Season 7

Season 7
No. of Episodes	24
Premiere	The Hofstadter Insufficiency
Premiere date	September 26, 2013
Finale	The Status Quo Combustion
Finale date	May 15, 2014
Seasons
← Previous	Season 6
Next →	Season 8

The seventh season of The Big Bang Theory was confirmed on January 12, 2009, alongside Seasons 5 and 6. It started airing on September 26, 2013, on CBS in the United States and Canada, and October 14, 2013, in Australia. It aired in the UK on October 31, 2013, on E4.

As of September 2013, it has been announced that the series will be renewed for an eighth season. The cast is beginning salary negotiations for future seasons.

Due to contractual obligations, the three main cast members (Parsons, Galecki, and Cuoco) will receive $350,000 per episode in the seventh season, increasing their salaries an additional $50,000 per episode from season 6.

The writers began working on Season 7 in mid-June. The filming of season seven episodes began August 20, 2013.

The season premiere in the US and Canada included two thirty minute episodes back to back both broadcast on September 26, 2013.

As of March 2014, The Big Bang Theory has been renewed for a further three seasons. Taking the total number of seasons, current and future, to ten seasons. This news was celebrated by an Instagram post from Kaley Cuoco of a picture of her and her co-stars Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons.

In Season 7, Penny is concentrating on her career trying to make acting a full-time activity and Amy is pushing Sheldon deeper in their relationship.

Cast

Main Cast

• Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter (24/24)
• Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper (24/24)
• Kaley Cuoco as Penny (24/24)
• Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz (24/24)
• Kunal Nayyar as Rajesh Koothrappali (24/24)
• Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler (24/24)
• Melissa Rauch as Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (24/24)

Recurring Cast

• Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom (8/24)
• Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter (2/24)
• Bob Newhart as Professor Proton (2/24)
• Carol Ann Susi as Debbie Wolowitz (6/24)
• Casey Sander as Mike Rostenkowski (2/24)
• Brian Thomas Smith as Zack Johnson (2/24)
• Wil Wheaton as himself (3/24)
• John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke (2/24)
• Laurie Metcalf as Mary Cooper (2/24)
• Laura Spencer as Emily Sweeney (5/24)

Guest Cast

• Regina King as Janine Davis
• Kate Micucci as Lucy
• Ian Scott Rudolph as Captain Sweatpants
• Mike Massimino as himself
• Brian Posehn as Bert Kibbler
• Stephen Hawking as himself
• Sophie Oda as Grace
• Aaron Talkashi as a scientist
• Todd Eric Andrews as Dr. Gunderson
• Morgan Hewitt as Lizzy
• Josh Peck as Jesse
• Tania Raymonde as Yvette
• Christopher Neiman as Dr. Dreyfus
• Kimberly Hebert Gregory as Ms. Davora
• Steve Valentin as Kenneth
• Monica Garcia as Maria
• Bill Nye as himself
• Ira Flatow as himself
• James Earl Jones as himself
• Carrie Fisher as herself

Episodes

Episode (Series)	Episode (Season/Ep#)	Title	Original Air Date	Directed By	Description
136	701	The Hofstadter Insufficiency	September 26, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Sheldon and Penny bond at home over missing Leonard, while Amy and Bernadette bond while at a biology conference. Raj tries to meet women since he can now talk to them, while Leonard was having such a great time on the North Sea that he doesn't appear to be missing Penny.
137	702	The Deception Verification	September 26, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Leonard returns early to spend time with Penny making Sheldon mad at him. Howard has some bad side effects from treating his mother with an estrogen rub down.
138	703	The Scavenger Vortex	October 3, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	The gang goes on Raj's scavenger hunt. Things get competitive and Howard and Amy bond over Neil diamond
139	704	The Raiders Minimization	October 10, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Beverly Hofstadter writes a psychology book about Leonard which Penny buys and reads. Sheldon wants to ruin something for Amy after she ruined the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie for him. Raj and Stuart try online dating.
140	705	The Workplace Proximity	October 17, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Amy starts working at Caltech which causes friction with Sheldon after Howard mentions that he wouldn't want to work with Bernadette. Sheldon leaks his comments to Bernadette causing a big fight for the Wolowitzes.
141	706	The Romance Resonance	October 24, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Sheldon makes an amazing discovery only to shoot himself down when he finds that he was in error. After Howard writes a song for Bernadette, Penny mulls over making a romantic gesture for Leonard.
142	707	The Proton Displacement	November 7, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	After Professor Proton asks Leonard to read a paper of his, Sheldon is jealous and brings in Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Raj and the girls have a jewelry making party.
143	708	The Itchy Brain Simulation	November 14, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Penny finally meets Lucy and gets mad at her for breaking up with Raj. Raj has closure and meets with Lucy who is now seeing someone else. Leonard has a fight with Sheldon and has to wear an itchy red sweater after he makes a "major" indiscretion.
144	709	The Thanksgiving Decoupling	November 21, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Sheldon protests when the gang drags him to Mrs. Wolowitz's house for Thanksgiving. Penny has to deal the fact that she is married to Zack.
145	710	The Discovery Dissipation	December 5, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	Wil Wheaton helps Sheldon deal with his new found celebrity status, while Leonard's work completely disproves Sheldon's discovery. Raj gets in trouble by giving the other guys and girls romantic advice.
146	711	The Cooper Extraction	December 12, 2013	Mark Cendrowski	While Sheldon is off in Texas when his sister's baby is due, Amy gets them thinking about their lives if they never met Sheldon.
147	712	The Hesitation Ramification	January 2, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	Penny loses her big acting chance and then asks Leonard an important question. Raj and Stuart try to improve their banter with women.
148	713	The Occupation Recalibration	January 9, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	After reconsidering her career choices, Penny quits her waitress job to concentrate on acting. Amy finds herself with a date that is not with Sheldon. Bernadette accidentally destroys one of Howard's comics.
149	714	The Convention Conundrum	January 30, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	After the guys can't get tickets to Comic Con, Sheldon tries to set up his own convention and approaches Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) to be a panelist. The girls go to a hotel for tea and talk about maturity.
150	715	The Locomotive Manipulation	February 6, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	For Valentine's Day Amy takes Sheldon on a romantic weekend to Napa Valley on board a vintage train. Leonard and Penny watch Cinnamon for Raj and end up taking her to the veterinarian|vet.
151	716	The Table Polarization	February 27, 2014	Gay Linvill	Sheldon is unhappy when Penny wants to get a dining room table for his apartment to end eating meals around the low coffee table. Howard decides that he wants to return to space. When it is pointed out that Amy had changed him, Sheldon decides to break up with her.
152	717	The Friendship Turbulence	March 6, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	Bernadette tries to decrease the amount of friction in Howard and Sheldon's friendship. Penny's car breaks down and she is afraid she will have to return to The Cheesecake Factory. Raj asks Amy to help him talk to a girl he met online.
153	718	The Mommy Observation	March 13, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	While Raj is having a murder mystery party in Pasadena, Howard and Sheldon get their tour of NASA in Houston and then drop in unexpectedly at Sheldon's mother who was not expecting company.
154	719	The Indecision Amalgamation	April 3, 2014	Anthony Rich	Penny gets an offer to be in the sequel to Serial Ape-ist and can't decide whether to take the job. Sheldon is being indecisive on which new video game system to buy driving Amy crazy. Raj actually finds himself with two girls to date after he runs into Amy's friend Emily and gets a note from Lucy.
155	720	The Relationship Diremption	April 10, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	Sheldon is depressed over his lack of progress in his twenty years of work on string theory. Howard and Bernadette go out with Raj and Emily and Emily remembers an earlier embarrassing experience with Howard.
156	721	The Anything Can Happen Recurrence	April 24, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	The couples are split up into different groups after Amy and Bernadette lie about having dinner together.  Penny and Sheldon have dinner together and Penny takes him to a psychic. Raj and Howard watch a horror movie that Emily wants to see.
157	722	The Proton Transmogrification	May 1, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	Sheldon and Leonard deal with the death of Professor Proton, while the guys are getting ready for Star Wars Day. At the funeral, Leonard and Penny discuss their attempts at proposing to each other.
158	723	The Gorilla Dissolution	May 8, 2014	Peter Chakos	Penny gets fired from her movie and takes a serious look at her life which results in her engagement to Leonard. Raj sees Emily on a date with another man at the movies. Howard and Bernadette have to take care of his mother after she breaks her leg.
159	724	The Status Quo Combustion	May 15, 2014	Mark Cendrowski	Sheldon gets upset about his career, the destruction of the comic book store, and Penny and Leonard's future living arrangements. Howard and Bernadette can't keep a care giver for Mrs. Wolowitz.

Gallery

• Pre-season press conference.
• Pre-season press conference.
• Start of a new season.
• Script.
• Amy and Sheldon.
• Opening their dating profiles.
• Bernadette doesn't believe Howard.
• Penny sympathsizing with Leonard.
• Penny reading Beverly's new book about Leonard.
• Amy closing Sheldon's mouth.
• Raj in a smoking jacket.
• Penny figures out the clue.
• Savenger hunt at the comic book store.
• Amy and Howard working together.
• Sheldon realizes he made a mistake.
• Raj helping Penny with romancing Leonard.
• Do you have any single grandmothers?
• Nye vs. Proton.
• Kissing Penny.
• Viewing pictures from his trip.
• Thurs Slide.
• Fantasy Penny seducing Sheldon.
• Leonard's Christmas present.
• Penny at Christmastime.
• Tipsy Penny proposing to Leonard.
• Watching Penny on "NCIS".
• Penny's car finally dies.
• Sheldon finally kisses Amy.
• A good night kiss.
• Penny seeking acting advice from Wil Wheaton.
• Raj is now dating Emily.
• Tired Amy leaning on Sheldon.
• Professor Proton's funeral.
• Wil and Penny make a movie together.
• The spirit of Professor Proton enjoying his light saber.
• Penny turning into a gorrilla.
• Amy goes ballistic over Leonard letting Sheldon go.
• Penny working on the set of Serial Apist 2.
• Leonard and Penny get engaged.
• Raj gets a girlfriend; scary horror movie loving Emily.
• Finally!!
• Howard's song about Bernadette
• You seem hot under the collar.....or is that the sweater

1/43

Trivia

• Further 24 episodes, adding the total amount of episodes for the entire series up to 159. (Season trend)
• Raj started to get the ability to talk to women late this season, but he was not be very good at it.
• Amy continued to push Sheldon toward a physical relationship. The writers stated in a recent interview: "It's always a possibility for them to eventually have sex." (Season trend)
• Even though Penny and Sheldon became closer in this season, Amy did not get jealous. She does not see Penny as a threat though, she was jealous of her friendship with Sheldon. (Season trend)
• The writers still haven't decided which of the guys got tenure at work, but we shall find out in the future. (Season trend)
• Leonard started out the season still on Stephen Hawking's expedition ("on the boat"), but returned quickly after the season starts. (aired, S7E02)
• Penny missed Leonard much more than he missed her. (aired, S7E01)
• Bernadette and Amy took a trip together without Penny in the first episode. (aired, S7E01)
• Penny and Sheldon became closer during Leonard's absence, but the relationship will stay strictly brother/sister. The writers said Penny is a "motherly figure" to Sheldon. (aired, S7E01)
• Leonard enjoyed his time on the boat and took his separation from Penny well. (aired, S7E01)
• Regina King made another guest appearance in the first episode as Mrs. Davis. (aired, S7E01)
• Amy and Howard spent alone time together for the first time. (aired, S7E03)
• Leonard's mother returned in the fourth episode via a Skype call. (aired, S7E04)
• Sheldon told some of Amy's colleagues that they had a good relationship and that he spanked her before. (aired, S7E05)
• Albert Einstein made a guest appearance in one of Sheldon's dreams. (Filmed for S7E06, but cut when aired)
• Sheldon had a big break through in his work that lifts him to another level and he had to deal with it, which he's not comfortable with. It's not exactly what he had been hoping for. (aired, S7E06 and S7E10)
• Bob Newhart returned as Professor Proton in two episodes. (one have been aired in S7E07; another filmed) Professor Proton and Leonard and Bill Nye the Science Guy and Sheldon teamed up and face off against each other. (aired, S7E07)
• Penny set Raj up with one of her friends, Lizzie, after she confronted his ex-girlfriend, Lucy. (aired, S7E08)
• Per a writers' room photo, there was be a holiday episode listed as "Happy Thanksgiving, Hard"; different final title. (aired, S7E09)
• Penny found out that she was married to Zack before but she didn't know until Leonard pointed it out. (aired, S7E09)
• Carrie Fisher and James Earl Jones from the Star Wars franchise made a guest appearance together. (aired, S7E14)
• The Valentine's Day episode took place on a train. (aired, S7E15)
• There was a Shamy kiss. (aired, S7E15)
• Mary Cooper returned when Sheldon visited her. (aired, S7E18)
• Professor Proton passed away and Leonard attended his funeral alongside Penny. (aired, S7E22)
• Leonard and Penny got engaged. (aired, S7E23)
• Stuart's comic store burned down, while Sheldon left on a soul-searching journey. (aired, S7E24)
• This is the first season to have Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik present for all episodes.