in the episode "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis"
• Jeanie (Kara Luiz) is the second-cousin with whom Howard lost his virginity in a Toyota Corolla after his Uncle Murray Wolowitz's funeral. Jeanie is mentioned by Howard in The Creepy Candy Corollary and The Adhesive Duck Deficiency (both episodes in season 3) but appears for the first and only time in The Prom Equivalency (season 8) as Stuart's date.
• Halley Wolowitz (Pamela Adlon, voice only), Howard and Bernadette's baby daughter, born in the episode "The Birthday Synchronicity".
• Neil Michael Wolowitz, Howard and Bernadette's baby son, born in the episode "The Neonatal Nomenclature".

Guest stars

The Big Bang Theory

• Abby (Danica McKellar) and Martha (Jen Drohan), two women whom Raj and Sheldon meet at a university mixer. Abby takes a liking to Raj, and Martha takes a liking to Sheldon. While Raj is welcoming of Abby's moves, Sheldon rejects Martha.
• Alice (Courtney Ford), an attractive comic book enthusiast whom Leonard meets after Priya moves back to India. Meeting Alice triggers a chain of events which ends with Leonard and Priya splitting.
• Mandy Chao (Melissa Tang): a colleague of Leonard at the university who made out with him once when they were both drunk. The incident, which happened prior to Leonard's marriage to Penny, almost sabotages the marriage after Leonard tells Penny about it.
• Professor Crawley (Lewis Black), a former entomologist at the university with whom Sheldon, Howard, and Raj confer about a cricket; reveals he was given the nickname "Creepy Crawley"
• Issabella Maria Concepcion (Maria Canals-Barrera) a Cuban-American janitor working in Raj's telescope building whom Raj wants to date.
• Kenny Fitzgerald (Michael Rapaport): an intelligent thief who sells stolen liquid helium to Leonard and Sheldon. He later strikes up a friendship with the duo and they watch Ernest Goes to Jail together.
• Dr. Gallo (Jane Kaczmarek): a therapist to whom Penny attempts to sell products. She winds up conducting therapy on both Penny and Leonard.
• Jesse (Josh Peck): the owner of the comic book store Capitol Comics and Stuart's rival.
• Mrs. Latham (Jessica Walter): a donor for the university who goes on two dates with Leonard.
• Toby Loobenfield (DJ Qualls): a scientist at Caltech whom Sheldon hires to play his fictional drug-addicted cousin Leo
• Dr. Oliver Lorvis (Billy Bob Thornton): a medical doctor to whom Penny sells products. He misreads her flirtations and locks the guys in his basement while he goes to woo her (as well as Amy and Bernadette).
• Sunny Morrow (Ciara Renée): a newscaster who interviews Raj on the local news about an upcoming astronomical event.
• Octavia (Octavia Spencer): a DMV clerk with whom Sheldon interacts
• Agent Angela Page (Eliza Dushku): an FBI agent assigned to interview Howard's acquaintances to determine his eligibility to use the Defense Department Laser Equipped Surveillance Satellite team.
• Dr. Elizabeth Plimpton (Judy Greer): an acquaintance of Sheldon's, who, upon visiting, engages in sexual roleplay with Leonard, Howard, and Raj
• Randall (Jack McBrayer): Penny's brother who first appears in the season 10 premiere "The Conjugal Conjecture" when he attends his sister's re-wedding to Leonard. He has served several prison terms and had several other "troubles" over the years.
• Sandy (Yeardley Smith): interviewing clerk at a job center when Sheldon tries to find a menial part-time job to clear his head
• Jimmy Speckerman (Lance Barber), a former high school classmate of Leonard who used to bully Leonard during their high school days on a regular basis. He comes to visit with Leonard, not realizing that his actions in high school constituted bullying. In the prequel series, Young Sheldon, and in "The VCR Illumination", Barber plays Sheldon's father, George Cooper, Sr.
• Spock (Leonard Nimoy, voice only): appears in Sheldon's dream
• Susan (Katey Sagal): Penny's mother who first appears in the season 10 premiere "The Conjugal Conjecture" when she attends her daughter's re-wedding to Leonard. Sagal and Cuoco previously appeared in the main cast of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. Sagal plays Cuoco's mother in that series as well.
• Trevor (Blake Anderson): an individual with whom Sheldon has conflict when he cuts in front of them at the movie theater
• Josh Wolowitz (Matt Bennett): Howard's half brother.
• Theodore (Christopher Lloyd): An old man to whom Sheldon rents his room in "The Property Division Collision". However, the rental is apparently for one night only since he soon leaves and is never seen again.
• Sebastian (Steven Yeun): Sheldon's roommate before Leonard who was intolerant toward Sheldon's behavior in "The Staircase Implementation". He also warned Leonard to "Run away, dude". His intolerance of Sheldon becomes apparent when Leonard enters Sebastian's former room and sees the phrase "DIE SHELDON, DIE" written on the wall in red paint.

Young Sheldon

• Anjelika Washington as Libby, an eleventh grader who aspires to be a geologist and whom Sheldon and Tam befriend
• Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldon's future lover and wife. This role is reprised from The Big Bang Theory. She appears as part of the narration.
• Melanie Lynskey as Professor Dora Ericson, who teaches Sheldon philosophy in college
• Ming-Na Wen as Dr. Carol Lee, a cosmologist from UC Berkeley brought in to lead a project that Sheldon, Dr. Sturgis, and Dr. Linkletter are working on
• Taylor Spreitler as Sam, a member of Sheldon's project group. Sam is a vocal supporter of women's rights.

Guest stars appearing as themselves

Various Hollywood celebrities and famous scientists and engineers have made appearances on the show as themselves. In most cases, the appearances are brief cameo appearances. These appearances are in contrast to Wil Wheaton who, as described above, plays a character on the show which is a fictionalized version of himself.

The Big Bang Theory

• Adam Nimoy: Appearing in "The Spock Resonance", Adam is the son of Leonard Nimoy, the actor of Spock. He records Sheldon for a documentary about his father, on a recommendation from Will Wheaton.
• Adam West: Appearing in "The Celebration Experimentation", as a former Batman actor, Leonard hires Adam to attend Sheldon's birthday party, after hearing a sad story about how his sister Missy told him that Batman would come to his party.
• Analeigh Tipton: Appearing in "The Panty Piñata Polarization", is a model that Howard and Raj meet at the house used in America's Top Model.
• Bill Gates: Appearing in "The Gates Excitation" he spends the day with Penny at her company. Leonard tracks him down and breaks down in tears in front of him.
• Bill Nye: First appearing in "The Proton Displacement", he meets Professor Proton, and in "The Conjugal Configuration" is intimidated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
• Brent Spiner: Appearing in "The Russian Rocket Reaction", he attends Will Wheaton's party, where, he becomes Sheldon's mortal enemy of Sheldon after opening a signed, mint-condition, limited-edition Wesley Crusher action figure.
• Brian Greene: Appearing in "The Herb Garden Germination", he is a Columbia University string theorist known to the general public for popularizing physics with his books. Sheldon and Amy attend one of his book signings for The Hidden Reality, amusing them, as they find him hysterical.
• Buzz Aldrin: Appearing in "The Holographic Excitation", is a former NASA Astronaut. He appears in a video watched by Howard, bragging about his career in space to children collecting Halloween candy.
• Carrie Fisher: Appearing in "The Convention Conundrum", James Earl Jones and Sheldon ring on her doorbell before running away.
• Charlie Sheen: Appearing in "The Griffin Equivalency", Raj talks to him briefly about appearing in People magazine.
• Ellen DeGeneres: First appearing in "The Geology Elevation", as Sheldon and Bert attend a live recording of her show, she then appears in "The Laureate Accumulation", interviewing Dr. Greg Pemberton and Dr. Campbell.
• Elon Musk: Appearing in "The Platonic Permutation", he volunteers at the same soup kitchen as Howard and gives him his contact information.
• Frances Arnold: Appearing in "The Laureate Accumulation", is a Nobel Laureate who attends the university reception for Amy and Sheldon.
• George Smoot: First appearing "The Terminator Decoupling", as the guys travel to see his conference in San Francisco, and then "The Laureate Accumulation", attending the university reception held for Amy and Sheldon.
• George Takei: Appearing in "The Hot Troll Deviation" he appears in Howard's daydream whilst contemplating his feelings for Bernadette.
• Howie Mandel: Appearing in "The Re-Entry Minimization", he gets off the same plane as Howard following his return from space.
• Ira Flatow: First appearing in "The Vengeance Formulation" as a voice only, is a science radio host, in "The Discovery Dissipation" he interviews Sheldon, and in "The Retraction Reaction" he interviews Leonard.
• James Earl Jones: Appearing in "The Convention Conundrum", when Sheldon cannot go to Comic-Con, he is sent on starting his own convention, and tracks down James Earl Jones to convince him to join, but ends up spending the evening with him, going on a Ferris wheel, singing karaoke, pranking Carrie Fisher, going to a strip club and going to a sauna.
• Joe Manganiello: Appearing in "The D&D Vortex", he is a member of Will Wheaton's Dungeons and Dragons group.
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Appearing in "The D&D Vortex", he is a member of Will Wheaton's Dungeons and Dragons group.
• Katee Sackhoff: First appearing in "The Vengeance Formulation", and then in "The Hot Troll Deviation", in both she appears in Howard's daydream whilst contemplating his feelings for Bernadette.
• Kevin Smith: First appearing in "The Fortification Implementation", he is interviewed by Will Wheaton for his podcast, alongside Penny, and offers her an audition, and in "The D&D Vortex" he is a member of Will Wheaton's Dungeons and Dragons group.
• Kip Thorne: Appearing in "The Laureate Accumulation", is a Nobel Laureate who attends the university reception for Amy and Sheldon.
• LeVar Burton: First appearing in "The Toast Derivation", he receives an invitation to hang out by Sheldon, after the group has moved to Raj's place, whilst in "The Habitation Configuration" and "The Champagne Reflection", he is a guest on Sheldon's web show, Fun with Flags.
• Mark Hamill: Appearing in "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", after his dog is found by Howard, Hamill officiates Sheldon and Amy's wedding, which brings him to tears.
• Mike Massimino: First appearing in "The Friendship Contraction", he nicknames Howard "Fruit Loops" for the space mission, and appears in "The Countdown Reflection", "The Decoupling Fluctuation", "The Re-Entry Minimization", as a fellow NASA Astronaut who bullies Howard. and offers Howard advice in "The Table Polarization" and "The First Pitch Insufficiency".
• Nathan Fillion: Appearing in "The Comic Book Store Regeneration", he attempts to prove to Leonard and Raj that he is not Fillion, but relents and allows them to take a photo with them.
• Neil Gaiman: Appearing in "The Comet Polarization", he provides a favorable review of Stuart's comic book store, providing it a much needed boost.
• Neil deGrasse Tyson: First Appearing in "The Apology Insufficiency", Neil butts heads with Sheldon, due to his history with Pluto, and in "The Conjugal Configuration" enters a tweet feud with Raj.
• Samantha Potter: Appearing in "The Panty Piñata Polarization", is a model that Howard and Raj meet at the house used in America's Top Model.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar: Appearing in "The Stockholm Syndrome", after sitting next to her on the plane, Raj invites her as his plus one to Sheldon and Amy Nobel acceptance ceremony.
• Stan Lee: Appearing in "The Excelsior Acquisition", after Sheldon misses Stan Lee's signing at Stuart's store, Penny gets his address and takes Sheldon to meet him at his house, resulting in him getting a restraining order from him.
• Stephen Hawking: First appearing in "The Hawking Excitation", Hawking meets Sheldon after Howard gives him his work, and provides Sheldon advice in "The Extract Obliteration", "The Relationship Diremption", "The Troll Manifestation", "The Celebration Experimentation", "The Geology Elevation" and "The Proposal Proposal".
• Steve Wozniak: Appearing in "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification", whilst using Shel-Bot to move around, Sheldon meets him at the Cheesecake factory.
• Summer Glau: Appearing in "The Terminator Decoupling", the guys spot her whilst taking a train to San Francisco, and Raj, Howard and Leonard all attempt to approach her.
• William Shatner: Appearing in "The D&D Vortex", he meets Sheldon whilst appearing on Will Wheaton's reboot of Professor Proton, and Sheldon subsequently vomits on him, and he is also a member of Will Wheaton's Dungeons and Dragons group.

Young Sheldon

• David Hasselhoff: "Cowboy Aerobics and 473 Grease-Free Bolts"
• Stephen Hawking: "The Grand Chancellor and a Den of Sin" (voice only)
• Cyndi Lauper: "A Baby Tooth and the Egyptian God of Knowledge" (voice only, saying the words of the title of her song, "girls just want to have fun")
• Elon Musk: "A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac®" in a flashforward scene set 27 years into the future.

Notes

1. ^ The Young Sheldon season 2 finale features a montage in which several characters from The Big Bang Theory are shown as children. None of the children had a speaking role. Leonard is portrayed by Isaac Harger; Penny by Quinn Aune; Howard by Ethan Reed Stern; Raj by Rishabh Prabhat; Bernadette by A. J. Coggeshall; and Amy by Lily Sanfelippo.
2. Voice only, except in the series finale, where he makes a physical appearance as adult Sheldon.
3. ^ Cuoco also makes a voice appearance in episode 10 of Season 3 of Young Sheldon, voicing the pool in which Sheldon is afraid to swim.
4. In the fourth season, Bialik is initially credited as a guest star before being promoted to the main cast in the eighth episode.
5. In the sixth season, Sussman is initially credited as a series regular before being demoted to a guest star in the sixteenth episode onwards.
6. ^ Barber also makes an appearance in the fifth season of The Big Bang Theory as a different character, Jimmy Speckerman, Leonard's former high school colleague who used to bully him.
7. Tipton also makes an appearance in the season 9 episode The Mystery Date Observation as a minor character named Vanessa Bennett who correctly solves Sheldon's challenge, but misses the deadline by 15 seconds.
8. Appearance is credited, but did not have a speaking role.

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External links

• Official website

Recurring themes and elements

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Science

Much of the show focuses on science, particularly physics. The four main male characters are employed at Caltech and have science-related occupations, as do Bernadette and Amy. The characters frequently banter about scientific theories or news (notably around the start of the show), and make science-related jokes.

Science has also interfered with the characters' romantic lives. Leslie breaks up with Leonard when he sides with Sheldon in his support for string theory rather than loop quantum gravity. When Leonard joins Sheldon, Raj, and Howard on a three-month Arctic research trip, it separates Leonard and Penny at a time their relationship is budding. When Bernadette takes an interest in Leonard's work, it makes both Penny and Howard envious and results in Howard confronting Leonard, and Penny asking Sheldon to teach her physics. Sheldon and Amy also briefly end their relationship after an argument over which of their fields is superior.

David Saltzberg, who has a PhD in physics, has served as the science consultant for the show for six seasons and attends every taping. While Saltzberg knows physics, he sometimes needs assistance from Mayim Bialik, who has a PhD in neuroscience. Saltzberg sees early versions of scripts which need scientific information added to them, and he also points out where the writers, despite their knowledge of science, have made a mistake. He is usually not needed during a taping unless a lot of science, and especially the whiteboard, is involved.

Science fiction, fantasy, comic books and gaming

The four main male characters are all avid science fiction, fantasy, and comic book fans and memorabilia collectors.

Star Trek in particular is frequently referenced and Sheldon identifies strongly with the character of Spock, so much so that when he is given a used napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy as a Christmas gift from Penny he is overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude ("I possess the DNA of Leonard Nimoy?!"). Star Trek: The Original Series cast member George Takei has made a cameo, and Leonard Nimoy made a cameo as the voice of Sheldon's vintage Mr. Spock action figure (both cameos were in dream sequences). Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton have had cameos as themselves, while Wil Wheaton has a recurring role as a fictionalized version of himself.

They are also fans of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and Doctor Who. In the episode "The Ornithophobia Diffusion", when there is a delay in watching Star Wars on Blu-ray, Howard complains, "If we don't start soon, George Lucas is going to change it again" (referring to Lucas' controversial alterations to the films) and in "The Hot Troll Deviation", Katee Sackhoff of Battlestar Galactica appeared as Howard's fantasy dream girl. The characters have different tastes in franchises with Sheldon praising Firefly but disapproving of Leonard's enjoyment of Babylon 5. With regard to fantasy, the four make frequent references to The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter novels and movies. Additionally, Howard can speak Sindarin, one of the two Elvish languages from The Lord of the Rings.

Wednesday night is the group's designated "comic book night" because that is the day of the week when new comic books are released. The comic book store is run by fellow geek and recurring character Stuart. On a number of occasions, the group members have dressed up as pop culture characters, including The Flash, Aquaman, Frodo Baggins, Superman, Batman, Spock, The Doctor, Green Lantern, and Thor. As a consequence of losing a bet to Stuart and Wil Wheaton, the group members are forced to visit the comic book store dressed as Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Supergirl. DC Comics announced that, to promote its comics, the company will sponsor Sheldon wearing Green Lantern T-shirts.

Various games have been featured, as well as referenced, on the show (e.g. World of Warcraft, Halo, Mario, etc.), including fictional games like Mystic Warlords of Ka'a (which became a reality in 2011) and Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.

Leonard and Penny's relationship

One of the recurring plot lines is the relationship between Leonard and Penny. Leonard becomes attracted to Penny in the pilot episode and his need to do favors for her is a frequent point of humor in the first season. Their first long term relationship begins when Leonard returns from a three-month expedition to the North Pole in the season 3 premiere. However, when Leonard tells Penny that he loves her, she realizes she cannot say it back. Both Leonard and Penny go on to date other people; most notably with Leonard dating Raj's sister Priya for much of season 4. This relationship is jeopardized when Leonard comes to falsely believe that Raj has slept with Penny, and ultimately ends when Priya sleeps with a former boyfriend in "The Good Guy Fluctuation".

Penny, who admits to missing Leonard in "The Roommate Transmogrification", accepts his request to renew their relationship in "The Beta Test Initiation". After Penny suggests having sex in "The Launch Acceleration", Leonard breaks the mood by proposing to her. Penny says "no" but does not break up with him. She stops a proposal a second time in "The Tangible Affection Proof". In the sixth season episode, "The 43 Peculiarity", Penny finally tells Leonard that she loves him. Although they both feel jealousy when the other receives significant attention from the opposite sex, Penny is secure enough in their relationship to send him off on an exciting four-month expedition without worrying in "The Bon Voyage Reaction". After Leonard returns, their relationship blossoms over the seventh season. In the penultimate episode "The Gorilla Dissolution", Penny admits that they should marry and when Leonard realizes that she is serious, he proposes with a ring that he had been saving for years.

Sheldon and Amy's relationship

In the third season finale, Raj and Howard search for a woman compatible with Sheldon and discover neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler. Like him, she has a history of social ineptitude and participates in online dating only to fulfill an agreement with her mother. This spawns a storyline in which Sheldon and Amy communicate daily while insisting to Leonard and Penny that they are not romantically involved. In "The Agreement Dissection", Sheldon and Amy talk in her apartment after a night of dancing and she kisses him on the lips. Instead of getting annoyed, Sheldon says "fascinating" and later asks Amy to be his girlfriend in "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition". The same night he draws up "The Relationship Agreement" to verify the ground rules of him as her boyfriend and vice versa (similar to his "Roommate Agreement" with Leonard). Amy agrees but later regrets not having a lawyer read through it.

In the episode "The Launch Acceleration", Amy tries to use her "neurobiology bag of tricks" to increase the attraction between herself and Sheldon. In the final fifth season episode "The Countdown Reflection", Sheldon takes Amy's hand as Howard is launched into space. In the sixth season first episode "The Date Night Variable", after a dinner in which Sheldon fails to live up to this expectation, Amy gives Sheldon an ultimatum that their relationship is over unless he tells her something from his heart. Amy accepts Sheldon's romantic speech even after learning that it is a line from the first Spider-Man movie. In "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion" Sheldon states that he has been working on his discomfort about physical contact and admits that "it's a possibility" that he could one day have sex with Amy. Amy is revealed to have similar feelings in "The Love Spell Potential". Sheldon explains that he never thought about intimacy with anyone before Amy.

"The Locomotive Manipulation" is the first episode in which Sheldon initiates a kiss with Amy. Although initially done in a fit of sarcasm, he discovers that he enjoys the feeling. Consequently Sheldon slowly starts to open up over the rest of the season, and starts a more intimate relationship with Amy. However, in the season finale, Sheldon leaves temporarily to cope with several changes and Amy becomes distraught. However in "The Prom Equivalency" hides in his room to avoid going to a mock prom reenactment with her. In the resulting stand-off, Amy is about to confess that she loves Sheldon, but he surprises her by saying that he loves her too. This prompts Amy to have a panic attack.

In the season eight finale, Sheldon and Amy get into a fight about commitment on their 5-year anniversary. Amy tells Sheldon that she needs to think about the future of their relationship. After she leaves, Sheldon reveals privately that he has bought an engagement ring and is now confused about what to do with it.

Religion

A recurrent theme is Sheldon's conflict with his devout mother, Mary, possessing creationist beliefs referred to by Sheldon as "pre-Enlightenment mythology". Evidence of Sheldon's irreligion is seen when he is heard exclaiming "Why hast thou forsaken me, o deity whose existence I doubt?" upon the discovery that his World of Warcraft account has been hacked. According to Raj, Sheldon also begged the deity in which he did not believe to kill him quickly upon getting food poisoning at the Rose Bowl. On the other hand Sheldon says he wishes "to employ his rare and precious mental faculties to tear the mask off nature and stare at the face of God." Sheldon's religious upbringing leads to moments of religious interjection when his emotions are high – on one occasion, he happily exclaims "Thank you, Jesus!" when he scores a strike in bowling, quickly adding "As my mother would say." In addition, he frequently says the word "Lord" when he is upset.

At the same time, a running gag in the series is the fact that Howard, who is Jewish and Raj, who is Hindu, frequently defy many of their respective religious customs without worry, such as their constant flouting of dietary prohibitions. They both also tend to give each other grief about them. In the episode "The Financial Permeability", Raj quotes from the book of Leviticus after Howard eats pork, and Howard counters with the fact that he keeps quiet when Raj eats a Whopper. Nevertheless, they are seen to be semi-observant. Raj, for example, occasionally mentions reincarnation and explains his belief in karma, opining that it is "practically Newtonian – for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Howard wears fake tattoo sleeves during a failed plan for him and Raj to pick up Goth women so he can complete his quest "and still get buried in a Jewish cemetery"; at another point, Sheldon criticizes him by saying Howard does not join his friends for video game competitions during the Jewish High Holidays.

Another theme is Penny's confidence in supernatural concepts such as ghosts, astrology, psychics, and voodoo that frequently conflict with Leonard and Sheldon's scientific knowledge and skepticism. This is first seen in the Pilot, when she makes reference to her being a Sagittarius but is most frequently seen in an episode in which she and Leonard have a falling out over the validity of psychics.

Howard's mother

In scenes set at Howard's home in which he interacts with his never-seen mother (voiced by Carol Ann Susi until her death), he always does so via shouting conversations between the rooms in his house, and she similarly interacts with other characters in this manner. She reflects the Jewish mother stereotype in some ways, such as being overly controlling of Howard's adult life and sometimes trying to make him feel guilty about causing her trouble. She is dependent on Howard, as she requires him to help her with her wig and makeup in the morning. Howard in turn is attached to his mother to the point where she still cuts his meat for him, takes him to the dentist, does his laundry and "grounds" him when he returns home after briefly moving out. Until Howard's marriage to Bernadette in the fifth season finale, Howard's former living situation led Leonard's psychiatrist mother to speculate that he may suffer from some type of pathology, and Sheldon to refer to their relationship as Oedipal. In Season 8, Howard's mother dies in her sleep while in Florida, which devastates Howard and Stuart, who briefly lived with Mrs. Wolowitz.

Vanity cards

Like most shows created by Chuck Lorre, The Big Bang Theory ends by showing a vanity card written by Lorre after the credits, followed by the Warner Bros. Television closing logo. These cards are archived on Lorre's website.

Reception

Critical reception

The Big Bang Theory initially received mixed reviews and originally received a score of 57/100 from review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Tom Shales of The Washington Post gave the show a positive review, saying "Big Bang is the funniest new sitcom of the season". Robert Bianco of USA Today also gave the show a positive review, saying "This may not be the sitcom breakthrough for which we've all been hoping, but Lorre has produced a first episode that leaves you eager to try the second". Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times gave a mixed review, stating "It's just the same joke endlessly repeated – the everyday translated into geek-speak, and the obscure and difficult treated as if it were common knowledge". Mike Duffy of the Detroit Free Press gave a negative review, stating "This is by far the least charming—the lame, leering sitcom tales of two brainiac losers goofily smitten by the babelicious girl next door. It's about as witty as a pocket protector".

James Chamberlin of IGN gave season 2 an 8.4 out of 10 score, saying, "This may be a show about nerds, but you don't have to be a brainiac to enjoy it." Amanda Sloane Murray, writing for the same website, gave season three nine out of 10, describing it as "more intelligent than most sitcoms in recent memory". The American Film Institute ranked season three one of the 10 best television seasons of 2009.

Leigh H. Edwards of PopMatters gave season 4 an 8/10, commenting "The comic commentary may be poking gentle fun at nerds, but the real target of the show's sharp satire is the arbitrary, self-serving stupidity of mainstream culture". On the other hand Brian Tallerico of Hollywood Chicago panned the series writing: "There's nothing here that seems even remotely original."

Tom Gliatto of People remarked of season 5, "It's bright and obvious as a cartoon yet written with a clean, precise patter of jokes. It's also very well cast".

Kate Ward of Entertainment Weekly gave season 6 a 91/100, remarking "Bialik manages to steal scenes from Parsons as if she's been with the crew since, well, the big bang". Robert Bianco continued to give a positive review, noting "When it comes to making viewers catch their breath from laughing, no show tops Big Bang, and that's an ability that should never be undervalued in a comedy. Bang is one of those rare series where just thinking about some of the plots is enough to make you laugh all over again". On the other hand, June Thomas of Slant Magazine gave the season a negative review, calling it "disappointing".

U.S. standard ratings

The Big Bang Theory started off slowly in the ratings, failing to make the top 50 in its first season (ranking 68th), and ranking 44th in its second season. When the third season premiered on September 21, 2009, however, The Big Bang Theory ranked as CBS's highest-rated show of that evening in the adults 18–49 demographic (4.6/10) along with a then-series-high 12.83 million viewers. After the first three seasons aired at different times on Monday nights, CBS moved the show to Thursdays at 8:00 ET for the 2010–2011 schedule, to be in direct competition with NBC's Comedy Block and Fox's American Idol (then the longest reigning leading primetime show on U.S. television from 2004 to 2011). During its fourth season, it became television's highest rated comedy, just barely beating out eight-year champ Two and a Half Men. However, in the age 18–49 demographic (the show's target age range), it was the second highest rated comedy, behind ABC's Modern Family. The fifth season opened with viewing figures of over 14 million.

The sixth season boasts some of the highest-rated episodes for the show so far, with a then-new series high set with "The Bakersfield Expedition", with 20 million viewers, a first for the series, which along with NCIS, made CBS the first network to have two scripted series reach that large an audience in the same week since 2007. In the sixth season, the show became the highest rated and viewed scripted show in the 18–49 demographic, trailing only the live regular NBC Sunday Night Football coverage, and was third in total viewers, trailing NCIS and Sunday Night Football. Season seven of the show opened strong, continuing the success gained in season six, with the second episode of the premiere, "The Deception Verification", setting the new series high in viewers with 20.44 million.

Showrunner Steve Molaro, who took over from Bill Prady with the sixth season, credits some of the show's success to the sitcom's exposure in off-network syndication, particularly on TBS, while Michael Schneider of TV Guide attributes it to the timeslot move two seasons earlier. Chuck Lorre and CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler also credit the success to the influence of Molaro, in particular the deepening exploration of the firmly established regular characters and their interpersonal relationships, such as the on-again, off-again relationship between Leonard and Penny. Throughout much of the 2012–13 season, The Big Bang Theory placed first in all of syndication ratings, receiving formidable competition from only Judge Judy and Wheel of Fortune (first-run syndication programs). By the end of the 2012–13 television season, The Big Bang Theory had dethroned Judge Judy as the ratings leader in all of syndicated programming with 7.1, Judy descending to second place for that season with a 7.0. The Big Bang Theory did not place first in syndication ratings for the 2013–14 television season, beaten out by Judge Judy.

UK distribution and ratings

The show made its UK debut on Channel 4 on February 14, 2008. The show was also shown as a 'first-look' on Channel 4's digital offshoot E4 prior to the main channel's airing. While the show's ratings were not deemed strong enough for the main channel, they were considered the opposite for E4. For each following season, all episodes were shown first-run on E4, with episodes only aired on the main channel in a repeat capacity, usually on a weekend morning. From the third season, the show aired in two parts, being split so that it could air new episodes for longer throughout the year. This was due to rising ratings. The first part began airing on 17 December 2009 at 9:00 p.m. while the second part, containing the remaining eleven episodes, began airing in the same time period from May 6, 2010. The first half of the fourth season began airing on 4 November 2010, at 9:00 p.m., drawing 877,000 viewers, with a further 256,000 watching on the E4+1 hour service. This gave the show an overall total of 1.13 million viewers, making it E4's most watched programme for that week. The increased ratings continued over subsequent weeks. The fourth season's second half began on June 30, 2011. Season 5 began airing on 3 November 2011 at 8:00 p.m. as part of E4's Comedy Thursdays, acting as a lead-in to the channel's newest comedy, Perfect Couples. Episode 19, the highest-viewed episode of the season, attracted 1.4 million viewers. Season 6 premiered on 15 November 2012, with 1.89 million viewers and a further 469,000 on the time shift channel, bringing the total to 2.31 million, E4's highest viewing ratings of 2012, and the highest the channel had received since June 2011. The sixth season returned in mid 2013 to finish airing the remaining episodes. Season 7 premiered on E4 on October 31, 2013 at 8:30pm and hit multiple ratings records this season. The second half of season seven aired in mid 2014. The eighth season premiered on E4 on October 23, 2014 at 8:30 p.m. During its eighth season, The Big Bang Theory shared its 8:30 p.m. time period with fellow CBS comedy, 2 Broke Girls. Following the airing of the first eight episodes of that show's fourth season, The Big Bang Theory returned to finish airing its eighth season on 19 March 2015.

Canadian ratings

The Big Bang Theory started off quietly in Canada, but managed to garner major success in later seasons. The Big Bang Theory is telecast throughout Canada via the CTV Television Network in simultaneous substitution with cross-border CBS affiliates. Now immensely popular in Canada, The Big Bang Theory is also rerun daily on the Canadian cable channel The Comedy Network.

The season 4 premiere garnered an estimated 3.1 million viewers across Canada. This is the largest audience for a sitcom since the series finale of Friends. The Big Bang Theory has pulled ahead and has now become the most-watched entertainment television show in Canada.

Episodes

Broadcast

The Big Bang Theory premiered in the United States on September 24, 2007 on CBS. The series debuted in Canada on CTV in September 2007. The Canadian network Vrak.TV began airing a version of the series dubbed in French on August 28, 2012. On March 12, 2008, Nine Network in Australia debuted the series. Broadcast of Big Bang Theory on Irish networks 3e and RTÉ Two began September 9, 2008. On February 14, 2008, the series debuted in the United Kingdom on channels E4 (HD) and Channel 4. New Zealand network TV2 started broadcasting the series September 17, 2008.

DVD/Blu-ray releases

• Despite the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons receiving Blu-ray releases in conjunction with their DVD releases, the first and second seasons were only available on DVD upon their time of release. Warner Bros. has since released the first two seasons on Blu-ray/DVD combo packs with UltraViolet downloads on July 10, 2012. All of the episodes from seasons 1 & 2 on Blu-ray received newly remastered surround-sound audio, with the first season sporting a never-before-seen gag reel, which was not included during the initial first season DVD release.

Scientist cameos

As the theme of the show revolves around science, many distinguished and high profile scientists have appeared as guest stars on the show. Famous astrophysicist and Nobel laureate George Smoot had a cameo appearance in episode 17 "The Terminator Decoupling", of the second season. Theoretical physicist Brian Greene also appeared on the show in "The Herb Garden Germination", episode 20 of the fourth season. Astrophysicist, science populizer, and physics outreach specialist, Neil deGrasse Tyson appeared in "The Apology Insufficiency", episode 7 of the fourth season. Cosmologist Stephen Hawking made a short guest appearance in the fifth-season episode "The Hawking Excitation" on April 5, 2012. In the episode he meets Sheldon Cooper and points out a mistake in Sheldon's new Higgs boson analysis. Hawking also speaks on the phone at the end of the episode "The Extract Obliteration" with Sheldon, but is not seen on-camera. In season 8 Episode 14, Hawking video-conferences with Sheldon and Leonard after trolling online their joint paper. In the end of season 5 and the beginning of season 6 NASA astronaut Michael J. Massimino was featured as himself multiple times in the role of Howard's fellow astronaut. In season 7 Bill Nye appears in an episode ("The Proton Displacement") in which Sheldon feels slighted by his childhood science-hero, Professor Proton, hiring Bill to fill the void.

Online media

Warner Bros. Television controls the online rights for the show. Full episodes are available at tv.com, while short clips and recently aired full episodes are available on cbs.com. In Canada, recent episode(s) and pictures are available on CTV.ca. After the show has aired in New Zealand the shows are available in full online at TVNZ's on demand web service.

Syndication

In May 2010, it was reported that the show had been picked up for syndication, mainly among Fox's owned and operated stations and other local stations, with Warner Bros. Television's sister cable network TBS holding the show's cable syndication rights. Broadcast of old shows began airing in September 2011. TBS now airs the series in primetime on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with evening broadcasts on Saturdays (TBS's local sister station in Atlanta also holds local weeknight rights to the series). Although details of the syndication deal have not been revealed, it was reported the deal "set a record price for a cable off-network sitcom purchase". CTV holds national broadcast syndication rights in Canada, while sister cable network The Comedy Network holds cable rights.

Awards and nominations

In August 2009, the sitcom won the best comedy series TCA award and Jim Parsons (Sheldon) won the award for individual achievement in comedy. In 2010, the show won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy, while Parsons won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. On January 16, 2011, Parsons was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical, an award that was presented by co-star Kaley Cuoco. On September 18, 2011, Parsons was again awarded an Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. On January 9, 2013, the show won People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy for a second time. On August 25, 2014, Jim Parsons was awarded an Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

The Theorists

Through the use of his vanity cards at the end of episodes, Lorre alleged that the program had been plagiarized by a show produced and aired in Belarus. Officially titled Теоретики (The Theorists), the show features "clones" of the main characters, a similar opening sequence, and what appears to be a very close Russian translation of the scripts. Lorre expressed annoyance and described his inquiry with the Warner Brothers legal department about options. The television production company and station's close relationship with the Belarus government was cited as the reason that any attempt to claim copyright infringement would be in vain because the company copying the episodes is operated by the government.

However, no legal action was required to end production of the other show: as soon as the word got out that the show was unlicensed, the actors quit and the producers cancelled it. Dmitriy Tankovich (who plays Leonard's counterpart, "Seva") said in an interview: "I'm upset. At first, the actors were told all legal issues were resolved. We didn't know it wasn't the case, so when the creators of The Big Bang Theory started talking about the show, I was embarrassed. I can't understand why our people first do, and then think. I consider this to be the rock bottom of my career. And I don't want to take part in a stolen show".

Notes

1. ^ During season 5, episode 21 ("The Hawking Excitation"), Raj states that Sheldon had begged three times before: He begged the Fox network not to cancel Firefly, he begged TNT to cancel Babylon 5, and when he got food poisoning, he begged a deity he does not believe in to end his life quickly.

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External links

• Official website
• Vanity Cards Archive for The Big Bang Theory
• The Big Bang Theory at IMDb

• Lists of American sitcom television characters
• The Big Bang Theory characters
• 2007 American television series debuts
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• Television series by Warner Bros. Television
• Television series created by Chuck Lorre
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• The Big Bang Theory