By Edward Kelly
A funny thing happened recently over at The Big Bang Theory. At the start of this season, CBS was so confident in the sitcom that they moved it to Thursday nights, putting it in direct competition with NBC’s Thursday night comedy line-up. They also upped the ante by shelling out $200,000 per episode to the show’s stars (Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and break-out Jim Parsons). That’s not the funny part.
Then, Cuoco, who plays the show’s female lead, broke her leg. As a result, the writers had a scramble to write a stretch of episodes in which Cuoco’s character, Penny the hot next-door neighbor, was absent or limited to one scene. That’s – obviously – still not the funny part.
The funny part is this: those three or so episodes in which Cuoco was absent were actually really freakin’ good. (Okay, maybe it’s not ha-ha funny, but whatever.) This is not a slight against Cuoco – she’s a talented comedic actress and largely to credit for turning Penny from generic “hot chick” to well-rounded character. Cuoco has a natural rhythm, can spar brilliantly with Parson’s character Sheldon, and allows the show to stretch beyond a bunch of nerd in-jokes.
Because of the unforeseen limitations placed upon them, the writers were forced to make the run of episodes (“The Desperation Emanation,” “The Irish Pub Formulation” and “The Apology Insufficiency”) work outside of the usual format, without the stabilizing influence of Penny. They chose instead to focus on the four nerds – Galecki’s Leonard, Parsons’ Sheldon, Simon Helberg’s Howard, and Kunal Nayyar’s Raj – and the relationships between them. The episodes weren’t the best show has ever produced, and sometimes Penny’s absence was glaringly obvious. However, since I’m a sucker for character development on shows that have no pretense about being anything other than quick gags and one-line zingers, the fleshing-out of the nerds kept me glued to the set.
For starters, normal guy/increasing sad sack Leonard didn’t have to pine over Penny and their now-dissolved romantic relationship. All of a sudden, Leonard had a life, replete with a secret transatlantic f-buddy in the form of Raj’s sister. No longer the quivering mass of neuroses, the writers were allowed to extend the character, even providing Leonard with a lothario alter ego who was able to whip off his glasses and hit on guest star Eliza Dushku with ease (of course, she rejected him, but still: props on the Hail Mary pass, guy).
Sheldon, meanwhile, broke out of his robotic shell when he was forced to deal with his girl-who-is-a-friend, played by former Blossom star Mayim Bialik. It’s no secret why Parsons is a fan and critics’ favorite: he makes the show, even earning an Emmy for his work. Now, it is true that the Sheldon/Penny scenes are often the funniest, but it was great to see Sheldon become more human via his own instincts, rather than turning to Penny (who often acts as advice giver, sort of a sexy Wilson to Parsons more socially inept Tim Allen).
Plus, the show opted to bring back the future Mrs. Edward Kelly, Melissa Rauch, as Howard’s brainy-but-flighty girlfriend Bernadette. It felt as though BBT was building some momentum and the characters were going to reach a new level of maturity (or, at least, a new plateau of arrested development). In other words: things changed for the better.
“The 21-Second Excitation” saw Cuoco return in a limited capacity and it wasn’t a bad episode at all – it was great to see her again. Her storyline was restricted to her apartment as she hosted a girl’s night with Bernadette and Bialik’s character, Amy. The guys meanwhile were once again thwarted by Sheldon’s nemesis Wil Wheaton at a screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Penny isn’t a bad character nor is the show a bad show (don’t worry, I’m not ramping up to some arbitrary “Jump the Shark” condemnation). But Big Bang Theory is in its fourth season, meaning we’ve had 87 episodes of the nerds-plus-a-hot-girl dynamic. Some innovation wouldn’t be amiss.
All sitcoms get by on their ability to create characters that are fun to hang out with, and in that regard BBT has succeeded admirably. But, let’s face it, seasons three’s “Leonard and Penny are dating” storyline fizzled and ended predictably. I had hoped that was merely the writers’ attempt to get the Leonard/Penny ‘shippers off their back, but “The 21-Second Excitation” featured a return to the topic, which does not bode well for fans like me who thought the pairing kind of sucked. Galecki and Cuoco work well together, but lack the chemistry that makes for great sitcom pairings. Plus, the writers clearly prefer Leonard to be hopelessly unlucky with women, moving from one unhealthy relationship to the next. To attempt sincere sentimentality on a show like this is dangerous and often kills comedic momentum and clout.
See, BBT started with a simple premise: nerds befriend hot girl, hilarity ensues. And they got plenty of mileage out of the conflicts that exist between the two groups. But TV shows are an organic art form and should be allowed to grow, mature, and change. Even great dramas like The Wire eventually outgrow their original premise. Obviously, BBT is not The Wire and it isn’t trying to be, but it would be nice to see these friendly nerds become even more three-dimensional.
The creative team behind BBT isn’t going to get rid of Cuoco anytime soon (nor should they), but it would be rewarding to see all the characters, including Penny, become even more developed and interesting. Big Bang isn’t an innovative show, nor is it interested in things like continuity (How I Met Your Mother fans look elsewhere). But the show is definitely funny, engaging, and thoroughly charming. So really, I guess this is just a plea to let things develop so we as fans can become further endeared to the show and its characters.
Now, that would be a very funny thing indeed.
