Penny and Sheldon

Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons on his newfound fame, his Emmy nomination, and being typecast by Tyrone Warner

As brilliant physicist Sheldon Cooper, Jim Parsons brings to life a beloved, dysfunctional mastermind.

"The Big Bang Theory" follows a groups of geniuses who know all about how the universe works: except for women. When Penny, a Midwestern actress looking for her break in the big city, moves across the hall, she rocks their world — and learns to love their geeky charms.

Parsons was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and won the 2009 Television Critics Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy for his work as Sheldon on "Big Bang Theory."

During an interview with CTV.ca, Parsons talked at length about his role on the series.

On how his life has changed with the success of "The Big Bang Theory":

It's the most, as an actor, I've ever worked consecutively and, therefore, the most I've ever made money acting in a row. And I hate to bring it down to such a base level, but — although other things have changed, and maybe I'll think of those that sound more interesting… Actually, the biggest thing for me still is that it's the most financial freedom I've ever known doing this job, which, you know, isn't that interesting because everybody who knows that I'm on TV knows that. But that's the fact of it.

It's the little things like that that trip me up the most. Like I remember when we first started airing, like they would have billboards up for us. Or, like, homemade T shirts or whatever or — I don't know. It's the times I don't expect it that it really takes me off guard.

On being recognized by his fans:

I do run into lots of people in the street, it's true. And, you know… that’s weird. The only time it's a little strange for me is if I'm out shopping or especially if I'm in a restaurant eating and I realize that I've been spotted and somebody is looking.

I've learned to do is just go, "Don't worry about it." It's taken me a long time, and I can't do it all the time, not worry about it, because it feels weird, especially if you're eating.

On how much of Sheldon is "written" and how much is his own creation:

Well, in a literal sense all of it is written; all of it's dictated. I'm not stupid. I realize that everything they've written is going through, you know, my own sick filter. So it is being executed by me. And never mind the fact — and this one is impossible to pinpoint — we've now been working together for three years essentially, so they (the writers) hear us. They're writing for us. You know what I mean?

Like not necessarily about our lives or whatever, but rhythms and "What would sound good coming out of their mouth?" essentially. I put full blame, if you will, on the writers every time, though. I really do. I — once again, I understand that it's going through my interpretation of it, but to my own foolishness sometimes, I always feel like I'm executing exactly what they said to.

And part of the reason I feel that way is because it's a safety net for me. I feel very secure. I'm able to really kind of let go and get into it because it's their invention and I want to execute it to the best of my ability. So I guess the answer is sort of I don't know.

I don't know how much I'm affecting what it is. It's evolving, but I don't write it. So other than the doing of it, which is really hard to stand back from at the same time you're doing it, it's kind of hard for me to understand what effect I'm having on that evolution and that they're just taking on your own.

On struggling with the technical dialog on the show:

It’s a very fun struggle. I can literally feel my brain going, "Would you knock it off? Enough." But I still love it. I'm lucky that we tape on Tuesday nights as opposed to being a Monday-through-Friday show. So I get to rehearse Wednesday. I get to rehearse Thursday. I get to rehearse Friday and then Saturday and Sunday. And sometimes I don't need it as much as others, but some episodes, I really do. I'm able to be alone with just those words and just kind of pace around my house and really get it in.

But once again, it's frustrating at times, but it's one of the great joys for me. And from day one of auditioning for this, I loved it. The audition was not — was not easy to get yourself through. It was like, "Oh, my God" — but fun in that kind of puzzle-solving way of going, "No. How does this work? Where is this rhythm they've written in here? Where's the funny in this? Where's the humanity in this technical mumbo jumbo" or just things I just don't identify with naturally? But I enjoy it. And I think, once again, they do an excellent job of — it's not — it's not an impossible mystery or puzzle. It's there, you know.

On who is smarter in real life: himself or his co-star Johnny Galecki:

Honestly, we're all different from each other. I think it's one of the things that, from the first casting session between the two of us, worked. And I don't know why. There's a yin and yang about us, not only as characters written, but as human beings. I've said it in the beginning, and I don't mean it in a mean way, but there was no reason to believe that that would work between the two of us.

We're very different people. Going back to it all going through the filter of my own brain, whatever is happening with the filter of it through his brain, it's kind of nice. I think it's the same way that its fun seeing Sheldon and Penny together, you know. I could trip out my brain for days trying to think of how every actor in this show — how the script goes through their brain. What are they thinking? It really makes my head hurt just to even talk about it. I can't even imagine. But it's very interesting that we all get to that point of Tuesday night taping and we all have to do it. But I don't know what they do to get there, you know. Pray? I do sometimes.

On feeling extra pressure due to his Emmy nomination:

I guess we all feel our own pressures in one way or the other, and maybe there's something. But I would be making it up if I said specifically I felt any sort of, like, change. I don't feel very different — going back to how I felt about the character from audition one. In some ways, it is what it has been. You know what I mean? And certainly for me and my feelings about it and my approach to it, whether it's an episode where Sheldon-heavy or it's an episode where he gets to sit back a little more in the group, I feel — other than maybe having a few extra hours on the weekend not to memorize, I feel pretty much the same about it week in and week out, you know.

I was nervous about going (to the Emmys), and I don't even know why. There was just something on-the-spot feeling about it. Chuck Lorre was talking to me about it. He texted me about it. It was just like, "Enjoy this," you know. And I'd kind of gone through it in my own head. I did feel oddly, a little nervous just about going, but then there was a part of me that was like, "Don't be" — "don't be an old man and look back and go, 'Well, I wish I would have enjoyed that. I worried my way right through that time of my life.'" What a waste. And like I say, I was thinking that already. And Chuck, just out of the blue, kind of said, "Whatever happens, just have a really good time." Because if you're not, there's no point in that, you know. You're not — it's not even working on an episode. And maybe that was part of the pressure in a situation like that. There was nothing to work on. There was nothing to do. You're just supposed to show up and put on a tux. And then there's going to be a camera in your face, and it's going to be really close on you when they announce Alec Baldwin's name.

And — but, you know, as it turns out, that's really about the hardest part of it, is just that moment – my palms are sweating, thinking about it. Right before it happens is the worst part, because as wonderful as it would be, then you'd have to get up and talk.

On the roles he’s played before "Big Bang Theory," and being worried about getting type-cast as a geek:

I did a lot of theater, you know. A whole lot of theater. So I played a lot of different kinds of characters. As far as worrying (about typecasting), I'm sure that it will happen to a degree. One of the problems is not only does somebody see you every week as a certain character, but if you haven't gotten the chance to audition for them or they haven't seen anything else you've done, then they don't know anything else you've done. That's just a basic fact of life.

As far as worrying about it, though, I don't. And it's really twofold reasons why. Number one, other than doing my work and trying to find things to do that could change opinions, there's not that much I can do about it. All I can do is what I'm — keep working, you know. And the second thing of it is whether it's — whether I ever get to do TV again, whether I ever do movies, whatever I do, I know, just from how I feel and how I've always been, I will continue to work. Whether I'm doing a one-man show in my mother's backyard somewhere, I'll find something to do. And in that spirit of it, no, it doesn't worry me.

On how Sheldon is going to progress as a character on "The Big Bang Theory":

I've actually heard the producers say this before: Very, very slowly. Basically paint drying. It is fun to have hopes and dreams for these characters in a way, both as an actor and as an audience member. But there's a reliability factor about them that I don't want them to change too much. You know what I mean?

The most common question that comes up is "Will romance ever happen in Sheldon's life?" or whatever. And A, I think if it does, it won't be in the near future. But B, I think we could handle it in a way that could be very smartly done and protect the essence of the character and just simply add dimensions, you know. And that's one of the great joys about being on a television show that's able to stay on the air, is that you get a chance to be developing these characters.

And if I'd have heard that phrase a few years ago, I would have had a different view of what that meant. I would have thought that I would be more aware of the development going on. Good or bad, I find myself less aware of the development going on because I'm part of it. But you do start backlogging these histories and these characters, and they become these things. And so then I think eventually you can add some sort of slightly dramatic element that's different for them — in his case, maybe it would be a romance or whatever — and allow that to affect. I think what you don't want is to have anything that would dilute the character in any way, you know. And God forbid we normalize Sheldon or whatever, because why would you?

Big Bang theory's Kaley Cuoco splits our atoms by Alison Prato

As Penny, the knockout next door on CBS's geektastic hit The Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco is the lone hottie in a sea of dorks. An actor most of her life she somehow grew from child star to adult star without a single drug bust or sex tape.
I've talked to the self-proclaimed "terrible" driver as she navigated her way home from the Big Bang set.

Does being a bad driver mean that you've been in a lot of accidents?

I've had so many, I can't even count just yesterday I was driving along, and all of a sudden I hear this loud sound. I was like, "Oh, my God! What was that?" I totally knocked someone's mirror off their van.

Whoops

I did leave a note — I was very proud with myself. It said, "Hi! Sorry! Broke your mirror! Call this number..."

Did you give them your number?

Ha, well, it was my lawyer's number. One time I was driving a Vespa in the Dominican Republic with my Big Bang cast mate Johnny Galecki on the back like a little bitch. I ran us right into the wall, and he went flying. I almost killed Johnny Galecki. I'm dead serious.

Do The Big Bang producers think you're a liability?

I don't think the producers realize how much trouble I've been getting into. I want to take motorcycle lessons, but I don't know if anyone will let me at this point.
I'm just obsessed with doing things that make me feel wild and crazy.

Lots of people love The Big Bang theory, especially the geeks. Why are fanboys better than regular fans?

We have a different world of fans. There's something about this show that has brought out a group of people I didn't know existed. It's like nerd geniuses have come out of the closet by the thousands. Let's be honest: Our show's the biggest thing that's happened to physics in, like, a bazillion years. The scientists all have a voice now. When we tape our show, it's like a rock concert.

Have you ever had a bizarre encounter with a fan?

One guy in our audience had a T-shirt on, and he had taken my face and put it on the body of Princess Leia. I was like, "It's PeLeia, Penny plus Princess Leia." It was genius and scary at the same time.

You starred opposite sitcom legend John Ritter in 8 Simple rules. What did you lear from him?

John never did a take the same way twice. Thats why the audience was always peeing laughing. It was the most fun working with him, and I vowed that every set I was working on would be that fun.

Did he gave you any advice about the business?

Right before he passed away, he told me, "Never go on Howard Stern." When 8 Simple Rules came out, my character was this sexy 16-year-old vixen, and Howard used to talk about how my character was so hot. John would get so upset. I love that Howard was talking about me, and I have no problem with it, but if John Ritter had a problem, than I have to respect it.

You seem to avoid tho whole Hollywood "scene." Why?

I'm very uninvolved in the Hollywood scene. I might have been to a club once in my entire life. I'm the biggest homebody. I think I've been hungover one time, and I hated the feeling. I love being at home with the dogs. I wish I wasn't so pathetic. I fall asleep on the couch, no matter what, every night between 8:30 and nine. I am not exaggerating.

Would you ever date a guy who didn't like dogs?

Absolutely not. I was on a date with a guy a couple of years ago, and when he walked in the door, Zeus, the giant German shepherd I had at the time, ran up. The guy was totally annoyed and was like, "Eww, I'm gonna need a lint roller." I knew I was never gonna see him again.

Could you get with e guy who's not funny?

Not to put pressure on anyone but no. I'm not saying I'm hysterical all the time, but I have a dark and dirty sense of humor, and if you don't get it, it's not gonna work out. I will eat you alive.

Do you prefer dating older guys?

I've always dated older guys. I still do — I'm very attracted to older men, never anyone my age. I always felt, even in my teens, that guys my age were just so dumb, young, and immature. Guys are just a little behind girls.

Have you ever had an unrequited crush?

I'm sorry, but I usually get what I want. When I go for something, there's nothing that stops me. Nothing.

Have the boys at work given you any good dating advice?

Oh, God, what do they know? Absolutely not. They're all very protective and brotherly toward me. There was one extra recently who was kind of eyeing me, and Johnny was like, "We have to have him removed!" I'm like, "What's wrong with him looking at me?" Johnny was having a heart attack. I don't have any brothers, so it's kind of adorable.

Wait, they cock-block you?

I don't have much game, so there's not much to cock-block, but they are definitely very protective.

Are you seeing anyone now?

I'm not. I'm new single. I'm always the girl with a boyfriend. I love having a boyfriend, because I think I'm the greatest girlfriend in the world.

What makes you so great?

Because I'm awesome! I'm such a guy's girl. I love every sport. I'll go to any game any time. I can eat, I can drink, I can have such a good time with the guys. I'm just not a girly girl. I'm completely low-maintenance, and I think that's great for a guy.

We hear you play Ping-Pong on set in very little clothing to distract the boys. Has it helped your game?

I went to Amencan Apparel and bought hot pink shorts, a teeny-tiny hot pink tank top, pink knee socks, hot pink Converse, and a headband.
I haven't lost a game since I put that outfit on. I've got my boobs hanging out and legs showing. The guys cannot even concentrate. They're, like, sweating. They can't handle it. It's won me a lot of matches.

Do you ever regret not going to a normal school?

Oh, my God, absolutely not. I had the greatest childhood ever. I was friggin' 10 years old, running around on the set of Virtuosity with Denzel Washington, doing whatever the hell I wanted. I don't regret one second of it. High school prom? Screw that. I went to cast parties. They were so much better than the prom.

Geek chic by Jim Colucci

typed by pennyandsheldon.com

No pocket protectors or sci-fi tees here: The stars of The Big Bang Theory show off their sophisticated sides and discuss how viewers have embraced their quirky characters.

It's 10 a.m. on a Tuesday and from the look of things, the normally fastidious Sheldon Cooper must be playing hooky from the physics lab. And while his best friend and fellow scientist, Leonard Hofstadter, may be sporting an uncharacteristically hip mustache and goatee for the summer, these otherwise superserious scientists still seem a bit out of their element as they now jokingly preen for the camera.

That's because today, the actors behind TV's smartest new comedic pair — Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki as Sheldon and Leonard, respectively — and their The Big Bang Theory castmates Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar have traveled far from the show's Burbank, Calif., soundstage. This Watch! photo shoot, in the lobby of New York's glamorously renovated and recently reopened The Pierre hotel, offers the cast of CBS' white-hot sitcom a chance to show a different, sexier side — one that's less Caltech, more couture.

It All Started with a Big Bang

When it premiered in the fall of 2007, Big Bang was CBS' sole new comedy for the season. The show's new Monday night neighbors featured cool, hip ladies' men like How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson and Two and a Half Men's Charlie Harper. Big Bang was instead populated with characters far less suave — go ahead, call them nerds, geeks, brainiacs — and yet somehow fit right in.

"There was a distinct moment, in shooting the pilot, when I knew the show would work," remembers Helberg, who plays the ineptly skirt-chasing mama's boy Howard Wolowitz. During a scene in which Sheldon and Leonard were at a sperm bank, "I was offstage and heard the audience's reaction, which went on for so long that the director, Jim Burrows, said, 'There's too much laughter. We have to go back and do it again.' Then, when Kunal [as the girl-shy, Indian-born Rajesh Koothrappali] and I came in, we got entrance applause — and no one knew who we were yet! I just remember thinking, 'This is something special.'"

The nation's critics, however, were harder to convince. When the cast appeared at the semiannual convention of TV journalists the summer before the show's premiere, "they said we were going to fail two episodes in. Before they even saw the show, they were not fans," remembers Cuoco, who plays Penny, the feminine catalyst in apartment 4B.

"And I don't fully blame them," Parsons admits. "The show is better than its description. But I don't know how to describe it." Despite the assurances to the contrary from the comedy's creators — Two and a Half Men's Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, a former Dharma & Greg writer and onetime computer programmer — "the critics assumed that Big Bang would be about cheap shots at intelligent people," Galecki explains. "And if anything, I think the show defends intelligent people."

"I think The Big Bang Theory reflects a shift in the cultural landscape," agrees CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler. "Groups of friends like this, with their type of 'geek chic,' have blossomed into a very familiar and relatable demographic. We're seeing it in film, in literature, and I think it's a fresh way to access comedy."

So is The Big Bang Theory making smart sexy? "Just look at this cast!" jokes Nayyar, with a wave around the table.

"One of the things I've learned from this show," Galecki adds, "is that people who are sometimes called 'nerds' or 'geeks' or 'dweebs' are really just people who are passionate about something. And ultimately, passion is appealing, even if the subject is something you're personally not passionate about."

Interestingly, for Parsons, the attraction in Big Bang's characters lies in what they don't feel. "They all have what we might laugh at and call social shortcomings," he says, "and yet with the possible exception of Leonard, they don't live their lives at all depressed about that. Instead, they have a firm belief, and strong hope, that they will achieve greatness in areas like science and, for Wolowitz, in attracting women."

The can-do attitude has won over some former naysayers. "I was sure Big Bang would just turn into a one-joke pony about smart guys and a dumb blonde," admits Susan Young, formerly of The Oakland Tribune and now a freelance TV journalist. "How wrong I was. Now it's my favorite comedy, one I know will always put a smile on my face and have at least one laugh-out-loud moment."

Call it the Lorre/Prady Paradox: that there could exist a show about characters of rarefied intelligence, working in a field that only those in the rightmost standard deviation on the bell curve of IQ would understand — and yet, somehow, its comedy would be universal.

"It's not rocket science," Mediaweek's TV critic Marc Berman offers in explanation. "The show is not what you would call 'edgy,' but just funny.
The formula for a good comedy can be very simple: You create characters that people can relate to. And we've all lived our lives at some point either knowing a nerd, or feeling like one. These are four guys and a woman we feel like we could be friends with in real life, and so that's why they keep us so entertained."

In fact, in what the show's cast considers a sign of the best-written character comedy — and what they say is the ultimate compliment to Big Bang's writers — they often find themselves not having to say a word to get a laugh.

Particularly in the show's second season, Parsons explains, the show's characters were already so well-defined and familiar that "the audience would start to jump the laugh before the joke had even landed. And that was because they knew what the character was thinking. It was strange for us at first, but it's wonderful." The resulting electricity in the room, Cuoco notes, "makes the show's taping nights really fun. Because every crowd is like a rock concert."

Lorre usually cuts the longest "laugh spreads" from the finished product, Galecki explains, so viewers at home don't get a true indication of the high jinks happening on Warner Bros. Stage 25. Nayyar, who everyone agrees tends to crack up the most at such moments, says he has to resort to deliberately sipping his soup.

And then there is the little mind game Galecki and Parsons have begun playing with each other as they stall during the laughter, waiting to get out their next lines. "Jim and I will battle each other when we're left with nothing to do but stare. He has taken to trying to break me," Galecki reveals. "He'll — just so slightly, and I don't know if even the camera will pick it up — raise an eyebrow a little bit at me. I've even mouthed to him, 'That's not fair.' And he'll mouth back, 'I know.'"

Add a Penny on the Scale

Big Bang was a ratings winner right from its first few airings. But like many other now-classic sitcoms before it, this show, with its ardent astrophysicists, truly soared in the Nielsen ratings in its second season. And Tassler has several theories as to why.

"For one thing, people have fallen in love with the characters," she notes. "Chuck Lorre has crafted such clever, smart, specific stories that have illuminated these relationships." Particularly, she posits, between Penny and the boys. "With Sheldon and Leonard, you got them right from day one. But in Season 2, Penny really blossomed as a character. We saw how she could become more integrated into their lives, and how they would be more involved in hers, and audiences really embraced that."

And Tassler is not the only one who thinks that, ironically, it may be the average-brained Penny who balances this quintet's genius comedic success. Penny, Cuoco says, is everyman's entry point into the realm of the brilliant. "I feel like I represent the audience, who can look at these guys through my eyes."

Cuoco's ability to convey such a natural, good-natured groundedness, Helberg notes, is a testament to her talent. After all, these physicists are connected to their new friend by such a delicate chemistry.

A year before this current hit incarnation, Lorre had attempted an earlier Big Bang pilot, with a female character instead named Katie. The show's four male characters, Nayyar observes, "are very innocent, without any trace of malice." And so when "Katie" acted more manipulative with these malleable men, "it was like she was shooting fish in a barrel. It didn't work," Galecki says. "We've had that problem with guest stars, too," the actor notes. "If they're too malicious towards the guys or show too much of an edge, the audience hates them."

In fact, he and Cuoco say, the show's writers, noticing this phenomenon, even turned it into one of her favorite episodes in Season 2. When their building's newest foxy female began working her wiles on our boys, Penny came to the rescue in a laundry room showdown. "When I stuck up for them and said, 'These are my guys,'" Cuoco remembers, "the crowd screamed. And I kept thinking, 'Don't cry! Don't cry!' Because I was so touched. We're all so protective of these characters, I could cry right now thinking about it."

Nerds on the Floor

Both Galecki, a young veteran of ABC's long-running Roseanne, and Cuoco, who got her first big break as teen on that network's 8 Simple Rules, adjusted early on to the fame, and fan familiarity, that comes with life on a hit sitcom. During his Roseanne years, Galecki remembers, he would often play the outdoor bowling game pétanque with his friend Brad Pitt. "And people would come up and touch me, because I was on TV. Meanwhile, Brad was on the side of every bus and on every billboard for his movie Interview with the Vampire. And he would say sarcastically, 'Yeah, feel free to touch him.' Because he was shocked." ("Are you saying Brad Pitt was jealous of you?" Cuoco immediately teases.)

Back then, Galecki says, fans on the street would often unimaginatively shout out the name of his TV girlfriend: "Where's Darlene?" And so he expected the Big Bang taunts to have started by now. "But the fans of this show treat these characters with such respect," the actor says. "There was just one time, when we had really good seats at a Lakers game, and some jock was jealous. He yelled, 'NERDS!'"

"And you were like, 'Whatever! We're the nerds on the FLOOR!'" Cuoco quips.

The bestowal of such celeb status on erstwhile eggheads has predictably won the show quite a few fans among Sheldon and Leonard's real-life counterparts. "Let's be honest, this is the biggest thing that's happened to scientists in a long time," Cuoco jokes.

But as Nayyar elaborates, "We also have many fans in the high school theater community. For a lot of people who maybe have felt like misfits, or haven't fit in with the cool crowd, we sort of become rock stars."

And ironically, as it turns out, in real life, all four of the actors now famous as TV scientists have no actual affinity for the stuff at all. Growing up on the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast of Texas, Parsons says he had an initial flirtation with a career in meteorology. "I took a class in college—and it was the only class I ever failed," he admits. "That, plus I didn't take to it at all. It turns out, the sciences didn't want me any more than I wanted them."

In the end, that key difference between actor and character just makes playing Sheldon, who often spurts pages-long monologues full of jargon supplied by the show's technical consultant, that much more of a challenge. Parsons reveals that he learns his lines — usually without comprehending the scientific principles behind them — by writing them out longhand.

A Star Sitcom Explodes

With the show's third season comes a new time slot, Mondays at 9:30. "One of our priorities this year is to punch Big Bang into the stratosphere, to make this top 20 show a top 10," explains CBS scheduling chief Kelly Kahl.

The move, to the time slot behind Two and a Half Men, creates a virtual Chuck Lorre Power Hour. And as Lorre explains, he's thrilled to have the continued opportunity to create more Big Bang.

"Each cast member is very skilled, a consummate pro, who brings a lot of heart and compassion to the work, and they have a real bond off-camera," says the veteran producer. "That combination is not only rare and priceless, but also clearly visible when you watch the show. The end result is an incredibly funny and smooth-working ensemble."

This spring CBS announced that the network was taking the rare step of renewing Big Bang for not just one but two more seasons, which in TV is the equivalent of academic tenure for a Ph.D. like Leonard. Subsequently, Nayyar and Parsons put down roots in L.A. by each buying a house, as they plan for a long and prosperous run. Meanwhile, when we last saw Sheldon and his cohort in May, they were headed for a summer of research in the Arctic. As they arrive back in Pasadena, and on our small screens, this fall, The Big Bang Theory is poised to generate laughs well into 2011. In physics, that's known as having great "potential energy." Perhaps that's a phrase we'll hear any one of our favorite, funny physicists utter in Season 3.

Making a Big Bang at Comic-Con by David A. Keeps

Ask the cast of The Big Bang Theory what kind of comic-book powers they'd like to have and the answers come faster than a speeding bullet: "Flight! Teleportation! Invisibility!" shout the guys who play the socially awkward physicists on the hit comedy: Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Simon Helberg (Howard) and Kunal Nayyar (Raj).

Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny, their on-screen female foil, trumps them all: "The ability to read men's minds."

Dressing up for TV Guide Magazine is about as close as this comedy quintet is likely to get. Yet at last year's Comic-Con, the world's most prestigious sci-fi and fantasy convention, the Big Bang gang were hailed as superheroes.

"We hoped a few hundred people might show up," recalls cocreator Chuck Lorre, who populates the Big Bang writers' room with people "who can have long conversations about the arcane minutiae of Star Wars and Star Trek." Instead, a panel discussion with the cast drew more than 2,000 fans and another thousand were turned away.

"I thought it was a terrible idea, that the collectors and fans would think it was offensive that this nerd show was visiting, but it was the exact opposite," Galecki says. Though the actor claims to be merely a drama geek, Galecki's personal history sends the needle on the nerd-o-meter spinning: As a kid, he played cello and "used to strike out at T-ball"; his favorite comic book is called Elfquest; and he grumbles good-naturedly that in online chat rooms, people think he should play Weasel, the sidekick to Marvel Comics' mercenary Deadpool.

For Parsons, a "Close Encounters" fan who says he was "crushed when I lost a Princess Leia action figure in the seat-belt slot in the back of my mother's Oldsmobile," Comic-Con was a revelation. "I realized that we are playing these people, admirers of comic books and sci-fi movies," he says. "It was so sweet that they embraced us."

Well, not literally. "We did have security," Helberg says. "You wouldn't think you would need security to protect you from a Trekkie, but there were thousands of them." Helberg's early fanboy memories: calling his Luke Skywalker figure "my man" and owning a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figure. "And he rode a tiger around," Helberg admits. "It was a lot like Siegfried and Roy."

Last year for Comic-Con, the cast took a train from L.A. to San Diego. Things quickly got interesting when they rented a speedboat and Cuoco elected herself captain of the enterprise. "Kaley has the need for speed," recalls Nayyar. "Being manly men, we were terrified. I was so afraid I thought I would have to jump into the sea and pee." Perhaps the most Comic-Con-oriented cast member, Nayyar has been known to engage in weekend-long sessions of the board game Star Wars Epic Duels and claims to have seen the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy over 30 times.

Cuoco, who as a girl did commercials for Barbie and now owns two horses, which isn't at all nerdy, rises to her own defense. "It was like being in an episode of the show. They're going 2 mph on the boat and I'm like, 'C'mon, you losers, I'm bored. Let's get going.'"

Comic-Con opened her eyes to a world far away from her own experience. "We walked around with all the people in costumes, who were so passionate about dressing and acting the way they wanted to," she says. "I think I ran into four C-3POs, which was a tad scary. But I never even thought about Star Wars before."

She is genuinely excited to return. So is Lorre, who adds, "We may ask the U.S. Navy to escort them this year."

Galecki and Parsons talk The Big Bang Theory by Jim Halterman

(Interview from March)

Every season, as some shows like ER are saying their final goodbyes, other shows are gaining momentum and look to be around for many years to come. Case in point, CBS's The Big Bang Theory, the sitcom about the lives and loves of brainiacs working at Caltech, was recently given a renewal for two more seasons. Stars Johnny Galecki (who plays Leonard) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon) took some time out of rehearsals in Los Angeles last week to talk to me about why they think the show has grown in popularity, what they know about Sara Gilbert returning to the show and how theater plays a part in their work.

Congratulations for the two-season pick-up. Does that take the pressure off knowing you're going to be on the air for two more years?

Jim Parsons: I guess it is pressure off.

Johnny Galecki: It's kind of both. I was thinking about it this week. It's so rare for an actor at all to know that they have a job for that long. So we've been doing a lot of celebrating but at the same time I'm so accustomed to looking at the chunk of the calendar and what that responsibility means. With this, you can't do that because it's such a fantastically long span of time. You just have to kind of learn to integrate it into your life. Or integrate life into the job and the responsibility. It's a little daunting at the same time.

Jim Parsons: It's a luxury that very rarely as an actor you get to experience the problems of that much consistent work but it's not just hitting the water. There's a lot of responsibility that goes along with it but it's that kind of responsibility that we all want.

A good problem to have, right?

Jim Parsons: A very good problem to have.

What was it about this past year that saw the show really jump up in popularity. Were you doing anything differently?

Jim Parsons: I'll say first that I think the show is getting better all the time which one would hope when people who are good at their jobs get together and keep working together, one would hope would always happen. On paper, it should be getting better. That said, it doesn't always happen. We're very fortunate to be in a place where I think it is getting tighter, cleaner but funnier. But I think word of mouth, too. I think a lot of people have been telling a lot of people. I hear it all the time. So-and-so told me to watch it. My brother-in-law told me to watch it. That's really a verbatim thing that I've heard ten times or more in the past six months.

Johnny Galecki: I hear that constantly.

Jim, looking at your credits, it doesn't look like you've done a lot of sitcom work. How was it jumping in to the sitcom format?

Jim Parsons: In hindsight, somewhat not that hard, to put it in really bad grammar construction. It's got so many seeds in the same ground as theater, which I had done a lot of and, specifically, I had done a lot of comedy, too. I had been lucky enough to do camera work here and there leading up to this so nothing was completely unfamiliar to me when I got here as far as all that went. And really the biggest part is the theater being the biggest part of my work and, frankly, this work is a live play that we film every week so I was comfortable in that aspect. We've always had a solid group around us both as actors and crew and especially the writers so that's solid ground to be in and it takes a lot of the fear away.

Johnny, after being on Roseanne for so long, how do you think the TV business and sitcom has changed over the years?

Johnny Galecki: I think the business has certainly changed. Everyone has 900 channels to watch now. I mean, just look at the numbers and the number one show pulls maybe 20 million where before it was 30 million only ten years ago so obviously the [landscape] has changed. I don't know that the sitcom has changed too much. Obviously, there are more single cameras now but I don't think the multi-camera format of sitcom has changed much. Like Jim said, it has so many feet in the theater of even hundreds and hundreds of years ago and that's basically what we're doing is trying to put on mini-plays while single cameras are trying to put on mini-movies. And there is a familiarity that the audience has with watching any kind of theater. It's kind of ingrained on a cellular and cultural level. I think that some shows have tried to kind of reinvent the wheel and it just hasn't worked. I mean, its foundation is to a very, very traditional theatrical vein and those shows who have done that, for example, that have changed the cultural landscape like All In The Family, are on a character-based and story-based level but not with bells and whistles or special effects or technology or anything of that nature.

I love all the pop culture references on the show whether it's Summer Glau or Radiohead. Do you offer any of those up or is that all the writers' doing?

Jim Parsons: I have nothing to do with those, I swear to God. [to Johnny] Do you offer anything up?

Johnny Galecki: Not really but it's hard to say and this was the case on Roseanne, too. When writers and actors are working together and you get along, even the briefest of conversations can influence one another. Whether it's them telling me a story about what happened during a cup of coffee and I can integrate that into an idea performance-wise and vice versa. Sometimes things end up in scripts that sound familiar from a conversation but it's very, very casual and done in a way that we're just rubbing elbows, not suggesting a Radiohead joke.

What can you tell me about what's coming up the rest of the season? Anything you can tease our readers with?

Johnny Galecki: I wish. They kind of tease us if anything. They keep all that information very much under wraps.

I went back and watched the pilot and realized the whole dynamic between Leonard and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) has really settled into more of a friendship, at least for now. Is there going to be any progression there?

Johnny Galecki: I think that's the progression in a lot of ways. They've taken a few steps back, or they think they have, but I think that friendship is going to be the foundation for a much more significant relationship than they would have had otherwise where it was really just Leonard's infatuation with her for so long. And even in this friendship, even though she'll give him advice on other women, there are tinges every once in awhile of jealousy on both of their parts. That friendship does become uncomfortable when other people are involved once in awhile. I certainly don't know for a fact but I think she, without knowing, is molding him into the man that she wants and he's slowly, blindly learning that.

As Leslie Winkle, Sara Gilbert is great on the show. Is she going to be coming back?

Jim Parsons: We know her fate about as well as we know the plots. Until we get a script that has Leslie Winkle on it, we have no idea if we'll ever see her again. I don't mean that as cryptic as it just sounded.

What are your plans for your hiatus?

Jim Parsons: The ideal would be to work although I have no set-in-stone plans at this point and then, other than that, if there's an excessive amount of time off I won't really look that gift horse in the mouth either. I'd love to visit my family in Texas and things like that and frankly just get to be for a little while. It's one of the greatest luxuries of this job. I guess if I had my druthers, I'd go ahead and we'd do some work over the break, as well.

Johnny Galecki: Me, too. I just want to work. I'm a workhorse. And if it's not there, then I'll travel around and wander aimlessly and tread water until I get to work again. Very, very healthy. [Laughs]

Going back in your careers, what would each of you call your first big break in the business?

Johnny Galecki: That's so tough. Everything leads to something else, you know? Work always begets work.

Jim Parsons: I'll tell you what, I did do a pilot for CBS and while this wasn't the only thing that helped me along, it was a major help. I did a pilot for CBS four years ago and the pilot didn't get picked up but it was well-received and from that I did this kind-of holding deal with CBS where I just auditioned for their stuff, nothing else, for that pilot season. I did some episodes of Judging Amy related to that and here I am on a CBS show, which I did not under that deal because that's not how the world works. But I think I would be remiss not to mention that there's some sort of connection even though I don't know all the ways that it helped and panned out.

Johnny Galecki: For me it was certainly the Roseanne show. It was such a good show at the time, such a great show, and I mean I figure in the industry it opened many more doors for me than any other jobs. There have been other jobs that have led to other things but I guess I've learned more doing certain things on an internal level. I've never, ever done a job in the last twenty-some years that I felt was a waste of time.

Jim Parsons: Here-here. Agreed.

Best of luck with the show in the next few seasons. I'll be watching as a fan because I think you're both great.

Jim Parsons: Thank you.

Johnny Galecki: Come by the set if you can.

I'm in New York but if I get out to LA, I will.

Johnny Galecki: Yeah, there are airplanes. [Laughs]

Big Bang Theory has evolved into critical and audience smash by Rob Owen

BURBANK, Calif. — Back in 2003, when the lead-off sitcoms on CBS's Monday night lineup were the inexorably awful 'Yes, Dear' and 'Still Standing,' if anyone dared predict that the sharpest traditional, multi-camera sitcom in prime-time in 2009 would be on CBS, that person would have been laughed at or ignored by serious TV observers.

Geniuses are often ridiculed, as Sheldon (Jim Parsons) on CBS's 'The Big Bang Theory' (8 tonight, KDKA) knows all too well. Yet today's best laughtrack-infused sitcom is indeed part of CBS's Monday night lineup.

Although 'The Big Bang Theory' was greeted with some skepticism upon its debut in 2007 because the concept — two nerdy roommates and the hot girl next door — was reminiscent of 'Three's Company,' the show has emerged as a critical and audience hit.

During a January visit to the show's home on Stage 25 at the Warner Bros. lot, Parsons, whose literal-minded Sheldon has become the show's breakout star, said viewers find the 'Big Bang' characters relatable — up to a point.

"No one ever says they are just like Sheldon," he said. "Everyone always knows someone just like Sheldon."

Sheldon and roommate Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Caltech post-docs studying particle physics, both have stereotypically geeky interests (video games and science fiction), but Leonard is more adjusted. Sheldon, however, lives in his own world, seemingly unaware of normal social interactions that in the hands of a less skilled actor could render the character unlikable.

"There's an innate charm and sweetness to Jim that allows us to make him as obnoxious as we want and we can get away with it," said Chuck Lorre ("Two and a Half Men"), who created the show with Bill Prady. "There's an innocence to it that comes through."

For his part, Parsons said he and the writers have learned what level of socially obtuse behavior viewers will tolerate from Sheldon.

"We have to walk up to the line. We cannot cross it," he said. "He can be biting and he can observe something in a situation, maybe get snarky about it, but it can't be malicious. It's a fine line."

As the series nears the end of its second season, "Big Bang" has evolved beyond its simple premise. Nerdling friends Howard (Simon Helberg) and Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) have shown growth and gotten their own moments in the spotlight. Blonde neighbor Penny (Kaley Cuoco) is more than just the attractive girl next door, becoming something closer to one of the gang.

"I think she represents the audience," Cuoco said, noting that she's a stand-in for the way viewers at home see the guys. "They are so different from what we are all used to."

Well, most people, maybe, but not everyone. Producers said their most prized reviews of the sitcom were positive notices in Science magazine and a particle physics journal.

"I've always been against the whole idea of just calling [these characters] nerds," Lorre said. "It doesn't define who they are. They are probably the characters who will change the world. They may blow it up. That will be the change."

"Big Bang" didn't have the easiest birth. The show's first pilot — featuring just Parsons and Galecki from the current cast — was scrapped.

"The fundamental difference was the character of the woman," Prady said. "She was very tough and very prickly, and people didn't like her around our guys. Penny is much sweeter."

The set has remained constant in both pilots, with the guys' apartment decorated with an assortment of gadgets, action figures ("The female figures are very different now than when I was a child," Galecki noted humorously) and a robot that sits atop a card catalog with drawers labeled "Luke," "Vader" and "Solo."

"Since Sheldon is the neatnik, I thought he was likely to store things categorically and organize things," said set decorator Ann Shea. "Who knows what's in there?"

When 'Big Bang' began, Parsons was an unknown quantity, while Galecki was familiar to viewers from his role on 'Roseanne.' Galecki, 33, said his performance as Leonard is inspired by actor Judd Hirsch, who in 'Taxi' was the most normal character compared to those around him.

"Leonard is the only character that's in motion by his own choice," Prady said. "He is the only one who is reaching for something. Sheldon represents an absolute stubborn happiness with where he is."

Prior to "Big Bang," Parsons, 36, had done stage work, appeared in the movie "Garden State" and had a recurring role on "Judging Amy." Playing Sheldon has been a learning experience for the Texas native.

"I was geeky in a theater-type way. I don't know about comic books, and video games have never been part of my day-to-day life," he said. "It's a testament to the [show's] writing that once I say it, it makes sense."

"Big Bang's" writers often give Sheldon monologues that require Parsons to memorize long passages filled with technical terms.

"I don't know if it's gotten easier, but I've tried desperately to ease up on myself," he said, "because it can make you a little bunched up."

He's heard and read comparisons of Sheldon's social awkwardness to symptoms of Asperger syndrome, but the show's writers said Sheldon is Asperger-free, which came as a relief to the actor.

"It would be a lot of responsibility and it would put up some barriers," he said. "He is Aspergian, but that allows more freedom."

For the 'Big Bang' writers and producers, success also allows more freedom and less network interference, but Lorre, a veteran of 'Roseanne,' 'Cybill,' 'Grace Under Fire' and 'Dharma & Greg,' doesn't intend to push the form beyond its breaking point, particularly with regard to growing the characters too quickly.

"All baby steps," he said. "If there's any magic trick to sitcoms: Stuff happens, nothing changes.

"Can Archie Bunker get better? I don't think so."

Big Bang's success: It's not rocket science by Maria Elena Fernandez

It makes absolute sense that the folks at the Apple store Genius Bar would freak out at the sight of the cast of 'The Big Bang Theory.' Or that thousands of fans would fill a room to spend time with them at Comic-Con last summer. But when the paparazzi of Mexico City went so berserk over the five actors during a promotional visit in December that they required an armed bodyguard, the young cast knew their little sitcom was turning into a sensation.

Statistically, 'Big Bang' is defying all kinds of odds, most notably in that it's thriving at a time when the multi-camera format has been declared dead and network television as a whole is struggling. In its sophomore season, the buddy comedy has registered 20& more viewers, reaching the 10 million mark, and building enough confidence at CBS that it's been renewed for two more years.

At its core, 'Big Bang' is a show about brainy best friends, genius nerds and social misfits who for the first time on TV are the source of the joke, not the butt of it. But on a deeper level, it's also about love, loyalty, friendship and the frailties of the human spirit mixed in with quantum physics and superhero fanboydom. Think 'Weird Science' meets 'Friends.'

Behind the scenes, the show is even more like 'Friends.' The 'Big Bang' cast has gelled personally in a way that is rare on television and is reminiscent of Jennifer Aniston and the gang, a group that stuck together even during contract negotiations. It may be too early for the 'Big Bang' actors to be landing million-dollar-per-episode deals, but their close relationships and on-camera chemistry are highly in their favor.

"You don't have to be friends with your colleagues," said Johnny Galecki, who plays Leonard, the heart of the show, and the most recognizable actor of the group when it premiered, primarily from his work on 'Roseanne.' "But it all happened very naturally. The good thing is we allow ourselves our bad moods and dark days. There's no expectation to be buddy-buddy either. We're all kind of bracing for the day when we disappoint each other, anger each other, or get under someone's skin because so far we've just had so much fun."

How much fun? The 'Big Bang' gang works Monday through Friday, has at least two dinners a week together, and has vacationed together. They meet for drinks, play Scrabble, "and we know everything about each other, and that's good and bad," said Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny, the actress-waitress who lives next door to the genius physicists, Leonard and Sheldon (Jim Parsons).

"It's one of the luckiest things," said Simon Helberg, who plays Howard Wolowitz, an engineer who fancies himself a Casanova. "We have a shorthand with each other. There's no tension. There's just honesty, and it doesn't feel competitive."

If they were a family, Galecki and Parsons would be the parents, Helberg the protective older brother, Kunal Nayyar the picked-on middle child and Cuoco would be the smart-aleck little sister who gives them hair styling tips before a Times photo shoot.

"It was so cute," Cuoco said. "I love these boys more than anything. This is the best environment for me: me and a bunch of men. It doesn't get any more fun than this."

Many of the show's laughs revolve around obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is where Parsons comes in, playing Sheldon, a character bound to become classic. Sheldon's obsessive-compulsive personal routine, his penchant for condescending soliloquies and meticulous takeout food ordering, combined with his hypochondria and lack of social filters, exasperates his friends daily.

"The thing about Sheldon is that he can't exist without Leonard," said co-creator Bill Prady ('Dharma & Greg'). "Unless you show that somebody is capable of loving him, and Leonard clearly does, unless you show that somebody in the world is capable of putting up with him, why would you as a viewer put up with him?"

Put up with him? Fans adore the theoretical physicist/child prodigy who is completely clueless about how high-maintenance he is. That paired with Parsons' impressive comedic delivery and ability to memorize polysyllabic jargon is the reason the character was the first to break out.

"He has long monologues of these remarkable quantum theorems that you can barely pronounce let alone get out of your mouth," said Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show. "I remember the first time I saw him, I thought this man is a phenomenon."

Even when it's not scientific, Sheldon is long-winded, which is Parsons' favorite part of playing him, even though it can be maddening learning Sheldon's lines.

Sheldon when receiving a holiday gift: "You bought me a present? Why would you do such a thing? I know you think you're being generous, but the foundation of gift giving is reciprocity. You haven't given me a gift. You've given me an obligation. The essence of the custom is that I now have to go out and purchase for you a gift of commensurate value and representing the same perceived level of friendship as that represented by the gift you've given me. Ah, it's no wonder suicide rates skyrocket this time of year. Oh, I brought this on myself by being such an endearing and important part of your life."

"The rhythm of the language they've written for Sheldon, I love that challenge," Parsons said. "The writers are so good at using so many words and scientific jargon and being verbose in general and burying the joke in there. The challenge of threading that out, driving these speeches in a way it still hits the comic rhythm, I love it, though I want to pull my hair out sometimes."

Parsons uses a trick he learned in a junior high speech class to help him enunciate in Sheldon's unique way. He places a pencil in his mouth to help with the placement of his tongue and teeth.

"What you see is not the result of a casual, instinctive approach," Prady said. "These guys work hard. From time to time, they'll get together to prep for the table read. I've never heard of a cast doing that. And they always find stuff that winds up being a guide for us as we rewrite. It's an unbelievably constructive collaboration."

When production on the pilot wrapped, veteran writer-producer Chuck Lorre, who co-created it, said he could feel he had a hit. "Something was happening that transcends what you imagined."

Galecki remembers how the majority of TV writers blasted the show before it launched.

"It went from being a show that was lambasted before it even aired for making fun of intelligent people to a show that intelligent people claim is uniting them, which is unexpected and touching," he said.

"It's a very intimate reaction that they have. I think they relate to these characters not because they want to emulate them because they think they're cool. They relate to them because they relate to that time they put their foot in their mouth or that time they embarrassed themselves like these characters have a tendency to do."

Nayyar, who plays Raj, an incredibly introverted astrophysicist, saw it himself at Comic-Con when a boy told the cast that he used to feel like a geek because he performs in theater and loves comic books, but the show had changed his life.

"He got very emotional and he said that he found himself and he wasn't ashamed of who he was anymore," Nayyar said. "That meant a lot to us. A lot of people at Comic-Con thanked us for giving 'our people' a voice. I definitely never expected that to happen on a sitcom. We're here to be funny, you know what I mean?"

Jim Parsons interview by Noel Murray

The CBS hit The Big Bang Theory had an inauspicious start in the fall of 2007, initially dismissed by many critics as a clunky throwback sitcom, about four broadly cartoonish nerds and their sexy neighbor. But the show quickly improved, and in its second season has become an example of how the old sitcom formula of multiple cameras and a live studio audience can still wring reliable laughs. A major reason for the show's success? Jim Parsons, a Texas-born-and-bred self-described "theater geek" who plays the role of Sheldon Cooper, a fussy theoretical physicist whose superior attitude and neurotic behavior tics have made him The Big Bang Theory's breakout character. Parsons spoke with The A.V. Club about finding the humanity in a stand-offish character, working on a series often derided for being old-fashioned, and how his passion for the stage is affecting his opinion of the current season of American Idol.

Are you done shooting The Big Bang Theory for this season?

Not yet. We'll shoot one more tonight and then we have two more, which we'll do over the next two weeks. This year we went later than usual because a lot of our staff works on Two And A Half Men as well.

Any big cliffhangers? Anybody get married? Anybody die?

There could be. [Laughs] We are the saddest cast at giving out information to reporters, because we don't know anything! I find it incredible, and I mean this literally, that I've found out more information about our show from friends who've read about casting calls than I have from the people working here. On one episode we had a new girl moving upstairs, and I specifically remember that about four weeks before I got the script, a friend said, "Oh they're casting for an upstairs neighbor." You're kidding! We don't hear anything. We'll get the next episode's script hand-delivered to us tonight after we're finished taping. I don't think it's some kind of top-secret governmental lockdown thing, I just think they don't want us to be hashing out next week's episode in our minds while we're still working on this week's. Which for me, frankly, I'm fine with. And two, they're typically writing up until the last minute.

The Big Bang Theory does maintain some continuity between episodes, but it's not like you're Lost.

Absolutely. There's a certain definitive end to every episode and then we start up again. It's more...the relationships have kind of naturally evolved. The easy example is that Sheldon and Penny are somewhat more...I don't want to say comfortable together, but they're used to each other now. It's not quite as jarring when they find themselves alone together anymore. They don't necessarily have to comment on that fact. They now have a little bit of a routine that they fall into. But like you say, you don't need to have seen 10 episodes to catch up with that. It's not that big of a deal.

Does Sheldon and Penny spending so much more time together have anything to do with how well you and Kaley Cuoco play off each other? Are the writers just working to your strengths?

That could be. I mean, they haven't said as much. From the end of last season and into this season even more strongly, I've felt that Sheldon and Penny are kind of the North and South Pole of character types on this show. Sheldon's extremely cerebral and absorbed in that world of science, and Penny's maybe the only one on the show with her feet in the real world. If anybody has street sense on this show, it's definitely Penny. And so I felt last season, and I still feel now, that it's good for the character dynamics to throw these two opposites together. It's very fortunate that Kaley and I do enjoy working together.

It reminds me of when I first read with Johnny, too. There was just no predicting it. I had no reason to think we would or wouldn't do scenes well together. I guess some people would call that chemistry, some people would call it...I don't know, maybe "rhythm." There is something about the way Kaley and I work together and Johnny and I work together that is complementary. And maybe it has to do with our characters. Now that I'm saying it out loud I'm reaching for words, sorry. I think maybe we fill the void left by the other characters in a lot of ways, and that makes for a complete whole.

But that's a conversation for my psychiatrist. [Laughs]

This next question isn't intended to stir up controversy, but given that Big Bang Theory is such an ensemble show, has there been any concern among the cast that the balance this season has shifted more towards your character?

I guess the easiest answer is also the most honest one, which is that there's been no hint of that at all. Maybe this is just an inside feeling, from working on the show, but it feels like there's a natural ebb and flow to the whole process. It doesn't feel like, when you get an episode or even two in a row with a lot of Sheldon and Penny together, that "that's what the show is now." It feels more like there will be more episodes on the horizon about Wolowitz and his mother, or Leonard and Leslie, or Leonard and some other woman. Or maybe even Penny again! It feels more cyclical than permanent.

This has been discussed a great deal, but clearly there are some elements of Sheldon's character that have rung true with people who have firsthand experience with Asperger's or other forms of autism. The writers have purposely tried to avoid tagging the character with a diagnosis, since that gives you all more freedom to take the character wherever you like, but have you personally done any kind of research into Asperger's?

When I was first asked about it, I literally hadn't... Well, I'd heard of the disease. Do they call it a disease? I don't want to be...

A disorder.

Disorder, thank you. How ridiculous now, looking back, that I said that. I'd heard of the disorder but I didn't know what it was at all. And when I asked the writers if Sheldon had Asperger's, they said, "No, he does not. That's not what we're doing." Okay. But it made me curious. And I don't know why, but Johnny read that book Look Me In The Eye by Augusten Burroughs' brother [John Elder Robison], who wrote about his life with Asperger's. I think Johnny purchased it and took it with him on a trip, and when he came back he said, "You've got to read this. You're gonna die. The Sheldon comparisons." And I immediately went and I got it. And that was as much "research" as I've done on it. Which was very fun research, because it was very applicable human stories about living with Asperger's. And the comparisons were undeniable. A majority of what I read in that book touched on aspects of Sheldon. Since then, the more I've heard about it or talked about it with people who know more about it than I do, it seems that Asperger's is not such an uncommon thing for extremely smart people to have. Or, like Sheldon, to have aspects of. There's an awful lot of people who seem to border on that genius level that are also dealing with an Asperger's-like detachment from emotional life as we know it. Even though really it just seems like detachment.

Anyway, I haven't broached the topic again with the writers, but, you know, I do wonder. "Okay, so we're not writing a character with Asperger's, but what Aspergerian stories are you pulling some of this from?" I believe one of our writers has a relative that has Asperger's. And like I say, I think a lot of this really intellectual work that somebody like Sheldon does, the way his brain works, it's so focused on the intellectual topics at hand that thinking he's autistic is an easy leap for people watching the show to make. The way Sheldon goes "Huh?" to a social and emotional situation because he's so focused on what he's doing. His brain is so wrapped up in it.

Have you known anyone in your life that was Sheldon-like?

There was one peer of mine in elementary school. We continued to go to school, I believe, all the way through high school. We weren't in the same friend group or whatever, but he was in a class of mine in second or third grade, I can't remember. He was a genius, there was no denying that. It was different than Sheldon, maybe because he was younger, but he for sure acted out in ways like eating paper or eating bark off of trees or whatever. It was just more of an outlandishness, which if I had to do more of my armchair psychology, was like him acting out because he didn't fit in. He didn't belong, and that obviously wasn't okay with him.

But this is where Sheldon differs. Sheldon, for the most part, as far as we know from what's been written so far, is okay with it. He actually is, in a lot of ways, quite pleased with himself. He enjoys the life he leads, and is very comfortable with himself. I do think, though—and there's been things in the scripts hinting at this—that he had to travel a while to find that place. I like to think that this boy I knew was probably the same and found his own peace eventually. "I'm different, but I'm good different. It's not a bad thing that I'm different. My brain just works differently, and I understand things in a different way than most people do." Like I say, Sheldon has talked of "swirlies" and such thing in his past. There's been mention of the terror of going to children's birthday parties with bouncy castles and clowns, where he was uncomfortable and things made no sense. And maybe he still harbors some of those feelings for a small outburst every now and then, when he's pressed into an uncomfortable situation. But for the most part it doesn't bother Sheldon that he doesn't fit in. It's more of a curiosity now. A mystery to be solved.

Have you reached the point, here in the second year, that you can speak for the character to the writers? Where you could say, "I don't think Sheldon would do this?"

I definitely think I could. Much to their credit, they haven't given me much reason to. We were blocking a scene the other day, and somebody suggested that perhaps Penny should pat Sheldon on the arm or whatever, and I went, "You don't touch Sheldon! Do you want him to explode?" It's much more conversations of that nature. One of the things that I've been so lucky with, working with these writers as an actor, is that they've been so clear on Sheldon from very early on. And while the character has deepened due to all of us working on it together, it's very rarely deviated from some essential things such as that. He's not a touchy-feely person... little things like that. There's just a clarity on the part of the writers.

And I have to say as an actor, I'm pretty willing to try whatever they want. That's another reason why I don't find myself saying, "I don't think Sheldon would do that," or, "I don't think that's the way I would say that." I enjoy when they write something that's out of the norm or what-have-you, because I very much believe that Sheldon is whatever we say he is. It's up to us to play it, and to believe it, and everyone else will accept it. This is our creation here. My role as an actor is to support that. It's their role as writers to go, "No, no, no, we're not going to go there." Except for that rare exception when we do go there and it's all the more fun. [Laughs]

Big Bang Theory has been renewed for two more seasons already, so it obviously gets strong ratings, and it's even drawn more critical approval than it did when it debuted. Still, your show isn't talked about in the same breath as something like The Office or 30 Rock. As an actor, do you pay attention to that sort of thing? Does it bother you at all not to be thought of as "cool?"

No. The first thing that always comes to my head when I think of something like that is that I'm so happy and grateful to be working. And I don't say that in a pat, 'easy answer' way. It's only an easy answer because it's so damn true. To have a job you can count on as an actor is so rare, whether that means belonging to a regional theater company or being on TV. And of course TV pays better than theater. [Laughs] So no, I don't think about it in that way. It's hard to say what defines a hit, because high ratings aren't always what makes a hit show. Nor does critical acclaim necessarily translate to high numbers. It's more a combination of how much revenue you bring in combined with how much the people running the network like your show. So I guess my long-ass answer to the question is, "No." It doesn't bother me. I'm very happy.

Forget about "hit," though. What about the coolness factor?

No, you're right, we're not... We still use the old tried-and-true formula of multi-camera in front of a live audience, and since we're still on the red-hot heels of "single camera's the way to go and that's the way of the future," then yeah, we're not thought of as cool. But I feel like the single-camera wave has settled down to a degree. I'm not saying that making a multi-camera sitcom in front of a live audience is suddenly new again. But at the same time, it's not like that style went away for ten years and now it's back. Also one thing I think that has a lot to do with any perceived lack of coolness is that we do hope to appeal to a broad audience. That's one of our goals. But that doesn't mean we try to dumb anything down either. We have a core .001& who would rip us up on the blogs if we got something wrong either scientifically or comics-wise or what-have-you. And we try to remain very true to that niche audience. Still, we're not necessarily... specialized? Is that what I'm saying?

I've interviewed show-runners for other series, and when I asked them to name their favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory has often been mentioned. But there's apparently still a lot of bias out there against multi-camera sitcoms. It's as though 'multi-camera' equals 'traditional,' which equals 'outdated.'

Right. I agree with that, and that's something I have no control over as an actor. I guess you can like a style or not, and you either watch it or you don't. But I do sometimes question whether that's what's kept some people from actually watching the show. Have they actually seen it? Do they actually know what we're doing? Or do they just presume that it's a multi-camera show about a couple of nerds and the pretty girl next door, and that doesn't necessarily strike them as something they might like. Look, I understand that some of them have watched it and they still don't like it, and that's fine. But I think there's solid work being done here, and I think that people who work in the business have a respect and a love for it. I'm certainly grateful for that.

A lot of your training and background is in theater. Do you find that working on a multi-camera sitcom is more like theater than working on a film is?

Yes. There's not a doubt about it. There's probably many many reasons, but with just the live audience alone, there's a clear comparison. There's no audience to wonderfully get in your way when you're doing a single-camera anything, whether it's a sitcom or drama or film. And I do mean that in the best way. The audience is a force to be dealt with, and while sometimes editing on the laughter in shows can make it sound a little false, or catch your ear wrong, the bottom line is that for our show, that's part of the experience. Some people just aren't into that and don't care, but it's part of the experience of watching it, so the writers and directors and cast have to deal with that live human force that is, for better or for worse, an invisible other character on the show every week. They're not thrown in afterwards...unless it's a heavy technical scene, and then yes, sometimes that has to happen. But 99.9& of the time the laughter you hear comes from a live audience.

Taping day is without a doubt the best day of the week here for me — and I think for all of us. Kaley did a lot of work in front of an audience on 8 Simple Rules, and the rest of us have all done a decent amount of theater. It's amazing to me, because just like in the theater there's always something in every episode that you can't figure out why it isn't working, and then you do it front of the audience, and you're like, "Oh, because they weren't here!" [Laughs] You try not to think about them while you're working, because you don't know what they're going to do. But these scripts are meant to be performed in front of an audience. And I love that part.

Do you watch a lot of TV on your own time?

Um, I'm up and down. I've always loved TV very much, and as a child I was so religious with it, but now it's more when it fits in. I used to love — and I don't get to see it much anymore — Friday Night Lights. I had a lot of time between filming the first pilot and going to series on Big Bang Theory and that was when Friday Night Lights' first season it came out. When I do get to see it now, there's still such a wonderful quality that goes into the work: the actors, the writing, and the whole way it looks. It's just a beautiful show.

And it's set in Texas, where you're from.

I am from Texas. But please tell people, it's not a football show! I think that there's such confusion about that. Football lies there underneath the whole thing but it's just a damn good slice-of-life drama.

I'm also a big American Idol fan. I think it's just great fun.

Who are you pulling for?

Definitely Adam. It was interesting to find out how much theater he'd done. Because the first time I saw him, I thought, "This is gonna make me uncomfortable. Don't push the envelope too far, you're gonna make me, you know..." [Laughs] And then he'd just settle in and give such a solid performance. And so satisfying, because it's surprising. He's pushed to the edge a lot of times. One of the judges asked him a few weeks ago about something he'd done and his answer was "I just rehearsed it rehearsed it rehearsed it." And I thought, "Well, that's it." He doesn't leave a bunch of stuff to chance. He's really talented, and he really works his ass off. That's the draw for me of him. I feel like that's the essence of good acting. He works his butt off, and yet makes it seem like he's doing it fresh for the first time, when you see it out there.

He's got a great voice, but he's maybe a bit too theatrical.

Definitely. That exact thing that may be his undoing in the end is what's drawing me to him.

Anything else you watch religiously?

I'm a big news junkie. And one of my favorite quirky, can't-be-that-big-an-audience-but- it's-been-on-the-air-forever is The McLaughlin Group. Oh my God, change the set! I don't know when the show was first on the air, but nothing's changed, obviously. And I wouldn't want them to change it, actually; I love it. Crotchety fighting, and 30 minutes of just yelling about politics.

Knowing that you're locked in for the next couple of years, have you been able to think much about your career beyond Big Bang Theory — or even what you want to do on the hiatus, that sort of thing?

I've thought about hiatus work. It's been hard to get mentally specific about it, because you get so wrapped up in the show that it's hard to go, "What I really want to do is blah blah blah." I don't find that I have the mental room for that. All I know at this point is that I would love to do something different, just to, you know, exercise a different acting muscle. Or even just for the résumé. My manager and my agent discuss it with me all the time.

As far as the future goes, you know, I don't know. I guess my future hinges much more for me on the job I have right now. The most I can do is just do this job and this character the best and the strongest I know how. It's certainly seen by more people than any theater I've ever done. But it's the same story for me in a lot of ways, what I'm doing right now. You just pour yourself into it, and it'll lead to something else. Whenever this road ends, or even during this trip as we're going down it, I will do other things.

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."

Inside the mind of TV's biggest geek by Amber Dowling

Jim Parsons dispels myths of his geeky rise to fame.

The name might not ring a bell, but Jim Parsons is as familiar a face as they come on prime-time TV. As Dr. Sheldon Cooper on Chuck Lorre's The Big Bang Theory, Parsons brings a loveable charm to an otherwise obnoxiously superior character.

But as Parsons gains notoriety for his impeccable comedic timing and ease with which he delivers rocket-science calibre monologues, the myths surrounding the young actor and his murky background swirl in his success. Here are eight things you may or may not know about the actor.

His not-so-rocky start

Contrary to rumours, Parsons only starred in three bum pilots before Big Bang, not 15 as some fan sites propose. "I don't know how that started," Parsons says. "I guess I didn't pay as many dues as 15 sounds like...I almost wish I could say so!"

He once pretended to suck the teat of a wolf

Besides standing out in commercial work for Stride gum, FedEx and DiGiorno Pizza, Parsons also starred in the controversial Quizno's ad in which he pretended to suck the teat of a dog, proving he was raised by wolves.

"A lot of people would probably think pretending to suckle the teat of a wolf is not the best thing for an actor to be doing, but it didn't bother me," Parsons says with a shrug when asked if the moment was a cringeworthy one in his career. "She was the sweetest Siberian Husky you've ever met – she was a bigger pleasure to work with than some humans I've worked with in my life."

Working to make ends meet

Contrary to reports, Parsons never worked in construction between jobs, although he did work at a place called Hable Construction – a shop owned by two sisters who make "pillows and bags and things like that." Parsons considers the ladies a good luck charm; not only did they let him answer phones and mind the shop to bring in some extra money, but he had only been there two or three months before he was able to start paying his bills from only his acting gigs.

He missed the Oscars to practice playing Sheldon Cooper

While his friends were out and about at viewing parties on the night of the Academy Awards, Parsons was cooped up in a sublet apartment for pilot season in Los Angeles, practicing the complicated lines of his future Big Bang character. But don't confuse any invites to viewing parties with an invite to the real event, as some publications have: "My life is so much less glamorous," Parsons admits, sadly. "I should really just shut up and let you print all this crap from other people! It's so much better."

He writes out his lines

Two successful seasons in, and Parsons still needs to write out his lines before the live taping on Tuesday nights. He has to – anyone who has watched the show knows how many words Sheldon crams into a sentence on a light day, never mind the hard ones. "For every episode, I have to fill out my little flash cards like some sort of fifth grader in a science class," the actor admits. "It's the only way I get them in my head – and even then there are some that just hold on by a thread. I can't tell you how much writing I do."

It doesn't all come naturally

Although Parsons is, by definition, a smart guy, his IQ is nowhere near the level of his character's, who was what you would call a child prodigy. "When we first get the read-through I mispronounce things with a fair frequency," Parsons says with a laugh. "I never understand them to a deep degree, but I do my darndest to find out what Sheldon is trying to imply or compare the human conversation to in science terms."

His secret talent

When Penny (Kaley Cuoco) slipped Sheldon a drink in the first season, it resulted in Sheldon giving a piano performance, complete with a song. What some may not know is that Parsons actually studied the piano in real life. "That wasn't my best work, I was never any sort of cabaret-type player," he downplays. "I never accompanied myself. I had a lot of help from Simon Helberg [who plays Wolowitz on the show] in figuring out how to simplify the chords so I could sing over them. He's is a very skilled pianist, more so than me."

His second-season surprise

Parsons had no idea his show had been picked up for a second season until he received a mysterious text message on his phone, saying, "Congratulations on a second-season pick-up." The actor was convinced it was a joke, until he almost immediately received text messages from co-stars Johnny Galecki ("What the hell's going on?") and Helberg confirming the text. Turns out Parsons hadn't programmed creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre's number into his new phone.