The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show. It premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007, and has ran for five seasons and has been renewed for an additional two seasons.

Set in Pasadena, California the show is about two fictional Caltech geniuses, one an experimental physicist (Leonard Hofstadter) and the other a theoretical physicist (Sheldon Cooper), who live across the hall from an attractive blonde waitress and aspiring actress (Penny). Leonard and Sheldon's geekiness and intellect are contrasted for comic effect with Penny's social skills and common sense. An aerospace engineer (Howard Wolowitz) and a particle astrophysicist (Rajesh Koothrappali) are their equally geeky and socially awkward co-workers and friends. They are the kind of "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works, but none of that helps them interact with people, especially women.

The show is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions. In March 2009, it was reported that The Big Bang Theory had been renewed for a third and fourth season by CBS. In August 2009, the sitcom won the best comedy series TCA award and Jim Parsons won the award for individual achievement in comedy.

When the third season premiered on September 21, 2009, it ranked as CBS's highest-rated show of that evening in the adults 18–49 demographic (4.6/10), along with a then series-high 12.83 million viewers.

As of September 2009, The Big Bang Theory airs on CBS on Mondays at 9:30 ET after Two and a Half Men, another show produced by Lorre. On May 19, 2010, it was announced that CBS would be moving the show to Thursdays at 8:00 ET for the 2010–2011 schedule. On January 12, 2011, CBS announced that the show has been renewed for an additional 3 years, extending it through the 2013–2014 season. Several members of the cast stated that the show definitely has the potential to run for 200 episodes.

Main Cast

 * Johnny Galecki as Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D. – Leonard is an experimental physicist with an IQ of 173 who received his Ph.D. when he was 24 years old. He shares an apartment with colleague and friend Sheldon Cooper. The writers immediately implied a potential romance between him and neighbor Penny, and their sexual tension is a frequently explored drama.
 * Jim Parsons as Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D. – Originally from East Texas, he was a child prodigy who began college at the age of 11, after completing the fifth grade. As a theoretical physicist, he possesses a master's degree, two PhDs, and an IQ of 187. He exhibits a strict adherence to routine; a lack of understanding of irony, sarcasm, and humor. This may sometime appear as lack of humility when he's just being himself. These characteristics are the main sources of his humor and the basis of a number of episodes. Sheldon shares an apartment with Leonard Hofstadter.
 * Kaley Cuoco as Penny – She is the attractive blonde, "born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska", who lives across the hall from Sheldon and Leonard. She hopes for a career in acting, and has been to casting calls and auditions but has not been successful thus far. To pay the bills, she is a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory.
 * Simon Helberg as Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. – He works as an aerospace engineer. He is Jewish, and lives with his mother. Unlike Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj, Howard lacks a Ph.D. He defends this by pointing out that he has a master's degree in Engineering from MIT and the apparatus he designs are built and launched into space, unlike the purely abstract work of his friends. He provides outrageous pick-up lines and fancies himself a ladies man with suitably unimpressed reactions from Penny; however, he has shown limited success with other women. He is a polyglot.
 * Kunal Nayyar as Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali, Ph.D. – Rajesh, who originally comes from New Delhi, India, works as a particle astrophysicist at Caltech. He is very shy around women and is physically unable to talk to them unless he drinks alcohol. However, he has had much better luck with women than his overly confident best friend Howard. His parents, Dr. V. M. Koothrappali and Mrs. Koothrappali, are seen via webcam. In the third season, he works for Sheldon because his research has run into a dead-end and he does not want to return to India.

Recurring Guest Stars

 * Mark Harelik as Eric Gablehauser, PhD.
 * Sara Gilbert as Leslie Winkle, PhD.
 * Sara Rue as Stephanie Barnett, M.D.

Production history
The show's initial pilot, developed for the 2006–07 television season, was substantially different from its current form. Only Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons were in the cast, and the female lead, Katie, was envisioned as "a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior". Katie was played by actress Amanda Walsh They also had a female friend called Gilda (played by Iris Bahr). The show's original theme music was also different, using Thomas Dolby's hit "She Blinded Me With Science". The show was not picked up, but the creators were given an opportunity to revise the show, bringing in the remaining leading cast and retooling the show to its current format. The original unaired pilot has never been released on any official format, but copies are available on the Internet. On the evolution of the show, Lorre said "We did the 'Big Bang Pilot' about two and a half years ago, and it sucked... but there were two remarkable things that worked perfectly, and that was Johnny and Jim. We rewrote the thing entirely, and then we were blessed with Kaley and Simon and Kunal." As to whether the world will ever see that original pilot, maybe on a DVD, Lorre said "Wow that would be something, we will see. Show your failures..."

The second pilot of The Big Bang Theory was directed by James Burrows, who did not continue with the show. This reworked pilot led to a 13-episode order by CBS on May 14, 2007. Prior to its airing on CBS, the pilot episode was distributed on iTunes free of charge. The show premiered September 24, 2007, and was picked-up for a full 22-episode season on October 19, 2007.

Production on the show was halted on November 6, 2007 due to the Writers Guild of America strike, returning on March 17, 2008 in an earlier time slot and with nine new episodes. After the strike ended, the show was picked up for a second season airing in the 2008–2009 season, premiering in the same time slot on September 22, 2008. With increasing ratings, the show received a two-year renewal through the 2010–11 season.

David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, checks scripts and provides dialogue, math equations, and diagrams used as props. According to executive producer/co-creator Bill Prady, "We're working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he's going to be working on throughout the first season so there's actual progress to the boards ... We worked hard to get all the science right." The lead characters are named Sheldon and Leonard after actor, director, and producer Sheldon Leonard.

Several of the actors in The Big Bang Theory worked together previously on Roseanne, including Johnny Galecki, Sara Gilbert, and Laurie Metcalf (who plays Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper). Additionally, Lorre was a writer on the series for several seasons.

Production costs
For the first three seasons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and Jim Parsons, the three main stars of the show, received at most $60,000 per episode. The salary for the three went up to $200,000 per episode for the fourth season. According to their contracts, their pay per episode will go up an additional $50,000 per episode in each of the following three seasons, culminating in $350,000 per episode in the seventh season.

Opening Theme - History of Everything
Barenaked Ladies wrote and recorded the show's theme song, which describes the history of the universe and the Earth since the dawn of time (according to the eponymous theory). Ed Robertson, a lead singer and guitarist in the band, was asked by Lorre and Prady to write a theme song for the show. Having been asked to write songs for other films and shows only to have them rejected in favor of another artist's, Robertson agreed to write a theme only after learning that he was the sole writer that Lorre and Prady had asked. He drew inspiration from Simon Singh's book, Big Bang, which he had just finished reading. On October 9, 2007, a full-length (1 minute and 45 seconds) version of the song was released commercially.

In a 2010 issue of TV Guide, the show’s opening title sequence ranked #6 on a list of television's top 10 credits sequences, as selected by readers.

Syndication
In May 2010, it was reported that the show has been picked up for syndication, mainly among Fox's O&O group and other local stations, with Warner Bros. Television's sister cable network TBS holding the show's cable syndication rights. Broadcast of old shows began airing in September 2011. TBS now airs the series in primetime on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with evening broadcasts on Saturdays (TBS's local sister station in Atlanta also holds local weeknight rights to the series). Although details of the syndication deal have not been revealed, it was reported the deal "set a record price for a cable off-network sitcom purchase." CTV holds national broadcast syndication rights in Canada, while sister cable network The Comedy Network holds cable rights.

Online media
Warner Brothers Television controls the online rights for the show. Full episodes are available at tv.com, while short clips and recently aired full episodes are available on cbs.com. Full episodes are also available on Sohu.com in China. In Canada, recent episode(s) and pictures are available on CTV.ca.

U.S. standard ratings
The Big Bang Theory has been highly rated since its premiere. During its fourth season, it became television's highest rated comedy, just barely beating out eight-year champ Two and a Half Men. However, in the age 14-49 demographic (the show's target age range), it was the second highest rated comedy, behind ABC's Modern Family. The fifth season opened with viewing figures of over 14 million.

UK distribution and ratings
The show made its UK debut on Channel 4 on February 14, 2008 bringing in an average audience of 1.0 million viewers. The second episode, shown the following week, also received 1.0 million. For the third episode an average of 1.1 million tuned in. The show is also shown as a 'first-look' on Channel 4's digital offshoot E4, and brings in 400,000 viewers on average. The fifth episode received 880,000 viewers. After the first five episodes, the average number of viewers continues to hover around the 1 million mark. Episode 13 was watched by 1.3 million viewers and was the most watched episode.

In December 2008, Virgin Media made the first nine episodes of the first season available to watch on its TV Choice On Demand service, and the rest of Season 1 was made available in January 2009.

As of December 5, 2009, all 23 episodes of Season 2 were also made available on Virgin Media TV Choice On Demand Service, but both seasons have now been removed.

The third season began airing on E4 and E4 HD on December 17, 2009 at 9:00 p.m. but was on hiatus between February 25, 2010 until May 6, 2010 when the final 11 episodes of the season aired.

Season 4 began airing on E4 on November 4, 2010 at 9:00 p.m. It drew 877,000 viewers, with a further 256,000 watching on the E4+1 hour service. This gave the show an overall total of 1.13 million viewers, making it E4's most watched programme for that week. E4 broke season four after 12 episodes in January 2011. Season four returned on E4 from June 30, 2011 for the remaining episodes.

The fifth season began airing at 8:00 p.m. as part of E4 comedy Thursday's as a lead-in to Perfect Couples in the UK.

Canadian ratings
The Big Bang Theory started off quietly in Canada, but managed to garner major success later on in further seasons. The season 4 premiere garnered an estimated 3.1 million viewers across Canada. This is the largest audience for a sitcom since the series finale of Friends. The Big Bang Theory has pulled ahead and has now become the most watched show in Canada.