Talk:Season 7/@comment-14736329-20130807040513

How about this for an episode idea:

Cast William Shatner as Penny's wealthy yet loopy old grandfather. (On her mother's side. This protects Penny's as yet unknown last name.) He's too old at 82 to play her father, and besides, we've already seen Wyatt - her father.

The guys are stunned by his resemblance to the "real" Shatner and Kirk-like mannerisms. Give him a name like "Kirk James" that's a play on Star Trek. At first the guys attitude toward him is almost worshipful, they can't seem to realize he's just an old guy on a road trip. Sheldon calling him "Captain", the others calling him "Mr. Shatner", the guys asking him Star Trek questions, and so forth. This just makes the grumpy old man even grumpier.

However, he's a little mean towards Penny, disparaging her desire to be an actress, and points out how she's not too bright, and a little on the slutty side. This forces Leonard to be assertive and defend her (seemingly against his hero).

Turns out he's still angry because Penny's mother (his youngest daughter maybe?) got pregnant and had to marry Wyatt (Penny's dad), whom he sees as just a low-level blue collar nobody, and not up to his standards for her. This turns out to be a huge surprise to Penny as she never understood the math on her parent's anniversary vs. her birthdate.

As a result, Penny's family are the black sheep of the family and don't really have a relationship with grandpa..

Lots of potential here for different storylines, maybe Penny re-evaluates her fear of relationships, she is impressed with Leonard standing up to him, she considers her own behavior (she does have a bit of a mean streak), there's a whole lot of possibilities here.. If this were an episode near the end of the season it could set up a multitude of directions for the next season.

Edgy humor is often the best humor.