Penny and Sheldon

The theory behind The Big Bang Theory’s big bang by Nicholas White

It is Tuesday afternoon, and inside Stage 25 on the Warner Brothers studio lot, there's a buzz of excitement. It's either that or a medical emergency. This is home of The Big Bang Theory, one of TV's hottest sitcoms, and through the clutter of cameras, lights and crew, Simon Helberg, one of the show's stars, is having what appears to be a panic attack.

Helberg, who plays geeky engineer Howard Wolowtiz, is pacing by himself off stage, shaking his hands and walking in an apparent trance. As a show aide watches, it's clear he's not having a freak out but rather getting loose before a pivotal scene with guest star Summer Glau, the super-hot babe from Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles. After the director yells action, Glau rejects advances from the nerdy engineer, who reacts with an assortment of facial tics that expose a vulnerability guaranteed to wring both discomfort and laughter.

He then asks for a picture of her with him for his Facebook page, which she obliges but does not smile. It's funny — painfully so — a genius comedic moment on a show about the comic neediness and nerdiness of young geniuses. "You're kind of making an ass of yourself," Helberg later says of his job.

But it's worth the embarrassment. The series, which is about two Cal Tech prodigies in physics who share an apartment and live across from a gorgeous blond, stems from the fertile and funny brain of executive producer and co-creator, Chuck Lorre, whose prime time resume includes Two and a Half Men, Roseanne, Cybil and Dharma and Greg. "When we get the script," Helberg adds, "it's almost like you can just see it."

In addition to Helberg, The Big Bang Theory stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, and Kunal Nayyar, and between scenes, the cast hangs out together, sipping coffee and trading stories as if they were pals in an office with neighboring cubicles on a coffee break. In reality, such as it is, they're the stars of TV's number two rated sitcom, in other words a genuine hit, and yet instead of ego or stardom, they seem to enjoy the quiet confidence of ordinariness.

"We're in a bubble here," says Nayyar, who plays Ph.D. Rajesh Koothrappali. "We come to work, hang out, do our thing, and it's hard to look from the outside and say it is a bona fide hit. The media and critics are now beginning to talk about it. But it's not a show like Gossip Girl or something that's always in U.S. tabloids. We're not in that sort of public eye. We're blessed."

They're not likely to end up in the tabloids either. "It's the most sober and celibate cast I've ever worked with," says Galecki. "It's a healthy group especially for a young cast."

Take Parsons, aka the ultra-wordy Sheldon Cooper. The Houston-born actor, whose previous credits include seven episodes on Judging Amy, can rattle off 1,000 words of dialogue without a sweat. He's obsessive about maintaining a clean dressing room — it's legendary among his castmates — and he has a preference for herbal teas. "There's not a lot of jokiness that goes on the set, maybe surprisingly so," he says. "There's a seriousness about the funny."

Jim Parsons: I [recently] got called nerd stud. I've never heard that before. I think it's a fabricated idea. If there's any true to it, I guess I'm happy! Maybe over my hiatus, I'll get a personal trainer. Next year, Sheldon can be in a Speedo: an experiment to see if his skin can adjust to new weather conditions. I think people would be taken aback if Sheldon was ripped, like, "What the hell"?

Kaley Cuoco: Smart is the new sexy: I think it always was, but now we're bringing it out a little more. As smart as these guys are, that's why people watch.

Bill Prady (Executive Producer/Co-Creator): People often say, "Are you making fun of Leonard and Sheldon?" My answer is: spend a half hour in our writers' room. We're not making fun of them. We are them. All of their quirks and passions come from us. Logically, if this is the nerdiest show on television, that would make us the nerdiest writers in television. Therefore, we would like to say it's the coolest show on television, and the coolest audience.

Kunal Nayyar: Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady said they never set out to create a show about nerds. They set out to create a show about incredible minds. Their lifestyle is nerdy, and I would presume all of us have that side to us. There is a part of everyone that has that.

Simon Helberg: People watch it because they can relate to being an outsider or underdog. It feels like a little secret that you have.

Johnny Galecki: Initially, critics said it was going to be a dumb show making fun of smart people. I'm really proud that it never was that. I watch some shameless, mindless reality TV. I also watch 60 Minutes, Dateline, and CNN constantly. I don't think that high numbers for relatively mindless television means the audience is dumber.

During another break in the action, Parsons and Cuoco provide a tour of the set and crack jokes about the numerous Justice League dolls sitting on window sills and Post-It reminders on a bedside calendar. Cuoco, an ace tennis player in real life, points to one of three set ping-pong tables, bragging that she dominates as set champion and warning that sharing paddles is strictly prohibited. For comedic effet, she jokes that she likes to read comic books naked.

Parsons explains a five-foot-tall, multi-colored strand of DNA in their living room. Physics books line shelves. Mathematical formulas are written on white boards. The only formula not visible is the one that's made this show a ratings hit. Last year's writers strike gave the then-new series chance to gain its footing, and since the show's return for season two last fall and CBS' fashioning of Monday into a must-laugh night of comedy, it's seen a steady growth to where it has been pulling in 13 million viewers. "There are still people that don't know about it yet," says Helberg.

Simon Helberg: There were five or six weeks in a row where every week we're growing. They put us after Two and a Half Men, and we slowly jumped up after that. It's not like Friends where they were a commodity, and it was like an empire. It's nice to be able to live a normal life and still feel like people are excited about it.

Kunal Nayyar: Every week, we started having 500,000 more viewers, 500,000 more viewers.

Kaley Cuoco: I think the show has always been a huge word-of-mouth show. I run into people that just started [watching], because they air it on the planes. They tell their friends. It started in recent months. It's shown in the ratings. All of a sudden, people caught on to what it was. I literally think it's people going, "Oh my God, you have to watch this show, it's so funny." People just started watching. I've never seen a show do this before. It's crazy.

Johnny Galecki: I think it's still turning because we're growing. With all due respect to marketing and publicity, people are really finding it on their own. It seems to be more word of mouth. When people discover something on their own, they appreciate it more, as opposed to being bombarded by billboard campaigns or something stuffed down their throats. It took a little while to find it and the writers strike. It's evolving slowly but surely.

Jim Parsons: One of the best things that happened to us is we came back after the strike. It was really hard for shows, especially hour-long dramas. We were able to get back up and running again. Not only did we do 17 new [shows], but we had a new library to rerun that summer. I feel that was the punch that helped going in. It felt the launch of a second season, instead of a re-launch or a 1.5. So much is intangible of what people are going to take to. I don't know why they take to something or don't. Shows you hate go for years. You don't know why this whole [group] of people likes something you don't or vice versa. That's something I can look at as tangible. I know that helped. There is no way it didn't.

Bill Prady: I think if you look back, it's when the show came back last year after the Writers Strike. You anecdotally came to be aware that people knew the show. People say, "What do you do for a living?" I would mention the show, and everybody knew what I was talking about. This year we've been steadily building every week. We had a great opportunity to be at 9:30 because of the President's speech and have a whole new group of people watching the show. It's nice to know that you're not crazy that something you think is something turns out actually to be something.

Some history. Premiering in September 2007, The Big Bang Theory was the creation of Roseanne and Two and a Half Men veteran Chuck Lorre and Dharma & Greg producer Bill Prady. It was conceived as, perhaps, the anti-Two and a Half Men, which has often been maligned (by shows such as Family Guy) for milquetoast easy laughs. The Big Bang Theory, with its brainy dialogue, was an apparent contrast...even if the sitcom conventions give it a mainstream familiarity. Even episode names are multi-syllable: The Maternal Capacitance and The Financial Permeability.

The Big Bang Theory premiered to 9 million viewers in 2007, making it TV's 37th highest rated show. Despite a nearly five-month lapse in new episodes, the show bounced around between 7 and 9 million viewers for all of its 17-episode first season. Its second season premiered in September 2008 again to 9 million viewers. In weeks since, it has gradually increased to now being TV's 15th highest rated show. For many people, may still sound like a remote show on The Discovery Channel or History Channel. "We're a sitcom that has a fan base that treats the show the way a sci-fi fan base treats their shows," Bill Prady says. "There's a kind of passion in our fans that you don't usually see in 30-minute comedies. They're like Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek fans."

BBT's Jim Parsons tells the secrets of Sheldon by Quendrith Johnson

Jim Parsons plays ultra-geek Sheldon to Johnny Galecki's arch-nerd Leonard on the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory. In real life, the native Texan is almost nothing like the nit-picky repressed genius he plays on TV. Except for a few things. He has insanely perfect posture, everything in his dressing room on Warner Brothers' stage 25 is laid out in its logical order, and Parsons, 35, admits to speaking a little Klingon. When he played "Tim," a Medieval Times knight, in the Zach Braff dramedy "Garden State" Parsons actually clarified the definition of an obscure Klingon phrase: "This one means kill Kirk; and also, Hallelujah — depending on the context." You might have seen him on "Judging Amy" or the series "Ed," but you won't forget him in "Big Bang Theory." Named after the expanding universe theory, BBT is the newest Geek Chic show brought to you by Chuck Lorre ("Roseanne," "Two and a Half Men"). As we caught up with him, Parsons was passing the time between scenes by watching The View, sipping a Mountain Dew, and ignoring a script on the coffee table.

Which episode is this (script on the table)?

This is the second to last one. It's called The Peanut Reaction. It has to with the fact that Wolowitz has a peanut allergy. His peanut allergy is utilized in the preparation of Leonard's surprise party. Which happens really early on in the episode, the surprise party, so I assume it is not a plot point one shouldn't reveal.

How do you keep all of these plot points to yourself?

It's not that hard, I am so concerned with learning the lines. I'm trying so hard to get them straight. I sometimes don't even have a cogent train of thought on what the plot of an episode because of the lines. Sometimes you are riding the train through it. Hopefully I am able to act when I am repeating them.

Nerd vs geek, is it used differently on the show?

We've used both. Penny has referred to Leonard and I as "geeky bastards." Wolowitz has referred to some of Leonard's comic books/character collection as Nerdmobilia. In one episode he's talking about "in local nerd news." Obviously these characters don't see themselves as either nerds or geeks. In fact, I don't think as we're playing them, as actors, we don't see them as nerds or geeks. They have passions that are foreign to a lot of society, as far as being so absorbed in that tiny world of sciences. There's Nerdvana.

What about Leonard, 'Le-nerd'?

With Sheldon and Leonard there's a lot of shorthand. There's a lot of the balancing act that you see in couples. Not just romantic couples, but in an odd couple, where there's a lot of — I don't want to say — finishing each other sentences. For example, Leonard has to frequently explain to someone else what Sheldon just said. Or kind of cover-up what Sheldon just said, because even if he is saying something that is a fact, it may come across as offensive to somebody. Leonard comes in as his back-up.

When Penny walks into your world, how do you see her?

The Sheldon-Penny relationship has developed into something really fun. They are both such extreme oddities to the other. In the spectrum of the colors in our ensemble, Sheldon is on one polar end — Penny is the other pole. Her, being completely of this world.

She works at the Cheesecake Factory, right, that's reality?

Exactly. And Sheldon being not of this world. So when they are put together, the communication always breaks down. They reach an impasse — I don't want to say a stare-off, but it always ends. Because of Leonard they always deal with each other.

What's your favorite Penny moment; the Penny sings episode?

We had a lot of fun, in the episode where my mother (Laurie Metcalf) came to town and I got fired. I also recently had a lot of fun with her recently when we did the sick episode and she got stuck with me when I went to the Cheesecake Factory. She took me home, had to take care of me. We had a scene in bed where she'd tucking me in. That was really lovely. Anytime we meet up, even if it's just meeting in the lobby getting our mail at the same time, it is always very enjoyable. Partly it is just me and Kaley's energy being different. The whole yin and yang — that makes it feel like a very emotionally full scene.

What did you think when you saw the poncho vs sarape "Luminous Fish" script and the colorful waco outfit you had to wear?

Insane, I know. I loved it the moment I read it. I was so excited to get to work with Laurie Metcalf. I loved working with her. I was probably scared I would forget some of the lines. The fear comes from moments of lost faith. Because the whole experience as far as lines go, for any actor, you have to have faith it is going to come out. It is of no use for me to think of my next line when things are going on. You can't be thinking about what's coming next, even if it is eight theories and five terms you can't pronounce and never heard of five days ago.

What about the terms you are having to learn, examples of terms?

Isotope is easy, but string theory is harder to grasp. One that is not even hard to pronounce this week that I had to drill into me is something called an 802.11 N wireless router. It's really not that much to it: it is literally 8-zero-one-one-letter N wireless router. But I looked at it, and I didn't know what that was, number one. I never asked for one; I never heard anybody talk about it. I had to ask (the writers) flat out 'How do you say the number?

Do they say eight-hundred and two point eleven?

No It's just eight-oh-two-eleven-N. It's nothing you haven't seen said in English, but some of the terms have to be drilled in — even if your brain doesn't know it, your mouth does.

There are so many Roseanne alums, is it like the cast of Roseanne went to college, got a PhD, and showed up here?

Well we have two people at our heart, which are Chuck (Lorre, show-runner) and Johnny, who a lot of people have seen associated with Roseanne. I was just going to say Sara Gilbert too. People loved, and watched that show.

Is that your art on the wall, did you pick out everything here in your dressing room?

First off, they all came furnished. If you get a chance to see other people's dressing rooms, you'll see how lucky I got. Most of the things are picked out. A couple are gifts, like this (Cosmos poster), that was given to me by David Saltzberg, our (physics) consultant on the show. I picked up that (block print curtain) at Target —

Wait, is that a shower curtain?

Do you have a shower curtain as a room divider? Is this — yeah — that is probably a shower curtain, you're right. It looks like a shower curtain rod.

That's pretty geeky, isn't it? To have a shower curtain for a divider in a dressing room?

Except this is where the clothes are (behind it), so if there are people here during a show, and I have to change, I can do that. They get the (ankle view) peep show.

You're the one who actually worked at Microsoft; does that mean underneath it all you are a hardcore intellectual?

No. No. I worked as the assistant to the Arts Editor for this online magazine slash guide for each city, called Sidewalk at the time. I knew people that told me they had positions to fill; it started out as data entry, then the (assistant) opening came. I was mostly the mascot. I walked around and talked to people. I like to think I was a pleasure to have there. I didn't even get paid through Microsoft; I got paid through a temp agency, but I did work there. I think I was mostly hired to work there because I was an actor.

At the top of the list of tics and quirks of Sheldon, which ones do you like?

One of the top ones is he has very specific places he sits, at home, in the restaurant. I like that one because he always backs it up with a lot of logic. I feel like very few are phobias. If Sheldon has phobias, he is of course smart enough to legitimize them through logic. There has been nothing that he hasn't been offered up an explanation for when someone rolls their eyes at it.

He's not good at relating to other people. He's uncomfortable with them. I enjoy talking to people. It's fun to play. The only way I can relate to that is that I have a huge shy streak within me. So I understand the fear of being made fun of, or the fear of doing something wrong. That could keep one from wanting to communicate too much; if you don't communicate too much, you can't fail socially. Maybe we will reveal it in an episode I haven't read yet —

Like his background, a troubled past? Maybe it's the mom, Laurie Metcalf?

Blame it on the mother. It is interesting to play around with ideas such as that: is he logically avoiding people, or is he trained that way because he was constantly misunderstood. He can't help but be who he is, and he can't help keep misstep-ping socially. This brings us full circle to the beginning of our conversation, thank God he's got someone like Leonard around who is more cognizant of the niceties.

So are you as Sheldon smarter than Leonard?

I think so. I know Sheldon thinks so.

What did you get on your SATs in real life?

I got 1010; it's not good. But you get extra points because you actually admitted it. It goes to show standardized testing is nonsense —

Yeah.

I'm from Texas, where they are fairly big into testing. I have my mother, my sister and my best friend in Texas are all teachers. They are both in elementary; he is in high school, my best friend. They are always dealing with tests.

What are some fun things about Sheldon?

What's fun is that part of Sheldon, getting to play that part of Sheldon that doesn't realize what he's saying to somebody else. The implications. That's my favorite thing, if I had to label one. It's the things he can get away with saying, as we've built this character, as they've written it. It's not mean when he says (something inappropriate). He can be short, especially short, with illogical situations. He once again he has a logical line of back-up for why he is feeling the way he is feeling. Normally it makes sense. Thank God I like Sheldon so much; I am the one playing him. He'd be pleased that I am defending him. Although he wouldn't need the defense. He wouldn't understand why we were calling him into question at all.

Do you have conversations with him?

I try not to. I didn't before we sat down here!

Ever dream as Sheldon?

No. But I do dream that I am at work frequently. They can be (anxiety dreams), or they can also be very enjoyable. I had a couple of strange ones, one last night where Johnny and Simon weren't dealing with me at work any more. They would have lunch alone, without me. I have no idea what that was about — and I didn't feel anxious, it was sad. There was nothing to be done about it. But I realized when I got up this morning that it was some sort of anxiety. You never know.

Is the set, the physical set, in your head when you're rehearsing?

I'm very big on a couple of things, one is note cards. I fill out my cue on the front side, and my full line on the next. I have to for drilling purposes on some of the words and turns of phrase. I have always been a pacer. I do a lot of moving when I am trying to do the lines. It helps me to get it into my body. I don't need to move as much when saying it front of an audience in character. He movements are so limited. Absolutely. There is a cutting loose aspect to more flamboyant movement that doesn't suit, that's not what Sheldon is about. There is a constricted-ness. He is (repressed) and he is living his life so much in here (his head).

Have you ever lost it, cracked up laughing, during taping?

One of the few times I did break was in one of the episodes when we first came back from the strike. I was doing this thing where I tried to blow up Leonard's head through the whole episode. At the very end of the episode. They gave (Kaley) this direction without us knowing it. When Penny got mad; she looked at Simon and did the whole blow up your head thing. Number one, it was seeing the movement I had been doing all week, and going "God, I look silly, because she does." There was one the other day, this is just rehearsal, I was belly laughing. Kunal's character asks Penny something. "What should I do with the women if they show up?" Her response was "stare at them and make them feel uncomfortable." It's just funny, but it has been really fun to watch the Penny character come into her own. We've always said from the beginning, Chuck did, that that's our Everyman: Penny. Kaley as the actress has become so in tune. It is very appropriate that it is a female embodying that role. It's extreme mothering. A feminine quality dealing with these four foolish boys. She has become real comfortable in the skin of Penny. It is one of the biggest pleasures of working on this show; you have this ongoing relationship with the writers.

Chuck Lorre is Mr. Brilliant, you mean?

Exactly. It's a relationship that doesn't grow through the technicality of working it out, just literally growing by working together. It's 'what's good coming out of this characters mouth?' That's what is so rewarding about doing these back-to-back.

How would Sheldon peg each of the others in one word?

Leonard: loyal. Wolowitz is silly. Koothrapali is confused. Penny is an enigma.

Still?

Oh my God, yes. There will be a very special episode in Season 8, I think, before she is not an enigma to him. He has a line in this episode that is coming — I hope I am not revealing too much — she comes over and says "I want to talk to you." And he says "About what? We have no overlapping areas of interest that I am aware of, and as you know I don't care for chit chat." That is exactly it, why would we want to talk. If circumstances dictate we are together, we will get through it — but logically speaking, what a waste of time, we won't get anything done. We won't come to any final conclusion.

Is Sheldon going to have a major blow out with any of the boys?

You know one of the things that was very fun was in the physics bowl episode, where the other guys became irritated with Sheldon and kicked him off the team. He formed his own team. They gave Sheldon one specific scene with Leonard where he kicked him off. It was the only, or rare time, where he has flared any emotion. He said he was going to get his own team and reduce him to dust — him and the other guys. He said "it's on bitch." I felt natural doing it, it didn't feel out of character, but I honestly felt a little twinge of 'whoa' because I don't feel that way normally. Because Sheldon doesn't get angry; it's pretty cold hard logic. But...

Any other secrets?

I have never done any job this long, as this. I don't know how it goes on other shows, which was my point, I know we are in a rare position. The scripts come from a really good place, from the read through, the first day of rehearsal as the week moves on. The changes we experience are so minimal. A turn of phrase here or there, but as far as repositioning of a scene — that doesn't happen. They (the writers) know. It's a great relationship.