The Big Bang Theory TV Show

Pretty much the last thing you’d expect of a cranium-straining show like The Big Bang Theory is a no-brainer, but correct me if I’m wrong: Its casting of The Daily Show smartass Lewis Black is exactly that.

The Comedy Central hothead will appear in the sitcom’s second episode of the season (airing on Sept. 28) as Professor Crawley, a Caltech entomologist whose life is a shambles. Worse—for him, anyway—it’s a shambles through which Sheldon and Wolowitz are happy to rummage for the sake of settling a bet.

Whad’ya think? Is Black’s guest gig a smarter move on his part or the series’? Sound off below!

It’s been confirmed that Leonard and Penny will get together this fall on The Big Bang Theory.

But the relationship won’t exactly go smoothly, as executive producer Bill Prady told Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello in that magazine’s latest issue.

“When they finally [have sex], it doesn’t go so great,” he said. “There was so much anticipation that when they finally make it all the way, they have trouble finding their groove.”

Well, sure. Who among us hasn’t been there?!?

Also, Prady aded, “Sheldon does not like waking up to find Penny in their apartment.”

While not The Big Bang Theory spoilers we were hoping for, Simon Helberg (Wolowitz) discusses the upcoming third season in Ausiello’s latest column on EW.

According to the star, “We are still on summer vacation — we go back August 5 — and I have not seen the first script. I just saw Jim ["Sheldon" Parsons], and he certainly did let on that he knew something. I just assume they will pick up right where we left off in terms of the North Pole… Maybe we needed to eat Sheldon to survive.”

All joking aside, what would the lanky star like to see this season? “It’d be interesting to see [Wolowitz] try to move out [of his mother's basement]. I would also like him to meet his father, and I would like his father to be Ringo Starr. How cool would it be if Wolowitz is the son of a Beatle?”

In much more demanding requests, Helberg wishes, “I would actually like pants I can breathe in and an operational fly so I don’t have to pull down my pants to my ankles every time I need to pee.”

J.J. Abrams may have muscled up his version of Star Trek, but the franchise will always be the domain of such geeks as the California Institute of Technology prodigies on CBS’ The Big Bang Theory.

Exhibit A: The popular YouTube video of Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons, explaining the rules of “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock”:
“It’s very simple: Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock and, as it always has, rock crushes scissors.”

That kind of giddy celebration of the nerd mind has given the program, created by Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre, a steadily growing audience, with promise for more: The show, which netted 9.76 million viewers for its second-season finale May 11, was picked up in March for two more years in a multimillion-dollar deal.

Parsons, along with the show’s other lead geek, seasoned sitcomer Johnny Galecki, met in a fancy diner one afternoon in Hollywood to ponder their luck.

“It’s security I never dreamed I’d be able to say I have,” Parsons says.

Parsons, a native of Houston who was a regular on Judging Amy, is wittily verbose like his character, but he doesn’t pretend to have the scientific aptitude. When asked if he’s learned any new concepts from the show — Schrodinger’s cat, anyone? — he blinks and says, “Learned? More like memorized in less than a week and then promptly forgotten.” Galecki, who’s still fondly remembered as Darlene’s slouchy boyfriend on Roseanne, plays Leonard, the straight nerd to Sheldon’s fussy one. For him, two more years means “so many more lines. It’s not like we get to just sit back now.” Well, maybe some of them do. Listen to Galecki and Parsons talk about costar Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny, the sweet but dippy waitress next door, and you might believe she has super powers.

“I don’t know how she does it,” Parsons says, “but she always has every single word memorized.”

“She never makes a mistake,” Galecki adds.

Despite the intricate monologues, the stars, in some ways, can put up their feet a bit.

Galecki, for instance, has learned to play Leonard with a little more cool than in the first season.

“I’d watch the show and see moments where I worked some gesture too much or overemphasized my walk. But I realize now that I can just relax into it. It’s all muscle memory now.”

But muscle memory doesn’t make up for a grueling schedule of rehearsal, memorization and rewrites.

“We’re pretty serious about silly,” Galecki says. “We don’t really do pranks on set.”

Is that mood because of pressure from the famously spirited Chuck Lorre? The reigning maestro of the sitcom, with hits including Dharma & Greg and Grace Under Fire under his belt, has been known to clash with TV critics and his leading ladies of yore, such as Brett Butler.

“I’d heard those stories about Chuck too,” Galecki says. “But it’s never been the case for me. He’s working too hard for any of that.”

Lorre, a one-time guitarist for hire, has “this incredible ear,” Galecki says. “He can just hear the beats and inflections of dialogue. I’ll step into his office and he’ll be playing the guitar between writing bits.”

By all accounts, The Big Bang Theory is a harmonious set. In addition to group trips to Comic-Con and the like, the actors sometimes get together or go to see a movie. But Galecki points out that since they got the two-year thumbs up, they’re not hanging out with the same frequency. “We’ve been through the honeymoon period,” he says. “We’ll be riding this wave together for a while.”

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Jim Parsons : Sheldon

Date Of Birth: March 24th    Hometown : Houston, Texas

Jim Parsons’ television credits include a recurring role in the series “Judging Amy,” on CBS, and a guest starring appearance in “Ed.”

His feature film credits include “Garden State,” “Heights,” “On the Road With Judas,” “Gardener of Eden,” “10 Items or Less” and “School for Scoundrels.”

Parsons graduated with a BA in theater from the University of Houston, during which time he helped create a not-for-profit theatre company.  He acted in productions there including “Endgame,” “Guys and Dolls” and “The Balcony.”

Parsons loves to play the piano and also enjoys watching sports, especially tennis, baseball and basketball.

He was born and raised in Houston and currently lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.  His birth date is March 24.

JOHNNY GALECKI (who plays Leonard Hofstadter  on The Big Bang Theory) is best known to television audiences for his role as David in the long-running comedy series “Roseanne,” for which he won a Young Artist Award. His television series credits also include a recurring role in “My Boys” and guest appearances in “Hope and Faith” and “My Name is Earl.”

 Galecki’s feature film credits include  “Crystal,” “Bookies,” “Vanilla Sky,” “Bounce,” “Playing Mona Lisa,” “The  Opposite of Sex,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Suicide Kings” and  “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” He recently closed the Tony Award-nominated Broadway play “The Little Dog Laughed,” for which he received a 2007 Theatre World Award for outstanding Broadway debut.  His other theater credits include “The Drawer Boy” and “Pot Mom,” at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, “The Member of the Wedding,” for which he was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award and “Galileo.”

Galecki was born in Belgium where his father was stationed while serving in the US Air Force.  He was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and currently lives in Los Angeles.  His birth date is April 30.

LEONARD HFSTADTER, P.H.D. [according to Wikipedia] “is a physicist from Caltech who rooms with Sheldon in their apartment building, in which the elevator always seems to be out of order. He keeps a whiteboard in their living room on which he works on theoretical physics. While Sheldon’s genius seems to be focused primarily in math and science, Leonard is insinuated to be proficient in literature and history as well as the sciences; he is able to solve a crossword puzzle in seconds, the answers being mostly literature based, e.g.Vladimir Nabokov.   It is also insinuated that Leonard’s IQ is not as high as Sheldon’s; Sheldon scoffs at Leonard’s whiteboard theories as common enough to be “on the wall of any men’s room at MIT.”  Leonard feels at home with his genius colleagues, but wants more socially. He is reluctant to let Penny know about his recreational activities (such as Klingon Boggle) and is probably reluctant to even partake in such activities in the first place, because although he secretly likes them, he doesn’t like to be seen as a nerd.

He also dislikes his friends’ habit of rattling off different trivial facts, something to which all the other geniuses enjoy both listening and participating. Sweet but sarcastic, Leonard also seems to be the most well-adjusted one of the group; he is quick to try new things apart from his nerd friends and, between Sheldon and him, is the only one who feels that he “should do something” when Penny begins to recount her recent breakup. Despite his attempts to reject his nerd status, he certainly is one, with his “Star Wars”  hygiene products and his ability to blurt out the wrong things in front of women, such as when he’s trying to invite Penny to lunch and mentions that curry is a natural laxative. He falls head over heels for Penny within seconds of spotting her and while at first it seems like lust rather than love, by the end of the pilot episode he has already announced to Sheldon, “our babies will be smart and beautiful.” Sheldon, however, is quick to add, “not to mention imaginary.”